The Opelousas courier., 1905-06-03
4 QUEER LAND is THIBEq.
IF THERE'S AN oDDER PLACE IT
HAS NOT BEEN DISCOVERED.
Queen Victoria as a Bloodthirsty
Goddess-Curious Effects of Great
Altitude-The Highest Battle and
The Highest Town in the World.

If there is any place in the world
odder than the country described by
Mr.. Pcrceyal I7andon in The Opening
OF Tibet" published am copyrighted
by Doubleday, Page 4 Co., explorers
ought to be set upon its trail.
The country begins at the level OF
the top OF Pixies Peak and runs mucn
higher. 1t is so high that tea boils
mere easily than on the plain; shat
sores on horses back heal with diff
ticulty; that the natives, and even
visitors, are made i'll by air pressure
when they go down to the plains.
The highest town in the world is
Pnagri, whose inhabitants are also
the dirtie3t of people. 1t is too cold
to keep clean. A battle a fought in
part l9,Vvu feet above the sea, where
1t is almost impossible even to walk.
Lhasa is a city in the clouds. The
Lama's palace is a "s~kyscraper' 900
teet long. 1t is seventy feet higher
than the golden cross of St. Pauls
Cathedral; far taller than any build
ing in New York.
Game birds are tame in Thibet even
when nominally wild The same
birds that the gun-shy in Hindoostan,
where the Englishman has introduced
sport" are not afraid of nan in Thi-
bet, whose religion forbids the taking
Of life.
Perhaps the prayer wheels are as
odd as anything. You gain merit by
reciting "Om mani padmi hum 1t
is easier to write it out many times,
lnclose the writing in a rattle like a
watc2mal's and twlrl it as you walk.
Easier still to print it in fine type on
the thinnest paper and stuff with
these prayers a great water wheel
eight feet in diameter. Every time it
turns all those millions or prayers are
prayed.
The Thibetan tells an arriving
| guest to sit and stick to the carpet"
The going guest is asked to walk
slowly
The Tbibetans believe that when
the country was young Buddha saw
it and observed that the people were
all monkeys. Why, he asked, were
they not men and good Buddhists ?
What chance was there in such a
country, they asked in reply, for men
to cultivate their DO lies, let alone
their souls? Then said Buddha: III
you will promise to become men and
Buddhjsts l will give you a good and
fertile land to live in" Of course
they promised, and Thibetans say
Duduna made good; but visitors
doubt it.
The Thibetans have discovered that
the present Gar of Russia is a rein
carnation of Tsong-kapa, the reform
er; but this, though an odd role for the
Gar, is not half so odd as the rein
carnation which they have thought
fully arranged for the late Queen Vic
torla. She is really Paldenlhamo, g
dark blue lady with three eyes, who
sits upon a chestnut mule, drinking
IlCod from a skull and trampling un
der foot the torn and mutllated bodies
Of men and women Her crown is
composed of skulls, her eye teeth are
four inches long, and the bride, girtt
and crupper are living snakes kept il
position by the dripping skin Of a re
Gently fayed man" BY this reincar
nation idea the Thibetans mean t.
convey "the highest possible persona
compliment"
If a Thibetan woman marries 6
man she marries also his youngel
brothers, but not older ones. Under
this system, which has not its likt
anywhere else in the world, population
steadily declines.
When there is an earthquake thu
Thibetans know just how it happened
There are evil spirits; some o
them are gigantic brutes a mile il
height, with tiny mouths which pre-
vent them swallowing even the small
est crumb; naturally they suffer from
hunger, and in their agonized with
ings they are the immediate cause Q