Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-03-23
OF ASIA.
The Untamed chites of Tibet Are
Idolaters and CannibaIs.
MURDER IN THEIR RELIGION.

man Sacrifices to Their Grotesque
and Repuisive Stone Gods.
A religious festival by a savage tribe
| Of Asia, In which occurred a human
sacrifice and the burning Of the victim
| on q funeral pyre. is described by VII
| liam Jameson Reid in his book, "Unex-
plored Asia" The rites were held In q
place called Chite City, Tzuehan.
which was reached after a hazardous
Journey through the Ping mountains.
He says:
"Let me give a brief history of this
strange race. who for centuries have
aefed the most persistent research OF
explorers and ethnoiogists. Many cen
turtles ago, In the vicinity Of Shanghai.
there lived a highly enlightened race
known as the Chltes. They were the
most fanatical and bigoted Buddhists.
80 ~fanatical, in fact. that their turbu-
lent spirits and eager desire to SOW the
seed of proselytism caused frequent
revolutionary disturbances. The gov
eminent, as its only means OF saliva
ton. made war on them. For years the
Chites battled against overwhelming
odds until at last. their numbers fear
fully reduced, they gradually retired to
the west, settling here and there. only
10 be again driven back. After years
Of wanderings they located in the wild
mountain region of northwestern Tibet
"For untold centuries they have held
entirely aloof from their more civilized
shinese neigbbors, and today they are
as untamed and barbarous as were
their fierce ancestors. Many of them
are avage Of the worst degree; even
c-anufbaiisn 10 said TO be prevalent
among many of them. They acknowI-
edge no allegiance to the emperor. en-
tireiy ignore the authority of the man.
darins and hold no communication
with the outside world. Yet we have
visited their wild domain: we have
penetrated into their stronghold and
have witnessed their strange customs.
sit had been intention to steal
into the city under ove of night. but
from our position of vantage we could
see that some religious demonstration
was In progress. and we did not dare
TO move. For half an hour u guides
fnatives) era wled out on the plain and
returned with the information that
they had discovered a considerable
cave in the hillside to the left of the
town, which would screen us from OBJ
~servation and at the same time permit
us to watch the movements of those
inside the walls. We had just time to
reach our place of concealment when
| the narrow oriice and halted while
torches were being lit to guide their
passages through the gathering gloom.
Following them pressed the unkempt
crew, until the interior of the dome
shaped cave was filed to the point of
| suffocation.
'For half an hour the a torturing
strife of discord waxed louder at every
moment until a hundred devils in hu-
man form fitted beneath the flare of
pickering torches. A frenZied enthusi
asst would leap into the air, lacerating
himself with n knife. grasping the CORY
strip of flesh and grinding it under his
heel, or haunting d neighbor into the
| spirit of emulation by haunting before
his eyes the CHASTITY piece of flesh. Sud
denly from out the compact mass rose
a howl of mingled anguish and fury.
and q solitary Individual mounted o
sort of platform and stretched forth
his hand. Evidently he was a high
priest. Instantly there was silence.
The light Of the torches enabled us to
-'hn man who had mounted the plat
form. He was a tHfi, su~--s-ai-ia.
ual. All his right side vas naked. and
his face was covered with gaping rents
of knife wounds, from which blood
trickIed.
"a garment of coarse cloth covered
his body below the waist. Soon we
saw FIVE others follow him upon the
platform, which was of raised earth.
In q recess In the wall at the rear OF
the platform one could see the dis
torfed form of a gigantic image-a
stony. impassive figure Of such gro
tesque ugliness that one could not help
wondering how a race Of people, how.
ever unenlightened. could bring them
selves to worship an object OF such re
pulsiveness.
"At last q fearful moment was Mt
hand. An old man was seized and
stretched upon a sort of stone altar,
raised above the platform. He realized
his last hour had come. and he strug-
gled In fear and fury to escape from
the grasp of his captors. giving vent
to shrek after shrek until, exhausted,
he fell into a stupor. -Four OF the
priests held the family struggling
body, while from the gloom stalked
forth the sacriHcisl priest. his hand
holding a long knife. Once, twice,
thrice he abased himself before the
image. and then. turning round like q
beast ready 10 leap upon its prey. he
rushed toward the PROSTATE form. a
fash Of light and the keen blade sank
to the hilt In the iesh of the victim
sThree times did the worshipers or
the floor rise and abase themselves
and then quickly the minor priests
seized the lifeless body and held II II
fhe air. For a moment It silhouetted
against the htful glare Of the hre; then
the flames Ieaped forward in cages
scstasy to receive their prey"
Kindness In us In the honey thai
blunts the sting oe ankindness liz an