Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-12-09

today is practically the only survival
Of the ancient combination Of spiritual
and temporal power.
The present Dalai Lama is 80 years
old, quite remarkable age for Dalai
Lama by the way. The Grand Lama,
despite the fact that he is the persona
fication Of all spiritual and temporal
power, had previously had habit Of
dying when he reached the age OF 20.
Unier Tibetan belief, the Dalai Lama
is the reincarnation of one OF the
.vatars of Buddha. The divine es-
sence or spirit fingers for a time in the
oody Of the Lama, then firing OF its
physical abode, departs and enters the
body OF newborn child. This de-
pature and entrance to a new body Of
the great gods soul is always ac-
companied by a series Of remarkable
portents which increase the supersti-
tious awe Of the Tibetans, although the
omens always have worked out in ac-
cordance with the desires Of the bu-
reaucratic priesthood which continues
to rule, Buddha or no Buddha.
The present Lama seems to have
been Of a harder type than his
predecessors, or possibly Buddha likes
Acknowledgements body the best
Anyhow he has lived long past the age
at which Buddhas are supposed to
change their abodes. Eight years ago
when the Young husband expedition
went into Tibet, the Grand Lama fled
from Lhassa. Later he returned and
since that date the Tibetans have con-
cluded treaties with the British Gov
eminent whereby the English agree no
further exploring expeditions shall
cross the Himalayas in return for the
promise of the Tibetans not to ravage
any of the Hindu cities. These treaties
have cut down the number of efforts to
unveil Tibetan mysteries. The Third
Asiatic Expedition, however, coming
from the north and cast has a chance
Of learning some of the secrets of the
land of the Grand Lamas. Just how
much the learn ng will include de-
ponds on the success of the American
scientist-diplomatS in allaying the
fear of the fanaticaliy religious natives
who believe that heir immortal souls
are creatures OF Buadha.
Farther north of Mongolia and East
lurkeStan, with a special reference to
the Cobb Desert, some of the diff
cultieS of the searchers will be less
But the physical difficulties of the ex-
petition will be correspondingly great
er.
And here it is that the real import
ant work of the scientists lies.
Here, according to Mr.. Granger,
the actual mining for the fossil rem
nants of the worlds oldest races must
be carried on.
The reasons which induce us to
go to Central Asia to seek traces Of the
original men are not the result of
guesswork," said Mr.. Granger, land
the work we shall do there will not be
haphazard. Research Of nearly all
science during the past century has
pointed toward that district.
The scientific and historic records
show that the Neanderthals, the first
race known to have overrun Europe,
came from Central Asia. American
Indians show facial resemblances to
the Mongols. The accepted theory is
that the American aborigines reached
this continent from Asia by the land
bridge.
I'm the territory we shall visit, con-
ditions are favorable to discoveries of
prehistoric men. The chief OF those
conditions is that the great portion of
the soil is loeSs, or wind-blown soil.
1t is under this kind of soil that fossils
are most frequently found Granite or
lava formations or any kind Of soil
which owes its present formations or
any kind Of soil which owes its present
condition to melting process can, OF
course, have no fossil remains. But
under the shifting loess, perhaps hun
dreds Of feet down, we may expect fos-
sils to lie.
The search for such fossils is mere
~ matter OF knowing where to 90
and going there. We proceed along
canyons, river beds or depressions of
other kinds. To persons trained and
experience in fossil-mining there
comes almost as by intuition the
knowledge of the place where the re
mains may be found. Science will
learn much, even though only few
relics reward the search.