Evening star., 1925-08-02
BY ALEXANDRA DAvID-NEEL.

/iTHIS time, do not come back
again." says my adopted
son, the Lama Yongden. al
Il luding to my two previous
attempts to cross Tibet that
have both failed. The imperative tone
with which these words are uttered
does not deceive me. 1t is emotion,
anxiety that led my son to depart
from the respectful way in which he
always addresses me. May you this
time, he means, reach the termination
of the troubles and hardships of all
kinds that you have borne during
several years; this time may your
hazardous adventure end successfully.
l turn the good black mule | am
riding toward Jakyendo, the place l
etn leaving. / look at the village at
the foot of the hill, at the small Chi
neee fort isolated in the valley and es-
pecially at the gompa Qamaist mon
astery) standing proudly dominating
on a hill with its many buildings and
its golden rooted temples. | look at
the gompa, surrounded with mystery.
where l leave friends and perhaps,
unknown enemies, where, amid q
crowd of the indifferent clerics. some
philosophers and a few mystics live
a strange, retired life, shut in apart
ments closed to all but small number
of disciples or brethren in initia-
ton. I look at Jakyendo. where have
spent five eventful months. VIII. this
time, the occult power that seemed
to bind me there let me free? Shall |
not come back again?
] started half-heartedly on that new
and rather eXtravasant journey. EN-
periences of various natures had con
Vlnced me that So-called independent
Tibet" is more strictly forbidden to
foreigners than old Tibet had ever
been under the Chinese rule I was
FULLY aware that journey to Lhasa,
or anywhere in the Tibetan regions
under the Lhasa government was i'm
possible unless one could smuggIe one
self undetected beyond the frontier
posts.
SO L had thought of travelling with
only one companion-my servant
Thobgyal, assuming the appearance of
poor woman and Thobgyal playing
the part of my son. That plan was
good enough, but the difficulty was TO
part with my fine mules, my tents,
my luggage without attracting the no.
tlce of the people of the country.
On the other hand, Yongden could
not reconcile himself to the idea of
letting me go as beggar for such a
long journey. He remembered the
hardships endured and the dangers
faced during previous journeys and
thought of those, still greater, that
would await me when [ should be
alone. So that l yielded reluctantly
10 his entreaties and agreed that he
would follow me with Davva, my other
servant, the beasts and the baggage
at few days interval, till we should
nave travelled for about a fortnight
beyond the border. Then we would
q Ft- ,o1,.
Ing TO the circumstances, but in any
case would have, watching over me,
TWO men ready to supply my needs.
we had decided that the day of NV
departure l, with Thobgyal and
1ongden, should ride as far as the
hrst pass and then the latter was to
take the horses back to Jakyendo
leaving my companion and me to pro-
ceed on foot, carrying on our backs
a small three-foot high tent and as
much food as possible
X x x x
NO stage manager could have de-
vtsed such theatrical effect as
that which suddenly occurred when
we reached the obo standing at the
top of the pass. L use the Monaghan
word obo, more familiar to foreigners
than the Tibetan latZa. Nevert helesS
1t must he understood that Tibetans
never speak of obo. a latZa is a
cairn, heap of stones dedicated to
the deities. In one moment the sky
dsrkened, black clouds descended on
the submits, the whole snowy land
scape took a dramatic leaden-gray
hue, tremendous storm fell on the
small tableland that he had to cross.
We could hardly keep standing, snow
blinded US.
I saw tears coming in the eyes of
the young lama. I feared that he
would take advantage of that awful
weather to beseech me once more to
give up my journey, and I hurriedly
ordered him to lead the horses to
sheltered place and to go back to
Jakyendo as soon as the storm would
have abated. So we parted, without
any pathetic words of farewell, each
of us anxious, in his heart, about the
fate of the other one.
Bent under the weight of our load,
breathless, stumbling on the stones
hidden under a thick layer of snow,
we reached gorge that led down
ward to the valley. which was to be
the place of our first camp. There
the heaped snow attained a consider
able height and we had to proceed
very cautiously, fathOming it with
our long sticks at nearly each of our