Evening star., 1925-08-23

Continued from Third PaEeA
know. And was compelled to fight
and TO beat the poor raving boy TO
prevent him from fleeing away and
meeting his death in the white sol-
tudes.
Later on again met some most re
markable lamas in quite unexpected
way on the road Of the kongbu Pa La,
where we saw the sorrowful victims
of the Tibetan drama. A few pilgrims,
nearly all women, had been robbed of
all their poor belongings and cruelty
wounded by their own fellow travellers.
Among the unfortunate women vas
one who had hole in the head. The
arm of another was broken. A third
one had an ugly cash in the breast
A little below the cave where they
had taken shelter the corpses of two
men belonging TO their party were
lying.
At last, after four months tramp
ing. we reached Lhasa.
That day was an unforgettable one.
We started in the early morning from
Dechen, and in the clear light of the
rising sun we saw the huge palace of
the Dalai Lama appearing before US.
1--WE have won't / said to my young
friend
He silenced me.
Huh, Do not be too quick We
must still cross the XVI River, and
who knows if there is not a post of
watchmen there? :"
So near the goal. Irefused to believe
that failure may still be possible. But
who can ever know?
The gigantic building. the glory OF
Tibet. it's holy of holes. grew larger
and larger, and we began to see the
slittering of its golden roofs. 1t af-
firmed itself to be more dominating at
each of our steps. We walked at a
good speed. Success was near and
gave us wings.
The river was crossed in a small
ferryboat crowded with men and
beasts. The busy ferrymen had no
leisure to look at two ragged fellows.
Hundreds of the same kind pass there
each year.
WE landed on Lhasa ground, but
w there was still a long way before
reaching the city itself. Then, quite
suddenly, real stage effect occurred.
A storm arose, sweeping the large val
ley. Clouds of sand. carried by the
wind, hid the landscape and hung a
thick curtain before the Potala (name
of the Dalai Lama's palace. People
on the road were blinded. and con-
cealed their faces in whatever piece OF
cloth they happened to have with
them.
The night of my departure from
China, four months earlier, remem-
bered old tales relating the kinds Of
protection granted by gods to fugi-
tives-clouds, sudden darkness, hail
that stopped those who could have dis
covered them. Now that immense yell
low curtain of whirling sand that hid
from the people in the Potala the
roads to the sacred city and those who
trod on them, was it not hung to pro-
tect my entrance and to presage my
future security? I liked to believe it.
was at the market place. 1 crossed
street after street. ] was in Lhasa at
last.
We had arrived at New Year time
as l had planned 1t a year before in
far-away Gobe. And now we were to
enjoy the many sights and festivals
of the Lamaist Roma and see It in it's
brightest and most interesting aspect,
when people OF all surrounding prov
inces flock there in quest of excite
ment.
That evening in the hovel where we
had put up, lying on the ground
among our miserable luggage, l said
to my faithful companion:
DO you allow me now to say that
we have won the game?"
Yes" he said, and sleepily ne
shouted in a, suppressed tone, "Lha
gyalo De tamche pang." CThe gods
triumph. the demons defeated). And
he let fall his head on bag that he
used as a pillow.