(QJarttBll Hmneraity liibratg 
 
 Jftlfata, Njtn farb 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 
 1918 
 

 DATE DUE 
 
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 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U S.A 
 
 _ Cornell University Library 
 
 BV 3420.T5S35 
 
 Workinci and waiting for Tibet :a sketcti 
 
 3 1924 023 069 101 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 9240230691 01 
 
v. 
 
 ■il 
 
WOEKING AND WAITING 
 
 TIBET 
 
 A SKETCM OF TSB 
 
 l0rabmtt Plbsxcra ia i\t Wiz&kxu |)rmalEuas. 
 
 jFrom IJe (Serman of 
 H. G. SCHNEIDER. 
 
 ffiranslateti anU ISEbisclr Iig 
 ARTHUR WARD. 
 
 LONDON: MOEGAN AND SCOTT 
 
 (Office of "The Cheistian") 
 12, PATEENOSTBE BUILDINGS, E.G. 
 
 Moravian Pitblication Office, 32, Fetter Lane, E.G. 
 Aiidvmy be ordered of any Bookseller. 
 

 Yl^^s^ 
 
 LONTON : 
 u. NOEMAN AND SON, PEINTEES, HAET STREET, 
 
 COVENT GAEDEN. 
 
 %^ 
 
TO THE READER, 
 
 ^HIS little book ia not the story of a successftil 
 mission, at least not of a mission whose success 
 is already apparent to human eyes. It claims 
 the interest and sympathy and intercession of Christ- 
 ians on behalf of a noble effort for a great closed 
 land, Chinese Tibet, the stronghold of Buddhism. It 
 tells of " working and waiting for Tibet," of seed time 
 rather than of harvest, of patient continuance in well 
 doing in spite of small results as far as human standards 
 can measure. 
 
 Its subject is the Moravian Mission to Tibetan- 
 speaking people in Lahoul and Kunawur, border 
 provinces of British India, and in Ladak, a part of 
 the territories of the Maharajah of Kashmir. That 
 mission has now been carried on for nearly forty years, 
 and at present its statistics show, besides those that 
 have died in the faith, scarcely forty converts at the 
 three stations, Kyelang, Poo and Leh. Nevertheless 
 its agents leave no stone unturned to win a people 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 -wholly persuaded of the superiority of their 
 own religion to every other in the world. Here 
 Christianity has to contend with the deep-seated self- 
 sufficiency, indifferentism and inertia, engendered by 
 the vast system of Buddhism, which has reigned for 
 centuries oyer the hearts and consciences of the in- 
 habitants of Tibet. 
 
 The Moravian missionaries are not alone in their 
 endeavours for that land, or in their experiences of the 
 difficulties of work among Baddhists. The China 
 Inland Mission is advancing towards Lhassa from the 
 north, while from hill stations in the north of India, as 
 e.g. the Presbyterian Mission at Darjeeling, and that of 
 the London Missionary Society at Almora, Tibetan 
 tracts and Scriptures are sent across the frontier by 
 every opportunity. The Roman Catholic Church has 
 long been zealous for Tibet, yet what gospel has she to 
 offer to its Buddhists ? Salvation by works and mis- 
 placed trust in human merits they have already ; the 
 message they need is " the exceeding riches of God's 
 grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. 
 Por by grace are ye saved through faith and that not 
 of yourselves ; it is the gift of God." 
 
 But the long toils of the Moravian missionaries 
 at those three Himalayan f oreposts, 9500, 10,000, and 
 11,000 feet above the sea, have not been in vain ; they 
 shall yet achieve great results, and receive their rich 
 reward. A glorious harvest shall yet be reaped from 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 tlie Gospel seed sown in their schools, by their 
 .preaching, and by the tracts and portions of Scripture 
 •distributed on their extensive evangelistic journeys 
 -across the bleak plains of Rupchu, Ladak, Nubra, and 
 •other lands, and over passes far higher than the Bummit 
 ■of Mont Blanc. 
 
 Further, not only have they been sowing the good 
 seed wherever their personal influence could reach, bat 
 they have been preparing weapons for future attacks 
 on Satan's kingdom beyond that frontier, which they 
 themselves have crossed from time to time, only to find 
 that they were "boycotted" by the jealous Chinese 
 authorities, and that they must return or perish. Some 
 day the door into Chinese Tibet, at which they have 
 so often knocked, shall be opened, though prayer be 
 now its only key. Then will the Tibetan Dictionary 
 and Grammar, laboriously prepared by these Moravian 
 missionaries, and the books of the Bible, including the 
 whole of the New Testament, translated by them into 
 that difficult language, prove to be the best preparation 
 for wide-spread missionary activity in the last land of 
 earth still closed to the Gospel. 
 
 What gives you such faith in the future success of 
 this mission and other efforts for Tibet ? 
 
 I reply that the spirit of supplication is being poured 
 out by the Holy Ghost upon God's people with respect 
 to this matter. From Britain, from North America, 
 from China, from India, eager eyes are turned towards 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Chinese Tibet, and longing hearts are making definite 
 request that God's truth may penetrate this stronghold 
 of Buddhism. Does not this seem like the drawing 
 back of some of the iron bolts ? The Lord hasten 
 the time when door after door shall be unbarred, 
 and His servants shall plant the Gospel standard at 
 Lhassa itself. 
 
 It only remains to be stated that the ground work of 
 this pamphlet is a German book written some years ago 
 by the Rev. H. G. Schneider, author of many missionary 
 tracts, and now editor of the " Missions-Blatt der 
 Evangelischen Briidergemeine." This has been freely 
 translated and revised to date by Mr. Arthur "Ward, a 
 member of a thoroughly missionary family. 
 
 That it may reward his careful work by spreading an 
 earnest and prayerful interest in the mission of which 
 it treats, and in the land for which it pleads, is the wish 
 of his friend, 
 
 B. La Teobb, 
 Secretary of Moravian ilissions 
 and of the Tibet Prayer Union. 
 
Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 9 
 
 Chapter I. In the Vallet aud on the Height 
 
 „ II. Ways op Communication . . .15 
 „ III. The Tibetans at Home . . .20 
 „ IV. Social Life op the People . . .27 
 „ V. Buddhism and its Peiests . . .30 
 
 „ VI. The Laitt 43 
 
 „ VII. The First Missionaeies . . .50 
 „VIII. How the Mission-Work is Carried on 61 
 „ IX. Leh and the Medical Mission . . 71 
 „ X. The Results op the Work . . .77 
 
 XI. Nathanael . 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 85 
 
 „ XII. Buddhist Tolerance : how Par it mat 
 
 BE Trusted ? 92 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Thb Yak ob Tibetan Ox . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Women of Ladak .... 
 
 . 22 
 
 Peayeb Mills ..... 
 
 . 40 
 
 Pbayee Wheel and Flag . 
 
 . 41 
 
 Leh, ike Capital oe Ladak 
 
 . 74 
 
WOEKING AND WAITING 
 
 TIBET. 
 
 Chaptee I. 
 
 fit tlje ^kIU^ nxia an i\it Pi^tjg^i 
 
 I HE country south of tte Himalayas offers 
 a striking contrast to the northern 
 side. Northward the mountains lose 
 themselves in the almost unknown 
 land of Tibet, the priest governed state. 
 On their slopes feed the flocks and herds 
 which form the wealth of the people, and 
 they send forth from their rugged bosom 
 the three great streams which fructify 
 the north of India. But the upper courses of these 
 rivers are marked upon the map with dotted lines, and 
 few Europeans have penetrated into the country, save 
 an adventurous huntsman in search of some rare kind of 
 mountain-sheep, and one or two equally adventur- 
 ous explorers. Southward from the enchanted home of 
 eternal snow, " where the silence lives," the scene 
 changes. Railways convey the passenger to his desti- 
 nation while he sleeps. The telegraph brings the 
 
10 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 latest news from the ends of the earth. Roads, 
 bridges, steamers, everything which an enlightened 
 government can supply, make intercourse and traffic 
 easy, and improve the condition of the people. 
 
 Not in the plains of India, but ten thousand feet 
 above its " coral strand," lies the particular region, 
 which this volume invites its readers to visit. Where 
 the mighty ranges of the Himalayas spread out and 
 trend northward, British territory becomes like a 
 wedge driven in between Tibet and Afghanistan, while 
 not far off the outposts of the Russian Empire stand 
 waiting for an opportimity to push forward towards 
 the rising sun. Here are the sources of the ancient 
 Indus, the boundary of Alexander's empire ; and of the 
 Sutlej, " the river proceeding from the elephant's 
 mouth," and descending through deep gorges to water 
 the Punjab. Between these rivers lies the lovely valley 
 of Kashmir, whose charms are so great that many a 
 Christian scientist has been tempted to believe that this 
 was the cradle of the human race — the Paradise of our 
 first parents — destroyed by sin. Few places in the 
 world, perhaps none, tell with such power the glory of 
 God, and the might of his terrible acts. 
 
 These Himalayan districts know all the climates of 
 the three zones. The passage from a tropical to a 
 temperate, or even an arctic climate, is exceedingly 
 rapid, for it takes place, so to speak, in a perpendicular 
 instead of in a horizontal direction. Nature may be 
 likened to a three-storeyed house. Down in the plain 
 and in the valleys wave fruitful rice-fields; the bamboo 
 grows exuberantly ; the soft warm breath of the tropical 
 breeze gently fans the tops of the slender palm-trees ; 
 the underwood forms impenetrable walls of green, rich, 
 in strange flowers, and alive with birds of gorgeous 
 plumage. Here are all the beauty and luxuriance, but 
 at the same time all the drawbacks and terrors of the 
 torrid zone. The heat of the blazing sun is unbearable. 
 The rainy season brings flood-like torrents ; and these- 
 jungles are a refuge for the blood-thirsty tiger and the 
 treacherous serpent. 
 
FOR TIBET. 11 
 
 Panting and bathed in perspiration, the traveller 
 climlDa the rocky landings which nature provides him 
 as a staircase to the second storey. Here the air is 
 cool, the cedar invites him into its shade. Cnrran 
 and gooseberries grow wild. The walnut, the willow, 
 the poplar, and the oak flourish in the fertile soil. 
 Every kind of vegetable and corn grows better than in 
 Europe. The vine, laden with enormous clusters, 
 forms thick natural arbours. Within easy reach of 
 the hand splendid melons, peaches, pears, and ajaples 
 hang, waiting to be plucked. The apricot clothes the 
 hills in thick forests, often attaining to the size and 
 strength of the oak. These trees are a fine sight when 
 in bloom, and delightful it is to wander in their cool and 
 refreshing shade. Dried apricots form the main staple 
 of food for the winter, generally boiled down into 
 so-called " coolie soup." So plentiful are they that 
 the export of fruit is one of the chief sources of income 
 for the inhabitants of these hills and valleys. Above 
 and beyond gleam the mountains, whose brooks and 
 rivulets water the soil and moisten the roots of this 
 rich vegetation. A majestic, a marvellous sight ! From 
 their foundation of limestone, often most weird and 
 jagged, these giants of the world rise rugged and bold. 
 Clad in pnrest white, their dazzling crests stand out in 
 clear relief against the deep blue sky. The grandeur 
 of Switzerland, the romantic beauty of Norwegian 
 mountains, fade into insignificance before the splendour 
 of this scene. 
 
 Onward, np to the dizzy height of the third storey ! 
 The way is long and difficult ; for the breaks in the 
 massive wall of mountains are for the most part at a 
 higher elevation than the summit of Mont Blanc, with 
 its 15,732 feet ! These passes, between 13,000 and 
 19,000 feet above the level of the sea, are covered with 
 a mantle of eternal snow. Alpine roses, and all tho 
 other beautiful flowers of Alpine regions are left far 
 behind. IsTo vegetation can exist here, save in some 
 sheltered spot the hardy birch ; not even the bush-like 
 dwarf-pine can crawl along the ground. Dried dung 
 
ms^- 
 
 
 
 «^V' 
 
 
 '^'*^^f:':>. 
 
 S '\ 
 
 
 
 
 ^«.^fe^%^^ 
 
 ,?A 1^ 
 
 '^?^^'_ls^ 
 
 THE TAK OE TIBETAN OX. 
 
WORKING AND WAITING FOE TIBET. 13 
 
 forms tte only fuel, hardly sufficing to provide a warm 
 beverage for tlie traveller -whom night overtakes in 
 the passes or on the adjoining plateau. Scarcely ahle 
 to breathe the rarefied air, suffering acute pain from 
 the " ladug," or " pass-poison," as it is called by the 
 natives, he lies dovm exhausted in his tent. This, along 
 with the rest of his baggage and his provisions, has 
 been carried for him by hired porters or the faithful 
 yak. This animal is to these countries what the camel 
 of the desert is to the Arab. His huge size, his enormous 
 head, his terrible horns, impress a stranger with a 
 feeling akin to dismay. His eyes stare wildly from 
 under the mass of shaggy hair which hangs down 
 his forehead ; his legs look shorter than they really are, 
 on account of the long hair with which the whole body 
 is covered, He is shorn once a year, and his hair used 
 for manufactures. His fine bushy tail is a valuable 
 article of trade, and is regarded by the princes of India 
 as a sign of dignity. Useful as he is to the farmer — 
 being almost universally employed in ploughing — the 
 yak is absolutely indispensable to the traveller ; for no 
 other animal is so sure-footed and reliable on the 
 most slippery and dangerous paths. Wild as he is in 
 appearance, he is good-natured withal, enduring the 
 changes of cold and heat without apparently minding 
 them in the least ; free from dizziness on the precipices, 
 and unaifected by the rarity of the atmosphere, whilst 
 even horses and asses are said to bleed from the nose 
 when crossing the Taglang Pass, which is 18,000 feet 
 above sea-level. 
 
 But when the traveller has spent the night shivering 
 in his tent, if the morning is fine and clear, a sight 
 awaits him beautiful and grand beyond all description. 
 The tops of the mountains far and near, the vast 
 glaciers, cleft with deep chasms and fissures, are tinged 
 with a soft rosy light. Beneath him the mountain-tarn, 
 whose deep waters are by broad daylight a transparent 
 green, slumbers still in violet shade, while in the east 
 the glorious sun arises out of his golden bath. 
 
 In bad weather, however, the passes are dangerous. 
 
14 WORKING AND WAITING FOR TIBET. 
 
 A fhick mist, wliicli usually dissolves in snow, envelops 
 ttem, shutting out all view; tlie storm howls, the 
 cold is intense ; man and beast grow weary in the 
 struggle against wind and weather, and often know not 
 in what direction they ought to proceed. Many a 
 bleaching skeleton of fallen baggage-animals, and here 
 and there a human skull, silently witness of the fate 
 that has overtaken not a few in these regions of icy 
 cold. 
 
Chapter II. 
 
 Not only the passes are dangerous, but also the ways 
 leading up to them. Frequent avalanches bring the 
 thundering greetings of the giant hills down into the 
 valleys ; or masses of detached rock and rubble and 
 earth rush down from the heights, destroying every- 
 thing that lies in their way. A companion of the 
 messengers of peace, of whom we ghall speak by-and- 
 by, once escaped only by jumping into a river and 
 crouching down behind a projecting rock, whilst a 
 torrent of stones and mud thundered beside him and 
 over him into the stream. He saved his life, but an 
 injured foot long reminded him of the danger in which 
 he had been. 
 
 So the mountains bear harsh sway over the valleys at 
 their feet. When winter has held his triumphant 
 entry into this kingdom of eternal snow, each valley is 
 debarred from intercourse with its neighbours by an 
 inexorable line of sentinels. Sach immense quantities 
 of snow collect even in the lowest passes, and such 
 storms rage there, that it is impossible to cross them 
 long after smiling spring in the vale below may suggest 
 excursions and travel. This quarantine lasts sometimes 
 three or four months, during which time all communi- 
 cation with the world on the other side of the " valley 
 walls " is cut off. 
 
 Even in the siimmar months, when the passes are 
 
16 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 not blocked, the connection witli the outer world o£ 
 civilization is very slight, for several reasons. There 
 are at present very few proper roads. True, the 
 English Government is untiring in its improvements in 
 this respect and in the postal service ; but these tasks are 
 fraught with enormous difficulties and expense. To 
 make a road amongst such mountains is not easy, and 
 when it is made, an avalanche may ruin the labour 
 of weeks, destroying bridges, breaking down galleries, 
 and tearing up the solid ground. Por European 
 travellers, as for its own officials, the Indian Govern- 
 ment has built houses at certain halting-places. These 
 " dak bungalows " are intended just for spending the 
 night. The greater the distance from Simla, the 
 smaller, the less habitable, and the more dilapidated do 
 they become. They sometimes consist of only one 
 very small and narrow room, without any arrangements 
 for heating it. There are also certain natives in the 
 villages, whose duty it is to send on mails by carriers 
 or chance visitors. Seldom is anything lost, but letters 
 are a long time on the way. " For six weeks," writes 
 one of the missionaries in a remote district, when about 
 to set off on a tour down the left bank of the Sutlej, " I 
 shall be cut off from all communication with my home, 
 as the transmission of letters is very difficult and 
 uncertain. At one place the rope bridge across the 
 river is not always to be found ; in that case letters are 
 attached to a stone and thrown across, and naturally 
 not every letter reaches the opposite bank." Only 
 when despatch is very urgent do the " post-munshis " 
 rouse themselves to greater expedition ; and in 
 order to show that this is required, the sender fastens 
 an eagle's feather somewhere on the missive. In 
 Chinese Tibet the address of a letter, which is to be 
 promptly forwarded, is written in blood. 
 
 Bad roads and the slowness of the natives are not 
 the only impediments to communication with the rest 
 of India and Europe. The greatest obstacles are the 
 numerous rivers. Their current is always fierce, and 
 their breadth astonishing. One cannot dream of 
 
FOR TIBET. 17 
 
 crossing them, in boats ; for they mostly rush madly 
 down the deep ravines they have hollowed out, 
 and their beds are strewn with rocks in the -wildest 
 confusion. One has therefore, where the banks admit 
 of access, to employ a very curious and very suitable, 
 though not exactly elegant, craft. The hide of an ox 
 or yak is carefully sewn up till only a very small 
 opening is left. Through this air is forced into the 
 huge bag, so that it once more assumes the appearance 
 of a sleek ox with stumpy legs. Then the last opening 
 is sewn up, and your vessel is ready. It is placed in 
 the water, legs-uppermost ; the ferryman lies down 
 between them, and steers partly with his feet, and 
 partly with a small paddle which he holds in his hands. 
 The traveller lays himself upon the ferryman, clinging 
 tightly to him. Then the voyage begins, and it ia 
 always a very quick one. So the faithful yak yields 
 willing and devoted service even after death. Often 
 the perpendicular banks make it impossible to use even 
 this method of crossing, and compel the traveller to go 
 miles out of his way. Sonietim.es he may have to wait 
 for the waters to subside. Wot that they will flow 
 away entirely ; but, as the streams are fed chiefly, if 
 not altogether, by the glaciers, they vary in volume and 
 depth according as the sun has time and power enough 
 to thaw the ice. In the latter part of the afternoon 
 they are fullest and their current at its strongest ; 
 towards evening the waters fall, and one can venture 
 in some places to ride through them. This difficulty 
 may be avoided if one can start in June, before the 
 melting away of the snow bridges over the mountain- 
 torrents, and before the rapid rising of their waters 
 have increased the perils of the journey. At another 
 season of the year one is often obliged to climb for 
 hours along steep slopes to find a place where the 
 torrent can be crossed by a enow bridge or any other 
 means. 
 
 Here and there one finds bridges, but very Himalayan 
 in character, filling a European with dismay. They 
 are of two kinds. One consists of a footway of inter- 
 
 2 
 
18 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 •woven -willow and birch twigs, about balf-a-foot in 
 width. Above this at about the height of a man's 
 waist, two ropes of the same material serve as hand- 
 rails, and are connected at long intervals with the 
 basket-work which forms the bottom of the bridge. 
 One might easily slip between them. The ends of 
 the bridges are firmly bnilt into solid mason-work on 
 either side, and if they were renewed every three years, 
 as they should be, there would be no fear of their 
 breaking. But some are made to serve for even five 
 or six years, till they have stretched so much, that the 
 traveller is all the time in fear lest the rotten twigs 
 should give way and precipitate him into the stream. 
 The best of them are unsteady and shaky, besides being 
 several feet lower in the middle than at the ends ; for 
 their great length, which varies from 100 to 150 feet, 
 makes it impossible to stretch them quite tight. Nor 
 does it add to the comfort of the situation when the 
 footway is made a yard or four feet in width, and 
 therefore is considered to require no side-ropes to hold 
 on by. At least the European does not think so, who 
 has to stand and watch his wife and children being 
 carried across one by one. If the water ran smoothly 
 about four feet beneath the bridge it would not be 
 anything very dreadful ; but it does not. About fifty 
 or a hundred feet below, a seething torrent chafes and 
 frets, and charges, and crashes against the rocks which 
 have fallen from the cliffs into its deeply hollowed 
 bed. The bridge seems to swim, the roaring torrent 
 to stand still. No wonder the stranger becomes dizzy 
 at every step on his swinging pathway. Not so the 
 natives. They are accustomed to nothing better, and 
 have not learned to consider a broad path with hand- 
 rails at all necessary. They walk over their bridges 
 quite unconcernedly, and even make way for one 
 another to pass. 
 
 That is one kind of bridge. Whether the other is 
 safer and inspires one with more confidence, the reader 
 may decide. It consists of a hempen rope, stretching 
 from bank to bank. The traveller sits or stands on a 
 
FOR TIBET. 19 
 
 large movaMe loop, also formed of rope, -which is pulled 
 across to the other side hy a thinner cord. 
 
 Considering the primitive means of communication, 
 the varied dangers which threaten travellers, and the 
 many accidents which happen in these mountains, we 
 can easily xmderstand that the messengers of the Gospel, 
 when they go on their preaching-tours, commend them- 
 selves more earnestly to God, than we may be in the 
 habit of doing when we set out on a journey. Yet by 
 rail or road or dizzy mountain path it is the mercy of 
 the Lord alone that causes us to reach our destination 
 in safety. 
 
 2 * 
 
Chaptee III. 
 
 C§-£ %%himB at '§am&. 
 
 The inBabitants of Little Tibet belong mostly to the 
 Mongolian race. They are short but strong, lithe and 
 active. They have round faces, prominent cheek-bones, 
 and eyes not quite so small and slanting as is usual 
 vpith their race. The colour of their skin is a brownish- 
 yellow, but no darker than that of a European after a 
 tramp of a few weeks in bright summer weather. 
 
 There is very little distinction in dress between men 
 and women. Both sexes wear trousers, hidden from 
 sight by long woollen mantles of homespun, differing 
 only in colour. The women are always dressed in black, 
 the men in white. They wear a long sash round the 
 waist, and on their feet home-made shoes of straw- 
 elegantly shaped. In winter a short cloak of sheep- 
 skin or goat-skin is worn over the usual clothing by 
 both sexes. 
 
 The women do np their hair in about thirty plaits, a 
 piece of work which requires so much time that it is 
 undertaken only about once a month. The real head- 
 dress, fastened upon this forest of plaits, varies very 
 much in different districts. In one they wear what 
 they call a " kyir-kyir," a coronet of silver, ornamented 
 with nuggets of gold found in the rivers ; in another a 
 so-called " berak," a strip of woollen cloth two-and-a- 
 half yards long, and about the width of a man's hand. 
 It is bound round the forehead, flowing down behind 
 
WORKING AND WAITING FOR TIBET. 21 
 
 to the seam of their long mantle, and is adorned 
 "witli large silver ornamentSj studded with turquoises. 
 The largest and most beautiful of these stones is fixed 
 in the middle of the forehead, and the whole head- 
 dress is often costly even among the common people. 
 Besides this the women wear necklaces of amber and 
 silver, and large, heavy ear-rings, fastened, not in the 
 lobe, but in the upper part of the ear. As they have 
 five or six of these the ear becomes dreadfully 
 deformed. 
 
 Just as in Switzerland, the Tyrol, and every moun- 
 tainous country each valley has certain peculiarities of 
 custom, dress, dialect, and building, so here the houses 
 are in no two districts entirely alike. They are usually 
 two-storeyed, with flat slate roofs ; but in some places 
 the roof is made of branches resting on narrow beams, 
 and covered with earth well stamped down. On the 
 ground-floor are the stables for the cattle ; the people 
 live upstairs, spending much of their time on the 
 verandah which occupies one side of the house. 
 Chimneys are seldom met with. In fine weather the 
 smoke finds its way out by an aperture in the roof, 
 which is closed with a large flat stone as soon as it 
 begins to rain. Though the population is very 
 scattered, the houses are usually built in larger or 
 smaller groups so as to form villages. 
 
 Nearly all the people are farmers. They cultivate 
 barley, wheat, rape, buckwheat, and peas ; they raise 
 cattle, and especially sheep and goats. Every man has 
 at least enough sheep to provide him with sufficient 
 wool for the clothing of his family and himself. 
 Besides various dishes prepared from milk and flour, 
 the apricots mentioned above, and rice, they use the 
 Tibetan " butter tea," or " brick tea." It receives the 
 latter name from its shape. The fresh tea-leaves are 
 pressed in moulds into a solid cake, like a thin brick, 
 which in colour reminds one of a cake of tobacco. A 
 piece is broken or cut oif and boiled with salt and 
 butter, or mutton fat. The concoction tastes more like 
 broth than tea. 
 
[ :^;B^§?^g/-?;>B5g-^A^icS^fte^^^— ^- , -~ 
 
 WOMEN OF LADAK. 
 
WORKING AND WAITING FOB, TIBET. 23 
 
 Even in these secluded regions no tribe is to be 
 found wliich has not some kind of intoxicating drink. 
 Unfortunately they are too fond of indulging in their 
 favourite beverage, "chang," a thick dirty-white liquid 
 prepared from barley, but quite unlike European 
 brandy or beer except in its intoxicating qualities. 
 
 Eor the greater part of the year they are farmers. 
 But vphen August and September come round they 
 turn traders. Caravans assemble from far and near to 
 attend the fairs in the larger villages and towns with 
 their different wares : wood, rice, corn, spices, sugar, 
 salt, goat's hair, borax, etc. Every man gives what he 
 has in exchange for what he wants. Even Europe is, to 
 a certain extent, dependent on the fluctuations of this 
 Tibetan market ; for it is in these countries that the 
 real valuable Kashmir goods are manufactured from 
 the soft fine hair of the graceful snow-white Kashmir 
 
 Tibetan borax, too, plays an important part in the 
 European market. It is used as a cement in the pre- 
 paration of glass, enamel, and china, in making varnish, 
 and for other purposes. The natives pack it in leather 
 satchels, which they strap across the backs of their 
 sheep. Sometimes there are as many as three or four 
 hundred sheep in a single caravan. These climb 
 up-hill and down-hill, over snow-covered passes, and 
 up the mountain- sides in search of food with their 
 pack on their back. Not even during the night are 
 they relieved of their burden. To make up for it, 
 they are very much lighter on the way home ; for they 
 also carry their own fleeces to market, and when they 
 arrive there, they get rid of their wool as well as of 
 their baggage. 
 
 In character the people are by no means repulsive. 
 They are good-natured, cheerful, friendly, and fond of 
 singing both at home and at work in the field. True, their 
 singing cannot claim any excellence from a musical point 
 of view, but it indicates a certain simple-mindedness, 
 which is always ready to take a bright view of life, and 
 to see good in everything. " On the other hand, any- 
 
24 WOBKING AND WAITING 
 
 thing like real gratitude is not to be found in them. It 
 seems as if benefits and injuries were equally soon for- 
 gotten." This was the verdict of the earlier mission- 
 aries. But a later report says : " Complaints are often 
 made of the ingratitude of the natives ; perhaps because 
 their thanks are expressed in their own way rather than 
 in the European manner. A friendly ' Salaam ' {i.e. 
 'Peace' be with you), or 'Shu,' on the part of a 
 native is quite equivalent to a formal ' Thank you ' 
 in Europe. Their favourite mode of expressing their 
 gratitude is by taking hold of the coat lappet and 
 touching it with the forehead." It is with them as 
 with all nations ; their character varies according as a 
 district retains its rusticity, or becomes a centre of 
 enterprise andcoiumerce. Sotheunsophisticated Tibetan 
 is a good-humoured, tolerant being, not on principle 
 but by nature. But where foreign traders traverse the 
 landin great numbers, thepeople deteriorate. Lyingand 
 deception, theft and immorality, gain the upper hand, 
 and the heart is blunted for everything higher. Avarice, 
 their besetting sin, becomes intensified to such a degree 
 as to deter them from doing anybody a favour, if it be 
 connected with sacrifice to themselves. In the same 
 way their tolerance is easily converted into persecution ; 
 for though as a rule they do not view foreigners and 
 missionaries with hostile feelings or suspicion, yet, 
 when excited by their lamas, they are treacherous 
 and cruel. Judging from the ability they display in 
 business, one might suppose them to be possessed of con- 
 siderable intelligence ; for they are hard-working and 
 remarkably handy. Tet they seem often to be almost 
 incapable of brain work. This appears due not so 
 much to lack of understanding as to other reasons. The 
 very way in which they feed their children is enough 
 to sow the seed of early stupidity. They are not 
 weaned till they are four, five, or even six years of age, 
 and then they are stuffed with food prepared chiefly 
 with oil, obtained from apricot-seeds. Nor have they 
 any idea of cleanliness. In winter they never wash, 
 their children, but the mother rubs them all over with 
 
FOR TIBET. 25 
 
 fat. All this cannot be conducive to a healthy develop- 
 ment of the mind. 
 
 Further, they are utterly lacking in perseverance. 
 They are allowed to run -wild from childhood, and as 
 they are never taught to fix their attention on mental 
 work of any kind they soon get tired of it. For instance, 
 three young men, seeing the great advantage, under 
 present political circumstances, of knowing English, 
 went to one of the missionaries and asked to be taught. 
 He willingly agreed to teach them without payment. 
 They persevered for a few weeks, but then they said to 
 him : " You Europeans are quite different from us in 
 learning. It is not in our line." With that they left 
 him and never returned. 
 
 But a great reason for the backwardness of the 
 Tibetans is that their lamas purposely keep them in the 
 grossest ignorance, because it is for their own interest 
 to maintain the superstitions which they themselves 
 sneer at. 
 
 The custom of polygamy has a good deal to do with 
 this mental incapacity, and still more so the degraded 
 custom of polyandry among the poorer classes. They 
 themselves realise their backwardness, which is most 
 striking among the women. Some of them once 
 declared to the missionary, with sad mai«;eie' : "We are 
 as stupid as oxen." A sad confession on the part of 
 beings formed in the image of God ! Their stupidity 
 and superstition are most terribly shown in their treat- 
 ment of the sick. When small-pox breaks out, the 
 sick are sometimes conveyed to the monasteries. The 
 inhabitants of those villages, where the epidemic has 
 not yet made its appearance, endeavour to stay its pro- 
 gress by placing thorns on the bridges and at the 
 boundaries, to terrify the evil spirits supposed to carry 
 the disease. Patients who die are thrown into the 
 rivers. If isolated cases occur, the victims are taken to 
 the top of a mountain and there left, to get well or die. 
 The richest man in one of the villages was once com- 
 pelled by public opinion to expose his daughter on the 
 mountains, and leave her to her fate. 
 
26 WOEKING AND WAITING FOB TIBET. 
 
 Their great panacea is butter. Butter taken inter- 
 nally and externally is expected to cure every disease. 
 If not, the sickness is supposed to be caused by evil 
 spirits, and then the lamas have to be called to the rescue. 
 Some people have a supply of butter fifty years old 
 laid by in their houses, sewn up in sacks and skins ; 
 this is produced with great pride on special occasions, 
 as the oldest wine is brought out at European 
 banquets. 
 
Chapter IV. 
 
 The social and political position of tlie lower classes 
 is deplorable. Two out of our three mission-stations 
 «re within the borders of British territory. The third 
 is in Ladak, and on their evangelising tours, our 
 missionaries traverse other districts belonging to the 
 Maharajah of Kashmir, where not long ago Europeans 
 were not allowed to reside. The mass of the people 
 are Tibetans, but the rajahs or princes and the 
 nobles are Hindus and Brahmanists. So there exists 
 between rulers and ruled not only a political, but also a 
 religious antagonism. 
 
 Two or three times a year the peasant has to render 
 unpaid service to his lord, with wife and child, and 
 cattle, for several weeks at a time, for his ruler is 
 usually the richest m.erohant of the province, and he 
 must carry his salt or other merchandise over the 
 mountains to the great marts. Further, the poor down- 
 trodden peasant not only pays burdensome taxes, but 
 has to support the tax-gatherers. These oflficials are 
 intent on filling their own purses whilst collecting the 
 revenue of their masters. One finds whole villages 
 ■deserted because the inhabitants, weary of intolerable 
 ■oppression and cruelty, have fled into English territory, 
 leaving all their possessions behind. Often on their 
 journeys the missionaries have interfered with some 
 official, whom they have seen beating the coolies under 
 
28 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 his charge with the most shameful hrntality, and with- 
 out the slightest provocation. But this inhumanity 
 reaches its height in the report of what was done to- 
 some people at Shipke, in Chinese Tibet. The inhabi- 
 tants of this border-Tillage having given trouble by 
 their resistance to taxation, and the like, the governor 
 at last received instructions to kill them all. He 
 had one after another thrown on the ground, and 
 beaten with cudgels up to two hundred blows. Three 
 men died under the punishment, and others were in b, 
 shocking condition. The rest fled, for a time, from the 
 place. In the interior of Tibet Proper, such savage 
 punishments are said to be common. 
 
 Over and above all this, their Hindu masters try to 
 force upon them Brahmanism with its system of caste, 
 and its veneration of cattle. Sometimes a Buddhist, 
 for killing an ox, has had his hands and nose cut off. 
 Thus, Hinduism, being intellectually superior, makes 
 its power felt, not only in customs formerly unknown to 
 the Tibetans, but also in despotic oppression and 
 cruelty. 
 
 In the territory under English influence the natives 
 are much better off ; but even there a poor man's lot is 
 not a happy one. The English Grovernment wisely 
 works very gradually when aiming at an extension o£ 
 its power, and the opening up of new lands to civiliza- 
 tion. It confirms the native princes in their position 
 for a time ; it appoints native officials ; partly because 
 there are no European officials available ; partly because 
 Europeans would be ignorant of the language and 
 customs of the country. Politic as is this method o£ 
 gradual advance, it involves, for a time, the necessity 
 of overlooking many an evil that demands reform, not 
 only for the sake of Christianity, but for the sake of 
 common humanity and justice. Hence the establish- 
 ment of British supremacy is not simultaneous with the 
 cessation of despotism and cruelty. At first, perhaps, 
 a few crying abuses are abolished, especially when they 
 are complained of by Europeans. Still the native 
 officials feel that a certain restraint is laid upon them. 
 
FOR TIBET. 29 
 
 The magic of the English name inspires them with 
 fear, yet they cling to their old heathenish traditions, 
 which teach them to oppress and plunder their subjects. 
 Sometimes they can indulge their natural instincts un- 
 checked. Occasionally the English officer may he a 
 young man, who treats the common herd in Asiatic 
 rather than in European style. His arrogant, harsh, 
 contemptuous manner deprives them of the courage to 
 appeal to this hero of civilization, as the guardian and 
 upholder of justice, for protection against their oppres- 
 sors. On the other hand, there are men among the 
 higher English officials who show the deepest sympathy 
 with the lot of the poor people, and do their utmost to 
 help them. Least of all can the missionaries of the 
 Moravian Church complain of their treatment at the 
 hands of the British Grovemment. Both officially and 
 privately they receive in various ways the most kindly 
 support. Without such help they could scarcely have 
 continued at their post for so many years. For they 
 have to grapple with no common difficulties. Their 
 task is to arouse out of the sleep of death a heathen race 
 which has for centuries been isolated, and is petrified 
 in the formalities of a gigantic religious system, com- 
 pounded of philosophy and superstition. 
 
Chapter V. 
 §wbir^5;sm Etttr its |rusts. 
 
 Fully to Tinderstand tlie greatness of the missionary 
 task in these countries, we must glance at the power 
 which holds captive the hearts of men. That power is 
 JBuddhism. 
 
 Many centuries before the hirth of Christ, Brahman 
 ism developed out of the worship of the phenomena 
 of nature, fire and water, the sun, and the great vault 
 of heaven, emhlera of the unknown. It teaches that 
 Brahma is the supreme "being, from whom are all things. 
 But he is a being without personality, a vague, 
 shadowy existence, incomprehensible and indescribable, 
 a mere eternal life. He, nevertheless, energizes in 
 the visible world, now forming, now preserving, now 
 destroying. As the preserving principle he is called 
 Vishnu. Vishnu is the preserver not only in the realm 
 of nature, but also in the history of mankind. By so- 
 called incarnations he appears in certain heroes and 
 great intellects, in order to stay the advance of evil. 
 But that which comes into being must also decay. The 
 god of decay and destruction is Siva ; and, since that 
 which dies and passes away always makes room for new 
 life, he is at the same time the god of generation and 
 propagation. In him, love and hatred, death and life, 
 are united. These three, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva 
 form the Hindu Trimurti, bearing a faint resemblance 
 to the Christian Trinity. Side by side with this Triad, 
 
WORKING AND WAITING FOR TIBET. 31 
 
 ■whicli, of course, could never be ■understood by the 
 people, there is an innumerable host of demigods, sub- 
 ordinate deities, demons, and saints. The mass of the 
 people content themselves with these, and calmly leave 
 it to the priests and learned men to busy themselves 
 ■with speculations regarding the Trimurti. 
 
 Brahmanism has asocial as well as a religious aspect. 
 It is synonymous with the harsh, haughty, and heartless 
 system of caste. The priests, or Brahmins, form the 
 highest caste, unattainable save to those born into it. 
 To it belong the keys of heaven. To it all others are 
 subject, and though the priest may have intercourse 
 •with the upper castes, the lower ones are unclean, and 
 are treated by all the rest with disdain. 
 
 In the sixth century, B.C., a reformation in Brahman- 
 ism, resulted in the establishment of a new religion, 
 Buddhism. Its founder was Gautama, who received 
 the title of the Buddha, i.e. the Enlightened One. A 
 prince by birth, he is said to have lived at first in 
 splendour, and in the pursuit of pleasure. Suddenly 
 overcome by a conviction of the vanity of all earthly 
 things, he left his throne, betook himself into solitude, 
 and from that time devoted himself solely to the 
 welfare of his fellow-men. In order to make his teach- 
 ings acceptable to the adherents of Brahmanism, his 
 disciples declared him to be an incarnation of Vishnu. 
 But soon the difference between his new teachings and 
 those of the priests began to make itself felt, and a 
 general persecution broke out against his followers. 
 They were driven out of India, and going northwards 
 spread themselves over Tibet, China, and Mongolia, 
 till now the Buddhists are said to number 120 millions, 
 while the Brahmanists are reckoned at only sixty 
 millions. 
 
 Buddha merely went a step further than Brahman- 
 ism. The latter had defined the supreme being in as 
 vague a manner as possible, teaching that he was not 
 a person but a power. Buddha declared the supreme 
 being to be " a nothing." Just as all sensuous appear- 
 ances were nothing but revelations of this supreme 
 
32 [WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 being, all destined to pass away, the particular to be 
 sunk in tbe general, so, too, it was the highest happiness 
 for man to be divested of all corporeality, and to be 
 dissolved in the nothing. This supreme destiny of 
 mortals is called Nirvana, the "extinction" of wishes 
 and desires, "freedom from the evils of being." This 
 blessedness is, however, granted only to those who seek 
 after the highest knowledge and practise the greatest 
 virtues. Each one must gain it for himself by con- 
 sistent walking in the path of virtue, whilst the wicked 
 man after death returns into a body, the prison of the 
 soul, until he is purified, and walks in virtue's ways. 
 Then, at last, he too is removed to that highest sphere, 
 where all is Buddha and Buddha himself is nothing. 
 
 It was not this part of his doctrine which made 
 Buddhism so hated by the Brahmanists, but his view 
 of social life. He taught that all men on earth are 
 Bufiering brethren, and naust help one another. He 
 therefore rejects the inhuman system of caste. The 
 priests of his religion are all unmarried, and so cannot 
 possibly form a class distinct from all others ; for every 
 man may become a priest. 
 
 With the shadowy pantheism of Buddha it is evident 
 that the common people could do nothing. Conse- 
 quently an entirely different view of Buddhism has 
 asserted itself in every-day life, based, however, upon 
 that which has just been sketched. Briefly and aptly 
 to define the practical Buddhism of Tibet, one may call 
 it a kind off Catholicism in Asiatic surroundings. 
 This comparison may at first sight appear uncharitable, 
 yet it is borne out by the impartial testimony of the 
 Jesuit travellers, Hue and Gabet. From 1844 to 1846 
 ^ ,., these twoy Catholic missionaries travelled through 
 China and Tibet, the chief seats of Buddhism, to seek 
 for traces of a former mission of their order, and to see 
 if there was any prospect of success in renewing it. 
 Although at first startled by the resemblance between 
 the ritual of their Church and of Buddhism, they 
 take it as a sign that the Buddhists are predestined for 
 Catholicism: " The cross, the mitre, the priestly 
 
FOB TIBET. 33 
 
 robes, the surplice wliicli the Grand Lamas wear on 
 their joumeys, or when performing any ceremony out- 
 side the temple, the service with two choirs, the chant- 
 ing, the exorcisms, the censer hanging by its five-fold 
 chain, and opened or shut at will, the benediction which 
 the lamas pronounce with the right hand extended, the 
 rosary, the celibacy of the clergy, the monastic life, 
 the worship of saints, the fasts, processions, litanies, 
 and holy water — all these things," say they, "form a 
 remarkable resemblance between the Buddhists and 
 ourselves." 
 
 As one of our missionaries has said, it would be easy 
 to convert numbers of these Buddhists into Roman 
 Catholics. " Let them give the people instead of their 
 present prayer-flags such as are customary in the 
 Roman Catholic Church, and instead of their am.ulet3 
 a crucifix ; let them teach them to mutter " Ave 
 Maria" instead of ' Om mani padme hum,' and to 
 make the sign of the cross ; they do not need to give 
 them the rosary, for they possess it already ; but above 
 all let them offer, aloug with the assurance of eternal 
 life on easy terms, the means of subsistence for this life, 
 and thus ensure them freedom from anxiety, and the 
 poor, at any rate, would flock to such a Christianity in 
 crowds." This outward similarity springs from deeper 
 causes. Itis the result of thewhole hierarchical organi- 
 sation, and the mechanical system of good works. 
 
 The head of Buddhism is the Dalai-Lama, regarded 
 as the incarnation of the supreme being. He is the 
 political and spiritual head of all worshippers of Buddha, 
 though he has suffered the sam efate in his Church- 
 state, Tibet, as the Pope in his. For the Chinese 
 Government has compelled him to abdicate his secular 
 authority and to share it with Chinese officials. Even 
 in his Rome, his capital, Lhassa, there resides a Chinese 
 Governor. Still the Dalai-Lama is regarded by his true 
 followers with the deepest veneration. He owns no 
 superior and yields obedience to none. When he dies, 
 the " Soul of the Universe " takes up its abode in some 
 new-born child, which the priests of the Grand Lama's 
 
 3 
 
34 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 court recognise by certain signs. This child is then 
 brought with great pomp to Lhassa, whilst tens of 
 thoTisands throng the road and gather in the city to 
 pay their homage and to receive his benediction. A 
 council of lamas undertakes the regency till the child 
 grows up ; then he assumes the reins of government, 
 and retains them in his own hand until his death. All 
 the higher clergy and chief lamas are also incarnations, 
 with which the subordinate deities and former saints 
 favour humanity. 
 
 The following instance will show how they discover 
 the incarnation of a "kushog," or saint. In the year 
 1870 two of the chief lamas in the province of Ladak 
 died. They had received divine honours from the people, 
 who supposed that they brought special blessings, both 
 temporal and spiritual, to the province. When they 
 died there was great mourning. But people soon began 
 to speak, as is customary, about their new birth. One 
 of them had even said on his death-bed to his weeping 
 sister : " Weep not, for in three years I shall have 
 assumed another body, and shall be with you again." 
 But three years is a long time to wait. Soon after the 
 death of this kushog a baby was born in a rich family, 
 whom everybody took to be an ordinary child until 
 some interested person found that the soul of the 
 departed saint had entered into the boy. A lama, who 
 had been a long time in the service of the family, and 
 had only just left it, was deputed to examine the child, 
 and as it stretched out its arms to him, there was no 
 further doubt about the matter. The baby itself, they 
 said, had shown that the soul of the deceased had taken 
 up his abode in it, and was longing for the embrace 
 of his old colleague. The lama took the child with 
 him to the monastery, and it was thenceforth the chief 
 lama of the province, the bringer of blessings to the 
 people. 
 
 Life does not run altogether smoothly for the lamas. 
 Many of the laity, instead of recognising the blessings 
 supposed to be brought them by this hierarchy, compare 
 their own hard lot with the easy life led by most of the 
 
FOR TIBET. 35 
 
 lamas in tlie lamaseries maintained at their expense. 
 Sanguinary struggles liave repeatedly broken out in 
 . hassa during the last few decades between the 
 embittered laity and the clergy. A former lama named 
 Gjalzan (the Nathanael, of wliom we shall speak later,) 
 gave OUT missionaries an account of a rebellion which 
 broke out in 1872. All the lamas had to take up arms. 
 Their numbers were by no means small, as there are no 
 fewer than eleven monasteries in Lhassa, the largest of 
 which has 5,000 lamas, and a great many more in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of the city. Many supporters 
 of the Dalai-Lama fell in the contest ; but at length 
 they gained the victory, and wreaked a cruel vengeance 
 upon all who fell into their hands. The leaders of the 
 insurrection were bound, their flesh torn ofi" bit by bit, 
 and the pieces forced into their mouths till they were 
 sufibcated. Then they were flayed, and their heads and 
 hands cut off, and these ghastly trophies displayed in the 
 monasteries as a warning against revolt. Gjalzan bears 
 the marks of wounds received in battle for his Order. 
 
 These things show that the power of Buddhism is 
 shaken. Indeed, in the border-lands between Hiaduism 
 and Buddhism, it has adopted the system of caste, and 
 one now nieets vrith Buddhist fakirs, a class of fanatics 
 originally peculiar to Brahmanism. These are people 
 who hope by extraordinary self-denial, or bodily tor- 
 ments self-imposed, to earn a special place in heaven. 
 They support themselves by begging and conjuring. 
 They usually have a drinking cup, made out of a skull, 
 preferably that of a saint if it can be got ; for by using 
 it they hope at the same time to imbibe the wisdom of 
 the departed. Another part of their equipment is a 
 flute, likewise made out of the bones of a saint, with 
 the unharmonious notes of which they conjure up spirits. 
 The lamas have adopted from them the use of similar 
 drinking cups and flutes. Surely then the time is 
 coming when the banner of Christianity will be un- 
 folded in this benighted land, and when the darkness 
 shall flee away before the glorious light of the Day- 
 spring from on high. 
 
 3* 
 
36 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 All lamas, whatever tlieir rank, live in monasteries, 
 each of which is connected with a temple. There are 
 also nunneries, though these are considerably fewer in 
 number. As in the Roman Catholic Ohnrch, so there 
 are amongst the lamas many degrees of rank, and a 
 great number of different orders, distinguished by their 
 dress. Red and yellow are the predominant colours, 
 not only of their dress, but also of their hats and 
 umbrellas. Only younger sons may become lamas, 
 whilst the elder brothers inherit the family estate. To 
 have full authority with the people a lama must have 
 gone through a course of study at Lh assa. Previous 
 to despatching future students from one of the distant 
 provinces to Lhassa, the monks assemble in the large 
 hall of their monastery to hold a so-called " Kurim," 
 or religious service. This ceremony is supposed to 
 ensure a safe journey and a successful course of study 
 to the young aspirant, for the journey is often long and 
 perilous. But the majority study with their " khangpo," 
 or professor, in their own monastery. Comparatively 
 few out of the thousands of lamas in Tibet attain to 
 the higher grades, and some of these students are old 
 men with grey hair. 
 
 Many monasteries are built with great ingenuity and 
 boldness in the most romantic situations, generally on 
 high, almost inaccessible rocks. The monks willingly 
 show strangers over these establishments. Even our 
 missionaries, whose work they know, are courteously 
 received, often respectfully listened to, and permitted 
 to inspect both monasteries and temples. These are all 
 built on one general plan. In the centre is a court-yard 
 surrounded by lofty buildings and cloisters, into which 
 the cells of the monks open. In the cells there is little 
 to be seen — a small carpet, rich or plain according to 
 circumstances, used as seat by day and as bed by night ; 
 a small wooden box, which serves as a receptacle for a 
 variety of things ; some cooking utensils ; a book- 
 shelf for the sacred writings — that is all. After 
 harvest-time the cooking is done for everybody in the 
 large kitchen of the monastery; but during harvest 
 
FOR TIBET. 37 
 
 most of the lamas are away, helping their friends and 
 relations to get in the crops. Besides this they travel 
 about a great deal, partly to conduct worship in dis- 
 tant villages, partly to collect gifts for their lamaseries, 
 whose endowments seldom suffice to feed so many 
 hungry mouths. 
 
 The daily avocations of the lamas are varied, but all 
 characterized by the most senseless formality. Every 
 monastery has its library, containing books neatly 
 covered with silk cloth and numbered in figures of 
 gold. There the lamas sit and read, not because the 
 contents are attractive, or instructive, or edifying, but 
 because it is a meritorious work. Many spend half their 
 [ ives and more in reading aloud volume after volume, 
 without thinking what they read. They also practise 
 religious games, half musical, half pantomimic. The 
 costumes and masks which they wear on such occa- 
 sions are generally made of Chinese silk and richly 
 embroidered with the most fantastic devices imagin- 
 able. Amidst many-coloured lanterns and sacred 
 utensils and idols a crowd of the most wonderful 
 figures swarm in the courtyard and in the temple 
 itself — ^beings with the head and tusks of a wild boar, 
 dragons, kings, hobgoblins, blue devils, red devils — all 
 keeping time to the music. The music gets quicker. 
 Boars, dragons, kings, hobgoblins in ever wilder con- 
 fusion redouble their pace. The excitement becomes 
 infectious. The spectators join in. Quicker, and yet 
 quicker, wilder, madder, till even a matter-of-fact 
 European is seized with a feeling of horror at the sight 
 of this witches' dance, mingled with deep compassion 
 at the thought of the ignorance which can imagine 
 such a scene to be an act of worship to the Supreme 
 Being. 
 
 No less pitiable is the impression produced by the 
 " melas," or festivals of the gods, instituted by the 
 lamas to awaken the religious instincts of the people. 
 They collect in one village all the sacred images of the 
 district and those which pei'form the most miracles. 
 At the head of the procession marches the band, 
 
38 -n'OEEING AND WAITING 
 
 making a deafening noise with trumpets and drums. 
 Then come the bearers of the sacred images, which 
 are draped with bright-coloured cloth and have faces 
 of gold or silver. When the spot is reached where the 
 festival is to take place the bearers take up their 
 position in two lines facing one another, moving all the 
 while to the music, now forwards, now backwards, 
 getting gradually quicker and quicker ; and each tim.e 
 the two ranks meet the images are made to bob up 
 and down to represent the deep bows with which they 
 greet one another. This is repeated over and over 
 again, all present evincing their sympathy by laying 
 their right hands upon their foreheads and bowing with 
 the images. The whole ceremony reminds one of the 
 way in which children play with their dolls. 
 
 Of course the manufacture of idols is another meri- 
 torious employment, profitable both from a religious 
 and from a business point of view. It must be con- 
 fessed that considerable skill is displayed in the 
 carving of these sacred images. They betoken a 
 perfect knowledge of the proportions of the human 
 frame, and artistic taste in the representation of folds 
 and drapery. They possess even beauty, especially in 
 the regularity of the features, although the face is often 
 entirely void of expression. The material used is 
 mostly wood, or clay, or bronze, and their ideal is, 
 strange to say, Caucasian, not Mongolian. 
 
 But of all the ways of attaining to perfection as a 
 lama the surest is contemplation, the art of fixing one's 
 thoughts so entirely on the one great idea, which after 
 all is " nothing," as to be incapable of having any 
 thought beside. This they call " the perfect rest," a 
 preparation for the Nirvana, which is extinction of the 
 individual and absorption into the universe. For this 
 purpose the abbot will retire for several weeks to a 
 grotto hewn out of the rock for him by his brother- 
 hood, or he may spend his whole time in solitude, and 
 visit his flock only on festival days. For this purpose 
 the khangpo (professor) will retire to his cell for weeks, 
 and leave his students to pursue their studies alone. 
 
FOE TIBET. 39 
 
 For this purpose the hermit will spend his whole life 
 in the wildest solitude, seeking by continual meditation 
 with his eyes fixed upon one spot to attain to the 
 dignity of Buddha. Tet this is really nothing but a 
 thoughtless dreaming, ruinous to the mind, imparting 
 to the face a look of ineffable stupidity. It renders 
 those who practice it incapable of any depth of thought, 
 so that in conversation with the missionaries they con- 
 tradict themselves, or keep silence, unable to answer 
 for want of knowledge and clearness with regard to 
 their own religion. 
 
 Another reason for the mental sluggishness so notice- 
 able amongst the lamas as a body must be glanced at- 
 According to the reports of Nathanael, the converted 
 lama, those terrible sins, which the apostle enumerates 
 in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans as 
 characteristic of heathendom, are here also its sad 
 features, and the monasteries are the chief seat of these 
 crimes. One of our missionaries found the walls of a 
 temple covered with indecent words and pictures. A 
 number of lamas had assembled to see him. When he 
 pointed to these things with the remark that they 
 themselves had evidently very little respect for their 
 own sanctuary, they were ashamed and ill at ease. 
 It was most disagreeable to them that the missionary 
 had seen this ; but he used it as a text for his testimony 
 concerning Jesus Christ, who makes the sinner clean 
 and free indeed. Truly they need this cleansing ; for 
 amongst the laity and the common people especially 
 sensuality is terribly rife. 
 
 Finally the lamas spend a great deal of their time in 
 actual worship in their temples. These involuntarily 
 remind every European who enters them of Catholic 
 Churches. They are full of sacrificial vessels, musical 
 instruments,-ancl pictures of saints painted on paper, or 
 worked in silk, or naoulded in bronze. There, too, are 
 artificial flowers, the undying lamp, basins of holy 
 water, censers, bells, and, opposite to the entrance in 
 the centre of the building, the altar. Carpets are 
 spread before the pictures and down the aisles. Morning 
 
40 
 
 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 PEAYEK MILL. 
 
 and evening tlie lamas, and those of the laity who -will, 
 assemble for prayer. Having 
 prostrated themselves at the door, 
 they seat themselves upon the 
 carpets, read the sacred writings, 
 sing, drink tea, and, when all is 
 'over, believe themselves a few 
 steps further on " the way to 
 perfection." 
 
 This mechanical conception of 
 religion reaches its climax in the 
 use of an instrument, which is 
 intimately connected with their 
 worship, the prayer-inill. Prayer- 
 mills consist of cylinders, called 
 "mani," or " manupane," which 
 can be of any size. Most are little 
 cylinders with a handle from six 
 to eight inches in length. Some 
 are five or six feet long and 
 three or four feet in diameter. 
 
 Through the centre there passes an iron axle resting 
 
 at one end on a beam, at the other, where the handle 
 
 is, on an iron 
 
 support. A large 
 
 prayer-wheel 
 
 usually stands 
 
 either in the 
 
 temple, or in 
 
 its immediate 
 
 vicinity. The 
 
 cylinder is co- 
 vered inside and 
 
 outside with 
 
 gold -paper, on 
 
 which are writ- 
 ten a countless 
 
 number of times 
 
 in every colour 
 
 imaginable the 
 
 PEATEE TSnAj. 
 
FOR TIBET. 
 
 41 
 
 six-syllable prayer : " Om-ma-ni-pad-me-iium," (" Bles- 
 sed be the jewel in the lotus flower ! ") This is the 
 Ave Maria of the Buddhists.* 
 
 " Om mani padme hum ! " " Om mani padme hum ! " 
 How quickly one can pray by simply turning a handle, 
 
 ,-<;S«S 
 
 PEAYEE WHEELS AND FLAG. 
 
 (The wheels are turned by a running stream.) 
 
 for a single turn of the prayer-mill causes all the 
 prayers inscribed on the cylinder to ascend to the 
 deity ! So the Buddhists are taught to believe, and 
 muttering their formula and turning their prayer- 
 wheels, on they go, marching in the '' way to per- 
 
 * "The person addressed in these words," says Jaeschke, "is 
 not Buddha, but Spyan-raa-yzigs ; by some he is thought to be 
 the author of them. The Tibetans themselves are ignorant of the 
 proper sense of these six syllables, if sense at all there be in them, 
 and it is not unlikely that some shrewd priest invented this form 
 of prayer, in order to furnish the common people with a formula, 
 or symbol, easily to be retained by the memory, and the frequent 
 recital of which might satisfy their religious wants. And though 
 
42 WORKING AND WAITING FOR TIBET. 
 
 fection." They have teeii clever enough to raake- 
 machines of this kind turned by water, so that day and 
 night prayer is being made continually for him who' 
 huilt the mill, or paid for it. It would be ridiculous,, 
 were it not so sad ! What gods must those be who- 
 accept such service ! What a faith is that which 
 imagines that thus it can gain peace for the soul ! 
 
 there may be no obvious meaning in such exclamations or prayers,, 
 yet their efficacy is sure to be firmly believed in by the people 
 whose practical religion chiefly consists in the performance of 
 certain rites and ceremonies, in a devout veneration of their lamas- 
 combined with frequent oblations to them, and in abstaining from 
 gross sins. The numerous attempts that have been made to 
 explain the ' Om mani padme hum ' satisfactorily, and to discover 
 a deeper sense or even a hidden meaning in it have proved more- 
 or less unsuccessful. The most simple and popular, but also the- 
 flattest of these explanations is derived from the purely extrinsic 
 circumstance, that the Sanskrit words of the prayer consist of six 
 syllables, and accordingly it is suggested that each of these six 
 syllables, when pronounced by a pious Buddhist, conveys ablessing. 
 upon one of the ' six classes of beings.' " 
 
Chapter VI. 
 
 The religion of the people of Tibet is even more 
 superficial and mechanical than that of the lamas. 
 How can it be otherwise, when they are designedly 
 kept in a state of spiritual bondage, ignorance, and 
 superstition, and taught from youth up to soothe 
 conscience by the most mechanical works ? Their own 
 term " to make religion " aptly expresses their whole 
 conception of the matter. 
 
 It is not their enmity that makes this mission-field 
 the hardest in the world. Open opposition is contrary 
 to the natural disposition of the Tibetan, especially 
 towards Europeans, of whose mental superiority he is 
 conscious without acknowledging it. The natives of 
 Lahoul treat the missionary with coolness, for he is 
 " a man without caste ;" but they seldom show open 
 hostility. The Ladakese are friendly, though open 
 friendliness is only a part of their natural hospitality 
 and cheerful temperament. It does not indicate a 
 drawing toward the preacher of the Gospel. The 
 natives of Zanskar are frank and open, and always 
 willing hearers; but this is due to their simple manners 
 and amiable disposition, a result of the isolated posi- 
 tion of their province with no main road traversing it. 
 Nor is it their stupidity which raises such a barrier to 
 the gospel, for in business affairs they are often astute.- 
 It is simply the thoughtlessness and indifference with 
 
44 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 regard to vital religion in which they have been trained 
 for centuries. The ruling principle of Buddhism, the 
 attainment of salvation by merit, flatters the heart of 
 " the old man " not a little. Self -righteousness and 
 justification by works were in the time of the 
 Pharisees, and have been ever since, the main hind- 
 rance to the message of free and undeserved mercy in 
 Christ Jesus. In Tibet they rule supreme. 
 
 The spii'itual sloth of the laity and their dependence 
 on the lamas are illustrated by the following instances. 
 The lamas annually announce the commencement of 
 the Tibetan New Year. One year two of them had calcu- 
 lated that it would fall on January 12th ; a third, who 
 had quarrelled with the other two and wanted to finish 
 carving an idol before New Tear's Day, asserted that 
 it fell on January 16th. When a missionary asked 
 one of the heathen : " What do you think ? Which day 
 is the right one ? " he received the naive reply : " Oh, 
 we don't think at all, the lama thinks for us ! " In 
 1886 their New Tear was " granted " at the same 
 time as that of the Christians, on account of the 
 prevalent smallpox. During the first fortnight no 
 intercourse takes place between the different villages, 
 and the authorities wisely designed to use this custom 
 as a possible prevent^ive to any further spread of the 
 epidemic. From this it will be seen that, if they have 
 any object in view, they do not regulate the New Tear 
 according to the calendar dra^vn up by the lamas. 
 
 It is the same with regard to agriculture. A mis- 
 sionary advised a native to devote more pains to the 
 cultivation of his fruit-trees, telling him how his own 
 care had been rewarded by a far better fruit-harvest 
 than usual. "Ton have evidently accumulated more 
 religious merits," replied the man; "therefore, if you 
 were to plant trees here, they would certainly thrive, 
 but when we sinful men plant them they always die." 
 In spring solemn processions march round their fields, 
 headed by lamas pouring out libations as a protection 
 against harm by bad weather. The lamas are consulted 
 in the choice of a day for sowing and reaping, and 
 
FOR TIBET. 45 
 
 they profess also to be able to make rain. One year our 
 missionaries took advantage of the moistness of winter 
 to sow their fields ; the young corn was already coming 
 up nicely before the heathen were allowed by their 
 lamas to begin sowing. Then no rain fell. The drought 
 became worse and worse, and the poor heathen had to 
 sow again, becauye the first seed had not sprouted at 
 all. Such things are of frequent occurrence, yet the 
 spell which rests upon their minds is not broken, 
 though the laity are beginning to lose faith in their 
 lamas. 
 
 According to Buddhism the best means of progress 
 for a layman on the " way of perfection " are pilgrim- 
 ages and self-castigation. One meets a beggar. Three 
 years ago he had a house and farm of his own ; but he 
 was fond of hunting, and killed, so he says, more than 
 a thousand animals. This was condemned by the lama 
 as sinful, and now the man wanders as a mendicant 
 through the land in order to atone for his sin. 
 
 High up in the mountain is a mighty glacier. At its 
 foot lies a beautiful mountain-lake, from which several 
 rivers take their rise. Beside its calm waters, amid 
 the most romantic scenery, stands a monastery. To 
 walk round this lake and glacier takes seven days, yet 
 one sees pilgrims toiling over rocks and ice ; for to do 
 this, and to present an offering in money and in kind to 
 the monastery, saves from all sin. Or they undertake 
 pilgrimages in great caravans to places hallowed by the 
 tomb of some saint. There they pray, offer gifts at 
 the monastery which is always erected on such a spot, 
 and crawl round its estate on hands and knees, a toil- 
 some task of three or four days, supposed to be a 
 work of great merit. 
 
 In the houses of the rich there is usually a family 
 museum of sacred things, consisting of idols, bright, 
 coloured flags, sacrificial basins, plates of corn and 
 flowers offered as sacrifices, figures made of flour-, and, 
 most important of all, hooTcs. The Tibetan regards all 
 books with veneration, for he never meets with any 
 that are not religious. He bows down before every 
 
46 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 book, and lays it upon Ms head, thereby intimating his 
 desire that the blessing of this sacred thing may rest 
 ■npon him. The Kyelang monastery, which was built 
 near the mission-farm to counteract the influence of 
 the white man's religion, possesses a great Buddhist 
 work consisting of one hundred thick volumes. All the 
 Tillages of the district united to purchase it for 1,000 
 rupees, and paid besides about 400 rupees for its con- 
 veyance to Kyelang. It was brought from Chinese 
 Tibet in 1886, and was carried up into the monastery 
 with music and great rejoicings. The contents of 
 these expensive books are quite a secondary matter ; 
 few of the lamas themselves take the trouble to ascer- 
 tain what is really to be learnt from them. But the 
 villagers value these volumes as a charm, blessing the 
 whole surrounding country. 
 
 The Tibetans willingly receive and even read the 
 Christian books translated by the missionaries into 
 their language ; many even believe that the teachings 
 contained in them are stronger than their own. There- 
 fore in cases of sickness they often tear pages out of 
 the Gospels, roll them up into little pills, and swallow 
 them, considering them an effective charm. It cannot 
 be denied that the Tibetan layman possesses a religious 
 nature and religious needs, but that only increases one's 
 compassion at seeing how the longings of his heart are 
 misdirected by his spiritual guides. His piety, childish 
 as may be its expression in acts, contrasts favourably 
 with the conduct of many of the lamas, who frivolously 
 discard their religion and yet continue to occupy their 
 position for the sake of its advantages. 
 
 The religion of any nation takes a prominent place in 
 sickness, death, and the last honours paid to the dead, 
 and Tibetan superstition gathers round these events. 
 When a person is seriously ill the lama is sent for. He 
 makes a dummy, "oni tshab," i.e. " a representative of 
 the man," which is adorned with the sick man's ear- 
 rings and trinkets. By ceremonies and prayers the 
 sickness is laid upon the dummy, whilst an incessant 
 shooting, drumming, and whistling is kept up. At last 
 
FOR TIBET. 47 
 
 the diammy is carried out of tlie house and burnt, but 
 the ear-rings and trinkets remain in the hands of the 
 lama, as payment for his services. 
 
 If death ensues after all, the nearest relations and 
 friends assemble at once, and there is a grinding of corn 
 in hand-mills, and a putting of great kettles of tea on 
 the fire, and a feasting of visitors. Of course the lamas 
 are busy vf^ith exorcisms and prayei'S. All this is done 
 on the roof, because the inside of the house is made un- 
 clean by the presence of death. Presently all fear of 
 harm from evil spirits is removed and then the body is 
 burnt, if the relatives can afford to pay for it. The 
 bodies of the very poor are often cut up by persons 
 specially appointed for that purpose, and given as food 
 to dogs and vultures. The highest lamas are interred 
 in their own palaces, their bodies being covered with 
 salt to prevent corruption, or at any rate to make it 
 unnoticeable. 
 
 The relations, if they can afford it, celebrate year by 
 year the day on which anyone has died, in order to 
 improve the condition of the departed in the other 
 world. All who will can come to the feast. They 
 assemble in the open air, and sit down in rows, the 
 lamas in a group apart. If it is winter the snow is 
 shovelled off a field for the occasion. Tea and oil-cakes 
 are handed round, and any representative of a family is 
 allowed to take home two oil-cakes for each absent 
 member. The celebration finally becomes a weird orgie, 
 at which " chang " is drunk in enormous quantities, 
 not least by the lamas. 
 
 The remains of the dead are kept in so-called 
 " cho-ten," pyramids of stone, often very tastefully 
 built, which stand in different places not far from the 
 Tillages. The lamas offer sacrifices before them, and 
 keep in them sacred objects, such as pictures of 
 deceased lamas, and torn books which can no longer be 
 used. We have not been able to ascertain whether the 
 "chod-tens" are also tombs. These are pyramids 
 erected at cross-roads and in passes, just such places 
 where a crucifix usually stands in Catholic countries. 
 
48 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 It is customary for the traveller on safely crossing a 
 dangerous mountain-pass to lay upon one of these 
 "chod-ten" one or two navo horns (the curved horns 
 of a species of mountain sheep), with the cry, " Sollo, 
 soUo ! " an exclamation of gratitude to the gods. 
 
 Near a village the roads are lined with interminable 
 walls covered with stones inscribed with the words : 
 " Om mani padme hum." These inscriptions are made 
 by the lamas for money, and men buy the stones and 
 lay them upon the walls that they may receive a 
 blessing, or gain the fulfilment of a wish. 
 
 Thus the Tibetan is devoted to his gods in life and 
 death, partly out of piety, partly out of habit. But, not 
 to mention the continual cursing and swearing in daily 
 life, there are occasions when he practically acknow- 
 ledges by his conduct that his religion does not satisfy 
 him. In one village the farmers first examine the 
 fields to see whether the harvest is likely to be satis- 
 factory, before they decide whether it is worth their 
 while to celebrate a harvest-thanksgiving. They are 
 but representatives of a large class, who so long as they 
 are getting on well, are perfectly willing to praise 
 their gods, and to say : " That is so by the favour of 
 God." But when trouble comes, they first make 
 " kurim " with all their might, i.e. they run to the 
 lama, and before the image of Buddha he has to per- 
 form rites, offer up special devotions, and employ his 
 magic. If that is no use they abuse their god and cry : 
 " Thou blind, sightless god, oouldst thou not act 
 difierently ! " They curse Buddha, and take refuge in 
 fatalism. 
 
 A strange custom must be mentioned, for it recalls 
 the scapegoat of the Old Testament, devoted to Azazel, 
 and shows that even Buddhism has a faint perception 
 of vicarious atonement. Every year in Lhassa a man 
 belonging to the lower class, clad iu goat's skin, and 
 with a strange kind of hat upon his head, is led by the 
 lamas, amidst the Jeers and taunts of the rejoicing 
 multitude, out of the city to the river-bank. There 
 the sin of the whole people is symbolically laid upon 
 
FOR TIBET. 49 
 
 his head, and he is sent away alone into the wilderness 
 on the other side of the river. There he remains for 
 several weeks, supplied with food in abundance, but 
 shunned by all his fellows. At last he is allowed to 
 return, and receives large presents from the people ; 
 yet the shame is so great that it is hard to find a man 
 willing to represent the sin-bearer. 
 
 So much concerning the land and the people to whom 
 the Moravian missionaries are sent. They battle with 
 a heathenism which, with its superstition, its ignorance, 
 its avarice, and its carnal sins, needs the message of 
 Him who alone can make free indeed, who is the light 
 and the truth. No coarse, crass fetich worship this, 
 but a heathenism based on hundreds of folios, evolv- 
 ing their philosophic system of dialectics, a hoary 
 heathenism, centuries older than Christianity. Proud, 
 self-righteous, and self-satisfied it is, in spite of its 
 hollowness and superficiality ; stubbornly tenacious of 
 life, and so complete and minute in its organization 
 that it inexorably sways the whole life, religious, 
 political, and social, of its adherents. Such is Bud- 
 dhism in its form, character, and spirit, and all this 
 necessitates patient enduring toil of no ordinary kind 
 on the part of those who would effectually grapple 
 with this tremendous system. 
 
Chapter VII. 
 
 ^'^t Jfirst '^mmnmm. 
 
 It was the well-known Chinese missionary, G-iitzlaff, 
 who, in 1850, first urged the Moravian Mission Board at 
 Hermhut to begin a work among the Mongolians. 
 They took up the matter, and issued an appeal for 
 volunteers. From among the thirty applicants they 
 selected Edward Pagell, a Pomeranian, a man of un- 
 daunted courage and iron endurance, and Augustus 
 William Heyde, a Silesian, blessed with unfailing 
 buoyancy of spirits, both laymen who had had a good 
 education. 
 
 Having acquired some medical knowledge, these two 
 set out July 13th, 1853, in firm trust in their Lord and 
 Saviour and in His guiding hand. Their original plan 
 had been to make their way to Mongolia through 
 Russia and Siberia ; but the necessary passes were 
 refused them, so they had to go by way of England and 
 India. They reached Simla at the beginning of April, 
 1854. Simla, the summer capital of India, stands at an 
 elevation of 7,200 feet above the sea on the southern 
 slope of a mountain, whose summit commands a 
 magnificent panorama. Southward can be seen the 
 gray, rocky outposts of the Himalayan ranges, north- 
 ward deep wooded ravines, and far away on the horizon 
 the gigantic snow-covered summits of some of the 
 highest mountains in the world. Little did those two 
 missionaries then think that among the future supporters 
 of their work would be Government ofiicials resident at 
 
WORKING AND WAITING FOR TIBET. 51 
 
 Simla, including the Viceroy and his lady, and that 
 Government inspectors from that city would visit their 
 schools. 
 
 Here they rested a short time, and then passed on to 
 Kotghur, distant two days' journey, where Mr. Proch- 
 now, of the Church Missionary Society, received them 
 with great kindness. 
 
 Here they were to perfect themselves in English and 
 to learn Hindustani. At the same time they continued 
 their study of Mongolian, and began Tibetan. It may 
 seem surprising that they should learn so many 
 languages ; but they required English and Hindustani, 
 as they would often come in contact with Englishmen 
 and Hindus; Mongolian was indispensable for the work 
 originally proposed to them ; and to reach Mongolia 
 they must needs pass through Tibet, which lay 
 hundreds of miles in extent between them and 
 Mongolia. Little did they think as yet that they 
 would never reach that land, nor penetrate more than 
 a day or two's journey into Chinese Tibet. The most 
 careful inquiries made in Europe before their departure 
 had failed to gain all the information desired. It 
 had to be acquired by experience on the spot, amid 
 difficulties and sacriiices. 
 
 In 1855 they started on their reconnoitring expedi- 
 tion, still with their original destination, Mongolia, in 
 view. They passed through the provinces of KuUu, 
 Lahoul, and Ladak, peopled with Buddhist Tibetans. 
 Their repeated attempts to cross the Chinese borders 
 into Tibet Proper were defeated by the stubborn oppo- 
 sition of the Chinese officials. Even Pagell's fearlessness 
 and determination had to yield to the insurmountable 
 difficulties. It was impossible to get into Tibet by this 
 way, much less through Tibet into Mongolia. So the 
 missionaries and the Mission Board came to the unani- 
 mous conclusion that they must for the present give up 
 their original plan, and pitch their tent where they 
 were till the closed doors should be opened by provid- 
 ence. They therefore took up their abode at Kyelang 
 in Lahoul. Presently Poo, a village of Kunawur, close 
 
 4s* 
 
62 WOBEING AND WAITING 
 
 to the point where the Sutlej issues from Chinese 
 Tibet, was chosen as another starting-point for the 
 evangelistic tours possible only in summer. But these 
 little stations, some 10,000 feet above sea-level among 
 the lofty valleys of the Himalayas, whilst important 
 for their respective districts, are but means to ends 
 never lost sight of. Poo is close enough to the still- 
 closed gate of Chinese Tibet, but Kyelang is too 
 remote as a stepping-stone to Mongolia. Our pioneers 
 early visited Leh, the capital of Ladak, and at once 
 saw that it was the very best centre for work among 
 the western Tibetans ; but the establishment of a 
 m.ission in that city was attended with almost insuper- 
 able difficulties, owing to the jealous exclusion of 
 Europeans from the territory by its native ruler, the 
 Maharajah of Kashmir. Until a few years ago, none 
 might pass the winter there, and only a limited number 
 of Englishmen were provided with passes permitting 
 them to spend the summer in Kashmir or Ladak. A 
 British official was indeed stationed in Kashmir, at first 
 only residing there during the summer, and later 
 another was appointed for Ladak with the special duty 
 of supervising the carrying out of a commercial treaty 
 concluded to stimulate trade between British India and 
 Central Asia. But neither had any influence upon the 
 home politics of the country, and all other Europeans 
 were still jealously excluded. 
 
 Yet the missionaries never lost sight of Leh, and they 
 left no stone unturned to gain a footing there. In 
 1864 the Maharajah gave permission for them to under- 
 take missionary journeys in his territory every summer 
 without the necessity of procuring a pass each time. 
 That was something gained, but years elapsed without 
 any apparent advance towards a permanent footing. 
 
 Meantime, before the founding of the second station, 
 reinforcement came from Europe. In 1856 Jaeschke 
 followed the two others, an extraordinary man, whose 
 work was of importance for the whole future of the 
 undertaking. No one in the small circle of the 
 Moravian Church was better fitted for the great task 
 
FOR TIBET. 53 
 
 of the translation of the Bible into the Tibetan 
 language than this man, whose talent for the rapid 
 acquisition of languages was only equalled by his zeal 
 in utilizing every opportunity for learning them. When 
 at the Theological Seminary at Gnadenfeld, in a district 
 of Silesia where Polish is spoken, he mastered that 
 language, besides surpassing all his fellow-students in 
 the ordinary linguistic studies of the college course. 
 As a teacher at Christiansfeld, in Schleswig, he 
 acquired Danish, and during a holiday tour added 
 Swedish. Quite a new domain was opened to him by 
 Sanscrit, Persian and Arabic, and his studies in this 
 direction were of special use to him in his subsequent 
 missionary career. 
 
 Hindustani and Urdu presented no great difficulties 
 to him, thanks to his acquaintance with Sanscrit, 
 Arabic and Persian, but the thorough acquisition of 
 Tibetan proved a harder task. At the beginning he 
 seldom met with a native sufficiently intelligent to be of 
 real service to him as " munshi." A few months after 
 his arrival, however, he journeyed northward to Ladak, 
 where he spent more than three months alone in the 
 midst of a purely Tibetan speaking population. He 
 lived at Stok, near Leh, in the most frugal and 
 primitive fashion. His food consisted of oatmeal 
 porridge, and the woman of the house faithfully kept 
 for him the egg which her one hen laid every day. 
 From his curiously-shaped bedroom he had to climb to 
 his study by a stair composed of five unequal blocks of 
 stone, and his furniture consisted of a tottering table 
 and a still more defective stool. On his return to 
 Kyelang he was exceedingly glad to meet with some 
 lamas of higher culture than the majority of the 
 natives, and better able to assist him in his studies. 
 He was soon able, with the help of his colleagues, to 
 enter on a course of literary labours, really marvellous 
 when one considers the singular diversity of the daily 
 duties which make incessant demands on the time and 
 strength of missionaries at such remote stations. They 
 were all indefatigable workers, and one after another 
 
54 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 in quick succession sotool-books, catecMsms, liturgies 
 and hymns, Christian tracts, Bible histories, a 
 children's Bible, and other works issued from their 
 lithographic press at Kyelang. 
 
 Nor was Jaesohke forgetful of the advancement of 
 science and the future needs of missionaries in Tibet. 
 Having mastered the language and its idioms, he pro- 
 ceeded to write a Tibetan Grammar, which has become 
 the standard authority. Still more important is his 
 Tibetan Dictionary. His great commission to make 
 preparations for, and to commence the translation of 
 the Holy Scriptures into Tibetan, necessitated a 
 thorough investigation of the full sense, exact range 
 and living powers of the words and expressions to be 
 used. During his twelve years' residence among the 
 Tibetans he therefore embraced every opportunity to 
 trace these through the rich literature of their ancient 
 language down to their modern equivalents in the 
 present provincial dialects of native tribes. " It 
 seemed to me," he says in his preface, " that, if 
 Buddhist readers were to be brought into contact with 
 Biblical and Christian ideas, the introduction to so 
 foreign and strange a train of thought, and one 
 making the largest demands upon the character and 
 the imagination, had best be made through the medium 
 of a phraseology and diction as simple, as clear and as 
 popular as possible. My instrument must be, as in the 
 case of every successful translator of the Bible, not a 
 technical, but the vulgar tongue."* 
 
 * Professor Max Miiller, of Oxford, bears the following testimony 
 to the scientific value of this work : " I have followed Mr. Jaeschke's 
 Tibetan studies with much interest, and I have no doubt that they 
 will in time lead to very important results. But it would be pre- 
 sumptuous for me to express an opinion on the scientific value of 
 his dictionary. All I can say is that it fills a gap that has long 
 been felt, and that it will take a long time before any scholar in 
 Europe would feel competent to pass judgment on Mr. Jaeschke's 
 contributions to Tibetan philology." But its main interest to us 
 is its ample provision for the future needs of missionaries entering 
 on the same wide field of Christian enterprise among Tibetan 
 Buddhists. 
 
FOR TIBET. 55 
 
 "The cMef motive of all our exertions," he says 
 again, " lay always in the desire to facilitate and to 
 hasten the spread of the Christian religion and of 
 Christian civilization among the millions of Buddhists 
 who inhabit Central Asia and who speak and read in 
 Tibetan idioms." 
 
 No task oonld further this aim more effectually than 
 the one to which Jaeschke applied all his linguistic 
 talent. This was the translation of the Scriptures into 
 Tibetan, his naain commission. Beginning as soon as 
 ever it was possible to him, he had nearly finished the 
 N"ew Testament, and had also commenced the Old 
 Testament, when in 1868 his health broke down after 
 ten years of incessant toil. He was obliged to return 
 home to Germany to seek medical aid. But the great 
 work did not cease. At Kyelang his colleagues carried 
 it forward. His able successor, P. A. Redslob, assisted 
 by Nathanael, a baptized lama, rendered into Tibetan 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Revelation of 
 St. John ; and the ISTew Testament, thus completed 
 and thoroughly revised, has been published by the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society. An edition of 
 5,000 copies was carried through the press at Berlin, 
 and the proofs were corrected by Jaeschke, until in 
 1882 growing infirmity obliged him to request that 
 they be sent out to the missionaries at Kyelang. He 
 still struggled on in the attempt to complete his life's 
 work ; but, as the year waned, his strength waned with 
 it. The New Tear found him still working, but in- 
 creasingly feeble, and on September 24th, 1883, he 
 "fell asleep." 
 
 In January of the same year the veteran Pagell and 
 bis wife died at their lonely post in Poo, and were laid 
 to rest with pious reverence by their little flock of 
 Christians. Thus, after nearly thirty years of toil, 
 these patient and courageous workers died without 
 having seen the realization of their hopes ; and of the 
 little band of pioneers only Heyde and his wife have 
 survived to see the new impetus given to the cause by 
 the commencement of a work in Ladak ; the establish- 
 
56 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 ment of a medical mission at Leh under ihe charge of 
 a man trained by tlie kindness of tlie Edinburgh 
 Medical Missionary Society ; and the reinforcement of 
 the workers in Tibet by three others, the last of whom, 
 F. B. Shawe, is the first Englishman to go to this 
 mission-field. 
 
 The heroic perseverance and self-sacrificing toil of 
 those thirty years can be best realized by a glimpse 
 of the every-day life of the pioneers, with its mighty 
 influence upon the people of the power of daily 
 example. Their industry was amazing. When not 
 engaged in literary work, or in the printing-office, 
 or in the school, or on evangelistic tours, they 
 ocqnpied themselves, partly for their own support, 
 partly for the good of the people, with gardening 
 and farming. They raised all kinds of vegetables, 
 and gave seeds and young plants to all who could 
 be induced to accept them. But the natives could 
 not be persuaded to cultivate such things until they 
 saw how successfully the missionaries managed their 
 orchards. It was not the custom of their forefathers. It 
 had not received the blessing of their lamas. When 
 the spring came, and the snow lying in masses on the 
 ground delayed the seed-time, they saw the white men 
 Bprinkle the snow with earth and ashes, to increase the 
 power of the sun upon it, and they perceived that this 
 soon got rid of it. Then the native mind, unconvinced 
 before, saw that it was a wise thing, and they did the 
 same. Some, as we have already seen, even followed 
 the example of the missionaries, rather than the 
 counsels of their lamas, with regard to ploughing and 
 sowing. In the winter of 1875 to 1876 they went still 
 farther. They had had hardly any snow in Poo, yet 
 moisture was absolutely necessary for the spring-corn. 
 Mr. Pagell was surprised that the ceremonies usual 
 under such circumstances were not performed, and still 
 more so when a deputation came from the heathen, 
 requesting him in the service next Sunday to insert a 
 petition for snow. He preached to a large gathering 
 on the text : " The eyes of all wait upon thee ; and thou 
 
FOR TIBET. 57 
 
 givest tliem their meat in due season. Thou openest 
 thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living 
 thing." There was no answer to his prayer that day, 
 nor the next, nor the day after ; but he prayed un- 
 ceasingly ; and then such a mass of snow fell, lying 
 forty-five inches deep, that the oldest inhabitant did 
 not remember anything like it. The following Sunday 
 there was a solemn thanksgiving service in the little 
 Christian church, when he preached on the tezt : " I 
 am the Lord ; that is my name : and my glory will I 
 not give to another, neither my praise unto graven 
 images." 
 
 The inhabitants of those remote valleys were 
 especially impressed by a system of irrigation carried 
 out at Kyelang. From the glaciers high above them 
 innumerable streams and rivulets dash down on every 
 side to water the plain, yet there, close to the fountain- 
 head of inexhaustible supplies, the dry summer often 
 parched up the fields, and made good land useless. 
 The missionaries therefore conducted the water from 
 the glaciers by a long aqueduct into tanks, from which 
 the fields can be easily irrigated in the driest summer. 
 At fii'st the natives shook their heads and laughed at 
 the undertaking ; but when they saw how well it pro- 
 gressed, the seventy men whom the missionaries had 
 hired for the work could not be induced to strike, 
 though the lamas tried hard to persuade them to do 
 so. Now, thanks to this supply of water, considerable 
 tracts of land, once barren and useless, are yielding 
 plentifully, and helping both to support the little band 
 of converts, and to show the heathen what the white 
 raan's civilization can do. 
 
 Another means of reaching the masses was by 
 gratuitous medical assistance. Here again the Gov- 
 ernment rendered valuable aid in the supply of 
 medicines. Both on their preaching-tours and at home 
 the missionaries were visited by numbers of sick fol 
 and though they had not received a complete medical 
 training, they acquired experience which enabled them 
 to deal successfully with difficult cases. The people 
 
58 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 soon learnt to put more confidence in them than in the 
 expensive magic of the lamas. "What a pleasure it 
 was to Pagell when he pitched his tent one day in a 
 village he had visited a year before, to see a man, who 
 at his last visit had been brought to him with severe 
 wounds received in a fray, now strong and sound, 
 thanks to the " white sahib." This man came to bring 
 a present of flour, butter, salt, peas, and walnuts, as a. 
 token of his gratitude. Nor can it fail to make an 
 impression when the missionaries, like good Sama- 
 ritans, bind up the wounds of a man they find lying- 
 half dead among the mountains, even though, as in the 
 following case, their help may come too late. Crossing- 
 a precipitous mountain pass, Heyde saw far beneath 
 him, lying motionless on the rocks, beside the roaring- 
 torrent, a horse and its rider. A Buddhist would have 
 passed by unmoved. Why should he trouble himself 
 about one who has been overtaken by fate ? Such 
 accidents are common. But the missionary rescued 
 the man from his dangerous position, carried him to a. 
 place of safety, made him a soft bed with their blankets, 
 and sent several miles to the next -village to fetch help. 
 It was only too evident that there was little hope, but 
 Christian care soothed the man's dying hours ; and 
 loving hands closed his eyes in death, and laid him to 
 rest in his lonely mountain grave. 
 
 Such patient love asks for no reward, nor is it dis- 
 couraged by ingratitude, yet the following incident 
 shows that it has not been in vain. In their earlier 
 days at Poo Mrs. Pagell was taken very ill. There 
 seemed no hope of her recovery, and she and her 
 husband bade one another farewell for this life. She 
 asked him to give her love to all her school-children,, 
 most of them heathen, whom she had taught to knit 
 and sew, to spell and read. But, as soon as they heard 
 that she was dying, they all came to see her, and some 
 of the mothers came too. The sick woman told them 
 in a weak voice how she longed to have them all 
 reconciled to God by faith in Jesus, for she loved them 
 all, and knew no better wish for them. They all burst. 
 
FOR TIBET. 59 
 
 into tears. She must not die ! All wanted to do some- 
 tMng for her. They hastened away, and returned, 
 each with an offering of some kind, some with a kettle 
 of tea, others with butter-milk. Most, of coui'se, 
 brought butter to I'ub her with. There was much 
 ignorance displayed, but so much love that the hus- 
 band and wife were deeply moved. Nor did they ever 
 cease to believe that the time would come when these 
 simple-minded people would receive that Gospel, which 
 is hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto 
 babes. 
 
 We have thus seen something of the dangers the 
 missionaries encounter, the work they have to do, the 
 life they live. But nothing, perhaps, could so well 
 illustrate the isolation in which the jjioneers lived, as 
 the pathetic story of the death of Pagell and his wife 
 in their lonely village of Poo. About Christmas, 1882, 
 they both fell ill ; yet the man " of iron endurance " 
 appeared at his place day by day when the people 
 assembled for worship. At New Year he had to be 
 assisted into the church ; for there was no one to do 
 his work for him, though he could scarcely speak or 
 stand. He knew that the angel of death was near ; 
 but to him it was a bright angel, summoning the good 
 and faithful servant to enter into the joy of his Lord. 
 On January 2nd, supported by one of his flock, he 
 entered the adjoining building to get some medicine 
 for his wife, and there he fell down unconscious, and 
 never rose again. They borehim to his rest three days 
 after ; and ill as she vf as, his wife followed to the 
 burial-ground, where the Litany was read by one of 
 the native Christians. On January 9th she called the 
 Christian children to her bedside to bid them farewell, 
 and earnestly commended them to the care of the three 
 adult Christians. Three days later she was laid by the 
 side of her husband in the far off Himalayan village, and 
 men felt that they had that day buried a saint. The 
 head man of the village summoned a representative 
 from each house in the village, entered the mission- 
 aries' dwelling, took possession of the cash-box, counted 
 
60 WORKING AND WAITING FOE TIBET. 
 
 the money in it, sealed it, and then gave it into the 
 charge of a trnstworthy man. The house was sealed, 
 and two watchmen by day and four by night were told 
 off to guard it. The head man himself came every day, 
 or sent a deputy to see if everything was in order. 
 And so they watched the place out of real love to the 
 "white sahib " and his wife, till Mr. Redslob arrived 
 in May, and they could resign their charge into his 
 hands. 
 
Ohaptee VIII. 
 
 Pioiw flje gltssifftt-toorli is tarrxeir on, 
 
 Sdiool-work occupies more time tlian is usual in 
 otlier mission-fields. More children tlian adults come 
 under tlie influence of tlie missionaries, for not only do 
 the children of people living at the station go to school, 
 but scholars come from distant villages and board there 
 part of the year. In 1876 there were 100 pupils at 
 Kyelang. The senseless opposition had already broken 
 down, for the parents had found out that a good educa- 
 tion was a great pecuniary advantage to their children, 
 qualifying them for subordinate offices under the 
 Government. Not that they pay for the schooling of 
 their children; the missionary may thank them for 
 being so good as to send them. Indeed, at first it 
 needed all the support of the Government to make it 
 possible to continue the work, such was the opposition 
 which was offered to it. I.^e lamas knew that the 
 ultimate aim was to bring the children over to Chris- 
 tianity, so they resisted the movement, and were 
 supported by the chief men of the district. Their 
 hostility led to the close of scholastic work among the 
 boys and young men at Kyelang, and it was daily 
 expected that the girls' school would nezt be attacked. 
 Nor were these fears groundless. An edict had gone 
 forth that no girl should be sent to school ; but one 
 man, who bore no very good character, yet possessed a 
 degree of independence very rarely m.et with in Tibet, 
 
62 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 defied tlie edict, and sent his daughter. Others fol- 
 lowed his example, and the girls' school was saved. 
 An appeal to the commissioner against the mission 
 school- work led to a complete Tindication of the mis- 
 sionaries, and the boys' school was re-commenced. 
 
 Tibetan school-books are much the same as else- 
 where. The children begin with the ABC book. 
 Then they use as reading-books the New Testament, a 
 primer of Old Testament history, and a Church 
 history. Their geography, history, and arithmetic 
 books were all compiled or translated by Jaeschke. 
 His description in Tibetan of his journey back to 
 Europe is a favourite with the children. All these 
 books are printed on the Kyelang lithographic press, 
 with the help of the converts. At Poo, in the province 
 of Kunawur, which is only gradually coming under 
 English influence, Pagell could get his scholars to- 
 gether only for three or four months in the year. The 
 teaching in Kyelang is uninterrupted all the year 
 round. The course lasts three years, and the more 
 gifted pupils receive extra private instruction, if they 
 are willing to become teachers. All the schools estab- 
 lished in the surrounding villages are visited from time 
 to time by the missionaries, and the young teachers 
 there often write to Kyelang, where they assemble once 
 a year for a short course of additional instruction. 
 
 There is great joy among the young people when the 
 English school-inspector arrives, expresses his satis- 
 faction, and distributes prizes ; or when the missionary 
 presents his pupils with turnips as a reward for regular 
 attendance. Turnips would not kindle much enthusiasm 
 in the soul of an English school-boy — just about as 
 much as apricots would in the soul of a Tibetan. 
 Many a European child might take a lesson in neatness 
 and care from the beautiful hand-writing of the boys, 
 with which the school-inspector is so well pleased. 
 
 It has hitherto been impossible to get the girls all 
 the year round ; in fact, some of them come only 
 because they can earn something by knitting and other 
 arts taught at the school. They can be naughty, too. 
 
FOn TIBET. 63 
 
 One of them stole some of the cotton given to her for 
 Jcnitting ; but as she knew that it was weighed, she 
 <;unningly put a stone in the middle of her ball of 
 cotton to make up for the weight of what she had 
 stolen. Her knitting got slower and slower, as the 
 iDall got smaller and smaller, but at last the black 
 traitor peeped out between the white threads, and gave 
 mute witness against her. 
 
 The missionaries point out to their pupils the dark 
 side of heathenism, and tell them of Christ, the Saviour 
 of the world ; but they do not try to persuade them to 
 become Christians, or set them in opposition to their 
 heathen parents. These, as they know, send their 
 children to school for every possible reason except to 
 lave them made Christians. They hope their boys may 
 obtain Government appointments bringing in ten rupees 
 a month (about £1), a splendid income according to 
 their notions. Thanks to his training in the mission 
 school, a former pupil and teacher at Kyelang was 
 able to spend two winters in the Indian town of 
 Dharmsala studying medicine, and has now settled 
 down in his village as a doctor with a good practice. 
 Of course the missionaries rejoice at such results. Even 
 those of their pupils who may remain heathen know a 
 hundred times as much as the ordinary lamas. Further, 
 the different dialects, corrupted as they are in almost 
 every valley to such an extent as to be scarcely recog- 
 nizable, are gradually giving way to the pure Tibetan. 
 But the greatest joy of the missionaries is that their 
 pupils, by learning to read, are becoming acquainted 
 with the Gospel, and that will bear fruit in due time. 
 
 The foregoing does not imply that the grown-up 
 people are neglected, though the work among the 
 children is far more hopeful. Every Sunday morning 
 at 10 o'clock there is a public service, attended by 
 Buddhists as well as by the converts. At 2 o'clock 
 there is service for the baptized converts only, when 
 a discourse is given on the Epistle for the day. On 
 Monday evening they have a New' Testament exposition, 
 and on Wednesday the Old Testament is expounded. 
 
64 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 On Friday evening there is a singing-meeting, and 
 morning prayers are held daily, which the converts 
 attend pretty regularly. 
 
 Besides -welcoming and inviting all heathen to these 
 meetings, the missionaries use every possible oppor- 
 tunity for intercourse with individuals. They point 
 out the untenableness of heathenism, whilst they tell 
 of Him who, in a manner so different to Buddha, 
 became a man to gain eternal redemption for all. They 
 attend the frequent heathen festivals which take place 
 in the winter months, and deliver their message to the 
 people assembled. Tet they often leave the place sad 
 at heart, because the hearers turn away from them to 
 their " chang," and give themselves up to their wild 
 orgies. Their words have some effect, especially when 
 they point to the corrupting influences of such scenes 
 upon the young, and their very presence lays a certain 
 moral restraint upon the heathen ; yet there is a great 
 difference between restraint unwillingly borne, and an 
 entire break with heathenism from full conviction of 
 the truth. 
 
 We have mentioned the evangelistic tours in the 
 neighbouring provinces. They are difficult and costly 
 undertakings ; difficult, owing to the state of the roads 
 and the dangers that beset the traveller ; costly, because 
 bearers and baggage-animals are needed to carry the 
 tent, the provisions, and the books. But they have 
 done much to prepare the way for a widespread know- 
 ledge of Christianity. And is it not a useful and 
 indispensable work to clear waste land of stones, and 
 thorns, and bushes, and to break up the soil, in order at 
 last to turn it into a fruitful field ? 
 
 When a village is reached the tent is erected at some 
 suitable spot, under high trees, or close beside the idol 
 temple. A crowd collects at once, some out of 
 curiosity, others because they are ill and want medi- 
 cine ; for they know the " white sahibs " well. Even 
 lamas come. A conversation is soon commenced. 
 Questions are asked, objections raised, or a religious 
 disputation held. The lamas often contend that Bud- 
 
FOR TIBET. 65 
 
 dhisin teaches that there is a God who has created 
 heaven and earth. Then the missionary points out the 
 great difference between the Bible story of the creation 
 and the Buddhist account of the origin of the world. 
 His opponents acknowledge it and are silent. Then he 
 begins to preach to them of Jesus, the crucified and 
 risen Saviour, and of justification by faith and not by 
 works. The converts who accompany him are mean- 
 while not inactive, but fearlessly proclaim their faith. 
 One of them, Matthew, saw the chief lama of a village 
 reviewing the idols he had just made. He asked him 
 whether he honestly believed that such lifeless effigies 
 could do any good, or could be called God ? The chief 
 lama smiled, but was silent, for he did not know what 
 to answer. One of his servants came to the rescue, 
 commanding Matthew to be silent, and calling him a 
 stupid child — not a very convincing argument. Often 
 the missionary's tent is not empty till late at night, 
 when the supply of books is diminished, and the ques- 
 tions of the visitors have all been answered. When 
 morning comes it finds the tent filled again, and many 
 standing round outside ; persons once stolid and 
 indifferent now inquiring, " What shall I do ? " 
 Such occasions are specially encouraging when the 
 worker has left place after place with a sense of 
 failure. " that the joyful reception given me in 
 Debring were a sign of belief on the Saviour ! " cries 
 Heyde. " That we cannot yet say ; it is a great ad- 
 vance, if the name of the Lord is known and spoken 
 of with reverence." 
 
 On the same journey he spent a whole day at a 
 monastery ; for these Buddhist monasteries are never 
 passed by. " The few lamas who were at home," he 
 writes, " struck me as being particularly lazy and 
 indifferent. The outer walls of the building, which ia 
 at least 300 years old, are in very good condition; but 
 inside it is dilapidated and neglected. The costly idols 
 stand in dust-covered shrines. Of religions life and 
 activity there is no trace." This is not everywhere the 
 case, nor are the lamas all stupid, lazy, or indifferent. 
 
 5 
 
66 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 Were it so the end of Bnddiiisni -would be near. We 
 will take Mr. Redslob as our guide to tliree monasteries 
 very different from tliis. 
 
 A great religious festival is going on. For a wliole 
 day the lamas and the people have fasted and kept 
 silence, the abbot alone speaking to them. The abbot 
 himself has come forth for the festal celebration from 
 his cave in the mountains, and is imparting, with laying 
 on of hands, his blessing to the believers, when 
 Redslob arrives on the scene. " The good-sized room 
 was brilliantly illuminated with small lamps, placed 
 around a sacrificial object, which was a dumpling of 
 flour weighing about forty pounds, decorated with large 
 lumps of butter. Plates heaped with roasted barley, 
 on which lay coins or small turquoises, encircled the 
 sacrifice. The silent assembly wore an aspect of great 
 solemnity. Entering the room during a pause in the 
 musical performance, I stepped up to an old half- 
 dressed lama whomi I recognized as the abbot from the 
 marks of respect paid to him by the others. At first 
 they listened to me in silence, as I explained the use- 
 lessness of their efforts to get rid of the burden of sin, 
 and pointed to the Friend of Sinners, who had come 
 down from heaven to redeem us. Then the abbot 
 began to dispute with me, maintaining that they had 
 about the same creed as I, only with a difference of 
 names ; that they not only knew the need of a Saviour 
 from on high, but actually had such an one, and that 
 the true incarnation was not unknown to them. He 
 repudiated the notion that they worshipped their idols, 
 saying that they merely became mentally absorbed by 
 gazing at them, whereby their thoughts were drawn 
 from earth to heaven." 
 
 In the second of the three lamaseries some were 
 " evidently in earnest to be cleansed from sin." Pass- 
 ing the lodge, and accompanied by a venerable-looking 
 lama, whom he had met riding on a little donkey to the 
 neighbouring village, the missionary entered the main 
 building, and was allowed to speak to the inmates. " My 
 audience consisted of a number of the ' drapas ' or 
 
FOR TIBET. 67 
 
 students, a younger lama, and the old man who had 
 followed me back to the monastery. I was soon to 
 learn his motive for doing so. Whilst conversing with 
 them I distributed books to all. The fairly animated 
 discussion was chiefly conducted by the older lama, in 
 a very bland manner, and, when the lateness of the 
 hour obliged my departure, he rose and collected all the 
 books. These he returned to me with the remark : 
 ' The young people must now learn their sacred books, 
 and every interruption in this course of study is sinful.' 
 With some difficulty I persuaded the old man to retain 
 one for himself, in order to compare its truths with his 
 own way of holiness. Evidently the chief stewards 
 were absent, so it was the duty of the aged lama to 
 receive me, and he made use of his authority to protect 
 the students from the influence of my teaching." 
 
 Now, to learn that not all the monasteries are dilapi- 
 dated, nor all the lamas light-minded, let us go to 
 the Hemis monastery, the richest in Ladak. It owns 
 land in almost every village, and has managed to keep 
 its treasures secure from the rapacious Hindus. 
 Hidden between rocks and trees, its appearance, when 
 one catches sight of it, is truly imposing. The interior 
 is also fine. The ceiling of the chief hall rests on 
 many pillars, and over the centre rises a lofty dome, 
 through which light is admitted. A small apartment 
 contains the principal treasures, prominent amongst 
 which is a silver " cho-ten," or receptacle for offerings, 
 with steps richly inlaid with gold, turquoises and other 
 precious stones. There were several golden vessels, 
 the value of which lay in the metal alone, as the art 
 displayed in their construction is very poor. The 
 meanings of certain figures in earthenware my guides 
 could not explain, as they were only " drapas," i.e. 
 lamas who had not yet passed their examinations. 
 The latter circumstance perhaps accounts for their 
 great levity, so different from the grave demeanour of 
 the genuine lama. 
 
 Thus these heralds of the Prince of Peace pass from 
 monastery to monastery, now received with rausic, a 
 
 6* 
 
68 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 mark of liigli honour, now with coldness ; now they 
 visit a place of pilgrimage of Buddhistic times, now a 
 place reminding one of the pre-Buddhistic times, 
 with their worship of demons, of tutelary spirits, and 
 freaks of nature ; now they pass a bush hung with 
 rags and charms to keep olf spirits, just like those one 
 sees in Eastern Germany in the forests of Lusatia and 
 Silesia ; now they meet a procession headed by a vener- 
 able lama, clad in red, or yellow, with a huge red or 
 yellow sun-shade ; and everywhere alike they deliver 
 their message, and leave their books, tracts, or portions 
 of the Scripture. 
 
 The tracts are partly polemical, pointing out the 
 hollow character of Buddhism ; partly instructive, 
 treating of Christian doctrine. Of the latter some are 
 descriptive and narrative, others give the teachings of 
 Christianity in the form of question and answer, all 
 with a view to influencing men trained in Buddhism. 
 And they do influence them. 
 
 At a lonely spot on the steep banks of the Spitti 
 River, a cave far below was pointed out to Mr. Weber 
 as having been for more than sixteen years the abode 
 of a hermit. He belonged to the richest and most 
 influential family at Poo, but had left wife, children 
 and estates to attain by continual meditation to the 
 absorption into Buddha, or the " Nirvana " — that is, 
 ntter annihilation. As according to Buddha it is 
 misery to exist, not to exist must be felicity. Intend- 
 ing to visit this man, Mr. Weber attempted to descend 
 from rook to rock, but was obliged to give it up, as a 
 single false step would have precipitated him into the 
 torrent beneath. His servant, being more accustomed 
 to Himalayan climbing, declared himself ready to go 
 for extra compensation, so he sent to the hermit some 
 scriptural pamphlets, accompanied by a few lines. The 
 hermit answered by a letter written in magniloquent 
 Oriental style thanking him for the books, which he 
 said he would read with meditation, and saying that he 
 would gladly have come up to see Mr. Weber had his 
 body, emaciated by fasting, permitted him to do so. He 
 
FOE TIBET. 
 
 remembered Mr. Pagell as a fatherly friend, who had 
 made him acquainted with the teaching of Christianity, 
 but he was of opinion that there were many ways to 
 the same goal. 
 
 " On my return to Poo," writes Mr. Weber, " I met 
 a lama from the country east of Lhassa, who had 
 intelligently studied some pamphlets given him years 
 ago, and was able to relate, almost word for word, pas- 
 sages from the life of Jesus. His first question was, 
 ' Whither did Jesus go after his death — He who had a 
 heart so full of love for men, and whom the godless 
 lamas killed ? ' I answered that the Lord Jesus did 
 not go to the Mrvana, but to God, the Judge of all, and 
 that He lives to represent before His Father every soul 
 who has believed on Him in this life. ' That is a 
 beautiful belief,' he answered. ' Through the merits 
 of Christ, then, the Christians hope to be blessed ? 
 This is beautiful, very beautiful ; I must and will 
 reflect upon it.' He expressed himself willing to tell 
 his countrymen of Him, and of the hope of Christians. 
 ISTor were these empty words, for a few days after, 
 when I was conversing with a Kushog (a Holy man), 
 he stepped openly to my side in a concourse of lamas, 
 and praised the Christian religion as one worthy of the 
 serious consideration of every lama." 
 
 In another village a young man named Gergan sent 
 word to the missionary that he wanted to become a 
 Christian. He was born in Lhassa, was a married 
 man, and in good circumstances. When asked why he 
 wished to become a Christian he answered : " I have 
 read your books, and am persuaded that Christ is the 
 true helper." He wanted to sell all that he had and 
 go with his wife and child to Kyelang ; but the mis- 
 sionary advised him to stay, telling him that Christ is 
 a living Saviour, and able to help everywhere. He 
 insisted on accompanying the missionary to the next 
 village, and a few days after appeared in Leh to see 
 him again, and repeat the question : " When may I 
 come to Kyelang ? " At first he could receive no 
 definite reply, but Nathanael, a native Christian, stayed 
 
70 WORKING AND WAITING FOR TIBET. 
 
 with liim for a fortnight to tell him more about Christ. 
 Then Gergan again repeated his request, adding that 
 his wife thought as he did. As head man of one of the 
 largest villages in Nubra, enjoying a position of con- 
 siderable dignity and influence, he anxiously strove to 
 regulate his private life and official dealings by his 
 new principles. But after avrhile the latter aim proved 
 too difficult, and he went to Leh to resign his office. 
 When a new station was begun at that place he was 
 appointed school-master, a post which he occupied till 
 his death. 
 
 It may seem to some readers as if the missionaries 
 were over cautious in baptizing converts. Those who 
 blame them must bear in mind that the character of 
 the people renders it necessary to make sure that it is 
 not the hope of temporal advantages, or a fitful 
 enthusiasm which leads to the expression of a desire 
 for baptism, lest there be disappointment on both sides. 
 He who becomes a Christian here has often literally to 
 forsake father and mother, and house and lands. Tet 
 many, like Gergan, have been brought to hunger 
 and thirst after the truth, and to long for the next 
 visit of the " white sahib." The number of earnest 
 enquirers was one of the strong reasons for the 
 commencement of the third station at Leh. It is evident 
 that such people require more care than can be 
 bestowed upon them during the short summer visits. 
 Tet how could visits become more frequent, when the 
 journey from Lahoul to Ladak leads over the Baralacha 
 Pass, 14,000 feet in height, and then over many of a 
 much greater altitude ; when for eight days one marches 
 through a perfectly uninhabited country, when even in 
 the months from June to October so many lose their 
 lives, that Heyde has seen dead bodies on the road each 
 time he has passed that way ? 
 
Chaptee IX. 
 
 ^clj antr i\it ItTeiriciiI Ittrssbit. 
 
 Eighteen, liundred years ago Ladak was a proviiice 
 •of Eastern Tibet, and from thence derived the Bud- 
 dhist religion. Regaining not long afterwards its 
 political liberty, it still recognized the spiritnal supre- 
 macy of the Dalai-Lama, just as some European nations 
 acknowledge the spiritual sway of the Pope, and it 
 continued to send tribute to Lhassa. The great 
 Muhammedan invasion which swept over Northern 
 India, and gave to many of its states rulers of the 
 warlike and hardy race beyond the mountains, des- 
 troyed the Buddhist temples and monasteries of 
 Ladak. This was in turn succeeded by a great 
 Mongolian conquest, which re-established the lamas 
 in their ancient seats, and renewed the former con- 
 nection with the Dalai-Lama, " the mother of souls 
 who has an ocean of greatness," and the holy city of 
 Lhassa, " the mountain of spirits." 
 
 This connection was not broken, when in 1834 Ladak 
 was once more conquered by the Rajah of Kashmir, 
 ihough many temples were plundered, and many lamas 
 fled to Chinese Tibet. Nor were affairs materially 
 altered when the country was further reduced by the 
 cession of Spitti to England. The result of all these 
 changes is that one finds there a marvellous mixture 
 of races, of customs, of religious creeds and religious 
 observances, historic and pre-historic. Consequently 
 
72 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 the Buddhist population is more tolerant than else- 
 where, and less slavish in its submission to its local 
 Hindu rulers. This independence is due to the ad- 
 mixture of a strong Muhammedan element, and the 
 retention in some districts of the old Mongolian nomadic 
 customs. Tefc its ruler, the Maharajah of Kashmir, 
 used to dread tlie presence of any Europeans in the 
 land. He was particularly anxious to keep mission- 
 aries out, for he thought they would criticize his mode 
 of governing, and send home reports which would 
 certainly touch on political matters, thus exercising a> 
 sort of unoificial watch over his country. Meanwhile 
 the missionaries did all they could to get a footing in 
 Leh, tlie capital of Ladak. Bit hy bit concessions were 
 granted ; first the permission to white men to spend 
 the summer in the country ; then the special permission 
 to the Moravian missionaries to travel without obtain- 
 ing a new pass every year. At last, after a long delay, 
 partly owing to the Afghan War, the mediation of the 
 Marquis of Ripon gained for them a promise from the 
 Maharajah that a mission-house should be built for 
 them at Leh. 
 
 Hastening thither to choose a site, Mr. Redslob 
 found a house already erected for two Englishmen 
 appointed to make meteorological observations. The 
 meteorological conditions were not favourable, the offi- 
 cials were recalled, and the house handed over to the 
 Moravians, together with the plot of ground adjoining 
 it, with permission to erect upon it a church and school. 
 These houses and the land remain, however, the 
 possession of the Kashmir Government, which is still 
 unwilling to grant Europeans permanent possession on 
 any terms. The great aim thus attained, a second, 
 connected with it, was actively taken up. Eor many 
 years it had been felt that a qualified medical mis- 
 sionary was needed. Thei'e was a dispensary at Leh 
 with a native doctor appointed and salarized by the 
 Indian Government. This was placed at the disposal 
 of the Moravian Mission, with the promise that the 
 necessary medicines and instruments should be supplied. 
 
FOR TIBET. 73 
 
 The death of the Maharajah in 1886, and the ac- 
 cession of his son, Pertab Singh, brought about a 
 great advance of English influence, followed by a 
 number of reforms, and a consequent increase of the 
 commercial importance of Leh. " A walk through the 
 bazaar from July until September is of the greatest 
 interest," writes Mr. Redslob, "for this is the time 
 when the merchants swarm in picturesque confusion. 
 Traders from Lhassa exchange their expensive tea for 
 apricots from Baltistan, saffron from Kashmir, and 
 wares from Hindustan. People from Tarkand, on 
 their gigantic Turkestan horses, bring to market hemp 
 (which is smoked as opium), and sometimes Russian 
 dress goods. I have even had Russian roubles ofTered 
 to me as change. Merchants from Bokhara and from 
 Kabul, fine-looking people ; natives of Kashmir, and 
 Hindus from the plain — all these frequent this rendez- 
 vous of Central Asiatic traffic. Amongst them we met 
 Indian fakirs, Moslem dervishes, pilgrims to or from 
 Mecca, wandering Buddhist ballad-singers. Then there 
 are lamas of low rank, real mendicant monks, or a 
 ' kushog,' an incarnate Buddha on a splendid horse, 
 with many followers, really also a mendicant monk, 
 only of a more respectable kind, as he carries on a 
 more wholesale business. In short, it is a picture as 
 gay in colour and as full of contrast as one can wish, 
 but all in Asiatic filth and dust ; for the bazaar is in 
 every respect a place where filth gathers, especially 
 that of morals. At Kyelang and Poo I had to do 
 almost exclusively with Buddhists. Here at Leh, Islam 
 is the preponderating religion, for natives of Tarkand, 
 Kashmir, and Baltistan, who are very numerous here, 
 are all Mussulmans. 
 
 "High above the town tower the ruins of the huge 
 old castle, witnessing to the former splendour of its 
 past race of kings, and the background is the lofty 
 mountain range between Ladak and Nubra. 
 
 " Let us now leave the bazaar, with its confusion, 
 and its rather bad than good odours, and go through 
 several small streets out of the city. We pass the 
 
74 
 
 WOEKING AND WAITING 
 
 IIB^ 
 
 If;///;/ -^ 
 
 (l 
 
 i!ililii(itiiiii' 
 
 lilpll l*li 
 
 fTlTl'fli 
 
 I -L| 
 
 jjltl ||i| I !j, I. \ht,j.Mt.u , . » ..*.. „/.//, L/ ..I..J, ill J*l ( 
 
FOR TIBET. 75 
 
 hospital of our medical mission, and in two minutes 
 more reach our mission buildings. They are very finely 
 situated, near to the city, and yet in the finest, freshest 
 air, the tumult of the city entirely shut off by a grove of 
 poplar and willow trees." 
 
 From this home one missionary goes forth on his 
 tours through the country, a much easier task than it 
 used to be, when he had to cross the passes from 
 Kyelang or Poo ; for the snow-fall at Poo is usually 
 two or three feet, at Kyelang often six feet, at Leh 
 seldom more than three or four inches. The other is 
 the medical missionary. All manner of cases come 
 under his treatment, from cataract down to dyspepsia 
 and rheumatism. No fear of ceremonial pollution 
 deters patients as in Lahoul. In winter they average 
 about one hundred a month. Later the numbers increase. 
 Dr. Marx writes: "In autumn especially, Baltis come 
 in great numbers to the hospital, and almost every one 
 asks for medicine for two or three friends at home 
 who cannot come, and yet may require, according to the 
 imperfect descriptions given, very thorough treatment. 
 
 " I do not begin before nine o'clock, in order to 
 allow a number of patients to collect. Then I have the 
 gong sounded and we assemble in the operating-room. 
 Around our Christians gather an ever varying number 
 ■of heathen or Muhammedans. Outsiders frequently 
 listen at the door, wishing to learn a little about 
 Christ and His teachings, without being seen to attend 
 a place of worship. So I have often twenty or thirty 
 or even forty listeners around me. They sit on the 
 ground, and I seat myself on a chair, in order not to 
 look down too much upon them, but be more like one 
 of their number. Then I read a few verses from the 
 Gospels, and expound them in a homely talk about the 
 passage. I conclude with the Lord's Prayer. The little 
 meeting over, the out-patients are treated one by one. 
 These generally are finished by mid-day ; operations, if 
 any be necessary, must be done whenever there is time. 
 The wards are visited as soon as the out-patients have 
 been attended to, and again in the evening." 
 
76 WORKING AND WAITING FOR TIBET. 
 
 Dr. Marx's medical skill has also proved useful 
 to some Europeans at Let. He writes of one :■ — ■ 
 " Mr. Kitty, the Koman Catholic priest, -who had 
 recently come to Leh, was very ill. As a serious 
 operation had to be performed, and careful nursing was 
 indispensable, I invited him to our house, where he 
 passed peacefully away a month later." 
 
 Of all the intelligence from this new station the 
 most encouraging is that concerning the success of the 
 school. The governor of the province finding that the 
 people in the district of Leh were the worst educated in 
 the country, issued a proclamation that one child at 
 least of every family must be sent to school. But 
 what school ? He inquired, found that the Moravian 
 school was the best, and gave orders that they must be 
 sent there. Then there was a putting of heads together, 
 and a hunting for reasons, why this command was 
 given. " They are to be kidnapped," said some. " They 
 are to be sent to England and made Christians," said 
 others. " They are to be trained as porters and made 
 to carry packages across the mountains, and from one 
 part of the country to another." The decree was 
 ignored, or disobeyed. But when the miissionaries 
 went round to the parents and explained matters, all 
 misgivings vanished. The children were sent. They 
 even began to attend the religious instruction, which 
 was left optional, and now there is a daily attendance 
 of sixty, when the Gospel is read and expounded. 
 One feels, when reading the accounts of the new 
 mission in Leh, that the whole character of the work 
 is changed. It is no longer the almost hopeless work 
 of yore. It may be rendered somewhat difficult by the 
 competition of the newly-form.e(^Catholio mission, but 
 the work of the pioneers is done, and well done. 
 Now comes the time when the foundation is to be 
 built upon. 
 
 R' 
 
Chapter X. 
 
 ^\it Results of l^e Wioxk 
 
 Many results of tie work have necessarily been 
 mentioned in tlie foregoing narrative, but we must 
 refer to some far-reaoMng issues and mention some 
 personal cases to present the work in a true light. 
 
 Statistics it is hard to give ; for useful as they are 
 he who tries to measure the kingdom of God by 
 statistics is like a man who would gauge the produce 
 of a turnip-field by the green leaves above ground. 
 The turnip is often fine and large, and the leaves 
 small ; often the turnip is small, and the leaves fine and 
 large. 
 
 A striking illustration used by Mr. Redslob shows 
 not only the slow progress of the cause, but also the 
 spirit of the men to whom it is committed. " The 
 juniperus excelsa, commonly called the 'pencil cedar,' 
 is considered by the Tibetans a sacred tree. Its wood 
 is much used by the lamas as incense on account of its 
 aromatic perfume, and its branches for sacrificial fires, 
 and for these purposes boughs and pieces of the wood 
 are often taken to Lhassa, as the tree is not found in 
 that neighbourhood. It grows on the driest declivities, 
 where no other tree could thrive, binds itself fast to 
 the ground with a wonderfully intricate network of 
 fibres, and thus bids defiance to wind and weather, for 
 it can only be uprooted by an avalanche. In appear- 
 ance it greatly resembles the cypress, and, like it, is an 
 
78 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 evergreen. As fuel it gives forth, an agreeable 'warmth^ 
 and when the stem is large enough, it is prized as 
 excellent timber for building purposes. But it is of 
 astonishingly slovf growth. Many generations elapse 
 before a little seed develops into a tree from ten to 
 fifteen feet in height. Yet there are trunks — there 
 is one, for instance, in the neiglibourhood of Kyelang — 
 which, at five feet above the ground, measures thirty- 
 six feet in circumference. Such venerable specimens 
 are held specially sacred by the people, and are never 
 cut down." 
 
 " The parable should teach us patience and 
 faith ; patience, when we consider the slow progress of 
 our work ; and faith, that the wondrous power of the 
 Gospel of God can and will, in His own good time, 
 cause His work here to grow into a mighty tree, which, 
 no enemy shall be able to uproot. Like the prophet 
 Elijah under the juniper tree, we have our seasons of 
 depression and of weak faith, but, like him, we have 
 been strengthened by the bread and the water of life, 
 and have been able to hold on our way in the strength, 
 of that meat." Fruitless toil does not inspire courage 
 to continue or faith in its success. Tet those best 
 able to judge of the results of their long and faithful 
 labours possess such faith and courage. Not to speak 
 of the fruits they see in the lives of their converts, the 
 results of the school- work confirm their hopes. 
 
 It is customary in Tibet for anyone who has a 
 request to make not to do it himself, but to get a third 
 person to do it for him. In this way Heyde was in- 
 formed that one of his old pupils wanted to become a 
 Christian. A quarter of a year had elapsed when the 
 man himself came. He had lived for some years on 
 the farm, and by attendance at family prayers had 
 learnt more fully the doctrine of salvation in Christ. 
 His reason for wishing to be a Christian was, he said, 
 that he had found out how vain the Buddhist religion 
 was, and felt the need of a Saviour. For Buddhism 
 teaches that sin exists, but that the escape from it is by 
 works. In olden times it taught the need of repen- 
 
FOR TIBET. 79 
 
 tanoe, but now few even of the lamas know of this 
 ancient doctrine. But he who feels that he cannot 
 escape by works must have a Saviour. 
 
 When the young man's intentions became known at 
 home his relatives attempted to poison him, nothing 
 unusual in Tibet. Though they made him very ill, 
 they neither killed him, nor did they shake his convic- 
 tions. He was excommunicated ; but after a while his 
 neighbours began to speak to him again, though he was 
 now a " man without caste," with whom it was sin to 
 eat, or smoke. 
 
 Another pupil, now a teacher at Kyelang, requested 
 to be allowed to speak with Heyde concerning the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 This man was not a Buddhist, but a Muhammedan. 
 The missionary read the Bible with him several times 
 a week, and explained to him especially the Messianic 
 passages of the Old Testament. At first the man was 
 chiefly intent on drawing comparisons between his 
 religion and Christianity; yet he was an honest enquirer. 
 At last on December 24th, 1876, he was baptized with 
 his wife into the death of Jesus, after "many a conflict, 
 many a doubt." 
 
 His influence on his pupils was very great. Five of 
 them repeatedly expressed their earnest desire to become 
 Christians like their teacher. The missionary gave 
 every encouragement to the oldest of them, an orphan, 
 who had been at school in Kyelang for three years. 
 The others he could only advise to wait patiently till 
 they were of age, as he did not consider it right to 
 baptize them without the knowledge and even against 
 the will of their parents. 
 
 But there is something else which confirms the hopes 
 of future results. There is a wide-spread belief among 
 both lamas and laymen that the days of Buddhism are 
 numbered. Both in the English and in the Chinese 
 provinces, one finds a general feeling that the merits 
 derived from men's virtue are becoming less and less, 
 and that the supply of holiness accumulated for 
 posterity by past generations of pious Buddhists is 
 
80 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 nearly exhausted. There is even a suspicion that the 
 whole of lamaism is a fraud. The lamas themselves 
 confirm these suspicions, for they have to confess that 
 their own prayers and magic formulas are useless and 
 they explain this by publicly declaring that the merits 
 procured by former incarnations of Buddha and his 
 saints are fast diminishing, and will soon be powerless 
 to help. This explanation the thinking part of the 
 laity does not accept ; for, having done all that their 
 religion and the lamas demand of them, they are more 
 inclined to think that they have added to the store of 
 virtue, than that they have drawn on it for their own 
 need. They prefer to explain the want, not bya decrease 
 of virtue and the mei-its it acquires, but rather by 
 a defect in Buddhism itself. So they begin to doubt. 
 Of course, heathen who do not believe in Buddhism are 
 not therefore Christians. Tet this impression among 
 the people is a fresh encouragement to that enduring 
 love, which hopes all things. 
 
 If the future is not without hope, so neither is the 
 present without its signs of encouraging import. One 
 missionary writes concerning the behaviour in church : 
 "At first it was a common thing for anyone who dis- 
 agreed with an expression in my sermon, to talk about 
 it aloud with his neighbour. Or, if a man thought 
 anything in our doctrine laughable, he gave way to 
 unrestrained merriment. For at the Buddhist religious 
 ceremonies all manner of nonsense and pastime can be 
 indulged in, and nobody thinks it wrong. Now our 
 regular listeners put a stop to a new-comer's mirth, if 
 he allows himself such liberties, and let him know that 
 he must not distract the attention of the meeting." 
 
 The native converts introduced benches into the 
 church at Kyelang, and paid for them themselves, 
 because they heard that the Christians in the plain 
 have them. Formerly they used to sit on carpets on 
 the floor, according to the custom of that country. 
 They have improved in their personal appearance, 
 too. Mr.B,edslob, after relating some far from pleasant 
 instances of native uncleanliness, says : " It is all the 
 
FOR TIBET. 81 
 
 more pleasing to see the humanizing effect of Chris- 
 tianity on our converts. When one sees our Christiana 
 sitting in church neatly dressed, the women with their 
 green and red cloaks lined with sheepskin, and behind 
 them some heathen, the contrast involuntarily calls up 
 the thought how well the darkness of heathenism is typi- 
 fied by the dirty faces of the heathen, so black that one 
 can scarcely tell the real colour of their skin." 
 
 Speaking of their houses, he adds : " Their dwellings 
 are small, but one sees that they take pains to keep 
 them tidy. They have no stoves, only an open hearth 
 such as one sees in the Swiss Alps, with a hole in the 
 roof over it to let the smoke out. Of course the warmth 
 goes out with it, and the roof is always black. But 
 look at their brass pots and plates brightly polished, 
 standing in a row on a neat side-board. Mark the 
 pride of Lydia and Mattha in their shining utensils. 
 I have seen many a house in Germany that looked far 
 less inviting. Mattha, who likes to be doing something, 
 has made himself a little study eight or nine feet square 
 and five feet high, which he has papered with pictures 
 out of the Illustrated London News. Many an English 
 statesman would be surprised to see that his portrait, 
 if not his fame, has reached the hut of a Tibetan in the 
 far-off Himalayas." 
 
 The same progress is visible at the other stations. 
 A missionary at Poo writes: "The contrast between 
 the inhabitants of Poo 9,nd the other villages of Eunawur 
 is such, that even those living at a distance remark 
 that it is easy to see when a man is a native of Poo." 
 
 He goes on to tell of the natural and pleasant inter- 
 course between the missionaries and their converts; 
 how they come every now and then to see the missionary 
 without any special purpose; how the missionaries 
 often go and drink a cup of tea with them ; in short, 
 how they feel that they belong together and are really 
 bound together by faith in one Lord. Then he describes 
 the first communion he partook of in Tibet : " I can 
 scarcely describe the feelings of my wife and myself, 
 when we approached the Lord's table for the first time 
 
 6 
 
82 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 ■with our little flock. Tlie men were clothed in white, 
 the women had a white shawl ovei' their dark dresses. 
 One sees that one is in the East ; for instead of falling 
 npon their knees to pray, they throw themselves upon 
 their faces. It was a touching, and at the same time 
 an inspiriting sight, to see the first-fruits of this people 
 solemnly and with evident eagerness waiting to partake 
 of the flesh and blood of our Lord." 
 
 Of course these converts sometimes fall into sin. 
 The women occasionally quarrel with a bitterness 
 which belies the Christian fellowship and unity which 
 they treasure so much at other times. The earnest 
 reproof of the missionary is, however, always enough to 
 reconcile them and make them ashamed of their want 
 of Christian patience and love. 
 
 Some individual cases will complete our sketch of the 
 Christian life of these little congregations among the' 
 Himalayas. We again quote Mr. Pagell : " A well-to- 
 do man living here at Poo, Kungsang by name, and 
 about sixty years of age, was in poor health last 
 summer. In the autumn he was so weak that he could 
 not go out. He was the only man in the place who 
 had never set foot in our church — not that he showed 
 any enmity, he was only perfectly indifferent to the 
 mission. But when he was ill he gladly received my 
 visits, and I always went to him with the prayer that 
 the Lord would bless me and touch the man's heart. 
 As he had no knowledge of the love of God, I told 
 him the story of the fall, and of the Saviour's sufferings 
 and death to save us from sin, and assured him that 
 he also could share in this salvation, though all his good 
 works could not free him from the judgment of God. 
 When I told him how I should rejoice to meet him 
 again before the throne of God, he assured me that he 
 had no other comfort but Jesus, and prayed to none 
 else. That was the last time I saw him. Soon after 
 we received the unexpected news that he was dead. 
 The sick man had been in the habit of going out on to 
 the verandah at mid-day to warm himself in the sun- 
 shine, and there I could speak to him. Otherwise the 
 
FOB. TIBET. 83 
 
 sick always lie in the inmost part of the house, to which 
 the heathen do not admit a missionary. As soon as the 
 news of his death reached me, I hastened to the house, 
 where I found everything in commotion, and everybody 
 busy with funeral preparations. The lamas were there 
 performing the customary ceremonies, and offering up 
 the usual funeral prayers. 
 
 " The eldest son told me that his father had very 
 much wanted to see me a few hours before, but they 
 had not sent for me at once ; and after that he had 
 never spoken again. As heathen they did not under- 
 stand the longing of a sinner for pardon and peace, and 
 neglected the last wish of the dying man. One cannot 
 be surprised at it. But I have the consolation that 
 Kungsang died in faith and is gone home." 
 
 Shredol is a young man, born in the neighbouring 
 province of Spitti. His education in the school at 
 Kyelang enabled him to gain the position of "munshi " 
 under his own government, through the recommenda- 
 tion of the English commissioner. Three-quarters of a 
 year before he entered upon his office he asked to 
 become a Christian, and as he persevered in his request 
 he received instruction from Mr. Heyde during the 
 winter. When spring came he repeated his request, 
 that he might be baptized before he commenced his 
 new duties. Although the missionaries had nothing 
 against his future work, they were undecided whether 
 to grant his request or not ; for they thought of the 
 many dangers to which he must necessarily be exposed. 
 If he remained true to his faith, his life might be en- 
 dangered. If he, a young man, returned home to the 
 old scenes of superstition and sin, and lived isolated in 
 the midst of heathen surroundings, there was grave 
 cause to fear, lest he should relapse into heathenism. 
 They represented all this to him ; but he pleaded the 
 strength of the Lord, which could keep and preserve 
 him, and proved himself so much in earnest, that he 
 was baptized on Whit-Sunday. His stepfather, who 
 had come to fetch him home, declared that it was all 
 the same to him what his son did. He even attended 
 
 6* 
 
84 WORKING AND WAITING FOE TIBET. 
 
 the baptism, but without being at all moved by it. He 
 declared that after this life he wished to be wherever 
 his people were, and there he would find existence 
 qnite bearable. 
 
 Shredrol had chosen for himself a Tibetan name 
 never borne by any Buddhist, " Den tong ga wa," i.e. 
 " He who rejoices in the truth," which is usually 
 shortened down into Denga. His subsequent life en- 
 tirely justifies the hopes of his teachers. His Lord 
 preserves him. 
 
Chapter XI. 
 
 We Tvill devote a separate chapter to a former lama, 
 Sodpa Gjalzan, whose baptismal name is Nathanael. 
 
 His father was an oificial of high rank at the court 
 of the Dalai-Lama. The son accordingly received an 
 education in keeping with his father's position, and 
 such as should fit him for the high rank to whioh it 
 was hoped that he would attain. For seven years he 
 studied in a lamasery, gaining an unusually thorough 
 acquaintance with the Buddhist religion and history. 
 Of a clear, keen understanding, of extensive culture, 
 of deep and earnest thought, he was far superior to the 
 mass of his fellow students in knowledge and mental 
 capacity. In character he combined the habitual self- 
 restraint of a lama with the excitable nature and hasty 
 temper of a son of the soil. Cautious as a merchant, 
 suspicious as a Chinese official, he had yet a certain 
 frankness, which scorned to give a false reason instead 
 of the true one. When his studies were completed, his 
 thirst for knowledge drove him out into the world, and 
 he spent four years in travelling, not only in his own 
 country, but beyond the borders of the Chinese Empire. 
 
 Clad in the ordinary dress of a lama, the long red 
 robe, sewed up from top to bottom, reaching almost to 
 his shoes, with a girdle round the waist, and the jacket 
 worn over the robe, he wandered about as a begging 
 friar. His family was rich and influential, yet he 
 
86 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 might possess nothing but what he could carry about 
 with him. Two leather wallets contained his whole 
 property — a cooking ntensil, a spoon, a brass drinking- 
 cup, a book, and any food that might be given to him. 
 
 Such was Gjalzan when a chance visit to Poo made 
 him acquainted with Pagell. Some tracts seen at a 
 farmer's house induced him to attend the Christian 
 service, and to seek an interview with the missionary, 
 in order to learn something more about the religion of 
 the white man. At this interview Pagell presented 
 him with the Gospel of St. Matthew in Tibetan. Again 
 and again he came to converse with the "white sahib " 
 on Christianity and Buddhism, their points of simi- 
 larity and their differences. His keen intellect showed 
 him the greater depth and universal sympathy of 
 Christianity, and his reverence for " The Light of 
 Asia" steadily gave way to a growing love to "The 
 Light of the World." 
 
 Ere long he brought three little pictures of Buddha, 
 printed in gold on a kind of black paper, which he had 
 hitherto worn as an amulet, and gave them up to the 
 missionary, because, he said, he had no more faith in 
 them. He no longer prayed to Buddha, but to Jesus. 
 As a sign of his growing confidence he asked his new 
 friend to read some papers, in which he records his 
 own spiritual impressions. " Though my thoughts be 
 sinful to the end," so he prays in one place, " let me 
 not go on the way that leadeth to destruction. I pray 
 Thee to make me a believer on Thy Gospel." In 
 another place he says : " We must forsake even the 
 slightest evil, and strive after even the slightest good." 
 Again : " Jesus Himself has brought us this doctrine. 
 He is our only salvation. that He may draw me to 
 Himself, and keep me as the apple of His eye ! " "0 
 God, when I was still in my own country, I had never 
 heard of Jesus ; now that the white sahib has told me 
 of Hinij I believe on Jesus Christ. When the name of 
 Jesus was unknown to me, I was ignorant ; enter not 
 into judgment with Thy servant for this sin." 
 
 He refused to perform the duties of a lama, though 
 
FOB TIBET. 87 
 
 he -was thereby reduced to great want. Some of the 
 farmers asked him to read aloud portions of the Bud- 
 dhistic books at different places on their estates, in 
 order to ensure a plentiful harvest. The lamas always 
 receive good pay for doing this ; but ISTathanael firmly 
 declared that it was deceit and sin, and he would not 
 do it. Another time he was less firm. Having been 
 called to a sick man, whom he was to cure by super- 
 stitious formula, he went home to fetch a book he 
 needed, and found the door fastened. He hesitated, 
 went to Mr. Pagell, told him the whole story, and 
 agreed that it was no mere chance, but a direct inter- 
 position of God. 
 
 At last he made up his mind to remain at Poo, and 
 to become a Christian. When he asked for instruction 
 preparatory to baptism Pagell's joy knew no bounds. 
 This was a real reward of his toil ; a man whose 
 earnestness and thoughtfulness contrasted so favourably 
 with the superficiality of his fellows ; a man whose 
 knowledge of Buddhism would make him a splendid 
 instrument for the spread of the Gospel among his 
 countrymen ; a man who might be able to enter into 
 the stronghold of Buddhism still closely barred and 
 defended against the white man, the dreaded " Peling," 
 who they fear will come over from Calcutta and con- 
 quer Tibet. 
 
 In order to strengthen his resolution by acquaint- 
 ing him with the life and intercourse of Christian 
 Europeans, Pagell took Gjalzan on a visit to Simla. 
 The kindness and sympathy he experienced there from 
 Europeans and Hindu Christians, the solemn services 
 in the large, well-filled churches, the Christian life in 
 several English families, all made a deep impression 
 upon Nathanael. On his return to Poo, he set to work 
 to thoroughly master English, and being appointed 
 teacher in the school, he went to live at the mission- 
 house. This act created an immense excitement, 
 especially am.ong the lamas. It amounted to an open 
 declaration that he was a Christian. For, though the 
 Buddhists have intercourse with the missionaries, and 
 
WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 attend services in the cliurch, yet they look upon it as 
 defilement for a servant of Buddha to live under the 
 same roof with them, or to eat "with them. One lama 
 after another came to ask an explanation of his con- 
 duct. To all alike he confessed joyfully and resolutely 
 that he had found peace for his soul in the Gospel. 
 They shook their heads. They could not understand 
 it. But his words produced the greater impression, 
 hecause they felt themselves inferior to him even in 
 his knowledge of Buddhism. Half-a-year after the 
 visit to Simla he was baptized and received the name, 
 Nathanael. Well might Pagell rejoice ; for Nathanael 
 was the first-fruits of the Buddhist priesthood, and his 
 life after his haptism was at first an eloquent witness to 
 the power of that faith to which he had sworn allegi- 
 ance. Not that he was faultless. He was too stern and 
 too impatient as a teacher ; but he was glad to be 
 corrected, and improved greatly. 
 
 It was feared that the lamas would seek to kill him, 
 as they have sought to kill others ; but they respected 
 him highly, partly for his knowledge, partly for his 
 godly life. Some of the more bigoted peasants, who 
 had formerly loaded him with tokens of honour and 
 esteem, now treated him with neglect, but he did 
 not mind it. He of his own accord proposed to go to 
 Lhassa to preach the Gospel to his own people, and 
 Bpoke with sadness of the failure to reach the Mongo- 
 lians, whom he considered superior to the Tibetans on 
 account of their religious earnestness. 
 
 Suddenly, however, there was a change, as though a 
 hail-storm should gather and threaten the golden 
 harvest. "How honestly he came; how earnestly he 
 sought after peace and truth," mourns Pagell ; " how 
 truly had he learnt that the Lord is gracious ! How he 
 delighted in the assurance : ' The peace of God, which 
 passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and 
 minds through Christ Jesus.' How willingly he 
 endured shame and contempt ! He refused even to 
 copy out a heathen book, because he was no longer a 
 Buddhist and wanted to have nothing more to do with 
 
FOR TIBET. 89 
 
 siacli things. As a Tibetan I Lave never seen Ms 
 equal; a cultured, intellectual man, able to express 
 himself on the Christian doctrine with such clearness 
 as to amaze ns — in short, he was our ornament and our 
 pride. Now the house built for him stands empty, 
 and we feel ready to weep ; for we miss him sorely. 
 Tet the Lord has assuredly some wise purpose in view, 
 and we do not give up hope. The remembrance of our 
 love will go with him, and may the Lord cause him 
 like the prodigal son to ' come to himself,' and to arise 
 and return, if not to us, yet to Him, the Saviour of 
 sinners." 
 
 What had happened ? The old instincts of heathen- 
 ism had been aroused ; the pride of the lama had been 
 awakened in him. He had yielded to sudden tempta- 
 tion and committed an act of violence. Helping to 
 build his house, he quarrelled with one of the masons. 
 The man challenged him with insulting words, and 
 Nathanael seized his opponent by the hair and stretched 
 him senseless on the ground with a blow from his 
 hammer. The news was brought thatNathanael had com- 
 mitted a murder. Pagell hastened to the spot, helped to 
 carry the injured man to his house, where he soon 
 recovered so far, that he could be removed to his own 
 home. But Nathanael was an altered man. In vain were 
 all attempts to induce him to confess his fault. He 
 declared he would leave the village, where retribution 
 threatened him. He was advised, at any rate, to go 
 to Kyelang, but he replied : " I might be made angry 
 there also, and then I should be transported to the 
 Andamans. I had rather go back to Tibet." He stayed 
 in Poo a few days, but neither went to church nor visited 
 the mission-house. When he sent for his possessions 
 Pagell gave up everthing but the implements of magic, 
 these he broke in pieces and burnt, saying : " Tell him I 
 will give them up to noboby, least of all to a convert." 
 The next day Nathanael had disappeared. 
 
 A short time after news reached Kyelang that 
 Nathanael had been making his way through the Spitti 
 valley, telling the people wherever he stayed that he 
 
so WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 "was a Cliristian, and asking wliether they were afraid 
 of defiling themselTes by eating with him. No better 
 proof could have been given of his honesty. He need 
 have said nothing about it, especially as he wore the 
 dress of a lama. A few days later he made his appear- 
 ance in Kyelang and asked to be received there. All 
 the time between his disappearance from Poo and his 
 arrival at Kyelang, all through his wanderings in the 
 lonely valleys, the Spirit of God had been at work in 
 his heart. He reached Kyelang a different man. Of 
 his own accord he confessed that he had done wrong, 
 and declared that he must write to Mr. Pagell to ask 
 his forgiveness. The missionaries at Kyelang gave 
 him a trial. His repentance proved itself to be real. 
 He became a most useful assistant to them. His 
 linguistic attainments and his thorough knowledge of 
 Buddhism were invaluable in the work of bible trans- 
 lation. This he did partly alone, partly in conjunction 
 with one of the missionaries, displaying great talent, 
 and still greater conscientiousness. Often he was in 
 dread lest, by the use of wrong Buddhist terms, he 
 should misrepresent the truth and depth of Christian 
 doctrine. 
 
 After he had been in Kyelang some time, he began 
 to undertake preaching-tours in the neighbouring 
 provinces. He thus became the first native assistant. 
 He knew the language and customs of the country 
 better than the missionaries, and was a native speaking 
 to natives, whilst they are after all foreigners. Mr. 
 Heyde met with many traces of Nathauael's work. In 
 one village a woman told him that " the monk from 
 Kyelang " had spent a whole day with her, teaching 
 her out of books that the religion of Buddha could not 
 bring salvation, and that one could find rest only by 
 giving up the service of idols, and serving the living God. 
 Then he met Nathanael himself in the busy market- 
 town of Leh, and found that he had been addressing 
 large audiences in the bazaar. " I do not feel nervous," 
 he said, " when preaching Christ. On the contrary, I 
 feel strengthened in my faith." 
 
FOB. TIBET. 91 
 
 Unfortunately this continued only a few years. Then 
 this son of a nomadic race announced his resolve to go 
 down into the plains. He left Kyelang for Simla, 
 whence he went to Lahore. He is still in the North of 
 India, bearing a good character wherever he has been. 
 Whether he will ever return to his home or resume 
 his missionary career, we cannot tell ; but for the 
 invaluable aid he rendered in the great work of 
 translatioij, his name deserves to live in the annals of 
 the Mission in Tibet. 
 
Chaptee XII. 
 
 ^ubb^ist WahxKna; ^ohr far it mag 
 Ir^ txmitH, 
 
 The foregoing may have left the impression that 
 Buddhism distinguishes itself from other heathen 
 religions by a degree of tolerance. This is true to 
 some extent in the provinces which border on Chinese 
 Tibet, and it is due, partly to the lethargy and con- 
 tented self-complacency of its adherents, partly to the 
 intellectual superiority of the European and the magic 
 of the English name. 
 
 But in Chinese Tibet itself the missionaries vrould 
 scarcely find their lives secured by the supposed toler- 
 ance of Buddhism. Why have they hitherto failed to 
 penetrate into Tibet Proper ? The following account 
 of the latest attempt by Mr. Weber will supply an 
 answer to that question : " Living at Poo, on the 
 borders of Chinese Tibet, I have cherished the desire to 
 carry the message of peace as far as possible into the 
 darkness of that Buddhist land. So I started at the 
 end of June on my journey. A day's march eastward, 
 and then a comparatively easy pass lies between Poo and 
 Shipke, the first Chinese village beyond the Tibetan 
 frontier. I rested for the night at the foot of the pass, 
 and had an opportunity of conversing with some 
 merchants about heavenly treasures. Next morning I 
 began the ascent on foot, but half way up my strength 
 failed. Fortunately I was able to obtain a yak, on 
 
WORKING AND WAITING FOB TIBET. 93 
 
 which I continued my journey. The summit of the 
 pass does not consist of a ridge, but of a plateau about 
 four miles in breadth. Crossing its everlasting snows, 
 the tropical sun shone down upon us out of a cloudless 
 sky, yet it was very cold. However, the view of the 
 land lying before me made my heart warm, and with a 
 prayer for its Christless inhabitants, I descended into 
 the valley, and reached Shipke at a late hour of the 
 evening. The villagers, many of whom were personally 
 known to me, received me in a friendly manner, and 
 after a long search a level spot was found on which I 
 could pitch my tent. Till late at night I was sur- 
 rounded by a crowd, and at daybreak the scene round 
 my tent was again quite lively. 
 
 " I had settled with my attendants that they should 
 accompany me into the interior of Tibet as far as I 
 wished. When the head men of Shipke heard of this 
 they tried to dissuade me from my plans. I replied that 
 I in no wise asked for their help, and whither I wished 
 to go was no concern of theirs. To this they answered 
 that personally they were not averse to me or my 
 plans ;_ they had,_ however, received orders from the 
 authorities to resist the advance of any European, if 
 necessary with force. If they did not, severe punish- 
 ment awaited them, perhaps even death. They showed 
 me scars and wounds which they had received for 
 offences which would have been considered by the 
 Chinese Governor quite trivial as compared with the 
 heinous sin of allowing any European to enter the 
 country. The notorious barbarity of Chinese punishment 
 is still in full force here. Simply for non-payment 
 of taxes people may have their bones broken or be beaten 
 to death. 
 
 "Under these circumstances I could only do what 
 Br. Pagell had done before me, give up my plan. 
 If I pursued it the head men of Shipke would answer 
 for it with their lives, or limbs, so with a heavy heart 
 I turned homeward. I was accompanied by some of 
 the village inhabitants, not from friendship, but rather 
 from mistrust lest, in spite of my promise, I might take 
 
94 WORKING AND WAITING 
 
 a detour and find the way into the interior of their 
 country." 
 
 Even in the border proTinces where the work is 
 carried on, the converts have had to suffer, though the 
 missionaries have not been in danger. Samuel, one of 
 the Christians in Kyelang, had his house in another 
 village pulled down by order of the rajah, his fields 
 confiscated, and his mother turned out of her home, all 
 because he had become a Christian. When a lama who 
 was somewhat inclined to Christianity, visited him in 
 Kyelang and ate with him, the head man of the place 
 issued a proclamation to all the inhabitants, forbidding 
 anyone to hold communication with him, so that being 
 thus boycotted the lama was compelled to leave the 
 place. The same head man gave the following charac- 
 teristic orders to the heathen inhabitants of Kyelang : 
 " When the sahib preaches to you, say nothing but 
 ' Yes, yes !' and go away quietly." 
 
 The worst instance of fanaticism was shown in the 
 case of a young lama who lived near Kyelang, and who 
 was more and more drawn to Christianity as he read the 
 Christian writings. The other lamas had spoken very 
 bitterly about it, and it was evident that they were 
 intensely angry with him. Suddenly the missionaries 
 heard that he had accidentally fallen from the roof of 
 his house, and that, before help could be brought, he 
 had died of his injuries. They went to the spot at once, 
 and saw that the fall might possibly have broken the 
 dead man's neck, but even that was in the highest 
 degree improbable, since the roof was low and the ground 
 soft. Besides they found some people trying to cover 
 up the traces of a pool of blood on the ground. The 
 body, too, had been burnt already, a thing which is 
 never done in such haste. Further inquiries made the 
 missionaries m.orally certain that it was a case of 
 murder, caused by the fanaticism of the lamas. This 
 would be quite in keeping with what Nathanael relates 
 of his former life. Many a time poison has been 
 administered out of revenge, jealousy, or fanaticism. 
 
 True, our missionaries have at present nothing to 
 
FOR TIBET. 95 
 
 fear ; nay, they even complain of the careless indif- 
 ference of the heathen, to whom the gospel is scarcely a 
 stone of stambling and a rock of offence, so that they 
 neither accept it, nor openly oppose it, Tet what has 
 been said will justify the assertion that their toleration 
 cannot be trusted very far. 
 
 Now we bring our narrative to a close. May it 
 create a lively interest which shall last far beyond the 
 perusal of these pages, and cause many a reader, when 
 repeating the petition, " Thy kingdom come," to think 
 of Tibet, the stronghold of Buddhism, the last great 
 land of earth closed to the gospel. 
 
 Our parting word shall be to those noble heralds of 
 that gospel, working and waiting foe Tibet far away 
 in yonder Himalayan stations ten thousand feet above 
 the sea. It shall be the cheery greeting with which 
 the Tibetan bids adieu to a friend setting out on a 
 journey among those vast mountains : " Tan-po-kyod ! " 
 "Tread firmly." 
 
 Finis. 
 
p /