The Tibetans.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7918, 26 September 1904, Page 7

The Tibetans.

Some Curious Customs.

. Mr Jameson:; Reid, in .the ' August number pMh'e Monthly, Review, has an article. describing his journey -through the: East and North-East of Tibet It would be an utter impossibility, he says, to imagine a people more' unenlightened, and barbarous' than the native"population of 'North-Eastern Tibet. They are but a grade removed from the lower order of animals. './, '" ') .-':-.' '■'"; .;•

In one of the villages the party were honoured at a sumptuous banquet, and it appears that the. natives' gluttonous appetites seemingly knaw no limit, for each consumed vast quantities of food, washed down with such huge draughts of arreki and tea; that one could not but wonder where these vast quantities of edible and potable matter found lodgment. But to jsolve the mysteries and .capabilities of a' Tibetan stomach is a task ■ which would puzzle the most .erudite^ mathematician. In- fact, the c-Hief. ayocation' of the Tibetan, when fortune' permits, is the enjoyable business of eating. ■ '

As regards their mental and moral character—so far as a race can be characterised in a few words it may be said that the Thibetans are, if not in the first rank of savage races, not m 'the last' Tkeiriritelligenceis considerable, as their implements and folk-lore abundantly prove, and that they .possess certain traits of bravery may be inferred from their ability to exist for generations between aggressive and powerful enemies-on allsides'of them, and to repel successfully all attempts at alien aggression. They display a taste for "music,, and are passionately ad-' dieted ■_„• to "gambling, having the keenest interest in ; speculations of all sorts, On numberless occasions I have seen two men sit down for hours andshakei small dice for the most trivial 'ijb]e"cts/;their^eT.ery movement watched by/an;excited:;group of spectators, eager ■.partisans' who. voo£ such an; interest ,m the game'that-the' inevitable ending was a sanguinary brawl .of no mean dimen.sions.' ,;Horse:racing is another, fayourite pastime of the Tibetans, but their animals are'sorry beasts, and the excel lence of the performance is judged more by the skill of the horseman, than by the speed qualities of his mount. The moral standard of the Tibetan: is not high; licentiousness and indecency, far, from being uncommonj are. rather the ruie^tban the' exception. The women are especially erring; "their extreme laxity of morals and their utter want of shame are not more remarkable than the entire absence of jealousy or self-respect on the part of. their husbands and relatives. This is due, perhaps, to the degraded position of women in the community, excepting among those tribes where polyandry is practised, where their lot is in a measure improved. There are but few elaborate ceremonial functions in the direct business of marriage. Cupid must here exist on short commons, since Mammon enjoys" a clear field, and need ask no favours. A man wishing to secure a wife either steals one from a neighbouring tribs, or else purchases one in his own encampment. Polygamy and polyandry are co-existent, the number of wives a man may . own depending altotogether on the state of his fortunes and his ability to purchase a supply of these necessary adjuncts to a well-or-dered community. The head men, who are not limited by poverty, purchase as many x wives- as their fortunes will permit. ■

One of the strangest customs of these i Djun-Ba Tibetans is that attending death and burial. When a man dies the nude body is attached to stakes driven into the ground, and exposed to the ravenous attacks of beasts and birds. Nothing could be more ghastly, as assuredly nothing could be more repulsive, than to happen while travelling through the country upon one of these gruesome landmarks, from, which flocks of carrion vultures rise slowly into the air with hoarse croakings as if resenting the intrusion on their feast." The bones and other remains left after the attacks of the birds and beasts are cremated, the ashes placed in sacred bowls, mixed with magic charms, and hung up in some prominent part of the tent or dwelling, or else buried beneath au obo of stones, where they serve as objects for numerous pilgrimages. A little of the dust is placed in small bags, and these are worn round the necks of the family of the deceased as preventatives ol disease and as" a safe-guard against evil of all kinds.