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48
EAST ASIA.
During the present century the repeated efforts of the missionaries to get a
footing in Tibet have all failed. Hue and Gabet could only remain for two
months at Lassa in 1846, and later on others perished
in the attempt to penetrate
into the country. In the south-east a few priests were more fortunate. In 1854
they contrived to found a small agricultural colony amid the Bonga forests, near
the left bank of the Upper Salwen. With the aid of Chinese immigrants and of
numerous slaves, they cleared the ground and established a nourishing village.
lama convent became a presbytery, a pagoda was transformed to a church, in which
converted lamas performed the functions of sacristans. But this prosperity did
not last long. After many vicissitudes the missionaries were obliged to quit
Tibetan soil, and then the buildings were given to the flames. The mission was
re-established in Sechuen, close to Tibet, but 'the fathers no longer dare to cross
the frontier.
Nearly all the lamas, at least in the central region, belong to the sect of the
" Yellow Caps," by whom the few
" "
remaining Red Caps are despised, because
they have not taken the vow of celibacy. But the primitive Pon-bo or Bon-pa
religion has not yet quite disappeared. Its priests have several monasteries,
especially in the south-east, and in the petty state of Pomi, west of the Salwen.
They believe in two great gods, a male and a female, parents of all the other gods,
spirits, and mortals. But in other respects they have gradually conformed to
Buddhism, of which they are now merely a distinct sect. The highlanders
of
Ombo and the Dangra-yum, who practise different rites from the other Buddhists,
also seem to belong to the old religion. Their mystic formula is not the Om mani
padme hum, and they count their rosary beads and walk in procession backwards ;
that is, in the opposite direction to the orthodox practice.
Lastly, some of the half-savage tribes on the Yunnan, Assam, and Burmese
frontiers still observe fetish rites. Amongst them are the Lu-tz', who have given
their name to the Lu-tze-kiang, or Upper Salwen, and who worship the trees and
rocks inhabited by the evil spirits. They also employ the mumos (rnurmis), or
sorcerers, to conjure the bad genii by beating drums, wielding swords, and burning
incense.
DIET SOCIAL CUSTOMS POPULATION.
Milk, butter, and barley-meal form the chief diet of the people of the plateau.
But in spite of the first commandment of Buddha forbidding the slaughter of
animals, most Tibetans, and even the lamas, add the flesh of their domestic animals
to their modest fare. However, they make amends by despising the hereditary
.caste of butchers, whom they confine to remote suburbs of the towns. The mutton
of Tibet, " the best in the world" (Turner), is universally consumed, and in winter
whole bodies of these animals are preserved in a frozen state. Game is taken with
the dart, arrow, and gun, while the musk deer is usually trapped. The only
animal spared in East Tibet is the stag, " Buddha's horse." On the plateaux
skirting the north bank of the Tsangbo liquid blood forms a part of the diet, and
Nain Singh often saw the shepherds falling prostrate on the ground to lap up the
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