Large monasteries, of red or yellow Lamas, are attached to these temples, where proselytes are also educated. These Lamas, whatever their colour, are very clever in many ways, and have a great hold over the entire country. They are, ninety per cent of them, unscrupulous scamps, depraved in every way, and given to every sort of vice. So are the women Lamas. They live and sponge on the credulity and ignorance of the crowds; and it is to maintain this ignorance, upon which their luxurious life depends, that foreign influence of every kind is strictly kept out of the country. Their abnormal powers have been grossly exaggerated. They practise, it is true, hypnotism, but that is all. They can perform no more marvellous feats than any one can do in England who is able to mesmerize. As for the Mahatmas, who, our spiritualistic friends tell us, live in Tibet, they are purely imaginary, and do not exist. The Tibetans have never heard of them nor about their doings.
Personally—and I am glad that the few men [[146]]who know Tibet from personal knowledge and not from political rivalry agree with me—I believe that the intrigues of the Lamas with Russia are absolute nonsense. Tibet, it must be remembered, was not forbidden to Englishmen only, but to everybody from every side, whether native or white, certain Nepalese and Chinamen, only, having the privilege of entering the country. It was a fight against Western ways in general which the Lamas were carrying on, quite successfully owing to the geographical position of their country, and the natural difficulties of reaching it, and not a fight against one race more than another. The accounts of the Lhassa Mission to the Czar were possibly the best diplomatic practical jokes which have been played upon this credulous country; and the mythical and much-feared Dorjeff is possibly—at least as far as power is concerned—nothing more than the creation of hysterical Anglo-Indian officials who, everybody knows, seem to see the treacherous hand of Russia in everything.
Tibetan Women weaving
Perhaps no other country but England would be so rash as to go and sink millions of pounds sterling good money on a country that is, for all practical purposes, absolutely useless and worthless. [[147]]This does not detract from its pictorial, nor from its geographical or ethnological interest; from these points it is most interesting indeed.
Agriculturally, as I have stated, nothing grows there; no very wealthy mines have so far been discovered, the only mines that are plentiful being of borax, which has not sufficient market value to pay for the expensive carriage from Tibet to the coast. Regarded as a climate for a sanatorium for our sick soldiers in India—for which Tibet is frequently recommended by Anglo-Indian papers—I believe that such an establishment would be a very quick way of disposing altogether of all the sick men sent there. And as for such gigantic schemes as the construction of railways, say from India to the upper waters of the Yangtze-Kiang, or to Pekin, the expense of taking a railway over the Himahlya range and keeping it in working order during the wintry months—nine out of twelve—would, I think, never be remunerative. In Tibet itself the construction of a railway would be comparatively easy, as great stretches of the country are almost flat. Stations of imported fuel would have to be provided for the entire distance across Tibet, and the engines would have to be constructed specially to suit the great altitude. [[148]]
For trade and commerce with the natives themselves, the population of the country is so small, so deplorably poor and so lacking in wants, and the country is so large that, personally, I do not see how any large commercial venture in such a country can turn out successful. It is very difficult to get money where there is none. Small native traders, of course, can make small profits and be satisfied. Besides, the intercourse between Tibet and the neighbouring countries, particularly those to the south, can only take place with comfort during three months of the summer when the high snow-passes are open.
So that, much as I would like to see Tibet open in a proper way to travellers, I cannot quite understand the necessity of the Government spending millions of money and butchering thousands of helpless and defenceless natives in a manner most repulsive to any man who is a man, and of which we can but be ashamed—and all this to obtain a valueless commercial treaty. It is true, the Tibetans had been very impudent in every way on our frontier, but for this we only have to blame ourselves and our incompetent officials. If, instead of giving way to their bluff, we had kept a firm hand, matters would have been different.
Tibetan Women cleaning Wool