PERFORMING CEREMONIES IN TIBETAN COSTUME.
That night I felt a little better, but the palsy of the limbs remained just the same, and I entered into samāḍhi, trying thus to remove the root of the malady. If any one had seen me in that state, he would have thought that I was indeed beside myself. After three days’ suffering, thanks to the careful attendance of Rai Saraṭ, I was a little better, and my limbs began to have some feeling in them, and after that, though slowly, I grew better and better, and on the eighth day I could move my hand a little. I wished to telegraph home of my whereabouts, but from Darjeeling to Japan the charge is thirty-seven rupees for three words, and two rupees was all the money I had left in my pocket now. Nor was I bold enough to borrow the money from my teacher, so after all, I did not telegraph home. But wishing to notify my return, I did my best to use my hand and wrote a letter addressed to Hige Tokujūro in my native town, though I do not quite remember what I wrote in it. I was gradually recovering, but for a whole month I was unable to do anything, and became very thin and weak. While in Tibet I had grown fat and healthy, and they had often told me that I was another man after ten months’ stay in Lhasa, and I had felt so too; but now I was again quite lean. Happily, however, by the grace of Buḍḍha I survived, and before another month had passed I was able to read and write. After that I had a great many visitors with whom I had every kind of conversation, to relate which would take another volume, but as they have no direct connexion with the journey to Tibet they need not be narrated here.
I was obliged to stay at Darjeeling for some time, because after having been accustomed to the cold climate of Tibet, I was afraid in my enfeebled state to undertake a journey over the scorching plains of India. My doctor also advised me to stay in Darjeeling for three months at least, and I determined to do so. While I was thus waiting for the recovery of my health, I heard nothing from Lhasa, for in this season of the year the communication between Phari and Darjeeling is almost entirely suspended from the fear of attacks of fever on foreign travellers in the intermediate region. The natives of Tomo-Rinchen-gang, who are accustomed to the climate, do not catch it easily, but if Tibetans were to pass through the district in the dangerous season they would surely be attacked by the malady. When I left Tibet it was at the beginning of the season and the caravan which I joined was the last but one. I knew the danger very well, but I had no other choice; the affair which occurred in Lhasa drove me to come across the dangerous path, and had caused my illness at Darjeeling. In October the first caravan came from Tibet and brought me some shocking news.
[CHAPTER XCII.]
My Tibetan Friends in Trouble.
I learned that a month had hardly passed after my escape from Lhasa, when many of my acquaintances were arrested and imprisoned. According to this information, the ex-Minister of the Treasury with whom I lived, the old nun living in his house, and one of his favorite servants, were arrested and taken to prison; the new Treasury-minister was set free, as he had not had much relation with me; the Sera Seminary was closed, Tsa Rong-ba and his wife and Takbo Tunbai Choen Joe were taken to jail and examined with terrible tortures; every house which I had frequented was closely observed by the detectives, and the people in them were expecting every moment to be arrested; therefore everybody who had had any connexion whatever with me was endeavoring to conceal it, and consequently bribery was prevalent in Lhasa. Such were the stories I heard from the caravan, but the Tibetans are great story-tellers in general, and are very fond of surprising people by lies. So I thought they might be productions of their imagination, derived from the rumor that I escaped from Lhasa, and I did not give them much credit, and told them they were absurd stories; but still I had some doubts.
Some story of this kind reached the ear of the Magistrate of Darjeeling. One day he called me to his private house and asked me several questions as to the number of the priests, and the educational system, and the regulations of the Sera Monastery, and whether there was any law by which a school could be closed for such occurrences as had happened and whether I believed the stories. To this last question I answered negatively, because not only the Tibetans, but even the Chinese in Tibet, are very often fond of exaggerating truths and circulating rumors at Darjeeling; for instance, they say Russians have been seen striding along the streets of Lhasa in broad daylight, while in fact there are none, but only a Mongolian employed by the Government of Russia.
The local English officers of these districts are very desirous of knowing anything about Tibet, and they would write down any tidings brought thence, not distinguishing whether they are true or not. At Ghoom there is an officer whose special business it is to enquire into anything occurring in Tibet. If there is anyone newly arrived from that country, he would see him, ask various questions, and if he found any important news he would take the man to the Governor’s to enquire more minutely about the matter in his presence. The present Governor of Darjeeling can speak the Tibetan language to some extent, but not with much ease; so interpreters are hired in most cases. But the British Indian Government greatly encourages these Governors of the districts adjoining Tibet to study the Tibetan language, and they can take an examination if they are able to speak colloquial Tibetan and explain easy composition; and if they pass the examination they can obtain a prize of a thousand rupees. Therefore most of them study Tibetan. From these facts the reader may infer with what caution the British Government is trying to get insight into the Forbidden Land.