THE PYRAMID OF PEACE.
Each Lamasery has also a Faculty of Medicine. The physicians assign to the human frame four hundred and forty-four maladies. In the medical books the symptoms are described and the remedies stated. Bleeding and cupping are sometimes resorted to. The books contain much quackery, but also a large number of valuable recipes, the benefits of which are confirmed by long experience and observation.
Four great festivals are observed by the Tartars and Thibetians during the year. The most famous of all is the Feast of Flowers, which takes place on the fifteenth day of the first moon. It is celebrated with the greatest magnificence at Hounboum, where, at the appointed time, a vast number of pilgrims congregate. Three months are occupied in preparation, a Council of Fine Arts being appointed to superintend. The most remarkable achievements are the butter-works—all the Asiatic nations being represented with their peculiar physiognomies and costumes in fresh butter. MM. Gabet and Huc state that this butter-work and the arrangement of the flowers excelled anything they ever beheld as the result of art. At night the exhibition was splendidly illuminated. In front of the principal temple there was a theatre with its performers and decorations, all of butter. The dramatis personæ were a foot high, and represented a community of Lamas on their way to solemnize prayer. The Lamas were movable puppets. The day after the Feast of Flowers not a trace remains of these splendid works. All are demolished, and the butter thrown to the cows.
The Thibetians have made extensive progress in those arts which are generally considered the flowers of civilization. Their architecture, though somewhat fantastical, often appears grand. Some of their temples are very imposing. Most of the houses at the capital at Lha-Ssa are several stories high, terminating in a terrace, slightly sloped to carry off the water. They are white-washed all over, except the bordering round the doors and windows, which is painted red or yellow. The people of Lha-Ssa are in the habit of painting their houses once a year, so that they always seem as if just built. In one of the suburbs, the houses are built of the horns of oxen and sheep, and they present a most fantastical appearance. Lha-Ssa is laid out with broad streets, and surrounded with a beautiful wall of gardens. Besides the taste and architectural skill displayed in the erection of the temples and dwelling-houses of the capital, we find a number of grand mausoleums in various parts of Thibet, which evince a high degree of development in art. The Thibetians are not in the habit of burying their dead. In general, the bodies are left upon the summits of the mountains, or thrown to the dogs, being esteemed but as worthless clods; but mausoleums have been erected in honor of famous Grand Lamas.
THEATRE AT THE FEAST OF FLOWERS.
The manufactures of the Thibetians are various and valuable. Although the severest labor is performed by the women, the men employ themselves quite profitably, especially in spinning and weaving wool. The stuffs they manufacture, which are called poulon, are of a very close and solid fabric, and surprisingly various in quality, from the coarsest cloths to the finest possible merino. By a rule of reformed Buddhism, every Lama must be attired in red poulon. The consumption of the article in Thibet is very large, and considerable quantities are exported. The pastile-sticks, so celebrated in China, are manufactured at Lha-Ssa, of various aromatic trees, mixed with musk and gold dust. When these sticks are lighted they consume slowly, and diffuse around an exquisite perfume. The Thibetians have no porcelain, but they manufacture all kinds of pottery in great perfection. The only tea-service used throughout Thibet is a wooden cup, which is either carried in the bosom or suspended from the girdle. Some of the most costly cups have the property of neutralizing poisons.
The agricultural productions of the Thibetians are very poor. They cultivate a little wheat and still less rice. The chief production is tsing-kon, or black barley, of which is made the tsamba, that basis of the aliment of the entire Thibetian population. All the labor of cultivating the ground is performed by the women. The implements used are of the most primitive description, and the work is wretchedly done.
Thibet is exceedingly rich in metals. Gold and silver are collected there so readily, that the common shepherds have become acquainted with the art of purifying these precious metals. Specie is of a low value, and, consequently, goods maintain a high price. The monetary system of the Thibetians consists entirely of silver coins, which are somewhat larger than French francs. On one side they bear an inscription, and upon the other, they have a crown of light, small flowers. To facilitate commerce, these coins are cut into pieces, the number of flowers remaining on each piece determining its value—a very simple, yet adequate arrangement. In the larger commercial transactions, ingots of silver are employed. The Pebouns, or Indians settled at Lha-Ssa, are the only workers in metals at the capital. In their quarters, you may find ironsmiths, braziers, plumbers, tin-men, founders, goldsmiths, jewellers, machinists, and even chemists. There all sorts of vases are manufactured for the use of the Lamaseries, and some of them are exquisitely ornamented. While these Indians are the chief manufacturers of Thibet, the Katchi, or Musselmen, are the leading merchants. Their religion and their trade are respected by the government.
The greater portion of the wealth of Thibet is the property of the Lamaseries. The people experience all the misery consequent upon the existence of an overpaid church establishment. Yet they are so devoted to their religion that they are never weary of making rich offerings to the Lamas. There are swarms of beggars throughout the country; but it is only just to observe that the Thibetians are kind and compassionate, and that those who are blessed with a goodly store give freely.