GOO 



THIBET. 



Love was the theme of his muse. M. Lcvesque de 

 la Ravaliere published, with a glossary and disser- 

 tations, the songs of the king of Navarre (Paris, 

 174-2, _>%.. N . l_>mo.) 



THIBET, OR TIBET; a country of Asia, 

 forming a part of Independent Tartary, lying 

 between Ion. 74 and 100 east, and lat. 26 and 

 3d north, and extending from the sources of the 

 Indus to the frontiers of China, and from Hindoostan 

 to the desert of Cobi, comprising a superficial an a 

 of about 400,000 square miles. The natives call 

 the land Pue, or Puekachim, signifying the Northern 

 Land of Snow a designation plainly alluding to 

 the severity of the climate, the inclemency of 

 which is owing to the elevated situation of the 

 surface, Thibet being the most lofty part of the 

 continent. Here rises the great Himalaya range, 

 the highest in the world, the summits of which are 

 visible for more than 200 miles. (See Himalaya 

 Mountains.') The Dhawala-giri (White mountain) 

 is 28,0 15 feet high, and therefore more lofty than 

 I'himborazo, formerly considered the highest moun- 

 tain on the face of the earth. Hence issue all 

 those mountainous chains which extend into Tartary, 

 to China, &c. ; and here rise the largest rivers of 

 Asia, the Ganges, the Burrampooter, the Irrawaddy, 

 the Mecon, the Yang-Tse-Kiang, &c. To travellers 

 who enter the country for the first time, it seems 

 a land forgotten by Heaven. Immense rocks and 

 mountains, without any appearance of vegetation, 

 alternate with dry and infertile plains. The wheat, 

 peas, barley, which grow on the latter, in many 

 parts, never ripen, and serve only as fodder for 

 cattle, when grass fails. At regular intervals rain 

 occurs, and a short grass springs up, which stops 

 growing as soon as the rain ceases, and is imme- 

 diately so parched by the dryness of the atmosphere, 

 as to become entirely white, and can be reduced to 

 powder by rubbing it between the fingers. Yet it 

 affords pasture to large herds of cattle, and is 

 superior, in its nutritious properties, to the best 

 grass. On the approach of winter, the Thibetans 

 water the lower meadows, by means of large 

 masses of ice, to prevent the dry soil from being 

 carried away by the wind. The temperature and 

 alternation of the seasons are remarkably regular 

 in Thibet. From March to May, rain, thunder, 

 and storms prevail. From June to September, 

 there is a succession of violent rains; all the 

 streams are full, and threaten to inundate Bengal. 

 From October to March, the air is almost always 

 clear and pure, and the sky is seldom overcast. 

 During three months, the cold is more severe than 

 in any part of Europe, particularly in the southern 

 portion of the country, along the mountainous ridge 

 which separates Thibet from Assam, Bootan, and 

 Nepaul, and which lies between lat. 26 and 27 

 north. The inhabitants during that period retire 

 to the lower valleys, or into the caves of the rocks. 

 From Phari to Nanee, a distance of nearly fifty 

 miles, the whole country is then a mere wilderness; 

 and the cold is so great that meat keeps fresh till 

 March. But notwithstanding the inclemency of 

 the climate, there is here a great abundance of wild 

 and tame beasts. A peculiar race of cattle, called 

 the Yak of Tartary, with a hunch upon the shoul- 

 ders, is found in great numbers. The body is 

 covered with a long, thick, and soft hair, and the 

 tail, which is likewise formed of long, glossy hairs, 

 thickly set, is much used in the East to drive away 

 flies. This animal is very wild, and lives in the 

 coldest parts of the country, in summer upon the 



mountains, and in winter in the vallrjs. It con- 

 stitutes the wealth of the wandering Tartars, who 

 procure from it food and clothing, and make use of 

 it as a beast of burden, for which purpose it \a 

 more suitable than for agricultural labours. On 

 the highest mountains the musk deer is found: it 

 is about as large as a middling-sized hog ; the n.u.-l. 

 is contained in a small bag, lying near the navel, 

 and is found only in the male. The Cashmere pwt- 

 wild horses, which are too swift to be taken alive; 

 the sheep, with broad fat tails; and another smaller 

 species, with black head and legs, often used to 

 carry burdens, are also among the animals of 

 Thibet. Notwithstanding the poverty of the soil, 

 all the wants of the inhabitants are richly supplied 

 by the animal and mineral wealth of the country. 

 Native gold is found, in abundance, in the sands of 

 the rivers ; cinnabar, lead, and copper abound in 

 mines; the iron mines are little worked, on account 

 of the deficiency of fuel, for which dung is much 

 used ; tincal, from which borax is prepared, and 

 rock-salt, are found in great quantities. Trade is 

 almost entirely a monopoly of the ruler: that with 

 China is carried on chiefly through Silling, or 

 Sinning, a town on the eastern frontier. The 

 religion, according to Turner's conjecture, is a 

 corrupt form of Braminism, which first sprang up 

 in the southern part of the country, on the borders 

 of India, where was, accordingly, the original seat 

 of the dalai-lama. See Hiillman's Critical Enquiry 

 into the Religion of the Lama (in German, Berlin, 

 1796). The principles of the religion of the Hin- 

 doos, though with many deviations, are found to 

 prevail through Lamaism. The places which the 

 Hindoos esteem holy (Allahabad, Benares, Darjo- 

 deen, Juggernaut, Gaya, and Saugor) are also 

 visited as such by the Thibetans, in their pilgri- 

 mages. But there are many ceremonies peculiar 

 to the Thibetans. The people assemble in large 

 chapels, and sing to the sound of the noisier species 

 of instruments of great size, like those which are 

 found in India and China, as trumpets, drums, fifes, 

 conchs, and cymbals. There are no traces of the 

 division into castes, and the inhabitants eat with 

 foreigners without reserve or distinction. The 

 dalai-lama (see Lama) is the temporal as well as 

 spiritual head of the country : he is considered as 

 the vicegerent of God, invested with the power of 

 dispensing the divine blessings to whom he will, 

 not only directly, but mediately, through the 

 numerous under lamas, monks, &c. But our ac- 

 counts of the state of the religion, as well as of the 

 country in general, are exceedingly imperfect and 

 uncertain. The manners and mode of life are 

 rude : the houses of the peasants are merely piles 

 of stone, with holes to let in air and light. Among 

 the diseases prevalent here is the goitre, or swelled 

 throat, common in other mountainous regions. A 

 rude mode of printing, with immovable letters, has 

 been introduced from China: the characters used 

 are derived from the Sanscrit. There are twelve 

 colleges in Thibet, which are frequented not only 

 by the Thibetans, but by the Tartars of the sur- 

 rounding country: philosophy, astronomy, medi- 

 cine, and theology are taught in these seminaries ; 

 and Turner observed, when he was here in 1783, 

 that the satellites of Jupiter, and the ring of Saturn, 

 were not unknown to the learned, and that the 

 physicians were acquainted with the use of mercury 

 in syphilitic diseases. There are also schools of 

 magic, in which the art of exorcising, &c., is taught. 

 Thibet is subject to China : some internal trouble? 



