February 24, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



91 



the following sentences : " My doll nancy is sleeping. She is sick, 

 mildred is well uncle frank has gone hunting deer, we will have 

 venison for breakfast when he comes home. I did ride in wheel- 

 barrow and teacher did push it," and so on. Enough has been 

 said to indicate the remarkable powers of this unfortunate child, 

 and to give basis for the belief, that if her training is continued in 

 a wise direction, and with a proper appreciation of the value of de- 

 tailed and accurate investigation, the world will be able to read in 

 the life of Helen Keller a most momentous psychological lesson. 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 

 Tibet and Nepaul. 



A SUPPLEMENT to the 'Indian Survey Report for 1885-86' has 

 just been issued. It contains the description of a native surveyor, 

 M — H, through eastern Nepaul and southern Tibet, of which the 

 London Times gives the following extract : — 



" The explorer crossed the Nepaul boundary near Dagmarathana, 

 in Bhagalpur, and, after making customary presents, obtained a 

 passport authorizing his further progress, which lay northward over 

 the Mahabharat range, one of the spurs of the great Himalayan 

 Mountains. At various points along the route his passport was 

 examined, his goods searched, and a tax exacted from him, and in 

 some cases he had, in addition, to propitiate the local authorities 

 with presents. On July 24, 1885, the explorer passed a great tem- 

 ple, called Halsia Mahadeo, situated on a mountain-spur, and de- 

 puted his travelling-companion to visit and examine the temple, 

 which is held in veneration in the neighborhood, and has been en- 

 dowed with a large free grant of land. At Asaliakhark, a fort 

 held by four hundred Nepaulese soldiers under a captain, who.se 

 duty it is to examine all passes brought by travellers from the south, 

 and, after full inquiry, to grant fresh ones to those proceeding 

 farther north, the explorer was subjected to much interrogation, as 

 his pass was only available for Nepaul. As it was known that he 

 intended penetrating northwards into Tibet, he was closely searched, 

 interrogated, and directed to return by the way he came, the soldiers 

 being ordered to keep him under surveillance for such time as he 

 remained there. After being detained for six days, the explorer 

 was able, by making suitable presents, to obtain permission to pro- 

 ceed, having persuaded the official that he and his party were in- 

 habitants of Jumla, and that they were an.xious to return thither by 

 Dingri, Jonkhajong, and Kagbeni, as being the most expeditious 

 route. Their further march lay pretty close to the Dudhkosi River, 

 and at Jubang Tibetan inhabitants were met for the first time. 

 Khumbujong, a little west of Mount Everest, is the residence of 

 the governor of the Khumbu district. -The official is a Tibetan, 

 and has held the post for the last thirty years : he receives no pay 

 from the Nepaul Government, but is allowed fifteen per cent of the 

 net revenue of the district, and pays an annual official visit to 

 Khatmandu. For a time the governor absolutely refused the party 

 permission to proceed northwards by a route which he alleged had 

 never till then been traversed by any Hindostanee or Goorkha. 

 The explorer had therefore to make a lengthened stay at this place, 

 during which he endeavored to ingratiate himself with the inhabit- 

 ants by treating their sick. One of the commonest diseases in the 

 locality was goitre, and, as he succeeded in curing the governor's 

 daughter-in-law of this, he was naturally taken into favor, and 

 secured the sympathies of her husband, Sunnam Durje. This last- 

 named individual was about starting on a trading expedition to the 

 , north, and by the exercise of sufficient tact was prevailed upon to 

 take the explorer's party in his train. The man eventually gained 

 his father's tacit consent to the arrangement, and, after a six- weeks' 

 enforced inactivity, the explorer again started on his way. On Sept. 

 23, near Pangji, the famous deity Takdeo ('horse-god'), a black 

 rock, in shape like a huge horse, was passed. Out of deference to 

 Takdeo, which is considered very sacred by the Tibetans, no ponies 

 are allowed on the route over the pass. The Pangula Pass over the 

 Himalayas, he says, is decidedly the highest and most formidable 

 ever crossed by him : he estimates the height at over twenty thou- 

 sand feet, but, owing to an unfortunate accident to his boiling- 

 point thermometer, he was unable to estimate it more accurately. 

 The ridge forms the boundary between Tibet and Nepaul. At 

 Keprak, the first frontier village, the Tibetan official refused the 



party permission to go on, saying any such concession would cost 

 him his life ; but with the influence of their friend, Sunnam Durje, 

 and by the exercise of a little diplomacy, a guide was eventually 

 obtained to Dingri, across the great grassy plain called the Dingri 

 Maidan. 



" The town of Dingri, which has an elevation of 13,860 feet, con- 

 sists of about two hundred and fifty houses, and the inhabitants are 

 chiefly Tibetans, though there are five houses belonging to Goor- 

 khas, and three or four to Chinamen, who have established them- 

 selves at this place for trading purposes. The houses are all stone- 

 built, a tenacious whitish clay being used in place of mortar, and 

 with flat roofs. The country round is well cultivated, but barley 

 and peas are the only produce. The inhabitants all appear well-to- 

 do. On the hill which rise^ immediately from the north of the town 

 to a height of about three hundred feet, stands the stone-built fort 

 occupied by the Daibung and forty Chinese officers, who are in 

 command of about five hundred Tibetan soldiers. The Daibung is 

 relieved once in three years, and during his tenure of office is al- 

 lowed to trade within the limits of his province. There are said to 

 be only three Daibungs, in all, under the Lhasa Government : of 

 these, one resides in Lhasa, another in the Nam-Cho district, and 

 the third at Dingri. The authority of the last mentioned extends 

 from Shakia to the westernmost limits of Tibet, and he exercises 

 both military and civil jurisdiction, short of capital punishment, 

 within his territory. The trade in which the Daibung engages, so 

 far as tea and salt are concerned, cannot be characterized as free. 

 Each house in his jurisdiction is compelled to take one brick yearly 

 from the Daibung at a high rate, and he realizes a large annual 

 revenue from it. In addition to these two articles, he deals in 

 blankets on the same footing as private traders. No gold is to be 

 seen at Dingri : it is much sought after, and many inquiries were 

 made of the explorer as to whether he had any gold, pearls, or coral 

 to dispose of. 



" The soldiers occupying the Dingri fort are armed with a sword, 

 matchlock, and bow and arrows. The sword is the usual short, 

 straight weapon, in wooden scabbard, met with all over Tibet ; the 

 matchlocks are sent from Lhasa ; and the bows are made of bam- 

 boo which is brought from Nepaul. The soldiers manufacture 

 their own powder on the spot. Lead is imported from Nepaul and 

 Darjeeling ; but, as bullet-moulds are unknown, they pour out the 

 m-olten lead into a long, hollow scoop in the ground, and then clip 

 it into convenient-sized pieces, which are hammered to suit the 

 bores of the guns. The soldiers receive a small yearly pay (about 

 £i to £1 los.), and are allowed to engage in agriculture, trade, etc. 

 They are drilled by their Chinese officers every week or so, some- 

 times on foot, at other times mounted on ponies, which they main- 

 tain for themselves, and there are periodic inspections by the 

 Daibung. At these inspections the soldiers always appear mounted, 

 in uniform, and have to go through target-practice. For the latter 

 a disk of leather, one foot in diameter, painted white, is suspended 

 to a rope stretched across two poles. Each soldier in turn then 

 rides full gallop across the field at about fifteen feet from the target, 

 and fires as he goes past. Should he hit the mark, the officer in 

 attendance with the Daibung scores a point. When all the soldiers 

 have gone past in one direction, they return, firing in the same way 

 as they go past the target, to their original position. They next go 

 through the same course, using their bows and arrows instead of 

 matchlocks. The Daibung then examines the notes of each officer, 

 and for every point scored presents him with a khatag or kerchief. 

 The explorer was not much impressed with the marksmanship he 

 saw. 



" As Dingri is situated on the high road from Lhasa westwards, 

 it is the constant resort of traders, for whose convenience a serai 

 capable of accommodating two hundred men has been built. The 

 bulk of the goods is carried on mules, chiefly because they travel 

 so much faster than either yaks or asses. 



" Throughout the country from Bhagalpur to Dingri the chief ar- 

 ticles carried northwards are tobacco-leaf, cotton-cloth, broad-cloth, 

 iron, brass, and copper vessels, corals, and rupees, which are used for 

 making jewelry; and for these the men of Khumbu go annually in 

 parties to India, some even as far as Calcutta, taking with them 

 musk-pods, yak-tails, antelope-horns, blankets, and stuffed munal 

 and argus pheasants. From Dingri are exported into Nepaul 



