326 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Dr. A. L. Shelton 



A TIBETAN CEREMONIAL ALTAR ON WHICH DEAD BODIES ARE LAID PREPARATORY TO 

 BEING DISMEMBERED AND FED TO VULTURES 



The two men shown in the illustration are only posing to show how the bodies of natives 



are ordinarily placed. 



pital in Lhasa has been delayed, but it is 

 my intention to carry the project through 

 eventually. 



The Tibetans have been making great 

 strides in the last few years, especially 

 since the Younghusband Expedition in 

 1904 and 1905. Far from making them 

 antagonistic to Westerners, this contact 

 with the outer world has done more to 

 break down prejudice and to give them a 

 thirst for knowledge than all previous 

 events in their circumscribed kingdom. 



The treatment accorded the prisoners 

 and populace by that expedition have be- 

 come renowned all over Tibet. I met one 

 of the captains who was wounded at 

 Gyantse. He said to me in apparent 

 astonishment : 



"Do you know that after I had been 



wounded I expected that they would kill 

 me, but when they got me they didn't kill 

 me at all. They took me and put me to 

 bed and put medicine on my wound. 

 They fed me and took care of me, and at 

 last, when I got well, they not only let 

 me go, but gave me a little money to get 

 home with." 



This man swears by the English. 



During my stay in Chiamdo I met one 

 man who had been in several of the capi- 

 tals of Europe. The captain who was 

 deputized to attend me had a son in Lon- 

 don studying. Several officials had sons 

 or relatives in India in the schools. 



The fact that thirst for a knowledge of 

 the world is making itself felt in Tibet 

 argues well for the future of its virile, 

 though socially undeveloped, people. 



