'A. young fellow left here some days ngo, prepared to measure the, length of his body on the ground between this city and Lhasa. His; father, who died some time azo, was not.what-might be termed a good man, so hig virtuous rascal of a <on ig determined to crawl on his stomach all the way to the sacred capital, if by so doing he may atone for hig father's evil' works, The old man left a little money and a the poor sick mother. with two little title, was not prepared to hand this sum' over to the spendthrift offspring, nor was she prepared to use money on an expensive funeral, having about twenty disreputable, drabas living on her for a month, the boy took the huff and said his mr) mother was remiss in her affection for her dead husband, necessitating! his atoning for the old man's sins, This lad, whose name, Puntso, means Perfection, started out: well The necessary leather clothes for his arma and knees and the leather apron all wore secured and he started off, beginning from the Dorjedra, outside the south gate. The Chinese have a proverb to the effect that it is muck better to stay at home and look after one's parents than to go on a pilgrimage of ten thousand lex. Apparently, Puntso thinks otherwise. He hag left a very sick mother and two very little sisters behind. It happened something] like this. Soon after his father's death, he suddenly became the most} filial ron in Tachienlu. He went out and carried water and gathered wood. He looked after his mother as only a dutiful son should, and the sick mother was comforted after the death of her husband. Things began to disappear. Filial piety' merely was assumed. The mother moved the father's boxes and money to a place of safety; the son suddenly became religious and determined to stretch himself all the way between Tachienla and Lhasa, The Light and the Blight The Tibetan mother, naturally, was very cut up about the whole affair, but what could she do. " This religious rascal would very soon! have had the whole family but himself on the street begging. _From the lama's point of view, Punteo from the public point of view he is a down-right rogue. Thus the Light of Asia, in more ways than one, has become the Blight} of Asia. We have known Puntso for many years and have seen him grow from boyhood to manhood. He is not the type of lad to make a very good pilgrim. It is notorious that this method of pilgrimage to Lhasa, stretching oneself all the way, till the, Lrasa Jokong is! reached, is slanderously abused, -The patient pilgrim becomes. somewhat erect when the road is lone and dreary, but when a caravan heaves {in sight the same pilgrim begins to creep. Puntro has a sweetheart} along this highway to Tibet and her good offices may defer his good works. Very few people in the city believe that he will accomplish the! journey. He has started at th wrong time; the passes are snowed up, the nights are cold, and dangerous icy cliffs obstruct the way. Persons entering Tibet, even on their stomachs. now are carefully scrutiny finised, "Pilgrim, stop!" may sound his ear some day and Perfection may discover that his way to the sacred city is barred. More worthy pilgrims than Puntso have met this fate, The Chinese Buddhist Mission to Tibet still ix patiently waiting} around Kanze, hoping that some day the Dalai Lama wil! change his mind and permit them to proceed. The members of the Mission are busily occupied studying Lamaism, under the careful tuition of the famous Drago Lama, The Ganjur and the Denjur are being slowly astered by these Chinese Buddhists ud one day the wealth of Lamaism will be disclosed to the Chinese Buddhist world. The mission still is determined to see its way through Tibet to India and back by sea to China. Some keen observers are attached to the party, who have a knowledge of Chinese, English, and]
and some day the mysteries is' mysterious land no longer be a mystery.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.