The vague and unexplored con~ tinent of Asia continues to guard vigilantly one of the greatest secrets of the age—the precise location of the discovery of a youth who is the ye-incarnation of the Dalai Lama, who died three years ago, Of course, Tibetan polities might be considered to be as responsible a factor as anything for the creation of this mystery" because in that traditionally mystic Jand religion and politics in recent years have found singular companionship. The original an~ houncement named several vague areas where this favoured youth may be found, but the latest. telegrams Indicate that it is somewhere in Mongolia, which might indicate that there is 'a definite move on foot to unite the scattered religious bodies of Mongolia with the fountainhend fof the belief in Lhasa, The Panchan Lama, who left Nanking some time ago after a tour of the country lasting several years, has not yet returned to Tibet and it is suggested that he, being the spiritual head of the monastic oligarchy ruling the country, must return before a definite statement is made, There justification for such a. procedure because between the last Dalai Lama and the Panchan Lama there hag existed for years a difference of opinion based entirely upon political concepts which nominally "should have no influence on the subject but which have been foreed on' the country and its problems through the pressure from adjoining coun tries to whom the existence of 9 secluded, incommunicative—region must constitute an uncertainty which modern diplomacy cannot countenance. Although reports of electric power stations, radio and modern transport innovations emanate from the ancient land, the influence of a great spiritual leader Asia cannot be ignored. Ina recent contribution, Sir Charles Bell, while admitting the strong pressure of modern conditions, emphasizes this point. Most of the occupants of the exalted position of Dalai Lama died before their majority as a result of forces which designed their end, but which non-religionists described as poisoning. The last Dalai Lama, however, circumvented such cireumstances ind reached the allotted span while manifesting. great interest in worldly matters. Perhaps, as Sit Charles suggests, the next Dalai might hanker after "more worldly power which a realist comprehension of conditions implies, in which case some elements of the mystery might be explained,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.