Speciat to the *N.
Shanghai, June 10.
Hitherto seen only by the faithful land handled only by the mullahs leeremonially cleansed. two volumes 33 the wind-swept piaing of Central Asia, through the fand Gobi desert until they reached Kansu where they rested at the village of K'eh-tzi-kong. According to Jof the sacred Koran, brought by the [Salar tribe from Samarkand in the the legend, here they saw outlined fourteenth century to Kansu where they survive gri the banks of the Yellow River, have been seen foreigner.
Mr. G. Findlay Andrew, lone of the Shanghai party who Feturned recently from a tour of Ghina's little known north-west which took them to the borders of Tibet. Not only have these six-hundred ald. volumes been reverently jon. great rock on the mountain Sider the. perfect form of a. white famel—whch Mr. Andrew, believes fan outflow of nitrate. of potash. Trey applied the two tests of earth ind) water and, found. they "were heir ruler had told them, hey looked round for their faithful ride, the white camel, they found fPhea\ vanished. They. therefore settled down in their promised land, That was six hundred years ago, their records relate, and when Mx. Findlay Andrew visited "them on May @ last, they were still living fhefe "contentedly," following the same form of worship they had Brought with them from Sarmarrand.
Kansu and the Salar Dis When they left their former home their ruler also save them the two Sacred volumes, of the Koran. which interested Mr. Findlay Andrew fora number of years on his. frequent visite to Kansu. 'They. were Known" stil to be in. the keopine lof the Salars but no foreigner had Seen that, although they." were Brought out on the highest festive days. of on occasions' when special prayers were said Zor rain, shown but have been photographed, and constitute a feat of unusual hhistorie and archaeological interest.
The Salars, who are of Turkish im, have & continuous unbroken Faithful At The Spring How the traveller succeeded in seeing the books he tells in his own ards: in an. interview with the fave hele Possesaion as the centre of their "religious, and. social life through, years of wandering from Stintthe hatory of this people and in the history of this people a the circumstances which Fesdlted in ifr. Findlay Andrew being able to inspect and photograph "the two volumes is a Storyof considerable Dicturesqueness. The Salars, Turki Moslems, area distinct and separate body''of Kansu. Moslems who live inthe vicinity of Heuen-Iwa, south of the Yellow. Hiver. They entered Kansu Tater than the Arab Moslems but ave retained all freie racial and. linguistic. charac-eristics despite the fact they have lifed. there" since the fourteenth detour to the village of 'K'e! kong which place I reached about 2230 pim. "he far famed spring was the centre of attraction for Targe number the faithful who were therein performing their ritualistic ablations preparatory. to. entering: the mosque to attend the second prayer of the day. The venerated White stone, said to be the the white camel, was just. showing above the marsh created by the bub: bling spring. This is an object of tremendous esteem to the numbers '"f stayed by the spring whilst the faithful were at their devotions and after the period of silent meditation which follows the. public prayer time. I re-engaged some of the older worshippers in conversation. T was able to give some of, them futer details than they had pre: viously possessed "concerning their genesis in this part of the world, Aiter some period of such conver sation "I hesitantly proffered 1 Fequest tobe allowed to sec the two sacred volumes, This request had on the cceusion of my previous visits, either met sith a point-blank refusal or a denial of their exist On this occasion, however, for~ {une favoured me and my roques was met with a general discussion mong my hearers og to whether T Should He permitted to see the book for not. Finally some of the lea ing men (including the mullah) of the community "were called into egundl andthe majority, vat, de, fided that, og I" already had 0 much information of their anteced~ fents, that I should be allowed to gaze' upon the volume.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.