Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/449

LEFT TIBET 387 TIBET Industries and Commerce. — The Tibe- tans are good blacksmiths and cutlers; their chief industrial occupation, how- ever, is the preparation of woolen cloth. They are active traders, and large cara- vans, in which yaks and sheep are the beasts of burden, are constantly travers- in,g the country on their way to the great fairs in Tibet, and the entrepots of the surrounding countries. Lhassa is the chief mart, and here are found silk, carpets, tea and hardware from China; leather goods and livestock from Mongolia; rice, tobacco, sugar, pearls, coral, etc., from the S. At one time there was a busy commerce with India, but since Tibet be- came a Chinese dependency the passes have been closed. In 1894, Yatung on the frontier of India was opened by treaty as a trade mart and the Chinese and Indian governments each stationed an official at that post. The most im- portant commerce is in the hands of rich Tibetan and Chinese traders, who jeal- ously watch anything likely to interfere with the existing great routes. Of the distribution of population in Tibet little is known. The most densely peopled part of the country is certainly the basin of the Sanpo, in which are the towns of Shigatze and Lhassa. Ethnology, etc. — The Tibetans are a Mongolic race, much more closely allied to the Burmese than to the Chinese or Mongols proper. They are broad-shoul- dered and muscular and have Mongol fea- tures, but not in an exaggerated form. They are said to be intelligent, but with- out initiative. The Tibetans by race peo- ple nearly the whole of Tibet. A few no- mads, Mongols and Turkish tribes, have penetrated into the N. steppes, and Chi- nese in large numbers have colonized the S. E. In Tibet polyandry is practiced, the husbands of one wife being gener- ally brothers. This form of marriage is almost universal among the poor. The rich are polygamists. Both systems check population. In Little Tibet, where mo- nogamy has penetrated from the W., population increases rapidly. Religion and Literature. — There exist in Tibet two religions: (1) the Bon or Bon-Pacreed, which is a development of Mongol Shamanism, and is the native re- ligion; and (2) Lamaism, a form of the Buddhism introduced from India. The Tibetan clergy are very numerous, there being, it is estimated, one monk for every family. The Tibetan language as spoken diflFers much from the old written lan- guage; it has been losing its monosyl- labic character. Books abound in Tibet, and every monastery has its library. The literature consists chiefly of translations from the Sanskrit, and of religious works. The art of engraving by wooden blocks has for centuries been used by the Tibetans. Government. — Since 1720 Tibet has been a dependency of China, which, how- ever, interferes only with foreign and military affairs. There are two imperial Chinese residents or Ambans at Lhassa. Civil and religious government are left to the Tibetan clergy. In theory supreme rule is in the hands of the Dalai Lama, the sovereign pontiff, who resides at Lhassa. The Tesho or Bogdo Lama, who has an inferior spiritual power, resides at Shigatze. The Dalai Lama hands over the active duties of government to the de-sri or king, who rules with the assist- ance of four ministers. History. — The earliest date in Tibetan history which can be relied on as his- torical is A. D, 639, when the King Sbrong- tsan-Sgam-po introduced Buddhism from India, and founded Lhassa. His dominions extended from the Himalayas N. to the Koko-Nur lake. In the Middle Ages down to the 10th century the Tibetan country is said in the Chinese annals to have ex- tended to the Gulf of Bengal, then de- scribed as the Tibetan sea. In the 9th century a war broke out with China, which terminated in 821, when bilingual tablets still existing were erected at Lhas- sa. In 1071 eastern Tibet was broken up into small states, opening the country to Chinese and Mongol invasion. Kublai Khan, who annexed Tibet to his vast em- pire, called to his court a Tibetan monk, Phagspa. The latter converted his pa- tron and the Mongols to Buddhism, and the sovereignty of Tibet was conferred on the Dalai Lamas. In 1720 the Chinese, after many struggles, finally conquered Tibet. Seven years later Batang and other parts of Kham were detached from Tibet, and incorporated with the Chinese province of Szechuen. Early in the 18th century Lamas, under the guidance and instruction of Jesuit missionaries, carried out a survey of the Tibetan part of the Chinese empire. From the information supplied, D'Anville, in 1733, prepared a map of Tibet. In 1840 Ladakh was con- quered by the Maharajah of Kashmir, and now is a British dependency. In 1854 there was a struggle between Tibet and Nepal which ended in a treaty by which both countries recognized the su- zerainty of China. Eleven years later, in consequence of the refusal of the Tibetan authorities to allow Europeans to enter their country, a system was organized by Major Mont- gomerie, of the Indian government, in the interest of science, by which pundits or educated Indians were sent as explorers into Tibet. By this means the old maps