Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China during the years 1844-5-6, tr. by W. Hazlitt, Volume 2 |
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Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China During the Years 1844-5-6, Tr. by W ... No preview available - 2020 |
Common terms and phrases
Akayé Amdo animals argols arrived black tents brigands Buddha Buddhist butter buttered tea camels caravan character China Chinese ambassador Christian cold cross desert Dheba embassy Emperor escort eyes fear Ghiamda give Grand Lama hair hand heart Heaven herds honour horses Houtouktou inhabitants journey Kaldan Kalons Katchi Khata Ki-Chan Kolo Koukou-Noor Kounboum Lamanesque Lamasery Lha-Ri Lha-Ssa Lithang Living Buddha long-haired oxen Ly-Kouo-Ngan magnificent Mandarin manner Mongol Moorcroft mountain Mussulmen never night Nomekhan occupied oulah ounces of silver ourselves Pacificator of Kingdoms palanquin passed Peking pilgrims poor prayers present proceeded Proul-Tamba province Regent religion religious river Samdadchiemba Sandara seemed sexagenary cycle Si-Fan side snow soldiers soon sort Sse-Tchouen Talé-Lama Tang-Keou-Eul Tartars Tchogortan temple Thibet Thibetian government thick thou tion told took town travellers tribes tsamba Tsiamdo Tsong-Kaba valley village words Yun-Nan
Popular passages
Page 195 - Mongolia have not been content with this clear and precise meaning, and have tortured their imaginations in their endeavours to find a mystic interpretation of each of the six syllables composing the sentence. They have written an infinity of voluminous books, wherein they have piled one extravagance on another, to explain their famous mani. The Lamas are wont to say that the doctrine contained in these marvellous words is immense, and that the whole life of a man is insufficient to measure its breadth...
Page 50 - The cross, the mitre, the dalmatida, the cope, which the Grand Lamas wear on their journeys, or when they are performing some ceremony out of the temple ; the service with double choirs, the psalmody, the exorcisms, the censer suspended from five chains...
Page 53 - The bark of the tree and its branches, which resemble that of the plane tree, are also covered with these characters. When you remove a piece of old bark, the young bark under it exhibits the indistinct outlines of characters in a germinating state, and, what is very singular, these new characters are not infrequently different from those which they replace.
Page 143 - Thibet there is less corruption than in certain other pagan countries. The women there enjoy very great liberty. Instead of vegetating, prisoners in the depths of their houses, they lead an active and laborious life. Besides fulfilling the various duties of the household, they concentrate in their own hands all the petty trade of the country, whether as hawkers, as stall-keepers in the streets, or in shops. In the rural districts, it is the women who perform most of the labors of agriculture.
Page 54 - The Tree of the Ten Thousand Images seemed to us of great age. Its trunk, which three men could scarcely embrace with outstretched arms, is not more than eight feet high; the branches, instead of shooting up, spread out in the shape of a plume of feathers, and are extremely bushy; few of them are dead. The leaves are always green, and the wood, which is of a reddish tint, has an exquisite odour, something like that of cinnamon. The Lamas informed us that in summer, towards the eighth moon, the tree...
Page 50 - Grand Lamas wear on their journeys, or when they are performing some ceremony out of the temple ; the service with double choirs, the psalmody, the exorcisms ; the censer suspended from five chains, and which you can open or close at pleasure ; the benedictions given by the Lamas by extending the right hand over the heads of the faithful ; the chaplet, ecclesiastical celibacy, spiritual retirement, the worship of the saints, the fasts, the processions, the litanies, the holy water, all these are...
Page 141 - ... you find skins as white as those of Europeans. The Thibetians are of the middle height; and combine, with the agility and suppleness of the Chinese, the force and vigour of the Tartars. Gymnastic exercises of all sorts and dancing are very popular with them, and their movements are cadenced and easy. As they walk about, they are always humming some psalm or popular song; generosity and frankness enter largely into their character; brave in war, they face death fearlessly; they are as religious...
Page 39 - ... with fine trees, and harmonious with the cawing of rooks and yellow-beaked crows, and the 'amusing chattering of magpies. On the two sides of the ravine, and on the slopes of the mountain, rise, in an amphitheatrical form, the white dwellings of the Lamas of various sizes, but all alike surrounded with a wall, and surmounted by a terrace. Amidst these modest habitations, rich only in their intense cleanliness and their dazzling whiteness, you see rising, here and there, numerous Buddhist temples...
Page 259 - What is still more surprising, these people cry chik when they check a piece, and mate when the game is at an end. These expressions, which are neither Thibetian nor Mongol, are nevertheless used by every one, yet no one can explain their origin and true signification. The Thibetians and the Tartars were not a little surprised, when we told them that, in our country, we said in the same way, check and mate. It would be curious to unravel the...
Page 81 - These long-tailed cows are so restive and difficult to milk, that, to keep them at all quiet, the herdsman has to give them a calf to lick meanwhile. But for this device, not a single drop of milk could be obtained from them. One day a Lama herdsman, who lived in the same house with ourselves, came, with a long dismal face, to announce that his cow had calved during the night, and that unfortunately the calf was dying. It died in the course of the day. The Lama forthwith skinned the poor beast, and...