Adventure, Sport and Travel on the Tibetan Steppes"... Mainly an account of two journeys taken through China and Tibet by the late Lieutenant Brooke, F. R. G. S. ... Of [Mr. Brooke's diary and photographs] ... and my own and Mr. Meares's observations ... I hope to make something which shall commemorate the real begetter of this volume, and interest the general reader ..."--Prefatory. |
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animals arrived bamboo bank Brooke and Meares Brooke's brought Buddhism buttered tea called camels camp cantilever bridge caravan carried castle catties caves Chentu chief China China Inland Mission Chosschia cliff climb Colonel coolies crossed Dalai Lama Damba Dawo dogs escort feet fire friendly friends Gaishechia goral gorge grass Hankow head herds horse hunters hunting interpreter journey Kokonor Kwanhsien land Lhasa live Lolos look Mantze Miao miles monastery Mongol Mongolian morning mountain side Ngaba night Ningyuenfu o'clock party pass ponies Prince raft RAW TEA reached returned river road rock roof rope round seen sent serow shot slopes snow soon stone stream Tachienlu Tachin taels takin Tankar temple tent Tibet Tibetan told town travelled tribes Tsakalao Tung turned Tussu valley village waiting wild Yukoh
Popular passages
Page 291 - For he who fights and runs away May live to fight another day ; But he who is in battle slain Can never rise and fight again.
Page 262 - ... of a very rude and archaic style, reputed to be the oldest idol on the mountain. It is said to be bronze, but I took it for pure copper. Nothing could be learned of its age. A more artistic work is found in a temple behind Wan-nien-ssu, in a separate shrine. Passing under a dark archway we entered a hall in the middle of which, as soon as we could see through the dim religious light, we observed a kind of palisade, and inside it an elephant cast in magnificent bronze, or some such composition,...
Page 263 - P'u-sa (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva), the saint who is the patron or patroness, for the Chinese credit him with female permutations, of Mount O. The monks told me that P'u-hsien descended upon the mountain in the form of an elephant, and that the casting commemorates the manifestation. But it may more probably bear an allusion to the well-known vision in which the mother of Buddha saw before his birth a white elephant with six tusks.
Page 17 - Browsing on this scanty herbage, which curiously included many thistles, were hundreds of large wild asses, {he kyang of the Tibetans, in troops of tens and twenties or more. At first we mistook them for detachments of Tibetan cavalry, the wild horsemen of the Changtang, as they came galloping along in a whirlwind of dust, then executed a perfect wheel-round, then extended out in line at regular intervals, and advanced again ; and as if at the word of command reformed into close order and came to...
Page 262 - With these exceptions, if exception can be taken, the modelling is excellent, and a glance shows that the artist must have studied from life, for the folds of skin on various parts of the body, and the details of the trunk, are rendered with great truth and success, though with a certain conventionalism. The creature has been cast in three sections, belly and legs forming the lower, and back the uppermost. The contour of the belly is complete, but on stooping underneath one sees that it is hollow...
Page 262 - ... though with a certain conventionalism. The creature has been cast in three sections, belly and legs forming the lower, and back the uppermost. The contour of the belly is complete, but on stooping underneath one sees that it is hollow and that the exposed edges are about five inches thick ; in other parts the metal is a great deal thicker. Each of his feet stands on a bronze lotus, and on his back the mammoth bears in place of a howda another huge lotus-flower, in which is enthroned an admirable...
Page 262 - ... religious light, we observed a kind of palisade, and inside it an elephant cast in magnificent bronze, or some such composition, nearly as white as silver. The surface is of course black with age and the smoke of incense, but I was able to judge the colour of the metal by inspecting a patch which has been worn down by a practice of devotees who rub coins on it and carry them away as relics. The size of the image is that of a very large elephant, that is to say some 12 feet high ; its peculiarities...
Page 262 - Monastery) early in the evening, and in the clump of temples of which it is the centre found much instruction and amusement. Just below it, in a kind of hostel, is a statue of Buddha twenty-five or more feet high, of a very rude and archaic style, reputed to be the oldest idol on the mountain. It is said to be bronze, but I took it for pure copper. Nothing could be learned of its age. A more artistic work is found in a temple behind Wan-nien-ssu, in a separate shrine. Passing under a dark archway...
Page 5 - One could not help thinking that he must have trained his features to resemble the unsympathetic emptiness of the brazen images of the country. He asked if I had come from the other side of the world, and if the English king had sent me to see him.
Page 18 - ... so very wild. I cannot help thinking that here, in the home of these large wild asses, we have a great field for breeding mules for the Indian army, the supply for which never can meet the demand; and to obtain these insufficient numbers we have yearly to ransack the whole world, sending agents to Persia, Spain, Italy, China, Yunnan, and America, at enormous cost As we march on and on across this great plain, with nothing to relieve the dulness but these herds of roving kyang and the encircling...