VISIT OF THE ABBOT OF TASHI-LHUNPO 41
not unpleasant,* but no business was done, and the
advent of the Abbot of Tashi-lhunpo was a welcome
break in the monotony. This typical ecclesiastic appeared
bringing a courteous message from the Grand
Lama of Tashi-lhunpo. He was an intelligent man of
a superior type, and evinced the utmost interest in all
the instruments and habits of the English. The gramophone
was employed to impress h im ; hereby a somewhat
amusing tale hangs. This gramophone had been
exhibited before to some Tibetan officials, who had
said that it was not half as good as the gramophone
in Lhasa. This statement somewhat paralysed the
Mission. They inquired the reason. “ Oh,” said the
official, “ the Lhasa machine will not only give out
sounds, but it will take down and give out again our
own voices ! ” After this there was no question but
that phonographs were among the European luxuries
which Dorjieff had brought from his new masters.
Something had to be done to restore British credit,
so by night a disc was scraped flat, and it was found
that a fairly good original record could be made. On
the following day, therefore, a Tibetan was asked to
speak or sing into the machine ; this he promptly did,
and after a pause of some anxiety the gramophone
rendered back his voice, to his amusement and delight.
This record was triumphantly rendered on the machine
to the Abbot of Tashi-lhunpo, but it was not until
the interpreter explained the matter afterwards that the
growing stoniness of the worthy cleric s face during
the performance was fully understood. Apparently
our Tibetan, being in a mischievous mood, had recited
* On one occasion Mr. White and Major Iggulden rode up on ponies to a height of
21,000 ft. above the sea. This must sound strange to many Alpine mountaineers.