APPENDIX D
THE PRESENT CONDITION AND GOVERNMENT OF
TIBET.
B y Ca p t a in W. F . T. O’Connor, C .I .E .
Secretary and Interpreter to the Tibet Mission, now acting as
British Agent at Gyantse.
Mr . L andon has asked me to write as an appendix to his book
a note on Tibetan affairs, and I have consequently much pleasure
in putting together such scraps of information as I have
been able to collect— if only as a memento of the many pleasant
days we spent together, at Gyantse and at Lhasa, in riding
abroad together through the weird landscapes of this strange
country.
I would, however, premise that as yet we have only scratched
the surface of Tibet and things Tibetan. Every day in the
country, every individual one meets, and every manuscript one
reads, all reveal some new trait, some bizarre superstition,
so.nething unsuspected before. We can only hope that in a
few years’ time patient study may reveal some of the secrets
now hidden and give us a wider comprehension of facts as yet
only partially understood.
The first thing that strikes a student of Tibetan administration
and affairs in general is- the marked resemblance in many
points between Tibet at the present time and Europe as it must
have been during the Middle Ages or up to the time of the
Reformation. Apart from the actual government by absolute
monarchs the two most prominent characteristics in the interior