Section s .—Of the Bhofiyahsof Natives of Mbet aM
BMitan.
In a formeivpart of this work I havedegcribed the Indo-
Tartar races of the Himalaya, who inhabit the kingdom
of Tassisudon or of the Deb-rajah, and some parts:of Nep&i.
People of the same lineage and language are-tho prevailing
inhabitants of the high plains lying immediately to the
northward of the Snowy Chain. Here they are called
Tubetans or Tibetans; their national appellation* is Bhöt
Or Bhotiyah, They are the inhabitants of Tibet Proper,
Tangut, or Katchi, situated further to the northward,
being chiefly peopled by Mongolian tribes.
ThePhotiyah are a very remarkable race, - Their country
may be regarded as the principal seat and depository of ^^Buddhism,
of which they have been, the guardians and zealous
votaries, as were the Koreish of Islèm. Secluded in almost
inaccessible regions, among the precipitous defiles of Bhó-
tan ot in the barren insulated plain of Tibet, separated
from the rest of the world by rocky and sandy-wastes
and surrounded by lofty mountains covered with perpetual
snow, innumerable trains of ascetics devote fbemselves
to a life of celibacy and abstinence and abstraction from
worldly pursuits, and pass their days immured in • «mb*
nasteries, in the performance of endless ceremonies, in
counting beads and in chaunting.perpetual litanies, and
in acts of-self-mortification which bear a curious resemblance
to the practices of Christendom during past ages.
Their hierarch, the Grand Lama of Teshoo-Loomboo, is
venerated as the vicegerent of God and the commander óf
the faithful by a greater number of the human race, and
with a more undisputed title, than Harón Al-raschid of the
great Hildebrand could obtain for themselves in the
palmy days of the chalifaf or the pontificate: an example '
by which we learn that the same proud aspiration in some,
and the same proneness in others to wonder and admire
and devoutly confide in their fellow-mortals as intercessors
and interpreters of the will of heaven, has been implanted;,
I® the most1 separate branches of the human family. The
better class .of-people in are: principally devoted to
monasiicisni' and«çelibacy. Thèse who- follow secular pur-
S its and condeicèMvtoi marriage and family relations, are
looked upon as d ég ra fe r, Their marriage customs are
very .remarkable. - Ones woman is generally the wife ot a
whole famil^o^brother^ In a -physical point of view it
would appear that this‘is{?éhi^ of polygamy.is less detrimental
than the more ordinary custom of the East. The
Bhotiyan people resemble in features the Tartar nationsi»d
tlie Chinese; but, unlike the Mongoles and ; g g | more
unlike their neighbours of. the Indo-Chinese^enmsula,
they are;a tall, powerful, and-athtefeie râc,e.-. Such is t e
description which<Mr. Turner and a e th e r;trav e lle rs m
Tibet and on its borders have given of the physical character
o f the Bhotiyahss '
Great stores of literature are contained in the libraries
of monaatries in-Tibet,- consisting of manuscripts ; in th e
Tibetan and in the Pali language*#*!^#f old by the Dud-
dhistical priests. It may be4oubted whether they contain
any , materials for the real history of the Tibetap race.
As the fabulous histories of the Mohammedans begin their
recerds of di€mdnfc nations „from some patriarch in the
Old Testament, whose history is often curiously distorted,
so the inonksi# Buddhism deduce the existence of all
the believing nations from some, hero or sage or imaginary
being famous in the Indian legends of their sect.1
Abel-ïtémusàt regarded as , absurd ®nd ridiçulous the
attempts made byf, F r e n c h academicians to translate the
famous volume of the Ahlaï-.P, which was sent.bj ?eter the
Great to the Academy of. Father Georgi,
who’professed to correct, the first essays,, was Jso ignorant
as to suppose the Tibetan alphabet a. derivative from the
Syrian or Hebrew, whereas it as - manifestly but a modification
of the Deva-nagari. j . - m H jjjjB I H 1
It is principally from the works of Chinese historians
» Recherches sur les langues Tartares, par M. Abël-Rémusat, c. 7.—De la
tangue Tibétaine.
3 R Vol. iv.