BOOKS OF THE DAY
Tibet and its Chief Priest
Portrait of the Dalai Lama. By Sir Charles Bell. (Collins. 21s.) THE author, a member of the Indian Civil Service, was first employed on the Tibetan frontier in 1900, where he began to study the language and eventually gave us his Grammar of Colloquial Tibetan. In 1904 when Younghusband led his mission to Lhasa, Mr. Bell (as he then was) was put in administrative charge of the Chumbi Valley, that tongue of Tibetan territory thrust south of the main Himalayan range which was occupied by us for three years as a guarantee that the Tibetans would keep the treaty which Younghusband had obtained in Lhasa. It was nor until 1908 that Sir Charles Bell was permanently appointed to the post which he held with great distinction for some twelve years—a post which entailed charge of diplomatic relations with Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim. On the arrival of Younghusband's mission at Lhasa the Dalai Lama had fled to Mongolia and China. On the arrival of Chinese troops in Lhasa in 19to he fled to India. This fact shows that relations between the British and the Tibetans had undergone a complete reversal during the six intervening years.
In this book we have a vivid description of the Dalai Lama's flight through the Chumbi Valley and arrival in India. Sir Charles Bell met him on his arrival at Darjeeling, and thus began a close friendship which lasted until the Lama's death in 1933. We have an account of this friendship combined with valuable and interesting comments on affairs on the North-east Frontier of India—a frontier for years neglected by the Indian Foreign Office, in fact squeezed out by the more pressing questions on India's North-west frontier. The book contains a summary of the history of Tibet during the last fifty years, luring much of which time the author himself took an influential part in events. It is, in effect, almost as much an autobiography of nis very interesting life as an account of the life of the thirteenth Dalai Lama.
The author's description of the origins of the Dalai Lama and of the precautions taken to ensure that the child into whose body the spirit of the deceased Lama has entered has been truly found is original and valuable. In 1876, when the " Thirteenth " was born, we had practically no contact with Tibet and no means of knowing all the steps taken. The more recent finding of the " Fourteenth " has shown us further details. Sir Charles Bell had a unique opportunity. The Dalai Lama lived in India for two years, during which time Sir Charles was his constant companion and adviser. This book shows that he used this opportunity wisely in the interests both of Tibet and of India, but he was not the only officer to whom the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government gave their confidence and turned to for advice. The present reviewer succeeded the author and, owing to the very strong position Sir Charles had created, found the way smoothed for successors in this post. The book is perhaps too full of expressions of reliance and affection shown to him. Sir Charles had built on the position acquired by his predecessors in dealing with Tibetans, notably the late Sir Frederick O'Connor, the only British officer with a universally known Tibetan nickname, Kusho Sahib.
Similarly his successors built on the position maintained and strength- ened by Sir Charles, and they also received similar confidences. When Political Officers went to Lhasa after Sir Charles's long sojourn there, the same ceremonies and courtesies on arrival, departure and visits to the Dalai Lama and high officers were carried out. Every detail was meticulously copied from the precedents set in his case. During a month spent in Lhasa the reviewer paid many visits to the Dalai Lama, when he was quite alone, and spent many hours in close conversation with His Highness.
It is true that British influence in Tibet has never been so great as in the time of Sir Charles Bell. The decline was due mainly to the increased reluctance of the Indian Government to accept responsi- bility so far away. None of the Political Officers who immediately succeeded him was permitted to visit Lhasa for more than very short periods, and, more important in a country where religion plays so large a part, none was given anything like the funds placed at Sir Charles's disposal. At the holy capital of Tibet (Lhasa means " God- Place ") travellers and visitors are expected to give valuable presents to the religious foundations and personalities. Funds for this purpose, which were generously made available on the first official peaceful visit, were on later occasions stinted. It would appear that recently the Indian Government has again permitted local officers to maintain a closer contact with this strange religious kingdom.
It seems a pity that the names of Tibetan places and people should have been translated into English. In some cases the Tibetan name has been given obscurely, but in others even this has not been done. Even with some knowledge of Tibet it takes a moment or two to realise to whom or to what place reference is being made. To take one example, "The monastery called Soaring Meditation' over- looking the turquoise-blue waters of the ' Lake of the Upper Pastures ' " (p. 134) is a translation of the monastery of Samding on the shores of the Yamdrok-Tso (lake). Both Samding and Yamdrok- Tso can be found on maps (the latter on the map in this book), but one may look in vain for the translation. This makes it difficult to follow the story, and renders the inadequate index still more ineffec- tual. Names of people (say Churchill) are not translated into French or German! The map is poor for a book of this importance, but the illustrations are numerous and excellent. There is no reference or explanation of the beautiful coloured picture of the " Four Har- monious Brothers " by a Tibetan artist opposite page 184. It is fortunate for those who enjoy a book describing events and personali- ties in a little-known country, as well as for those who have made a study of these things, that this book was completed before the dis- tinguished author's death in Canada last year. It is a fitting finale to his three previous books on Tibet. F. M. BAILEY.
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