in little value.... We burnt men at the stake in order to save their
souls.... Even within two or three centuries we could have found
in England the prototype of the modern Turk--the cultured English
gentleman, the kindly, dignified merchant, who could witness with
calmness, torture, execution, burning at the stake.
Already there has been a great refining process in the Near East
during the last half century; and within the lifetime of this
generation we shall see the East purged of its cruelty and physical
roughness.
Speaking of the new movement in Turkey towards a better interpretation
of the Korân, Mr. Cobb says:
A protestant wave is sweeping over Islâm; quietly and cautiously a
translation of the Korân into modern Turkish is being prepared. The
grip of the clergy is waning in proportion as the people are becoming
educated.
It must be said in justice to Islâm, that it has never been as
fanatical and intolerant of heresy as the Christian Church. There has
never been any Inquisition in Islâm, and persecutions for religious
differences have been far rarer than in Christianity. The Turks are
the broadest and most tolerant of all Mohammedans.
While both Turkey and Persia are yet mostly in the middle ages as
regards education,
In both countries there are a number of leaders who have received a
European education and are thoroughly in sympathy with its ideas.
Their influence is radiating throughout the country and in the end it
must pervade the masses.
Mr. Cobb speaks in a most significant and welcome manner about
industrial conditions in Turkey:
In methods of industry and business the medieval form holds sway....
Their hours are long, but their labor dignifies instead of degrading
them. Now and then they stop work, light a cigarette and dream. There
is a chance for a bit of meditation, a broadening of the vision of
life.... Compare all that with the feverish activity of our modern
industrial system with its soul-racking machines and unhumanizing
servitude to work.... Poor East! Little does it dream, in its silent,
meditative happiness, that it will one day have to face the industrial
system--the age of machinery and iron. Already this is creeping upon
them--already factories are being established, and labor is being
chained to the loom....
Let us hope it will profit by the bitter experience of the West, and
keep the good things it has. The Turkish craftsman
makes a living--he is happy, he lives near to God.... Will you
undertake to show him the possibilities of combination, of fierce
competition, of ostentatious wealth? Will you take away his soul
and give him a few millions in return? Pray do not! Leave us some
distant corner of the earth where we can flee when the shadows of
industrialism oppress us; when the soullessness of human faces arouses
our despair.... The East is yet a land where one can seek the eternal
solitudes of the spirit.... The despotism of the East is over. No more
can its rulers consign to death at their whim.... Will the East be
able to keep its characteristic of peace?
* * * * *
THE Irish-language demonstration held in Dublin on September 17 was
impressive and successful; indeed the citizens appear to celebrate
this annual event as a festival day. A considerable number of those
taking part wore the ancient national costume. The first part of the
procession, consisting of branches of the Gaelic League, occupied half
an hour in passing a given point. Then came various schools. Next the
National Foresters formed a picturesque element, an innovation being
the attire of two branches of the lady Foresters, who appeared in green
velvet cloaks and hoods which imparted a very realistic Celtic touch.
Numerous labor organizations brought up the rear.
At the subsequent mass meeting Dr. Douglas Hyde, the energetic
President of the Gaelic League, presented resolutions dealing with the
education question in connexion with the preservation of the Irish
language and industrial development. He said the National Board of
Education had informed him that the managers of the schools and the
parents of the children were colder towards the Irish language than
the Board itself. "The priests of Ireland are the managers of the
schools," he went on to say, "and if it was true that the priests are
colder than the Board it is a sad state of affairs. I do not believe
it, but I will leave this question because it does not touch us." He
concluded by asking the Gaelic League members to have a welcome for
every person who was an Irishman, and to apply no tests except that
when members came in they should leave religion and politics outside
the door.
One cannot but admire the optimism of Dr. Douglas Hyde, and if the
course he outlined be followed many will soon realize that the words
unsectarian and non-political, sound a keynote of progress. And
the Gaelic League is surely for progress! There is an eastern book
called _The Arabian Night's Entertainments_. It contains the Story
of Es-Sindibâd, who had the ill-luck to encounter trying adventures,
among which was the task of carrying an Old-Man-of-the-Sea on his back.
Perhaps the parents, the National Board, and Dr. Douglas Hyde might
think of an Irish version. Meanwhile the children suffer most.
Talking of translations, we wonder whether some Gaelic League member
will think of putting _Atlantis_, by Ignatius Donnelly, into Irish. To
be sure, it would give young folk a wider outlook on life, but this
might not be an insuperable objection.
BOOK REVIEWS: "Les Derniers Barbares: Chine, Tibet, Mongolie," par le
Commandant d'Ollone. Pierre Lafitte et Cie., Paris. By H. Alexander
Fussell
In the preface to this most interesting and readable book of
exploration Commandant d'Ollone reminds us that within or about the
confines of the Chinese Empire there still exist "those races which
conquered Cyrus, stopped Alexander, ravaged the Roman Empire, conquered
Asia and half of Europe," that they are still the same, "unconquered
and untamable." And he asks the question: "Will they succumb under
the pressure of civilization; or shall we see them, armed with our
own weapons, with modern artillery, utilizing the railways we have
constructed, to begin again their terrible incursions?"
The names of these barbarians are familiar enough: Scythians, Huns,
Turks, Mongols; to these must be added the Lolos, a race, according to
some theorists, more nearly allied to our own, the Indo-European, than
to the so-called Mongolian or Yellow race. To study the Lolos and their
characteristics was one of the principal objects of the expedition
d'Ollone.
Inhabiting the high mountainous plateau, about 11,000 square miles
in extent, on the left bank of the Blue River, to the north of the
province of Yunnan, they have maintained their independence at the
price of continual war with the Chinese. Theirs is "the forbidden
land," "the country where the Chinese never go"; for the latter, if
found in the country of the Lolos, are either massacred or reduced to
slavery. Nevertheless, they are admitted at certain seasons to gather
the much coveted "insect-wax," a source of riches to the neighboring
province of Sseu-Tch'ouan, which is found only in "the Great Cold
Mountains" of the Lolo country. To do this they must get the protection
of some Lolo chief and pay an indemnity to each of the frontier clans.
The Lolos, on the other hand, go freely in times of peace into Chinese
territory to buy weapons and firearms.
The expedition had some difficulty in finding Lolo chiefs to be their
introducers or "sponsors"; not only was it impossible to proceed
without them, but with them they would be treated more as guests than
travelers. However, three Lolo chiefs were induced to undertake this
office. D'Ollone describes them as
tall, magnificent men, with nothing of the Asiatic. One of them,
Ma-Yola, having one of the finest heads that could be imagined, not
yellow in complexion, but tanned like the inhabitants of Southern
Europe, straight large eyes, arched eyebrows, aquiline nose,
well-formed mouth, and an open, frank, martial expression. Truly, a
European head, with a touch of the Red Indian.
The Lolo woman, too, is _quasi_-European in appearance and attire--a
high bodice, a long pleated skirt with flounces, a cloak of fine
wool, and turban. Describing the wife of Ma-Djédjé, another of their
"sponsors" from a different clan, d'Ollone says, "of stately and noble
beauty, she at once compels attention, and all her movements are
graceful and dignified."
Among many customs which testify to the high moral development of the
Lolos is that of dividing property equally among the heirs of both
sexes; as an unmarried woman, however, cannot inherit, her share is
held over till her marriage, when it forms her dowry--and until her
marriage her brothers must provide for her maintenance. If there is any
inequality in the division of property, the youngest is favored. The
Lolos appear to be Theists, but have no temples or religious ceremonies.
Who are the Lolos, and to what race do they belong? Hardy mountaineers,
good horsemen, fond of war and violent exercise, of proud bearing,
noble and often beautiful in countenance, they show all the signs of
an energetic race well fitted to develop. What statues, monuments, or
architecture have they to tell of their past? None, much to d'Ollone's
disappointment. Though their system of government reminded him strongly
of the feudal system, yet noble and serf would sleep together on the
ground wrapped in their long cloaks, or in cabins without a scrap of
furniture. What is the explanation of this anomaly? The real home of
the Lolos is not the mountainous country where they have maintained
their independence, but on the other bank of the Blue River, where the
semi-independent Lolos (and the Miao-Tseu) live under their hereditary
chiefs, who, however, acknowledge Chinese authority. But even here
no traces of their ancient civilization are to be found, for the
Chinese conquerors destroyed everything that reminded them of the Lolo
supremacy.
The ethnological problem is thus succinctly stated by Commandant
d'Ollone:
Are there in the midst of China populations which do not belong to the
Yellow Race? If there are and they have come from elsewhere, we ought
to find traces of their passage, colonies which they have left on the
way, discover whence they came and to what original family to assign
them. If, however, they are indigenous, or at least if they arrived
before the beginning of history, then the Far East is not the cradle
of the Yellow Race; it is this last which has come from far and has
dispossessed the indigenous races, incorporating many of them without
doubt, and its homogeneity is a fiction.
Here may be quoted a note by Madame Blavatsky in _The Secret Doctrine_,
Vol. II, page 280;
"What would you say to our affirmation that the Chinese--I speak of
the inland, the true Chinaman, not of the hybrid mixture between
the Fourth and Fifth Races now occupying the throne, the aborigines
who belong in their unallied nationality wholly to the highest and
last branch of the Fourth Race--reached their highest civilization
when the Fifth had hardly appeared in Asia" (_Esoteric Buddhism_, p.
67). And this handful of the inland Chinese are all of a very high
stature. Could the most ancient MSS. in the Lolo language (that of
the aborigines of China) be got at and translated correctly, many
a priceless piece of evidence would be found. But they are as rare
as their language is unintelligible. So far one or two European
archaeologists only have been able to procure such priceless works.
This was written in 1888. It may be added that the Lolo nobles preserve
very carefully their genealogies. To return to the Miao-Tseu. They,
says d'Ollone,
are usually considered as having no writing of their own. Taking
advantage of the fact that one of them, who had a law-suit, asked my
help, I begged him to put his case in writing. This he did without any
difficulty, and assured me that since their subjection by the Chinese,
the latter having destroyed all the books they could discover, the
Miao-Tseu had hidden those that remained, and had feigned ever since
to be ignorant of the art of writing; they possessed, however,
numerous books containing the annals of their race.
We must refer our readers to d'Ollone's book for an interesting account
of his "hunt for documents."
After studying the Miao-Tseu and the semi-independent Lolos the
expedition returned to Ma-Tao-Tseu, whence they had set out, where
d'Ollone met some pimos or learned Lolos who while they can read the
sacred books, have no priestly functions and must by no means be
considered as priests. With one of them, who was especially intelligent
and well-informed, "my Lolo professor," as he calls him, d'Ollone
worked hard for a fortnight, learning the Lolo writing and laying the
foundations of a Lolo-French dictionary. At the end of that time,
as a recompense for my zeal, my professor presented me with five
volumes, treating, he said, of religion, geography, history,
mathematics, and various sciences.
Our sympathy is secured in advance for all brave people who are
striving to retain their nationality and their own language. The last
twenty-five years or so has witnessed a great Celtic revival; the Welsh
and Irish are both studying their ancient literature, speaking their
original languages, and publishing books about their traditions
which go back to a time when England was joined to the Continent and
our forefathers could walk dryshod from Wales to Ireland. It is at
least curious that far away in Central Asia, a Lolo prince, one of the
most powerful and learned of them all, the nzemo Len, fired by the
same national enthusiasm and patriotism should have founded a school
where eighteen pupils are educated at his own expense in Lolo, not in
Chinese. He has moreover established a rude printing-press, so as to
publish books in his own language, to disseminate not only the old Lolo
learning, but to popularize European science and discoveries, notably
railroads, telegraphy, and ballooning, about which he has heard.
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. COMMANDANT D'OLLONE
Chief of the recent Mission d'Ollone to the Far East and author of _Les
Derniers Barbares_]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. ARCHAIC COLOSSAL
STATUES OF KIANG-K'EU]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. A LOLO WARRIOR]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. LOLO MEN AND THEIR
INSEPARABLE CLOAK]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. MIAO-TSEU DANCING.
BOTH MEN AND WOMEN ARE REPRESENTED The musical instruments are of
curious form]
We have indicated but a small part of the work undertaken by the
expedition d'Ollone. Many other interesting and hitherto unknown
regions in Tibet and Mongolia were explored and are described with
a wealth of anecdote and adventure which makes the book delightful
reading even for those who are not attracted by the important data
it has gathered for the solution of ethnographic and archaeological
problems. For the sake of the latter we would observe that among the
results of the expedition are
forty-six vocabularies of non-Chinese dialects; four dictionaries of
native writings hitherto unknown or undecipherable; thirty-two Lolo
manuscripts; two hundred and twenty-five historical inscriptions in
Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu, Arabic and Lolo; the local
histories of forty-two towns, about which hardly anything was known
before, etc., etc.
These documents, illustrated by nearly 2000 photographs, are now being
published in seven volumes with the collaboration of eminent savants,
aided by a grant from the French Government.
The success of the expedition was due to the high qualities of the
French nation, always the pioneers alike in science and in exploration.
The difficulties to be surmounted only made their task the more
attractive. Commandant d'Ollone and his confrères, Captains Lepage
and de Fleurelle and Sous-lieutenant Boyve, have done honor to their
country and made scientists the world over their debtors.
In conclusion one may refer in justification of the warning with which
this review opens, to an earlier work by d'Ollone, published in 1906,
_La Chine novatrice et guerrière_ (Armand Colin, Paris). It does away,
once for all, with the old idea of the homogeneity and inertia of the
Chinese Empire--as large, we must remember, as Europe, and more densely
populated by a hundred different races. This Empire, which Europe not
so long ago spoke of dividing into "spheres of influence," so as better
to pursue a policy of commercial and military aggression, is wide awake
now and intends to be "master in its own household." The patriotism
that was flouted a few years ago is breaking out today in cries for war.
In the province of the lower Yang-Tse, where, Marco Polo declared
disdainfully, there was scarcely to be seen a man-at-arms, there are
now young men training, by gymnastic exercises and drill for the
coming struggle.
"Soon," so runs one of their military marching songs, "soon, chiefs
will lead millions of young men whose battalions will crush Europe and
America."
"O stupid white-faced Barbarians," is the refrain of the Gymnastic
Society of Hang-tche'ou, "do not think that the wrongs of the Yellow
Race will last many years longer!" And d'Ollone avers that all over
China the same songs are sung.
It seems indeed as if we were approaching one of those great crises of
the world's history. East and West are getting to know each other, and
are measuring their strength. May a peaceful solution be found in the
higher ideals which each proclaims, and the Federation of Nations and
the Brotherhood of Man at last become a reality!
The work is beautifully printed on calendered paper, and illustrated
very handsomely with views photographed during the expedition. A few
of them are reproduced on these pages; they give one an idea of the
different peoples.
"The Plough and the Cross: a Story of New Ireland," by William Patrick
O'Ryan. The Aryan Theosophical Press, Point Loma, California. By F. J.
D.
This story is surely one of the most arresting and charming which has
appeared for many years. Reviewers of the first edition were almost
unanimous in saying that it has to be read and re-read, because of its
absorbing interest. Filled with beauties of ideation born of Celtic
inspiration, are many memory-haunting passages. Seldom has there been
a book portraying with such skill and grace the contemporary mental
states of a naturally buoyant and imaginative people.
The first chapter is an adumbration, almost an epitome both of the
story and of the general situation in Ireland along certain lines,
mainly in the thought-world. For in spite of occasional brief personal
or scenic sketches, one lives, in these pages, pre-eminently within
the very thought-life of a people--a bold departure, and few have been
the writers competent to make the attempt. Withal, the story is so
genial and humorous, that one lives in that world unconscious of the
magic woven around him. Most stories and dramas depend largely for
their interest upon plot, incident, and stirring situations. Yet here
the keenest interest is sustained within realms of mind, aspiration,
and the higher planes of emotion; with little or no aid from plot or
dramatic situation; although there are in reality deeply dramatic
touches, those which belong to soul-drama.
One feels that the writer, while taking life seriously, looks ever to
the brighter side--a wonderful achievement for any Thinker living in
the Ireland of today. Because of this inherent attitude, he succeeds
in throwing a strong search-light on existing conditions; and again
because of it, that light illumines conditions prevalent in some other
countries equally. The story has thus an almost universal character,
and is in fact a kind of prose-poem. Some, entire strangers to Ireland,
declare the characters in the story to be to them much more familiar
than their most intimate friends. For being typical, they are real.
In one aspect it is the oft-told tale of struggle against
conventionality and dogmatism; but the remarkable thing is that here
these are presented in a sympathetic, rather than in an antagonistic
light. It is a masterly touch; for conventionality, dogmatism, and even
intolerance, are ways in which our imperfect natures cling fearfully to
some halting-place, ere a new step is taken on the upward journey.
And so there must always be pioneers, leaders who encourage us to
take the next step onward. Books such as this are like refreshing
waters pouring new streams of life on jaded souls, weary of the
squirrel-in-cage business of the accepted order. The book is full of
good-humored raillery, and abounds in richly imaginative and poetic
flashes. Although practically a recital of actual occurrences in
Ireland, and therefore occasionally weighted with sad and unavoidably
stern vicissitudes (less stern than the reality), one discerns plainly
those undercurrents of aspiration and effort which are pressing
upward in many places today--forces which, indeed, attain embodied
expression before the world, in the Theosophical movement led by
Katherine Tingley. And it was Katherine Tingley who, recognizing the
high merit of this little work, acquired the copyright and caused the
first edition to appear from the workshops of the Aryan Theosophical
Press. The author himself, who is unconnected with the Universal
Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, replying to his critics, and
after disclaiming the idea that there was any propagandist design in
his mind, went on to say:
The truth is that life and character in the Ireland that is waking up
are extraordinarily rich and interesting if we look a little below
the surface.... To take such ideas and characters and try to press
them into the service of some personal theory or propaganda would
be a crude and senseless proceeding. The point is to illustrate and
interpret them, as well as one can, to let them speak for themselves.
The following extracts, much to the point, are taken from a review
which appeared in _The Gaelic-American_, New York.
Here we see the mysticism of the medieval poet done into prose. Into
his love romance the author has woven his own peculiar ideas about
religion, society, theosophy, altruism, and every-day politics. His
characters talk these things without, however, losing their human and
personal traits. That is why the story is so interesting.
In some respects _The Plough and the Cross_ is a psychological study.
Katherine Tingley, the famous Theosophist of Point Loma, condenses the
features of the novel in the following brief introduction:
"A story of real life in Ireland--in the deepest sense as well as in
the usual one--it elucidates certain heart problems in social and
religious life with a candor, charm, and fearlessness, and with so
tender a restraint and sympathy that it can hardly fail to be regarded
as a wholly unique contribution to modern thought.
"More than one actual initiation into the real meaning and purpose of
human life is subtly and exquisitely depicted here--the outcome of
those stern yet joyful experiences which must come sooner or later
to all true hearts that toil nobly and unselfishly for the uplift of
social and national life...."
The Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society
Founded at New York City in 1875 by H. P. Blavatsky, William Q. Judge
and others
Reorganized in 1898 by Katherine Tingley
Central Office, Point Loma, California
The Headquarters of the Society at Point Loma with the buildings
and grounds, are no "Community" "Settlement" or "Colony," but are
the Central Executive Office of an international organization where
the business of the same is carried on, and where the teachings of
Theosophy are being demonstrated. Midway 'twixt East and West, where
the rising Sun of Progress and Enlightenment shall one day stand at
full meridian, the Headquarters of the Society unite the philosophic
Orient with the practical West.
MEMBERSHIP