Ye-shessde and Ch'os-kyi-gyal-ts'an. At least half of the two great Tibetan collections, canon and commentaries, is the work of their hands. Ral-pa-Chan endowed most of the monasteries with State lands and the right to collect tithes and taxes. His ardent devotion to Buddhism, indeed, led to his assassination and the downfall of the monarchy, which event paved the way for the eventual rise of a hierarchy. The murderer of Ral-pa-Chan was his brother Lang-darma, who was at the head of a Bon faction, on which some authentic light is thrown by the Lhasa edict pillar inscription of A.D. 842, published by the writer (JRĀS, 1909, p. 1267); on ascending the throne he actively persecuted the Buddhists, and did his utmost to uproot that religion. He desecrated and destroyed many temples and monasteries, burned the sacred books, and forced many of the monks to become butchers. He was in turn assassinated within three years by a Buddhist monk disguised as a Black Hat Bon devil-dancer, and this incident is now a favourite episode in the popular sacred plays.

7. Rise of the hierarchy.-Although on the downfall of the dynasty Tibet became subdivided into several principalities, Buddhism continued to grow steadily in popularity, and the priests became more and more influential, till eventually, in the 13th cent., a hierarchy was established with temporal sway. This was effected by the great Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, whose grandfather Jenghiz Khan had conquered Tibet. Converted to Buddhism by the Tibetan abbot of the Sas-kya monastery in Western Tibet near the Nepalese frontier, Kublai created the Sas-kya abbot official head of the Buddhist Church in Tibet in return for the favour of formally crowning him as Emperor of China. He also conferred upon the learned Sas-kya Lama-or 'Sas-kya Pandita,' as he is usually called-the temporal rulership of Western Tibet.

This first of the Tibetan hierarchs thus especially patronized by the Mongols achieved with a staff of his scholars the gigantic task of translating the bulky Tibetan canon into Mongolian, after revision and collation with Chinese texts, the Mongolian character being a form of Syriac introduced into Central Asia by Nestorian Christian missionaries.

The Sas-kya primacy maintained much of its political supremacy for several generations, and used its power to oppress its less-favoured rival sects. It burned the great Kar-gyu monastery of Dikung about A.D. 1320. But on the accession of the Ming dynasty in 1368 the Chinese Emperor deemed it politic, whilst conciliating the monks as a body, by gifts and titles, to strike at the Saskya power by raising the heads of two other monasteries to equal rank with it (Dikung of the Kar-gyu sect and Ts'al of the Ka-dam sect), and encouraged strife against it.

8. Rise of the priest-kings of Lhasa.-At the beginning of the 15th cent. A.D., a Lama named Tsong-Kha-pa or Je-Rin-po-ch'e re-organized the reformed Ka-dam sect which had been instituted by the Indian monk Atiṣa in 1038, and altered its title to The Virtuous Order,' or Ge-lug-pa. This sect, which arose at Gah-ldan monastery near Lhasa, wore as a distinctive badge a yellow cap, and hence was known as the Yellow Hat' Order. It soon eclipsed all the others, and in five generations achieved the priest-kingship of the whole of Tibet, which it retains to this day.

Its first Grand Lama was Tsong-Kha-pa's nephew, Geden-dub, with his succession based on the idea of his perpetual re-incarnation. In 1640 the Yellow Hats leapt into temporal power under the fifth series of Grand Lamas, the crafty prelate

Lob-zang Gya-mts'o, also known as 'the fifth Jina' [a title of Buddha], Gyal-ba-Na-pa. At his request a Mongol prince, Gusri Khan, conquered Tibet and made a present of it to him, and in 1650 he was confirmed in the sovereignty by the Manchu Chinese Emperor, and also in the title of Ta-lai, usually written by Europeans Dalai, which merely the Mongolian word for Gya-mts'o (or Ocean'), the surname of himself and his three predecessors.

This resourceful Dalai Lama consolidated and extended his rule by inventing divine legends about himself, and by forcibly appropriating many of the monasteries of the older sects. He also built for himself the famous palace-monastery on the red hill at Lhasa, the name of which he changed to Potala,' after the mythic Indian residence of the most popular of all Buddhist divinities, Avalokita, or Lord of Mercy, of whom he posed as the incarnation, and whose special spell was the famous Om mani padme Hum formula.

9. Origin of the succession by re-incarnation.The idea of re-incarnation, which is a fundamental element of belief in Buddhism, derived from its parent Brahmanism, does not appear to have been definitely utilized for the regulation of the hierarchical succession in India, although many cases are cited by Taranatha, from the Indian histories, of Indian Buddhist patriarchs and saints having been re-incarnated in other saints some generations afterwards.

The succession of the Sas-kya hierarchs was clearly not based upon this system, but was by nomination of relatives. The Yellow Hat succession, however, indisputably shows by the dates of birth and death of the respective incumbents that the succession to the Grand Lamaship was based upon the theory of direct re-incarnation. The spirit of the first abbot was supposed on his death to be reincarnated in the world immediately as a new-born infant, and thus was re-born again and again for the good of his monastery and particular sect of Yellow Hats. This theory has latterly been adopted as a basis for succession to the leadership of several other sects as well.

Enlarging this theory, the fifth Grand Lama introduced the fiction of a divine origin for himself and his predecessors. He declared that both he himself and the first Yellow Hat abbot were reincarnations of the most powerful and popular of all the kings of Tibet, namely Srong-btsan Gampo; and, further, that the latter in his turn was the earthly incarnation of the Compassionate Spirit of the mountains who had given the early Tibetans the magical food which transformed them from monkeys into men. This Compassionate Spirit was identified with the Buddhist 'god of mercy' Avalokita (see AVALOKITESVARA), known in Tibetan as Chän-rä-zi,' the all-seeing Lord' (lit. clad with eyes'). Avalokita is especially the god who regulates transmigration, and who can procure ready entrance to paradise and escape from hell. His favour can be won by the repeated utterance of his mystic spell, the Om mani (see JEWEL [Buddhist]) of Indian Buddhism; hence the extreme popularity of this formula in Tibet, and the divine honours paid to the Dalai Lama, who is believed to be the incarnation of this most powerful of all divinities.

10. Dual Grand-Lamaship. The only person whom this Grand Lama of Lhasa permitted to share to some extent his divine honours was the abbot of the large monastery at Tashi-lhunpo, the Western capital of Tibet, belonging to his own Yellow Hat sect, and his own tutor. He raised this abbot to the dignity of a Grand Lama, and gave him the divine pedigree of descent from the Buddha-god Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite

Light,' whose blissful paradise in the west is the popular heaven which was the goal of the majority of Indian Buddhists from the beginning of the Christian era, as it is to-day in Tibet, as well as in China and Japan. This pontiff is generally known to Europeans, after his residence, as the 'Tashi Lama,' in contradistinction to the 'Dalai Lama' of Lhasa. To Tibetans, however, the former of these is usually known as 'the great treasure of learning,' Pan-ch'en Rin-po-ch'e, and the latter as the protector-treasure,' Kyab-gon Rin-po-ch'e, or the victor Jina,' a title of Buddha himself.

·

Latterly, a third and a fourth Grand Lama of the dominant Yellow Hats were instituted for the two kingdoms outside Tibet, to which Tibetan Buddhism extended, namely Mongolia and China. The former of these at Urgya is known as Je-btsun Dam-pa, and possesses temporal sovereignty over Outer Mongolia, like the Dalai Lama in Tibet; but, although posing as the head of the celibate monkhood, he is not himself celibate. The fourth was appointed by the Emperor Kang-Hsi about 1700, especially for Inner Mongolia, and has his special residence at Peking and Jehol. He is known to Tibetans as Chang-skya-Hu-thuk-thu, and is considered to be an incarnation of Rol-pai Dorje; and his succession, as well as that of the Urgya Grand Lama, is arranged by the Dalai Lama. The spiritual jurisdiction of the Dalai Lama is not acknowledged outside Tibet and Mongolia, including the land of the Buriats (q.v.) bordering Lake Baikal in Siberia, the tracts in Western China which formerly belonged to Tibet, the isolated Tibetan monasteries in N. China, and the Himalayan States of Bhutan, Sikkim, and Ladakh. Neither the Dalai nor the Tashi Lama exercises any ecclesiastical authority in Tibet over the other and older sects, the Red Hats, whose relative laxity in Buddhist discipline, especially in the matter of uncelibacy, they despise.

II. Sects in Tibetan Buddhism.-No sects appear to have existed prior to Lang-darma's persecution in the 9th cent., nor till more than a century and a half later. The sectarial movement seems to date from the visit to Tibet of the great Indian Buddhist monk Atīṣa in 1038. Atīșa, while clinging to Yoga and theistic Tantrism, at once started a reformation on the lines of the higher Indian Mahāyāna system, enforcing celibacy and high morality, and deprecating the Bon rites which had crept into some of the priestly practices of the Buddhist monks. The time was ripe for such a reform, as the monks in Tibet had become a very large and influential body, and possessed a fairly full and scholarly translation of the bulky Mahayana canon and commentaries.

The first of the reformed sects, and the one with which Atiṣa most intimately identified himself was the Ka-dam, or those bound by the Orders'; and it was this sect that ultimately, three and a half centuries later, in Tsong-Kha-pa's hands became less ascetic and more highly ritualistic under the title of Ge-lug, or Virtuous Order,' the Yellow Hats,' now the dominant established sect in Tibet. Atisa, or the Lord' (Jo-bo-rje), was the sole profound reformer of Tibetan Buddhism; for we find that the other parallel early reformations were initiated by his pupils. These were the Kar-gyu and Sas-kya sects, which were directly based in great measure upon Atişa's teaching. These two sects may be regarded as semi-reformations adapted for those individuals who found Atișa's high standard of morality and discipline too irksome.

The residue, who remained wholly unreformed and weakened by the loss of their best and most intellectual members, were now called the 'Old,' or Nying-ma, as they adhered to the old corrupt

practices. To legitimize some of their unorthodox practices borrowed from the indigenous Bon faith, the Nying-ma Lamas began to discover hidden 'revelations' (ter-ma), or fictitious gospels, ascribed to Guru Padmakara, authorizing these practices, just as, it is related, the Indian monk Nagarjuna, to secure an orthodox reception for his new doctrine, alleged that Sakyamuni had entrusted the developed gospels to Naga demigods until men were sufficiently enlightened to comprehend the doctrine. Each of these 'finders' of the new revelations claimed to have been in a former birth one or other of the twenty-five traditional disciples of the guru. The 'revelations' treat mainly of Bon rites which are permissible in Buddhist practice; and they prescribe forms of worship mostly on the Buddhist model. These apocryphal gospels formed the starting-point for further subdivision of the semi-reformed and the old unreformed sects, which differ from each other chiefly by the particular ter-ma-book that they have adopted as sanctioning the worship of a particular Bon deity.

12. Sectarian distinctions.-The distinctions between the various sects are partly theistic and creedal, and partly ritualistic, and are also usually expressed by some external difference in dress and symbolism. None of them relate to the personality or doctrine of the historical Buddha as expressed in the canon, as this is accepted intact by all. These differences may be classed as: (1) personality and title of the primordial deity or Adibuddha (cf. ADIBUDDHA); (2) special source of divine inspiration; (3) transmitters of this special inspiration; (4) meditative system of mystical insight (darsana, Tib. Ita-wa); (5) special tantrarevelation; (6) personal tutelary (yi-dam) or Saivite Indian protective demon; and (7) guardian demon (dharmapāla, Tib. ch'os-skyong), sometimes of Tibetan type.

The Ge-lug, or dominant Yellow Hats, have as their primordial deity Vajradhāra ('holder of the thunderbolt'), and they derive their divine inspiration mainly, not from the dead Sakyamuni, but from the living Buddhist 'Messiah' Maitreya, the next coming Buddha, as revealed through the succession of Indian saints from Asanga down to Atișa, and through the Tibetan saints from Atīṣa's disciple Bromton downwards to Tsong - Kha-pa. The Ge-lug mystical insight is in the Lam-rim, or graded path,' on which a commentary was written by Tsong-Kha-pa, and their special Tantra, or theistic manual, is Rgya-ch'en-spyod. Their tutelary Indian demon (yi-dam) is 'the fearful thunderbolt' Vajrabhairava (Tib. Dorje-jig-je), supported by Samvara (Sambara, Tib. Dem-chog) and Guhyakāla (Tib. Sang-'dus); and their guardian' demon (dharmapāla) is the six-armed lord' (Gon-po) or the horse-necked' (Hayagriva, Tib. Tam-ch'en), both of them Indian, not Tibetan.

In organizing the Ge-lug sect Tsong-Kha-pa collected the scattered members of the Ka-dam from their ascetic retreats and housed them in monasteries, together with his new followers, under rigid discipline, setting them to keep the 253 Vinaya rules of primitive Buddhism, including strict celibacy, and hence obtaining for them the title of Vinaya-keepers' (Dulba-Lama). He also made them carry a begging-bowl and wear patched robes of a yellow colour after the fashion of the Indian Buddhist mendicant. The bowl, however, soon dropped out of use, as daily begging was not adapted to the sparse population of Tibet. He attracted followers also by instituting a highly ritualistic service, in part borrowed, perhaps, from the Nestorian Christian missionaries who were undoubtedly settled at that time in Tsong-Kha, the locality of his early boyhood in W. China. He

gave his monks the yellow hat which distinguished them from all the other sects, who wore red hats, in contradistinction to the black caps of the Bon priests.

as protective charms or spells has been shown by the present writer to have been a feature of Buddhism in India from its commencement, and on the evidence of the Pali canon to have been practised even by Buddha himself (cf. JEWEL [Buddhist]), and the mechanical repetition of such spells (dhāraṇī or paritta) was extensively prac tised about the 5th cent. A.D. by Asanga and his brother Vasubandhu according to the circumstantial records quoted by Taranatha,' and supported by an early sadhana bearing Asanga's name. The grosser priestly theistic and demonentirely to the unreformed sects which form a minority, are also largely of Indian Śaivite origin. Those which are borrowed from the indigenous Bon will be indicated in art. TIBET. The selfimmolation by entombment is an extreme and revolting instance of asceticism, having its parallel in the self-torture of Indian yogis, but it is of altogether exceptional occurrence and never practised by orthodox monks.

The hermit feature of this sect rendered it so unattractive that several sub-sects arose out of it which dispensed with the necessity for hermitages. These were the Karma, Dikung-pa, To-lung-pa, and Dug-pa (the form dominant in Bhutan), which differ from each other in having adopted a different 'revelation' (ter-ma) to allow of worship of an aboriginal spirit. An important image in their temples is that of the founder of their particular sect or sub-sect. In Ge-lug temples Tsong-Kha-pa's image is prominent and receives worship as a canonized saint.

The third great reformed sect is the Sas-kya, or Sa-kya, taking its name from the monastery of that place, founded in A.D. 1072. As we have seen, it became under imperial Chinese patronage the first great hierarchy in Tibet, and in 1251 attained for a time the temporal sovereignty, until eclipsed by its later rival, the Ge-lug sect. Its special source of inspiration is the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, through the Indian saints from Nagarjuna to Vasuputra (Vasubandhu ?). Its mystic insight is the deep path' (gambhira darsana), its tutelary Vajra-phurpa, and its 'guardians' are 'the tent-lord' and 'the presence-lord' (Gon-po zhab).

Now, however, except in a few externals, it is practically undistinguishable from the unreformed Nying-ma, and celibacy is exceptional. From the Sas-kya two reforming sub-sects issued, the Ngorpa and Jo-nang, which differ merely in the founders. To the latter sect belonged the famous Tibetan historiographer Taranatha.

The wholly unreformed sect of Tibetan Buddhists are not numerous in Tibet. They are priests rather than monks, and are freely tinged with quasi-Bon cults. They are found chiefly in the more remote districts. They too have sub-sects, Urgyen-pa, Kartok-pa, and Lhat-sun-pa. The monasteries in Sikkim chiefly belong to the last sect. The Bhutanese lamaseries are not Nying-ma, as is usually asserted by Dug-pa, a sub-sect of the Kar-gyu above noted.

13. Special features of Tibetan Buddhism.Contrary to Western belief, there is nothing in the Buddhism professed by the monastic Order in Tibet which differs greatly from the type of the Indian Buddhism of the Mahayana. The differences in discipline and clothing are mainly those enforced by different climatic conditions. In doctrinal beliefs and practice the Ge-lug monks, who form the great majority of the Order, differ little from the Indian Buddhist monks in the early centuries of our era. The use of sacred sentences

14. Grades in the Order.-The monks are of two chief grades-the novice and the ordained, as in Indian Buddhism; to these may be added at the lower end the neophyte and at the top the abbot, or head of the monastery.

(1) The neophyte, or probationer-pupil, usually a child of about eight years of age, is called ge-shen, i.e. the equivalent of the Indian upasaka, or virtuous follower,' the ordinary title

of a lay devotee. He receives instruction as in a school under a tutor, and is called dä-pa (grva-pa), ‘pupil.' (2) The novice, or ge-ts'ul, is a formally admitted candidate for the Order. He has gone through the ceremony of going forth from home vowing to keep thirty-six of the precepts. He is now permitted (pravrajyavrata), of having his head formally shaved, and to join in the religious services in the monastery. The great majority of the monks, even the old ones, never rise above this grade to full initiation. (3) The fully ordained monk is called

long (dge-slong), the equivalent of the Indian bhiksu, or

virtuous mendicant.' He is usually over twenty-five years, and comparatively few ever reach this high stage. He now k'an-po (cf. ABBOT (Tibetan]).

has to vow to keep the 253 precepts. (4) The abbot is called

Nuns are given corresponding titles. They are not numerous, are very illiterate, as a rule, and are allotted an inferior position, scarcely higher than the ordinary lay devotee.

15. Excessive numbers of the monks.-In Tibet we see Buddhism at the extreme limit of its inevitable development when unfettered. For the monastic state is an essential condition for the attainment of Buddhist salvation; and in Tibet this condition has been realized more fully than in any other Buddhist country in the world. Indeed, nowhere else in the world does monasticism appear ever to have reached such vast proportions. This has been the result of the exceptionally favourable circumstances for its unchecked growth and development, under the fostering care of a temporal government which for several centuries has been entirely in the hands of the monks themselves.

As a consequence, there have arisen swarming armies of State-supported celibate monks who live parasitically upon the people and decimate them. Since Buddhism was introduced as the Statereligion in the 8th cent. A.D., the Tibetan nation, which formerly was one of the most virile in Eastern Asia, and overran and even conquered China more than once, has steadily declined in power and numbers until it now has not a tenth part of its former population. The only general census of the population hitherto taken appears to be one made by the Chinese, so long ago as 1737; but the proportion probably still holds good, though the total number has greatly declined through the population having died off, presumably in the main as a result of the wide1 F. A. Schiefner, Gesch. des Buddhismus in Indien, St.

Petersburg, 1869, pp. 103f., 121, 123, 146; L. A. Waddell, Dharaņi Cult in Buddhism,' Ostasiat. Zeitschr. i. [1912]

178.

2 Waddell, Lhasa and its Mysteries, p. 236.

602,190 33,760

635,950

This gives one monk for every three of the entire lay community, including the women and children.

The shrinking of the population is evident everywhere in Central and Western Tibet, where one sees numerous abandoned tracts of former cultivation and the ruins of former villages and homesteads. The population is, presumably as a consequence of over-monasticism, steadily drifting towards extinction.

16. Excessive monasticism an inevitable result of Buddhism.-Yet this wide-spread devastation worked by unfettered monasticism must inevitably be the outcome everywhere of Buddhism when that religion is free to develop without restraint. Buddhism, with its inveterate note of pessimism, repressing the wholesome instinct for living and for the development and enjoyment of nature's resources, is itself in direct antagonism to all worldly progress, whilst it restricts its goal of Nirvana expressly to those who have entered its celibate monastic Order. This is clearly the teaching everywhere of Buddha himself, and of all orthodox professing Buddhists of all sections of Buddhism, both North and South, pace the modernizing theories of popular Western writers. No prospect whatever of attaining salvation or Nirvana in this life is held out by Buddhism to any one except those who actually enter its celibate Order of monks.

This is manifestly the reason, in the opinion of the present writer, why heaven and not Nirvana is the popular goal of lay Buddhists-Indra's heaven in the company of the coming Buddha' Maitreya, according to the Southern Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, and Siam; or Amitabha's paradise in the West in the company of Avalokita, according to the Mahayanist Buddhists. It is obviously because, in the first place, these respective heavens are the old traditional paradises of the layman's ancestors, and, in the second place, and chiefly, because there is no other goal of bliss open to him on his death; for, being a layman and forced to work for his living, or bound by family ties, he cannot afford to enter the monastic Order, which is the sole avenue to Nirvana.

17. Tibetan Buddhist scriptures.-The scriptures of the Tibetan Buddhists are translations from the Sanskrit texts of Indian Buddhism by the most scholarly monks of medieval India, assisted by learned Lamas. A few books in the last volume of the sutras were translated from the Pāli, and a very few from the Chinese. The whole forms a series of over three hundred volumes, each of which with its wooden covers makes a package about 26 ins. long, 8 ins. broad, 8 ins. deep, and weighing about 10 pounds. The volumes generally are in the form of xylographs, or prints from carved wooden blocks, as with the ancient Chinese books, no movable type having been employed; occasionally MS sets of the entire canon are to be found-as, e.g., the set obtained by the present writer and now in the British Museum, MSS no. Oriental 672 ff.

The sacred texts consist of two great collections: (a) the canon, and (b) the commentaries.

The canon, or Ka-gyur (vulgarly Kanjur), 'translated word,' forms a series of one hundred, or, in some editions, one hundred and eight, volumes, and comprises 1083 distinct books. It is divided into seven great sections, as compared with the

Saivite sutras or tantras. The divisions are as follows (the constituent volumes being indicated by the letters of the alphabet, in the order of the Sanskrit alphabet):

1. Discipline, Dul-ba (Skr. Vinaya), in 12 volumes (K-P). 2. Metaphysics and transcendental wisdom, Ser-p'yin (Skr. Prajñāpāramitā), corresponding generally to the Abhidhamma of the Pali, in the following recensions: (a) in 100,000 verses, 'Bum (Skr. Satasahasrikā), 10 volumes (K-N); (b) in 25,000 verses, Nyi-k'ri (Skr. Рâñchavimsatasahasrikā), 3 volumes (K-G); (e) in 18,000 verses, K'ribrgyad (Skr. Aṣṭādasasahasrikā), 3 volumes (K-G); (d) in 10,000 verses, K'ri (Skr. Dasasähasrikā), 1 volume (K); (e) in 8000 verses, br Gyad-stong (Skr. Aşṭasahasrika), 1 volume (K); (f) various abridged abstracts, Na-ts'ogs (Skr. Visva), 18 tracts in 1 volume.

8. Buddhist Congregation, P'al-ch'en (Skr. Buddhāvatasangha), 6 volumes (K-Ch).

4. Perfection of the Buddha-ethical and metaphysical doctrine entitled 'The Jewel-heap,' dKon-brtsegs (Skr. Ratnakuta), 5 volumes (K-Ch).

*5. Sermons [of Buddha], mDo-sde (Skr. Sūtränta), 30 volumes (K-A).

6. Parinirvāṇa, or 'Deliverance from Misery,' Myang-'das, 2 volumes (K-Kh).

7. Mystical theosophy, rGyud (Skr. Tantra), 21 volumes (K-Zh).

To these are added:

8. Prayers, sMon-lam (Skr. Praṇidhāna), 3 leaves. 9. Index, dKar-chag (Škr. Sūchilipi), 1 volume.

The commentary Tan-gyur (vulgarly Tanjur) is a great encyclopædic library of ancient Indian lore on metaphysics, logic, composition, arts, alchemy, etc., including the commentaries of ancient Indian Buddhist writers, Nagarjuna and others, also some texts by Tsong-Kha-pa and other Tibetan saints. Its contents have not yet been fully examined.

LITERATURE.-A. Grünwedel, Die Mythologie des Buddhismus in Tibet und der Mongolei, Leipzig, 1900, Padma Sambhava und Verwandtes, do. 1912; C. F. Köppen, Die lamaische Hierarchie und Kirche, Berlin, 1859; W. W. Rockhill, The Land of the Lamas, London, 1891, The Life of the Buddha and the Early History of his Order, do. 1884, Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet, Washington, 1895; E. Schlagintweit, Buddhism w. Wassilieff, Der Buddhismus, St. Petersburg, 1860; L. A in Tibet, Leipzig, 1863, Die Könige von Thibet, Munich, 1866; Waddell, The Buddhism of Tibet, London, 1895, Guide-book to Lhasa Cathedral,' in JASB, Calcutta, 1895, p. 259 f., Lhasa and its Mysteries, London, 1905, Tibetan MSS and Books col[1912] 80-113. lected in Mission to Lhasa,' in Asiatic Quart. Review, xxxiii. L. A. WADDELL.

The

LANDMARKS AND BOUNDARIES. 1. Introduction.-A frequent subject of dispute is the boundary-line-between nations, that of their respective territories, between tribes, that of their hunting or fishing grounds, between individuals, that of their holdings. An excellent example of this is found in Gn 135. It is true that in some instances land disputes are rare because there is a large area available for the needs of all, but in general this is not the case; hence the need of the boundaries being carefully defined by landmarks. We must here distinguish between natural and artificial landmarks. former mainly mark the bounds of public territories; the latter mainly those of private lands. On the other hand, sometimes carved pillars are set up on the boundaries of States, while natural landmarks-trees, boulders, and the like-may mark the limits of individual holdings. In early times nations and tribes often sought that the boundary of their territories should effectually prevent the encroachment of neighbouring peoples. Such an end was attainable where the sea, a region of ice, a range of mountains, an impenetrable forest, a river, or a waste and desert region existed on a frontier. Hence these natural boundaries are

Shillong, 1887, p. 28; E. Nordenskiold, Indianerleben; Et 1 Cf. C. A. Soppitt, Short Account of the Kuki-Lushai Tribes, Gran Chaco, Leipzig, 1912, p. 36.

As an example may be taken that primitive form of commerce called the 'silent trade' (l'échange à la muette), in which members of a distant tribe or foreign merchants lay out their goods at a certain place and retire. The natives then come and take them, leaving the equivalent value of their own products. This is frequently done at the boundaries, or on the seashore, itself a frontier-line. Such places being regarded as neutral ground, in course of time regular markets or fairs are held there. It was for this reason that Hermes, whose images (épμaî) stood on boundaries, became the god of merchants, just as certain markets held on the frontiers of some Greek States were protected by θεοὶ ἀγοραῖοι.3

To such waste territory forming a boundary the name 'mark' was given, and an officer was charged with its defence-the lord of the mark, the marquis -while the dwellers by the frontier were the marco

manni.

That the boundary was often a forest is shown in the connexion between the words for boundary' and 'wood.' Cf. Old Norse mörk, wood,' mark, 'boundary, Old Pruss. median, 'wood,' O. Ch. Slav. mežda, 'boundary.' The words for wood easily took on the meaning of 'boundary.' This was also the case with words denoting fen- or marsh-land.4

As will be seen later, stones with or without inscriptions were often set up on the frontier-line of States, on mountains, water-sheds, the sea-coast, etc. Private lands were marked by hewn or unhewn stones, posts, or trees, the last sometimes having ownership marks cut upon them.

2. Boundaries and landmarks in the lower culture. The Australians have well-defined areas with well-known boundaries, over which each tribe wanders, and from which strangers are expelled.5 This was also true of the Tasmanians, who seldom moved beyond their boundaries. The tracks through the thicket were marked by small branches of bushes, broken and left hanging." "Among the Torres Straits people natural objects constituted landmarks, or such objects as a felled tree, a branch thrown down, and the like. In New Britain the territorial divisions were those of the respective villages, and the boundaries of these were the customary fighting places when any dispute between districts occurred. The boundaries of the lands of which each family was possessed were well known.8 In Banks' Island the exact limits of property are known. Each piece of land is divided by boundaries drawn from tree to tree. In Fiji the boundaries were apt to contract or expand with the strength of the tribe. Where two tribes were nearly equal, disputes

1 de Bell. Gall. vi. 23; cf. 25 for the great Hercynian forest as a boundary, and iv. 3: They consider it their highest glory as a nation that the lands on their borders lie waste to the widest extent.'

2 lb. vi. 25.

3 For examples of the effect of the silent trade and of markets on boundaries see P. J. Hamilton-Grierson, The Silent Trade, Edinburgh, 1903, pp. 44, 56 f.; J. A. Dulaure, Des Cultes qui ont précédé et amené l'idolatrie, Paris, 1805, p. 346f.; and, for the silent trade generally, L. J.-B. Bérenger-Féraud, Superstitions et survivances, do. 1896, ii. 489 ff.; C. Letourneau, Bull. de la Soc. d'Anthrop., do. 1895. Cf. also GIFTS (Primitive and Savage), vol. vi. p. 204 ff.

4 See H. Hirt, Die Indogermanen, Strassburg, 1905-07, pp. 390, 671; O. Schrader, Reallex. der indogerm. Altertumskunde, do. 1901, p. 307; S. Feist, Kultur . der Indogermanen, Berlin, 1913, p. 195 f.; J. Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, ii. (Berlin, 1865) 30 ff.; J. A. Dulaure, op. cit. p. 110 ff.; J. Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, London, 1902, p. 318.

5 Spencer-Gillen", p. 8; E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, Melbourne, 1886-87, ii. 232 ff.; L. Fison and A. W. Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, do. 1880, p. 232.

6 J. Bonwick, Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians, London, 1870, p. 83; H. Ling Roth, The Aborigines of Tasmania2, do. 1899, pp. 73, 104 f.

7 A. C. Haddon, JAI xix. [1889-90] 386.

8 G. Brown, Melanesians and Polynesians, London, 1910, p. 271.

9 R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians, Oxford, 1891, p. 65.

of arbitration. To appropriate a patch of forest was a paltry offence, but to claim another man's of a tribe wished to claim a boundary enclosing a plantation was a crime. Hence, where the council piece of debatable land, men were sent to plant it heirs'. 1 In Samoa the boundary-marks were pathwith gardens. Thus it became theirs and their ways, rivers, trenches, and stones. At the boundaryline between two villages stood two stones representing two youths who, after a fight, had been changed to stone. Any quarrel had to be settled at these stones. In Tahiti there were well-known landmarks at the boundary-lines, usually taking the form of carved images, or tiis. To remove these landmarks was a grave offence. In New Zealand the kumara and taro grounds were con tiguous and divided into portions, carefully marked by stones over which incantations had been said. This rendered them so sacred that to move one brought death to the remover. Streams, trees, rocks, or posts marked the bounds of the hunting area, which was held in common. In New Zealand and elsewhere in Polynesia fields were protected by hedges, walls of unhewn stones, or fences, the making and repairing of which occupied much time.

6

In Africa great care is taken to define the boundaries of provinces or of private possessions. Thus in the province of Oran there are heaps of stones at the frontiers of several tribes, where oaths are taken by parties in cases of litigation. R. H. Nassau, writing of W. African tribes, says that, when a family settles on land, the place is marked out by trees and stones as boundary-lines. Among the Washambala, Banaka, etc., pathways, trees, rivers, rocks, etc., are the landmarks of parcels of land and plantations; though in some cases the boundary-lines are imaginary, they are usually respected. Among the Wadshagga, sacrifices are made at the boundaries when war threatens, and also at other times where a road leaves the territory, to prevent the entrance of an enemy. Among the Yoruba the boundaries of farms are marked by heaps of earth in which certain trees are planted. One of these, the akoko, is a common boundary. mark, and is sacred to the god Ogun. Kola trees growing in the forest often mark the site of old farms and afford proof of ownership.10 R. E. Dennett says that mounds of earth and leaves in the woods mark the frontiers of two provinces. Natives add to the heap, so that they may not be accused of bringing anything evil into the next chief's country. The Asi of Equatorial Africa indicate the boundaries of property by planting trees in line, by hedges, or by stones sunk deep out of sight. The nijama, or executive power, decides in disputes as to boundaries. Village boundaries of trees and stones throughout this region are sacred. 12 In S. Africa with the Basuto the bounds of fields were carefully marked, and disputes were settled by the chief. Among the Baronga, rivers, trees, and other natural objects mark the boundaries of different clans. To define those of gardens, a ditch a foot deep is dug all round the field, and it can be traced

1 B. Thomson, The Fijians, London, 1908, p. 360.

2 Brown, p. 339; G. Turner, Samoa, do. 1884, p. 45.

8 W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, do. 1832, iii. 116. 4 R. Taylor, Te Ika a Maui2, do. 1870, p. 356.

5 C. Letourneau, Property, do., 1892, p. 66; T. Waitz and G. Gerland, Anthrop. der Naturvölker, Leipzig, 1859-72, v. ii. 79, vi. 63; Ellis, i. 138.

6 E. Doutté, Magie et religion dans l'Afrique du Nord, Algiers, 1908, p. 424.

7 Fetichism in W. Africa, London, 1904, p. 23.

8 S. R. Steinmetz, Rechtsverhältnisse von eingeborenen Völkern in Afrika und Ozeanien, Berlin, 1903, pp. 53, 197, 262 f., 359. 9 B. Gutmann, ARW xii. [1909] 98.

10 H. Ling Roth, Great Benin, Halifax, 1903, p. 187, App. xxiv. 11 'Bavili Notes,' FL xvi. [1905] 396.

12 W. S. and K. Routledge, With a Prehistoric People, London, 1910, pp. 6, 204; H. M. Stanley, The Congo, do. 1885, i. 315.