Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1919 — RULER HAS ABSOLUTE SWAY [ARTICLE]

RULER HAS ABSOLUTE SWAY

* ' Mongol Monarch Is Also Official Head of a Religion, Though Little Known to the WoHd. t The most absolute monarch in the world. Is the least known. He rules I in Urga. ■ It is the capital of Ki*bgoTTu, and the potentate is at the sab.** time the official head of a religion. He i Urga Is to some extent a modern town, having many Chinese'and Russian Inhabitants; but the native pori tine of It bears nn resemblance to [ anything that can be found anywhere i earth. For this Mongo! part of the city-Is movable and constantly changes its location and arrangement The Mongol Rouses are hemispherical huts of felt cloth extended over a light structure of latticework. They are readily collapsible, apd can be put up or taken down at a few minutes’ notice Felt cloth being an excellent insulator, they afford a warm and weatherproof shelter during winter* of extreme cold. i There are at Urea, however, a nura- ! her of large monasteries. It is the | holy cit.v of the Mongols.—The priests i (called “lamas”) are numbered by hundreds of thousands, and their “lamaseries" are scattered all over the country. j The business of the lamas is to drive | away the devils which, but for their j pious activity, would soon destroy all i the people. At intervals they give great outdoor exhibitions of a quasitheatrical character, in which hundreds of lamas take part, dancing tn grotesque masks and fantastic costumes to music furnished by drums, huge copper trumpets and flutes made from the thighbones of virgins—the last named horrible instruments emitting blood-curdling and mournful wails.