IIIFカラー高解像度
国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
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| IIIFカラー高解像度 |
| India and Tibet : vol.1 | |
| インドとチベット : vol.1 |
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引用情報
CHARACTER OF LEPCHAS 107
people, amongst whom it is a pleasure to live." And
he says they make excellent and trustworthy servants.
Certainly these people were devoted to Mr. White, who,
in a kindly patriarchal way, did many a kindness for them
as he toured through their valley. And I was particularly
interested in observing them, and hearing Mr. White's
opinion of them, because they have been the subject of so
many encomiums on the part of Herbert Spencer. On
account of their truthfulness and gentleness they had been
held up by him as an example to civilized people, and
I was anxious to see whether at close quarters they were
as estimable as they had appeared at a distance to the
philosopher.
They are of the Mongolian type of feature, yet they
have very distinctive features of their own, and would
never be mistaken for either the Tibetans, the Nepalese,
or the Bhutanese, who touch them on either side, and they
seem to have come along the foothills from Assam and
Burma. 'Their chief characteristic is undoubtedly their
gentleness. Timidity is the word which might better
describe it. They live in a still, soft, humid climate, and
their character is soft like the climate ; but their disposition
is also attractive, like their country. They are great lovers
of Nature, and unequalled as collectors. In their own
country and unspoiled they are frank and open, good-
natured and smiling, and when they are at their ease,
amiable, obliging, and polite. They are indolent and
improvident, but they seldom have private or political
feuds. They never aggress upon their neighbours. And
by nature they are scrupulously honest. Their women
are chaste, and neither men nor women drink in excess.
These 6,000 Lepchas certainly have every estimable
quality, and many for which we Europeans are not
strikingly remarkable. Yet mere gentleness, without
strength and passion at the back, can hardly count much
in the world, and it is not possible seriously to regard the
Lepchas as an ensample for our living. Even the naughty
little Gurkhas, who would, except for our protection of the
Lepchas, have long since swallowed them up, we really
prefer.
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