ABSTRACT
SINCE THE TIME of Marco Polo the mysteries of Tibet have exercised an abiding hold on the western imagination. Even as Europe moved slowly towards science and rationality it retained the image of a high, forbidden plateau where esoteric skills were cultivated to the exclusion of almost everything else. When first-hand reports began to be transmitted back by the few travellers who finally succeeded in reaching the Roof of the World, the accounts of magic and mystery actually increased rather than diminished. Today there is still a minor industry devoted to cultivating that image. It has, however, been brought into much sharper relief now that Tibetans have become truly accessible. The dismantling of their traditional society at the hands of Communist China has forced many of the supposed miracle workers to leave their country and come right up to our doorsteps. But the only really significant modification to the popular conception of Tibet as the land of magic occasioned by these steadily increasing contacts since the late eighteenth century has been the humanizing one which has clothed the Tibetans in an abundance of warm emotion and sympathy.
