Roof-Top Follies
Initiations and Initiates in Tibet. By Alexandra David-Neel. Translated by Fred Rothwell. (Rider, 18s.) With a King in the Clouds. By Erika Leuchtag. (Hutchinson, 18s.) THE only thing these two books have in common is that they are both about places and events so remote that it is difficult to make an accurate assessment of their authenticity. Alexandra David-Neel, whose book about Buddhism in Tibet was originally published in 1931 and has now reappeared with amendments and additions, gives an impression of reverence rather than dis- cernment. She is, furthermore, so utterly devoid of humour when describing practices of extreme absurdity (the initiations of her title) that one may be pardoned for being a little dubious about her intellectual credentials. Still, if one accepts the authoress as a guide and not a philospher, if one reads to find out what the Tibetans believe rather than why they should be so ridiculous as to be- lieve it, then there is a good deal of interest here despite the abysmal dreariness of the writing.
Erika Leuchtag is on about a very different matter. Employed in 1949 as a masseuse to the Senior Queen of Nepal, she apparently found the King and the Royal Family the virtual prisoners of the Rana nobility, who were the exclusive and tyrannical rulers of the country. According to her own account Miss Leuchtag played an important part in the intrigues which eventually led to the liberation of the monarch, the overthrow of the Ranas and the installation of moderate government in Nepal. Well now. This story is in many ways plausible and is, on the whole, excitingly told. However, Miss Leuch- tag unconsciously reveals herself as so impulsive a woman, so apt to jump to conclusions and so swift, if I may say so, to presume on the courtesy of others (she quickly invented pet-names for both the Senior and the Junior Queens of Nepal, and apparently used these to their faces), that I myself would not have been anxious to associate - her with any coup d'etat I had in mind. In all charity, I think that Miss Leuchtag's • activities, though plainly both persistent and courageous, must have been more peripheral than this book
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