Zenas Sanford Loftis

Loftis's calling to the life of a medical missionary came about in St. Louis while performing slum mission work and teaching Chinese Sunday-school.[9] He was inspired by the work of Susanna Carson Rijnhart whose husband and child died while on an expedition in Tibet.[12] In response to this calling, Loftis moved to Nashville, Tennessee to earn a medical degree within Vanderbilt University's Department of Medicine.[9] Throughout his studies, Loftis prayed to God "that he might be sent to the most difficult and needy field in all the world" and "wanted to go where no one else was willing to go."[13] In 1906, Loftis was sent by Vanderbilt University to the Southern Student's Y.M.C.A conference in Asheville, North Carolina where Loftis first heard of plans to establish a mission in Batang.[14]

In 1903, Dr. Susanna Carson Rijnhart, Dr. Albert Shelton, and his wife, Flora Shelton, were sent by the Foreign Christian Missionary Society (FCMS) to open a mission in Tibet.[13] However, in 1907 Rijnhart departed due to health problems.[15] After learning of Rijnhart's departure from the mission on the border of Tibet, Loftis applied for and was appointed to the mission in Batang by the FCMS in January 1908.[14][15]

Loftis (second from right) aboard the SS Mongolia

Loftis's route from the United States to Tibet required that he make stops at San Francisco, Honolulu, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Shanghai, and Nanjing.[16] After reaching Nanjing, Loftis had to travel up the Yangtze River, pass through Hankou, Yichang, Chungking, Luchau, Kiating, Tachienlu, and Litang to reach Batang.[17]

He boarded the SS Mongolia on September 15, 1908, and left the United States, never to return.[18] He wrote in his diary that he felt "no sorrow in [his] heart" as the country held "all that was dear to [him] except [his] work.[18]

As he traveled through China and eastern Tibet, Loftis recorded his observations of the cultural landscape, providing context to many of the customs and historical landmarks that he encountered. On the way to Nanjing, he described the "thousands of graves" that covered the fields and detailed the cultural and historical context behind the "great stone statues" that lay along the road that he traveled.[19] Along the Yangtze River, Loftis observed an "artificial cave" home to an ancient "aboriginal race" and entered one of them, concluding that they were "the first dwellings" of Tibetan ancestors.[20] He also recorded histories of the Purple Mountain, Omei Shan, and a bridge that hovered over the Tong River.[21]

Loftis in a coracle

Loftis said that the religious icons of the Tibetan people were numerous, and described "shrines with many prayer wheels and idols."[22] He listened to the "chanting prayers of lamas" and looked at "devout Tibetans" whirling "prayer drums ... thus offering millions of prayers in one second."[23] Loftis stumbled upon one prayer drum with "some half million or more written mani prayers."[24]

Loftis was a harsh critic of the Tibetan people's Buddhist traditions. He wrote, "It struck chills to my heart when I saw these deluded wretches groping so blindly in the dark for help from a higher power."[25] Loftis visited the large Litang monastery and its Holy Temple.[26] He interacted with an abbot in Litang who was said to be "a Living Buddha" and from whom Loftis learned about the Kangyur.[27]

Loftis also highlighted the major health hazards found throughout the country. He stated in his diary that they did not "know what a sewer is, so everything that is waste [was] thrown into the streets."[28] He described a Chinese as having "four verminous beds" with "inevitable foul smelling pits of human refuse.[29] Conditions were similar in Tibet where Loftis encountered inns that were "dirty and foul beyond belief."[30] Along the Yalong River, he described an inn which had "cracks in the walls" that were "filled with their eggs and larva" in addition to the presence of "bedbugs, fleas, and lice."[31]

Loftis also criticized the "superstitious" nature of the Chinese. One night "they make a lot of noise with drums and gongs all night to keep the devils off."[32] As he was traveling up the Yangtze River, he writes that the "Chinese believe the river to be infested with devils."[33] Loftis characterized himself as a "foreign devil" as a crowd was staring as he ate his food with "knives and forks."[34]

Loftis visited the Christian missions that he passed by on the way to the Batang mission, and wrote about their progress and conditions.[16] He noted that many of the stations were "terribly undermanned" and regretted that "he could not multiply himself into a hundred" to aid the missions.[16]

He also treated patients along the way to Batang. On the road, he treated a man who attempted to commit an opium suicide and was received with "profuse thanks" for his work.[35] While traveling up the Yangtze River, he diagnosed and remedied a case of malaria, allowing him the opportunity to "make a demonstration of the power of foreign medicine."[36] In Yachow, he treated a case of opium in a young girl.[37] Near one of the Tibetan villages, he alleviated the pain of a "contused and swollen" sclera conjunctiva."[22] In Tachienlu, he performed an amputation on part of a finger.[38]

Batang

Loftis reached the Batang mission on June 17, 1909, after a journey of ten months from his home in the United States to Batang.[39] He was welcomed at the mission by Dr. Albert Shelton and James Ogden and their wives.[39]

Albert Shelton left the responsibility of the mission's dispensary to Loftis while Shelton and Ogden were on an extended trip south of Batang.[40] Loftis treated patients around the area in whatever capacity was needed including attending to dislocations, opium overdose, tuberculosis, skin lacerations, pediatrics, and smallpox.[41] Loftis noted that the Tibetan people "knew nothing about dislocations," and a man with a dislocated shoulder whom Loftis had treated "praised the skill of the foreign doctor."[42][43] He treated "between five and six hundred people."[6]