UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME.
A LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS. John Buchan.
THE LAND OF FOOTPRINTS. Stewart E. White.
WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. Richard J efferies.
PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS. Jack London.
THE UNVEILING OF LHASA. Edmund Candler.
COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. G. W. E. Russell.
Herbert IV. Paul.
R. E. Prothero.
Henry Neivlolt.
Kenneth Grahanie.
Kenneth Grahafue,
S. H. Leeder.
A. Hilliard Atteridge.
LIFE OF GLADSTONE.
THE PSALMS IN HUMAN LIFE.
COLLECTED POEMS, 1897-1907.
DREAM DAYS.
THE GOLDEN AGE.
THE DESERT GATEWAY.
MARSHAL MURAT.
MY FATHER (LIFE OF W. T. STEAD). Estelle W. Stead.
THE REMINISCENCES OF SIR HENRY HAWKINS.
FROM FIJI TO THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS. B.Grintshaw.
NAPOLEON: THE LAST PHASE. Lord Rosehery.
A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. Dean Hole.
THE ALPS FROM END TO END. Martin Conway.
A MODERN UTOPIA. H. G. Wells.
THE PATH TO ROME. Hilaire Belloc.
THE GREAT BOER WAR. A. Conan Doyle.
FROM A COLLEGE WINDOW. A. C. Btmon.
Others to follow.
THE UNVEILING
OF LHASA
THE
UNVEILING OF LHASA
BY
EDMUND CANDLER
^ \$Q^SI
Qi- 1- az.
THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, Ltd.
LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
THESE PAGES,
WRITTEN MOSTLY IN THE DRY COLD WIND OF TIBET,
OFTEN WHEN INK WAS FROZEN AND ONE's HAND
TOO NUMBED TO FEEL A PEN,
ARE DEDICATED TO
COLONEL HOGGE, C.B.,
AND
THE OFFICERS OF THE 23RD SIKH PIONEERS,
WHOSE GENIAL SOCIETY IS ONE OF THE MOST '
PLEASANT MEMORIES OF A RIGOROUS
CAMPAIGN.
PREFACE
The recent expedition to Lhasa was full of interest,
not only on account of the political issues involved and
the physical difficulties overcome, but owing to the
many dramatic incidents which attended the Mission's
progress. It was my good fortune to witness nearly
all these stirring events, and I have written the follow-
ing narrative of what I saw in the hope that a continuous
story of the affair may interest readers who have hitherto
been able to form an idea of it only from the telegrams
in the daily Press. The greater part of the book was
written on the spot, while the impressions of events
and scenery were still fresh. Owing to wounds I was
not present at the bombardment and relief of Gyantse,
but this phase of the operations is dealt with by Mr.
Henry Newman, Renter's correspondent, who was an
eye-witness. I am especially indebted to him for his
account, which was written in Lhasa, and occupied
many mornings that might have been devoted to well-
earned rest.
I a
viii PREFACE.
My thanks are also due to the Proprietors of the
Daily Mail for permission to use material of which
they hold the copyright; and I am indebted to the
Editors of the Graphic and Black and White for allow-
ing me to reproduce certain photographs by Lieutenant
Bailey.
The illustrations are from sketches by Lieutenant
Rybot, and photographs by Lieutenants Bailey, Bethell,
and Lewis, to whom I owe my cordial thanks.
EDMUND CANDLER.
London, January^ 1905.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION
PAGE
A retrospect — Early visitors to Lhasa — The Jesuits — The
Capuchins — Van der Putte — Thomas Manning — The
Lazajist fathers — Policy of exclusion due to Chinese
influence— The Nepalese invasion — Bogle and Turner
— The Macaulay Mission — Tibetans invade Indian
territory — The expedition of 1888 — The convention
with China — British blundering— Our treatment of the
Shata Shap^ — The Yatung trade mart — Tibetans repudi-
ate the convention — Fiction of the Chinese suzerainty —
A policy of drift — Tibetan Mission to the Czar — Dorjieff
and his intrigues — The Dalai Lama and Russian designs
— Our great countermove — Boj'cotted at Khamba Jong —
The advance sanctioned — Winter quarters at Tuna . . 17
CHAPTER II
OVER THE FRONTIER
From the base to Gnatong — A race to Chumbi — A perilous
night ride — Forest scenery — Gnatong three years ago and
now — Gnatong in action— A mountain lake — The Jelap
la and beyond — Undefended barriers — Yatung and its
Customs House — Chumbi — The first Press message from
Tibet — Arctic clothing — Scenes in camp — A very' un-
comfortable 'picnic'
CONTENTS— Continued.
CHAPTER III
THE CHUMBI VALLEY
PAGE
The Tomos — A hardy race— Their habits and diversions —
Chinamen in exile— A prosperous valley— But a cheer-
less clime — Kasi and his statistics — Trade figures —
Tibetan cruelties— Kasi as general provider — Mountain
scenery — The spirit of the Himalayas— A glorious flora
— The Himalayas and the Alps— The wall of Gob-sorg —
Chinamen and Tomos— A future hill-station — Lingma-
thang— A cosy cave — The Mounted Infantry Corps —
Two famous regiments — Sport at Lingmathang — The
Sikkim stag— Gamebirds and wildfowl — Gautsa camp . 57 ^
CHAPTER IV
PHARI JONG
Gautsa to Phari Jong— A wonderful old fortress — Tibetan
dirt — A medical armoury — The Lamas' library — Road-
making and sport — The Tibetan gazelle and other
animals — Evening diversions— Cold, grime, and misery
— Manning's journal— Bogle's account of Phari— History
of the fortress — The town and its occupants — The
mystery of Tibet—The significance of the frescoes —
Departure from Phari — The monastery of the Red
Lamas — Chumulari — The Tibetan New Year — Bogle's
narrative— The Tang la and the road to Lhasa . . 88 —■
CHAPTER V
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT
A transport 'show' — Difficulties of the way — Vicissitudes
of climate — Frozen heights and sweltering vall^s —
Disease amongst transport animals — A tale of disaster
— The stricken Yak Corps— Troubles of the transport
officer — Mules to the rescue- The coolie transport
corps — Carrying power of the transport items — The
problem and its solution — The ekka and the yak — A
providentially ascetic beast — Splendid work of the trans-
port service — Courage and endurance of officers and men
— The 12th Mule Corps benighted in a blizzard — Rifle-
bolts and Maxims frost-jammed— Difficulties of a Russian
advance on Lhasa— The new Ammo Chu cart-road . . 113
CONTENT S~Continued.
CHAPTER VI
THE ACTION AT THE HOT SPRINGS
PAGB
The deadlock at Tuna — Discomforts of the garrison — The
Lamas' curse — The attitude of Bhutan — A diplomatic
triumph — Tedious delays — A welcome move forward
— The Tibetan camp at Hot Springs— The Lhasa Depon
meets Colonel Younghusband — Futile conferences — The
Tibetan position surrounded — Coolness of the Sikhs and
Gurkhas— The disarming — A sudden outbreak — A des-
perate struggle— The action of the Lhasa General — The
rabble disillusioned in their gods — A beaten and be-
wildered enemy — Reflections after the event — Tibetans
in hospital — Three months afterwards .... 132
CHAPTER VH
A HUMAN MISCELLANY
In a doolie to the base — Tibetan bearers — A retrospect — A
reverie and a reminiscence — Snow-bound at Phari — The
Bhutia as bearer — The Lepchas and their humours —
Mongolian odours — The road at last— Platitudes in
epigram — Lucknow doolie-wallahs — Their hymn of the
obvious — Meetings on the road — A motley of races —
Through a tropical forest — The Tista and civilization . 151
CHAPTER Vni
THE ADVANCE OF THE MISSION OPPOSED
The Tibetans responsible for hostilities — Their version of
the Hot Springs affair — Treacherous attack at Samando
—Wall-building— The Red Idol Gorge action— A stiff
climb — The enemy outflanked — Impressed peasants-
First phase of the opposition — Bad generalship — Lack
of enterprise — Erratic shooting — All quiet at Gyantse
— Enemy occupy Karo la— A booby trap— Colonel
Brander's sortie — Frontal attack repulsed — Captain
Bethune killed — Failure of flanking movement — A
critical moment — Sikhs turn the position — Flight and
pursuit — Second phase of the opposition — Advanced
tactics— Danger of being cut off— The attack on Kang-
ma — Desperate gallantry of the enemy — Patriots or
fanatics? 165
CONTENTS— Continued.
CHAPTER IX
GYANTSE (BY HENRY NEWMAN)
PAGE
A happy valley — Devastated by war — Why the Jong was
evacuated — The lull before the storm — Tibetans mass-
ing — The attack on the mission — A hot ten minutes—
Pyjamaed warriors — Wounded to the rescue — The
Gurkhas' rally — The camp bombarded — The labour of
defence work — Hadow's Maxim— Life during the siege
— Tibetans reinforced — They enfilade our position —
The taking of the ' Gurkha Post' — Terrible carnage . 194
CHAPTER X
GYANTSE — contmued
Attack on the postal riders— Brilliant exploit of the Mounted
Infantry — Communications threatened — Clearing the
villages — A narrow shave— Arrival of reinforcements —
The storming of Palla— House-fighting — Capture of the
post — A fantastic display — Night attacks— Seven miles
of front — Advance of the relief column — The Tibetans
cornered— Naini monastery taken— Capture of Tsaden —
Our losses — The armistice— Tibetans refuse to surrender
the Jong — A bristling fortress — The attack at dawn —
The breach — Gallantry of Lieutenat Grant and his
Gurkhas— Capture of the Jong 216
CHAPTER XI
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD TO THE FRONT
A garden in the forest — A jeremiad on transport — The
servant question — Jung Bir — British Bhutan— Kalim-
pong — 'The Bhutia tat'— Father Desgodins — An
adventurous career — A lost opportunity — Chinese
duplicity — Phuntshog — New arms and new friends for
Tibet — A mysterious Lama — Dorjieff again — The in-
scrutable Tibetan 246
CONTENTS— Continued.
CHAPTER XII
TO THE GREAT RIVER
PAGE
Failure of peace negotiations — Opposition expected — Details
of force — March to the Karo la — Villages deserted —
The second Karo la action— The Gurkhas' climb— The
Tibetan rout — The Kham prisoners — Hopelessness of
the Tibetans' struggle — Their troops disheartened —
Arrival at Nagartse — Tedious delegates — The victory
of a personality— Brush with Tibetan cavalry — The
last shot — The Shapes despoiled — Modern rifles — Ex-
aggerated reports of Russian assistance — The Yamdok
Tso — Dorje Phagmo — Legends of the lake — The in-
cubus of an army — Why men travel — Wildfowl — Pehte —
View from the Khamba Pass — From the desert to
Arcadia — The Tibetan of the tablelands — The Tuna
plateau — Homely scenes — A mood of indolence — The
course of the Tsangpo — The Brahmaputra Irawaddy
controversy — The projected Tsangpo trip— Legendary
geography — Lost opportunities 261
CHAPTER XIII
LHASA AND ITS VANISHED DEITY
The passage of the river — Major Bretherton drowned — The
Kyi Chu valley — Tropical heat — Atisa's tomb — Forag-
ing in holy places — First sight of the Potala — Hidden
Lhasa — Symbols of remonstrance — Prophecies of in-
vasion — And decay of Buddhism — Medieval Tibet —
Spiritual terrorism — Lamas' fears of enlightenment —
The last mystery unveiled — Arrival at Lhasa — View
from the Chagpo Ri — Entry into the city — Apathy of
the people — The Potala — Magnificence and squalor —
The secret of romance — A vanished deity — ' Thou sh«lt
not kill' — Secret assassinations — A marvellous disap-
pearance — The Dalai Lama joins Dorjieff — His person-
ality and character — The verdict of the Nepalcse
Resident — The voice without a soul — The wisdom of
his flight — A romantic picture — The place of the dead . 297
CON TE N TS— Continued.
CHAPTER XIV
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES
PAGE
Sullen monks — A Lama runs amok — The environs of Lhasa
— The Lingkhor — The Ragyabas — The cathedral —
Service before the Great Huddhas — The Lamas' chant —
Vessels of gold — 'Hell' — White mice — The many-
handed Buddha — Silence and abstraction — The bazaar —
Hats — The Mongolians — Curio-hunting — The Ramo-che
— Sorcery — The adventures of a soul — Lamaism and
Roman Catholicism — The decay of Buddhism — The
three great monasteries — Their political influence—
Depung — An ecclesiastical University — The 'impos-
sible' Tibetan — An ultimatum — Consternation at
Depung — Temporizing and evasion— An ugly mob — A
political deadlock 329
CHAPTER XV
THE SETTLEMENT
An irresponsible administration — An insolent reply — Tibetan
haggling — Release of the Lachung men — Social relations
with the Tibetans — A guarded ultimatum — A diplomatic
triumph — The signing of the treaty— Colonel Young-
husband's speech — The terms — Political prisoners liber-
ated — Deposition of the Dalai Lama — The Tashe Lama
— Prospect of an Anglophile Pope — The practical results
of the expedition— Russia discredited — Why a Resident
should be left at Lhasa — China hesitates to sign the
Treaty — The ' vicious circle ' again — Her acquiescence
not of vital importance— The attitude of Tibet to Great
Britain — Fear and respect the only guarantee of future
good conduct 354
THE
UNVEILING OF LHASA
T
CHAPTER I
THE CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION
HE conduct of Great Britain in her relations
with Tibet puts me in mind of the dilemma
of a big boy at school who submits to the attacks
of a precocious youngster rather than incur the
imputation of ' bully.' At last the situation be-
comes intolerable, and the big boy, bully if you
will, turns on the youth and administers the de-
served thrashing. There is naturally a good deal
of remonstrance from spectators who have not
observed the by-play which led to the encounter.
But S3mipathy must be sacrificed to the restitution
of fitting and respectful relations.
The aim of this record of an individual's impres-
sions of the recent Tibetan expedition is to convey
some idea of the life we led in Tibet, the scenes
X6 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
through which we passed, and the strange people
we fought and conquered. We killed several thou-
sand of these brave, ill-armed men ; and as the
story of the fighting is not always pleasant reading,
I think it right before describing the punitive side
of the expedition to make it quite clear that military
operations were unavoidable — that we were drawn
into the vortex of war against our will by the folly
and obstinacy of the Tibetans.
The briefest review of the rebuffs Great Britain
has submitted to during the last twenty years will
suffice to show that, so far from being to blame in
adopting punitive measures, she is open to the charge
of unpardonable weakness in allowing affairs to reach
the crisis which made such punishment necessary.
It must be remembered that Tibet has not always
been closed to strangers. The history of European
travellers in Lhasa forms a Hterature to itself.
Until the end of the eighteenth century only phys-
ical obstacles stood in the way of an entry to the
capital. Jesuits and Capuchins reached Lhasa,
made long stays there, and were even encouraged
by the Tibetan Government. The first * Euro-
* Friar Odcric of Portenone is supposed to have visited Lhasa
in 1325, but the authenticity of this record is open to doubt.
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 19
peans to visit the city and leave an authentic record
of their journey were the Fathers Grueber and
d'Orville, who penetrated Tibet from China in 1661
by the Sining route, and stayed in Lhasa two
months. In 1715 the Jesuits Desideri and Freyre
reached Lhasa ; Desideri stayed there thirteen
years. In 1719 arrived Horace de la Penna and
the Capuchin Mission, who built a chapel and a
hospice, made several converts, and were not fin-
ally expelled till 1740.* The Dutchman Van der,
Putte, first layman to penetrate to the capital;
arrived in 1720, and stayed there some years. After
this we have no record of a European reaching
Lhasa until the adventurous journey in 1811 of
Thomas Manning, the first and only Englishman
to reach the city before this year. Manning arrived
in the retinue of a Chinese General whom he had
met at Phari Jong, and whose gratitude he had won
for medical services. He remained in the capital
four months, and during his stay he made the ac-
quaintance of several Chinese and Tibetan officials,
* When in Lhasa I sought in vain for any trace of these build-
ings. The most enlightened Tibetans are ignorant, or pretend
to be so, that Christian missionaries have resided in the city.
In the cathedral, however, we found a bell with the inscription,
' TE DEUM LAUDAMUS,' which is probably a relic of the Capuchins.
20 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
and was even presented to the Dalai Lama himself.
The influence of his patron, however, was not strong
enough to insure his safety in the city. He was
warned that his life was endangered, and returned
to India by the same way he came. In 1846 the
Lazarist missionaries Hue and Gabet reached Lhasa
in the disguise of Lamas after eighteen months'
wanderings through China and Mongoha, during
which they must have suffered as much from pri-
vations and hardships as any travellers who have
survived to tell the tale. They were received
kindly by the Amban and Regent, but permission
to stay was firmly refused them on the grounds
that they were there to subvert the religion of
the State. Despite the attempts of several deter-
mined travellers, none of whom got within a hun-
dred miles of Lhasa, the Lazarist fathers were the
last Europeans to set foot in the city until Colonel
Younghusband rode through the Pargo Kaling
gate on August 4, 1904.
The records of these travellers to Lhasa, and of
others who visited different parts of Tibet before
the end of the eighteenth century, do not point to
any serious poHtical obstacles to the admission of
strangers. Two centuries ago, Europeans might
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 21
travel in remote parts of Asia with greater safety
than is possible to-day. Suspicions have naturally
increased with our encroachments, and the white
man now inspires fear where he used only to awake
interest.*
The policy of strict exclusion in Tibet seems to
have been synchronous with Chinese ascendancy.
At the end of the eighteenth century the Nepalese
invaded and overran the country. The Lamas
turned to China for help, and a force of 70,000 men
was sent to their assistance. The Chinese drove
the Gurkhas over their frontier, and practically
annihilated their army within a day's march of
Khatmandu. From this date China has virtually
or nominally ruled in Lhasa, and an important re-
sult of her intervention has been to sow distrust of
* Suspicion and jealousy of foreigners seems to have been the
guiding principle both of Tibetans and Chinese even in the earlier
history of the country. The attitude is well illustrated by a
letter written in 1774 by the Regent at Lhasa to the Teshu Lama
with reference to Bogle's mission : ' He had heard of two Fringies
being arrived in the Deb Raja's dominions, with a great retinue
of servants ; that the Fringies were fond of war, and after in-
sinuating themselves into a country raised disturbances and
made themselves masters of it ; that as no Fringies had ever been
admitted into Tibet, he advised the Lama to find some method
of sending them back, either on account of the violence of the
small-pox or on any other pretence.'
22 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
the British. She represented that we had insti-
gated the Nepalese invasion, and warned the Lamas
that the only way to obviate our designs on Tibet
was to avoid all communication with India, and
keep the passes strictly closed to foreigners.
Shortly before the Nepalese War, Warren Hast-
ings had sent the two missions of Bogle and Turner
to Shigatze. Bogle was cordially received by the
Grand Teshu Lama, and an intimate friendship
was established between the two men. On his
return to India he reported that the only bar to
a complete understanding with Tibet was the ob-
stinacy of the Regent and the Chinese agents at
Lhasa, who were inspired by Peking. An attempt
was arranged to influence the Chinese Government
in the matter, but both Bogle and the Teshu Lama
died before it could be carried out. Ten years later
Turner was despatched to Tibet, and received the
same welcome as his predecessor. Everything
pointed to the continuance of a steady and con-
sistent policy by which the barrier of obstruction
might have been broken down. But Warren Hast-
ings was recalled in 1785, and Lord Cornwalhs, the
next Governor-General, took no steps to approach
and conciliate the Tibetans. It was in 1792 that
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 23
the Tibetan-Nepalese War broke out, which, owing
to the misrepresentations of China, precluded any
possibihty of an understanding between India and
Tibet. Such was the uncompromising spirit of the
Lamas, that, until Lord Dufferin sanctioned the
commercial mission of Mr. Colman Macaulay in
1886, no succeeding Viceroy after Warren Hastings
thought it worth while to renew the attempt to
enter into friendly relations with the country.
The Macaulay Mission incident was the beginning
of that weak and abortive policy which lost us the
respect of the Tibetans, and led to the succession
of affronts and indignities which made the recent
expedition to Lhasa inevitable. The escort had
already advanced into Sikkim, and Mr. Macaulay
was about to join it, when orders were received from
Government for its return. The withdrawal was a
concession to the Chinese, with whom we were then
engaged in the delimitation of the Burmese frontier.
This display of weakness incited the Tibetans to
such a pitch of vanity and insolence that they in-
vaded our territory and established a mihtary post
at Lingtu, only seventy miles from Darjeeling.
We allowed the invaders to remain in the pro-
tected State of Sikkim two years before we made
24 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
any reprisal. In 1888, after several vain appeals
to China to use her influence to withdraw the Tibetan
troops, we reluctantly decided on a military expedi-
tion. The Tibetans were driven from their position,
defeated in three separate engagements, and pur-
sued over the frontier as far as Chumbi. We ought
to have concluded a treaty with them on the spot,
when we were in a position to enforce it, but we
were afraid of offending the susceptibilities of China,
whose suzerainty over Tibet we still recognised,
though she had acknowledged her inabihty to re-
strain the Tibetans from invading our territory.
At the conclusion of the campaign, in which the
Tibetans showed no military instincts whatever,
we returned to our post at Gnatong, on the Sikkim
frontier.
After two years of fruitless discussion, a conven-
tion was drawn up between Great Britain and China,
by which Great Britain's exclusive control over
the internal administration and foreign relations of
Sikkim was recognised, the Sikkim-Tibet boundary
was defined, and both Powers undertook to prevent
acts of aggression from their respective sides of the
frontier. The questions of pasturage, trade facili-
ties, and the method in which official communica-
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 25
tions should be conducted between the Government
of India and the authorities at Lhasa were deferred
for future discussion. Nearly three more years
passed before the trade regulations were drawn up
in Darjeeling — in December, 1903. The negotiations
were characterized by the same shuffling and equivo-
cation on the part of the Chinese, and the same
weak-kneed policy of forbearance and conciliation on
the part of the British. Treaty and regulations were
ahke impotent, and our concessions went so far that
we exacted nothing as the fruit of our victory over
the Tibetans — not even a fraction of the cost of the
campaign.
Our ignorance of the Tibetans, their Government,
and their relations with China was at this time so
profound that we took our cue from the Chinese,
who always referred to the Lhasa authorities as
' the barbarians.' The Shata Shap6, the most in-
fluential of the four members of Council, attended
the negotiations on behalf of the Tibetans. He was
officially ignored, and no one thought of asking him
to attach his signature to the treaty. The omis-
sion was a blunder of far-reaching consequences.
Had we realized that Chinese authority was practi-
cally non-existent in Lhasa, and that the temporal
26 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
affairs of Tibet were mainly directed by the four
Shap6s and the Tsong-du (the very existence of
which, by the way, was unknown to us), we might
have secured a diplomatic agent in the Shata Shap^
who would have proved invaluable to us in our
future relations with the country. Unfortunately,
during his stay in Darjeehng the Shape's feehngs
were lacerated by ill-treatment as well as neglect.
In an unfortunate encounter with British youth,
which was said to have arisen from his jostUng
an English lady off the path, he was taken by the
scruff of the neck and ducked in the public foun-
tain. So he returned to Tibet with no love for the
EngUsh, and after certain courteous overtures from
the agents of * another Power,' became a confirmed
though more or less accidental, Russophile. Though
deposed,* he has at the present moment a large
following among the monks of the Gaden monastery.
In the regulations of 1893 it was stipulated that
a trade mart should be established at Yatung, a
small hamlet six miles beyond our frontier. The
place is obviously unsuitable, situated as it is in
a narrow pine-clad ravine, where one can throw a
* The Shata Shap6 and his three colleagues were deposed by
the Dalai Lama in October, 1903.
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 27
stone from cliff to cliff across the valley. No traders
have ever resorted there, and the Tibetans have
studiously boycotted the place. To show their
contempt for the treaty, and their determination to
ignore it, they built a wall a quarter of a mile be-
yond the Customs House, through which no Tibetan
or British subject was allowed to pass, and, to nullify
the object of the mart, a tax of 10 per cent, on
Indian goods was levied at Phari. Every attempt
was made by Sheng Tai, the late Amban, to induce
the Tibetans to substitute Phari for Yatung as a
trade mart. But, as an of&cial report admits, ' it
was found impossible to overcome their reluctance.
Yatung was eventually accepted both by the
Chinese and British Governments as the only alter-
native to breaking off the negotiations altogether.'
This confession of weakness appears to me abject
enough to quote as typical of our attitude through-
out. In deference to Tibetan wishes, we allowed
nearly every clause of the treaty to be separately
stultified.
The Tibetans, as might be expected, met our for-
bearance by further rebuffs. Not content with evad-
ing their treaty obligations in respect to trade, they
proceeded to overthrow our boundary pillars, vio-
28 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
late grazing rights, and erect guard-houses at Gia-
gong, in Sikkim territory. When called to question
they repudiated the treaty, and said that it had
never been shown them by the Amban. It had
not been sealed or confirmed by any Tibetan repre-
sentative, and they had no intention of observ-
ing it.
Once more the * solemn farce ' was enacted of
an appeal to China to use her influence with the
Lhasa authorities. And it was only after repeated
representations had been made by the Indian Gov-
ernment to the Secretary of State that the Home
Government realized the seriousness of the situa-
tion, and the hopelessness of making any progress
through the agency of China. * We seem,' said
Lord Curzon, ' in respect to our policy in Tibet,
to be moving in a vicious circle. If we apply to
Tibet we either receive no reply or are referred to
the Chinese Resident ; if we apply to the latter,
he excuses his failure by his inabiUty to put any
pressure upon Tibet.' In the famous despatch of
January 8, 1903, the Viceroy described the Chinese
suzerainty as * a political fiction,' only maintained
because of its convenience to both parties. China
no doubt is capable of sending sufficient troops to
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 29
Lhasa to coerce the Tibetans. But it has suited
her book to maintain the present elusive and anom-
alous relations with Tibet, which are a securer but-
tress to her western dependencies against encroach-
ment than the strongest army corps. For many
years we have been the butt of the Tibetans, and
China their stalking-horse.
The Tibetan attitude was clearly expressed by
the Shigatze officials at Khamba Jong in September
last year, when they openly boasted that ' where
Chinese policy was in accordance with their own
views they were ready enough to accept the Am-
ban's advice ; but if this advice ran counter in any
respect to their national prejudices, the Chinese
Emperor himself would be powerless to influence
them.* China has on several occasions confessed
her inability to coerce the Tibetans. She has proved
herself unable to enforce the observance of treaties
or even to restrain her subjects from invading our
territory, and during the recent attempts at nego-
tiations she had to admit that her representative
in Lhasa was officially ignored, and not even allowed
transport to travel in the country. In the face of
these facts her exceedingly shadowy suzerainty may
be said to have entirely evaporated, and it is un-
30 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
reasonable to expect us to continue our relations
with Tibet through the medium of Peking.
It was not until nine years after the signing of
the convention that we made any attempt to open
direct communications with the Tibetans them-
selves. It is astonishing that we allowed ourselves
to be hoodwinked so long. But this policy of drift
and waiting is characteristic of our foreign relations
all over the world. British Cabinets seem to be-
lieve that cure is better than prevention, and when
faced by a dilemma have seldom been known to
act on the initiative, or take any decided course
until the very existence of their dependency is im-
perilled.
In 1901 Lord Curzon was permitted to send a
despatch to the Dalai Lama in which it was pointed
out that his Government had consistently defied
and ignored treaty rights ; and in view of the con-
tinued occupation of British territory, the destruc-
tion of frontier pillars, and the restrictions imposed
on Indian trade, we should be compelled to resort
to more practical measures to enforce the observ-
ance of the treaty, should he remain obstinate in
his refusal to enter into friendly relations. The
letter was returned unopened, with the verbal ex-
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 31
cuse that the Chinese did not permit him to receive
communications from any foreign Power. Yet so
great was our reluctance to resort to mihtary coer-
cion that we might even at this point have let
things drift, and submitted to the rebuffs of these
impossible Tibetans, had not the Dalai Lama chosen
this moment for publicly flaunting his relations with
Russia.
The second * Tibetan Mission reached St. Peters-
burg in June, 1901, carrying autograph letters and
presents to the Czar from the Dalai Lama. Count
Lamsdorff declared that the mission had no political
significance whatever. We were asked to believe
that these Lamas travelled many thousand miles
to convey a letter that expressed the hope that
the Russian Foreign Minister was in good health
and prosperous, and informed him that the Dalai
Lama was happy to be able to say that he himself
enjoyed excellent health.
It is possible that the mission to St. Petersburg
was of a purely religious character, and that there
was no secret understanding at the time between
the Lhasa authorities and Russia. Yet the fact
* A previous mission had been received by the Czar at Livadia
in October, 1900.
32 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
that the mission was despatched in direct contra-
diction to the national pohcy of isolation that had
been respected for over a century, and at a time
when the Tibetans were aware of impending British
activity to exact fulfilment of the treaty obhgations
so long ignored by them, points to some secret in-
fluence working in Lhasa in favour of Russia, and
opposed to British interests. The process of Russifi-
cation that has been carried on with such marked
success in Persia and Turkestan, Merv and Bok-
hara, was being applied in Tibet. It has long been
known to our Intelhgence Department that certain
Buriat Lamas, subjects of the Czar, and educated
in Russia, have been acting as intermediaries be-
tween Lhasa and St. Petersburg. The chief of
these, one Dorjieff, headed the so-called religious
mission of 1901, and has been employed more than
once as the Dalai Lama's ambassador to St. Peters-
burg. Dorjieff is a man of fifty-eight, who has
spent some twenty years of his life in Lhasa, and
is known to be the right-hand adviser of the Dalai
Lama. No doubt Dorjieff played on the fears of
the Buddhist Pope until he really beUeved that
Tibet was in danger of an invasion from India, in
which eventuality the Czar, the great Pan-Bud-
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 33
dhist Protector, would descend on the British and
drive them back over the frontier. The Lamas ol
Tibet imagine that Russia is a Buddhist country,
and this behef has been fostered by adventurers like
Dorjieff, Tsibikoff, and others, who have inspired
dreams of a consolidated Buddhist church under
the spiritual control of the Dalai Lama and the
military aegis of the Czar of All the Russias.
These dreams, full of political menace to our-
selves, have, I think, been dispelled by Lord Cur-
zon's timely expedition to Lhasa. The presence
of the British in the capital and the helplessness
of Russia to lend any aid in such a crisis are facts
convincing enough to stultify the effects of Russian
intrigue in Buddhist Central Asia during the last
half-century.
The fact that the first Dalai Lama who has been
allowed to reach maturity has plunged his country
into war by intrigue with a foreign Power proves
the astuteness of the cold-blooded poHcy of re-
moving the infant Pope, and the investiture of
power in the hands of a Regent inspired by Peking.
It is believed that the present Dalai Lama was
permitted to come of age in order to throw off the
Chinese yoke. This aim has been secured, but
2
34 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
it has involved other issues that the Lamas could
not foresee.
And here it must be observed that the Dalai
Lama's inclination towards Russia does not re-
present any considerable national movement. The
desire for a rapprochement was largely a matter of
personal ambition inspired by that arch-intriguer
Dorjieff, whose ascendancy over the Dalai Lama
was proved beyond a doubt when the latter joined
him in his flight to Mongolia on hearing the news
of the British advance on Lhasa. Dorjieff had a
certain amount of popularity with the priest popu-
lation of the capital, and the monks of the three
great monasteries, amongst whom he is known to
have distributed largess royally. But the traditional
policy of isolation is so inveterately ingrained in
the Tibetan character that it is doubtful if he could
have organized a popular party of any strength.
It may be asked, then, What is, or was, the nature
of the Russian menace in Tibet ? It is true that a
Russian invasion on the North-East frontier is out
of the question. For to reach the Indian passes
the Russians would have to traverse nearly 1,500
miles of almost uninhabited country, presenting
difficulties as great as any we had to contend with
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 35
during the recent campaign. But the establish-
ment of Russian influence in Lhasa might mean
mihtary danger of another kind. It would be easy
for her to stir up the Tibetans, spread disaffection
among the Bhutanese, send secret agents into Nepal,
and generally undermine our prestige. Her aim
would be to create a diversion on the Tibet frontier
at any time she might have designs on the North-
West. The pioneers of the movement had begun
their work. They were men of the usual type —
astute, insidious, to be disavowed in case of prema-
ture discovery, or publicly flaunted when they had
prepared any ground on which to stand.
Our countermove — the Tibet Expedition — must
have been a crushing and unexpected blow to Rus-
sia. For the first time in modern history Great
Britain had taken a decisive, almost high-handed
step to obviate a danger that was far from immi-
nent. We had all the best cards in our hands.
Russia's designs in Lhasa became obvious at a time
when we could point to open defiance on the part
of the Tibetans, and provocation such as would
have goaded any other European nation to a puni-
tive expedition years before. We could go to Lhasa,
apparently without a thought of Russia, and yet
36 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
undo all the effects of her scheming there, and deal
her prestige a blow that would be felt throughout
the whole of Central Asia. Such was Lord Curzon's
policy. It was adopted in a half-hearted way by
the Home Government, and eventually forced on
them by the conduct of the Tibetans themselves.
Needless to say, the discovery of Russian designs
was the real and prime cause of the despatch of
the mission, while Tibet's violation of treaty rights'
and refusal to enter into any relations with us were
convenient as ostensible motives. It cannot be
denied that these grievances were valid enough to
justify the strongest measures.
In June, 1903, came the announcement of Colonel
Younghusband's mission to Khamba Jong. I do
not think that the Indian Government ever ex-
pected that the Tibetans would come to any agree-
ment with us at Khamba Jong. It is to their credit
that they waited patiently several months in order
to give them every chance of settling things ami-
cably. However, as might have been expected,
the Commission was boycotted. Irresponsible dele-
gates of inferior rank were sent by the Tibetans and
Chinese, and the Lhasa delegates, after some fruit-
less parleyings, shut themselves up in the fort, and
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 37
declined all intercourse, official or social, with the
Commissioners.*
At the end of August news came that the Tibetans
were arming. Colonel Younghusband learnt that
they had made up their minds to have no negotiations
with us inside Tibet. They had decided to leave
us alone at Khamba Jong, and to oppose us by
force if we attempted to advance further. They
believed themselves fully equal to the English, and
far from our getting anything out of them, they
thought that they would be able to force some-
thing out of us. This is not surprising when we
consider the spirit of concession in which we had
met them on previous occasions.
At Khamba Jong the Commissioners were in-
formed by Colonel Chao, the Chinese delegate, that
the Tibetans were relying on Russian assistance.
This was confirmed later at Guru by the Tibetan
officials, who boasted that if they were defeated
they would fall back on another Power.
* Their attitude was thus summed up by Captain O'Connor,
secretary to the mission : 'We cannot accept letters ; we cannot
write letters ; we cannot let you into our zone ; we cannot let
you travel ; we cannot discuss matters, because this is not the
^proper place ; go back to Giogong and send away all your soldiers,
and we will come to an agreement ' (Tibetan Blue-Book).
38 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
In September the Tibetans aggravated the situa-
tion by seizing and beating at Shigatze two British
subjects of the Lachung Valley in Sikkim. These
men were not restored to liberty until we had
forced our way to Lhasa and demanded their Hbera-
tion, twelve months afterwards.
The mission remained in its ignominious posi-
tion at Khamba Jong until its recall in November.
Almost at the same time the expedition to Gyantse
was announced.*
In the face of the gross and deliberate affront to
which we had been subjected at Khamba Jong it
was now, of course, impossible to withdraw from
Tibetan territory until we had impressed on the
Lamas the necessity of meeting us in a reasonable
* The situation was thus eloquently summarized by the Gov-
ernment of India in a despatch to Mr. Brodrick, November 5,
1903 : * It is not possible that the Tibet Government should be
allowed to ignore its treaty obligations, thwart trade, encroach
upon our territory, destroy our boundary pillars, and refuse even
to receive our communications. Still l«ss do we think that
when an amicable conference has been arranged for the settle-
ment of these difficulties we should acquiesce in our mission being
boycotted by the very persons who have been deputed to meet
it, our officers insulted, our subjects arrested and ill-used, and
our authority despised by a petty Power which only mistakes
our forbearance for weakness, and which thinks that by an
attitude of obstinate inertia it can once again compel us, as it has
done in the past, to desist from our intentions.'
CAUSES OF THE EXPEDITION. 39
spirit. It was clear that the Tibetans meant fight-
ing, and the escort had to be increased to 2,500
men. The patience of Government was at last
exhausted, and it was decided that the mission was
to proceed into Tibet, dictate terms to the Lamas,
and, if necessary, enforce compliance. The advance
to Gyantse was sanctioned in the first place. But
it was quite expected that the obstinacy of the
Tibetans would make it necessary to push on to
Lhasa.
Colonel Youn^husband crossed tbe Jelap la into
Tibet on December 13, meeting with no opposition.
Phari Jong was reached on the 20th, and the fort
surrendered without a shot being fired. Thence the
mission proceeded on January 7 across the Tang
Pass, and took up its quarters on the cold, wind-
swept plateau of Tuna, at an elevation of 15,300
feet. Here it remained for three months, while
preparations were being made for an advance in
the spring. Four companies of the 23rd Pioneers,
a machine-gun section of the Norfolk Regiment,
and twenty Madras sappers, were left to garrison
the place, and General Macdonald, with the re-
mainder of the force, returned to Chumbi for winter
quarters. Chumbi (10,060 feet) is well within the
40 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
wood belt, but even here the thermometer falls to
15° below zero.
A more miserable place to winter in than Tuna
cannot be imagined. But for political reasons, it
was inadvisable that the mission should spend the
winter in the Chumbi Valley, which is not geo-
graphically a part of Tibet proper. A retrograde
movement from Khamba Jong to Chumbi would be
interpreted by the Tibetans as a sign of yielding,
and strengthen them in their opinion that we had
no serious intention of penetrating to Gyantse.
With this brief account of the facts that led to
the expedition I abandon poUtics for the present,
and in the succeeding chapters will attempt to give
a description of the Chumbi Valley, which, I be-
lieve, was untrodden by any European before Colonel
Younghusband's arrival in December, 1903.
I was in India when I received permission to join
the force. I took the train to Darjeeling without
losing a day, and rode into Chumbi in less than
forty-eight hours, reaching the British camp on
January 10.
CHAPTER II
over the frontier
Chumbi,
January 13.
FROM Darjeeling to Lhasa is 380 miles. These,
as in the dominions of Namgay Doola's Raja,
are mostly on end. The road crosses the Tibetan
frontier at the Jelap la (14,350 feet) eighty miles
to the north-east. From Observatory Hill in Dar-
jeeling one looks over the bleak hog-backed ranges
of Sikkim to the snows. To the north and north-
west lie Kinchenjunga and the tremendous chain of
mountains that embraces Everest. To the north-
east stretches a lower line of dazzling rifts and spires,
in which one can see a thin gray wedge, like a slice
in a Christmas cake. That is the Jelap. Beyond
it lies Tibet.
There is a good military road from SiHguri, the
base station in the plains to Rungpo, forty-eight
42 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
miles along the Teesta Valley. By following the
river-bed it avoids the two steep ascents to Kalim-
pong and An. The new route saves at least a day,
and conveys one to Rungli, nearly seventy miles
from the base, without compassing a single tedi-
ous incline. It has also the advantage of being
practicable for bullock-carts and ekkas as far as
Rungpo. After that the path is a 6-foot mule-track,
at its best a rough, dusty incline, at its worst a
succession of broken rocks and frozen puddles,
which give no foothold to transport animals. From
Rungpo the road skirts the stream for sixteen miles
to Rungh, along a fertile valley of some 2,000 feet,
through rice-fields and orange-groves and peaceful
villages, now the scene of military bustle and prepa-
ration. From Rungh it follows a winding mountain
torrent, whose banks are sometimes sheer precipit-
ous crags. Then it strikes up the mountain side,
and becomes a ladder of stone steps over which no
animal in the world can make more than a mile
and a half an hour. From the valley to Gnatong
is a climb of some 10,000 feet without a break.
The scenery is most magnificent, and I doubt if it is
possible to find anywhere in the same compass the
characteristics of the different zones of vegetation —
OVER THE FRONTIER. 43
from tropical to temperate, from temperate to al-
pine — so beautifully exhibited.
At ordinary seasons transport is easy, and one
can take the road in comfort ; but now every mule
and pony in Sikkim and the Terai is employed on
the hues of communication, and one has to pay 300
rupees for an animal of the most modest pretensions.
It is reckoned eight days from Darjeehng to Chumbi,
but, riding all day and most of the night, I com-
pleted the journey in two. Newspaper corres-
pondents are proverbially in a hurry. To send
the first wire from Chumbi I had to leave my kit
behind, and ride with poshteen * and sleeping-bag
tied to my saddle. I was racing another corres-
pondent. At Rungpo I found that he was five
hours ahead of me, but he rested on the road, and
I had gained three hours on him before he left the
next stage at Rora Thang. Here I learnt that he
intended to camp at Lingtam, twelve miles further
on, in a tent lent him by a transport officer. I
made up my mind to wait outside Lingtam until it
was dark, and then to steal a march on him unob-
served. But I beUeved no one. Wayside reports
were probably intended to deceive me, and no
* Sheepskin.
44 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
doubt my informant was his unconscious confed-
erate.
Outside Rungli, six miles further on, I stopped at
a Httle Bhutia's hut, where he had been resting.
They told me he had gone on only half an hour
before me. I loitered on the road, and passed Ling-
tam in the dark. The moon did not rise till three,
and riding in the dark was exciting. At first the
white dusty road showed clearly enough a few yards
ahead, but after passing Lingtam it became a nar-
row path cut out of a thickly-wooded cliff above a
torrent, a wall of rock on one side, a precipice on
the other. Here the darkness was intense. A
white stone a few yards ahead looked like the
branch of a tree overhead. A dim shapeless object
to the left might be a house, a rock, a bear — any-
thing. Uphill and downhill could only be distin-
guished by the angle of the saddle. Every now
and then a firefly lit up the white precipice an arm's-
length to the right. Once when my pony stopped
panting with exhaustion I struck a match and
found that we had come to a sharp zigzag. Part
of the revetment had fallen j there was a yard of
broken path covered with fern and bracken, then
a drop of some hundred feet to the torrent below.
OVER THE FRONTIER. 45
After that I led my beast for a mile until we came
to a charcoal-burner's hut. Two or three Bhutias
were sitting round a log fire, and I persuaded one
to go in front of me with a lighted brand. So we
came to Sedongchen, where I left my beast dead-
beat, rested a few hours, bought a good mule, and
pressed on in the early morning by moonlight.
The road to Gnatong lies through a magnificent forest
of oak and chestnut. For five miles it is nothing
but the ascent of stone steps I have described.
Then the rhododendron zone is reached, and one
passes through a forest of gnarled and twisted
trunks, writhing and contorted as if they had been
thrust there for some penance. The place suggested
a scene from Dante's ' Inferno.* As I reached the
saddle of Lingtu the moon was paling, and the east-
ern sky-line became a faint violet screen. In a few
minutes Kinchenjunga and Kabru on the north-
west caught the first rays of the sun, and were
suffused with the delicate rosy glow of dawn.
I reached Gnatong in time to breakfast with the
8th Gurkhas. The camp Hes in a little cleft in the
hills at an elevation of 12,200 feet. When I last
visited the place I thought it one of the most deso-
late spots I had seen. My first impressions were a
46 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
wilderness of gray stones and gray, uninhabited
houses, felled tree-trunks denuded of bark, white
and spectral on the hillside. There was no life, no
children's voices or chattering women, no bazaar
apparently, no dogs barking, not even a pariah to
greet you. If there was a sound of life it was the
bray of some discontented mule searching for
stray blades of grass among the stones. There were
some fifty houses nearly all smokeless and vacant.
Some had been barracks at the time of the last
Sikkim War, and of the soldiers who inhabited
them fifteen still lay in Gnatong in a httle gray
cemetery, which was the first indication of the
nearness of human life. The inscriptions over the
graves were all dated 1888, 1889, or 1890, and though
but fourteen years had passed, many of them were
barely decipherable. The houses were scattered
about promiscuously, with no thought of neigh-
bourliness or convenience, as though the people
were living there under protest, which was very
probably the case. But the place had its pictur-
esque feature. You might mistake some of the
houses for tumbledown Swiss chalets of the poorer
sort were it not for the miniature fir-trees planted
on the roofs, with their burdens of prayers hanging
OVER THE FRONTIER. 47
from the branches Hke parcels on a Christmas-
tree.
These were my impressions a year or two ago^
but now Gnatong is all life and bustle. In the
bazaar a convoy of 300 mules was being loaded.
The place was crowded with Nepalese coolies and
Tibetan drivers, picturesque in their woollen knee-
boots of red and green patterns, with a white star
at the foot, long russet cloaks bound tightly at the
waist and bulging out with cooking-utensils and
changes of dress, embroidered caps of every variety
and description, as often as not tied to the head
by a wisp of hair. In Rotten Row — the inscription
of 1889 still remains — I met a subaltern with a
pair of skates. He showed me to the mess-room,
where I enjoyed a warm breakfast and a good deal
of chaff about correspondents who * were in such
a devil of a hurry to get to a God-forsaken hole
where there wasn't going to be the ghost of a show.'
I left Gnatong early on a borrowed pony. A
mile and a half from the camp the road crosses the
Tuko Pass, and one descends again for another two
miles to Kapup, a temporary transport stage. The
path Ues to the west of the Bidang Tso, a beautiful
lake with a moraine at the north-west side. The
48 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
mountains were strangely silent, and the only sound
of wild life was the whistling of the red-billed
choughs, the commonest of the Corvidce at these
heights. They were flying round and round the
lake in an unsettled manner, whisthng querulously,
as though in complaint at the intrusion of their
solitude.
I reached the Jelap soon after noon. No snow
had fallen. The approach was over broken rock
and shale. At the summit was a row of cairns,
from which fluttered praying-flags and tattered
bits of votive raiment. Behind us and on both
sides was a thin mist, but in front my eyes explored
a deep narrow valley bathed in sunshine. Here,
then, was Tibet, the forbidden, the mysterious. In
the distance all the land was that yellow and brick-
dust colour I had often seen in pictures and thought
exaggerated and unreal. Far to the north-east
Chumulari (23,930 feet), with its magnificent white
spire rising from the roof-Hke mass behind, looked
Uke an immense cathedral of snow. Far below on
a yellow hillside hung the Kan jut Lamasery above
Rinchengong. In the valley beneath lay Chumbi
and the road to Lhasa.
There is a descent of over 4,000 feet in six miles
OVER THE FRONTIER. 49
from the summit of the Jelap. The valley is per-
fectly straight, without a bend, so that one can
look down from the pass upon the Kan jut monas-
tery on the hillside immediately above Yatung.
The pass would afford an impregnable military posi-
tion to a people with the rudiments of science and
martial spirit. A few riflemen on the cliffs that
command it might annihilate a column with per-
fect safety, and escape into Bhutan before any
flanking movement could be made. Yet miles of
straggling convoy are allov/ed to pass daily with
the supplies that are necessary for the existence
of the force ahead. The road to Phari Jong passes
through two military walls. The first at Yatung,
six miles below the pass, is a senseless obstruction,
and any able-bodied Tommy with hobnailed boots
might very easily kick it down. It has no block-
houses, and would be useless against a flank attack.
Before our advance to Chumbi the wall was in-
habited by three Chinese officials, a dingpon, or
Tibetan sergeant, and twenty Tibetan soldiers. It
served as a barrier beyond which no British subject
was allowed to pass. The second wall lies across
the valley at Gob-sorg, four miles beyond our camp
at Chumbi. It is roofed and loop-holed Hke the
50 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Yatung barrier, and is defended by block-houses.
This fortification and every mile of valley between
the Jelap and Gautsa might be held by a single
company against an invading force. Yet there
are not half a dozen Chinese or Tibetan soldiers in
the valley. No opposition is expected this side of
the Tang la, but nondescript troops armed with
matchlocks and bows hover round the mission on
the open plateau beyond. Our evacuation of
Khamba Jong and occupation of Chumbi were so
rapid and unexpected that it is thought the Tibetans
had no time to bring troops into the valley ; but
to anyone who knows their strategical incompetence,
no explanation is necessary.
Yatung is reached by one of the worst sections of
road on the march ; one comes across a dead trans-
port mule at almost every zigzag of the descent.
For ten years the village has enjoyed the distinction
of being the only place in Southern Tibet accessible
to Europeans. Not that many Europeans avail
themselves of its accessibiUty, for it is a dreary
enough place to live in, shrouded as it is in cloud
more than half the year round, and embedded in a
valley so deep and narrow that in winter-time the
sun has hardly risen above one cUff when it sinks
OVER THE FRONTIER 51
behind another. The privilege of access to Yatung
was the result of the agreement between Great
Britain and China with regard to trade communica-
tions between India and Tibet drawn up in Dar-
jeeling in 1893, subsequently to the Sikkim Con-
vention. It was then stipulated that there should
be a trade mart at Yatung to which British sub-
jects should have free access, and that there should
be special trade facilities between Sikkim and Tibet.
It is reported that the Chinese Amban took good
care that Great Britain should not benefit by these
new regulations, for after signing the agreement
which was to give the Indian tea-merchants a mar-
ket in Tibet, he introduced new regulations the
other side of the frontier, which prohibited the
purchase of Indian tea. Whether the story is true
or not, it is certainly characteristic of the evasion
and duplicity which have brought about the present
armed mission into Tibet.
To-day, as one rides through the cobbled street
of Yatung, the only visible effects of the Convention
are the Chinese Customs House with its single Euro-
pean officer, and the residence of a lady missionary,
or trader, as the exigencies of international diplo-
macy oblige her to term herself. The Customs House,
52 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
which was opened on May i, 1894, was first estab-
lished with the object of estimating the trade be-
tween India and Tibet — traffic is not permitted by
any other route than the Jelap — and with a view
to taxation when the trade should make it worth
while. It was stipulated that no duties should
be levied for the period of five years. Up to the
present no tariff has been imposed, and the only
apparent use the Customs House serves is to collect
statistics, and perhaps to remind Tibet of the shadowy
suzerainty of China. The natives have boycotted
the place, and refuse to trade there, and no Euro-
pean or native of India has thought it worth while
to open a market. Phari is the real trade mart on
the frontier, and Kalimpong, in British Bhutan,
is the foreign trade mart. But the whole trade
between India and Tibet is on such a small
scale that it might be in the hands of a single
merchant.
The Customs House, the missionary house, and
the houses of the clerks and servants of the Customs
and of the headman, form a little block. Beyond
it there is a quarter of a mile of barren stony ground,
and then the wall with military pretensions. I
rode through the gate unchallenged.
OVER THE FRONTIER. 53
At Rinchengong, a mile beyond the barrier, the
Yatung stream flows into the Ammo Chu. The
road follows the eastern bank of the river, pass-
ing through Cheuma and Old Chumbi, where it
crosses the stream. After crossing the bridge,
a mile of almost level ground takes one into
Chumbi camp. I reached Chumbi on the even-
ing of January 12, and was able to send the
Daily Mail the first cable from Tibet, having
completed the journey from Darjeeling in two
days* hard riding.
The camp lies in a shallow basin in the hills, and
is flanked by brown fir-clad hills which rise some
1,500 feet above the river-bed, and preclude a view
of the mountains on all sides. The situation is by
no means the best from the view of comfort, but
strategic reasons make it necessary, for if the camp
were pitched half a mile further up the valley, the
gorge of the stream which debouches into the
Ammo River to the north of Chumbi would give
the Tibetans an opportunity of attacking us in
the rear. Despite the protection of almost Arctic
clothing, one shivers until the sun rises over the
eastern hill at ten o'clock, and shivers again when
it sinks behind the opposite one at three. Icy
54 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
winds sweep the valley, and hurricanes of dust
invade one's tent. Against this cold one clothes
one's self in flannel vest and shirt, sweater, flannel-
lined coat, poshteen or Cashmere sheepskin, wool-
lined Gilgit boots, and fur or woollen cap with flaps
meeting under the chin. The general effect is bar-
baric and picturesque. In after-days the trimness
of a miUtary club may recall the scene — officers
clad in gold-embroidered poshteen, yellow boots,
and fur caps, bearded hke wild Kerghizes, and hud-
dling round the camp fire in this bhck cauldron-
like valley under the stars.
Officers are settling down in Chumbi as com-
fortably as possible for winter quarters. Primi-
tive dens have been dug out of the ground, walled
up with boulders, and roofed in with green fir-
branches. In some cases a natural rock affords a
whole wall. The den where I am now writing is
warmed by a cheerful pinewood blaze, a luxury
after the angeiti in one's tent. I write at an operat-
ing-table after a dinner of minal (pheasant) and
yak's heart. A gramophone is dinning in my ears.
It is destined, I hope, to resound in the palace of
Potala, where the Dalai Lama and his suite may
wonder what heathen ritual is accompanied by
'm^-*^:
OVER THE FRONTIER. 55
* A jovial monk am I,' and ' Her golden hair was
hanging down her back.'
Both at home and in India one hears the Tibet
Mission spoken of enviously as a picnic. There is
an idea of an encampment in a smiling valley, and
easy marches towards the mysterious city. In
reality there is plenty of hard and uninteresting
work. The expedition is attended with all the dis-
comforts of a campaign, and very little of the ex-
citement. Colonel Younghusband is now at Tuna,
a desolate hamlet on the Tibetan plateau, exposed
to the coldest winds of Asia, where the thermometer
falls to 25° below zero. Detachments of the escort
are scattered along the line of communications in
places of varying cold and discomfort, where they
must wait until the necessary supplies have been
carried through to Phari. It is not likely that
Colonel Younghusband will be able to proceed to
Gyantse before March. In the meanwhile, imagine
the Pioneers and Gurkhas, too cold to wash or
shave, shivering in a dirty Tibetan fort, half suffo-
cated with smoke from a yak-dung fire. Then there
is the transport officer shut up in some narrow valley
of Sikkim, trying to make half a dozen out of three
with his camp of sick beasts and sheaf of urgent
56 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
telegrams calling for supplies. He hopes there will
be ' a show,' and that he may be in it. Certainly
if anyone deserves to go to Lhasa and get a medal
for it, it is the supply and transport man. But he
will be left behind.
CHAPTER III
the chumbi valley
Chumbi,
February, 1904.
THE Chumbi Valley is inhabited by the Tomos,
who are said to be descendants of ancient
cross-marriages between the Bhutanese and Lep-
chas. They only intermarry among themselves,
and speak a language which would not be under-
stood in other parts of Tibet. As no Tibetan proper
is allowed to pass the Yatung barrier, the Tomos
have the monopoly of the carrying trade between
Phari and Kalimpong. The}^ are voluntarily under
the protection of the Tibetans, who treat them
liberally, as the Lamas realize the danger of their
geographical position as a buffer state, and are
shrewd enough to recognise that any ill treatment
or oppression would drive them to seek protection
from the Bhutanese or British.
58 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
The Tomos are merry people, hearty, and good-
natured. They are wonderfully hardy and endur-
ing. In the coldest winter months, when the
thermometer is 20° below zero, they will camp
out at night in the snow, forming a circle of their
loads, and sleep contentedly inside with no tent or
roofing. The women would be comely if it were
not for the cutch that they smear over their faces.
The practice is common to the Tibetans aad Bhu-
tanese, but no satisfactory reason has been found
for it. The Jesuit Father, Johann Grueber, who
visited Tibet in 1661, attributed the custom to a
religious whim : — * The women, out of a religious
whim, never wash, but daub themselves with a
nasty kind of oil, which not only causes them to
stink intolerably, but renders them extremely ugly
and deformed.' A hundred and eighty years after-
wards Hue noticed the same habit, and attributed
it to an edict issued by the Dalai Lama early in the
seventeenth century. * The women of Tibet in those
days were nwich given to dress, and Hbertinage, and
corrupted the Lamas to a degree to bring their holy
order into a bad repute.* The then Nome Khan
(deputy of the Dalai Lama) accordingly issued an
order that the women should never appear in pubHc
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 59
without smearing their faces with a black dis-
figuring paste. Hue recorded that though the order
was still obeyed, the practice was observed without
much benefit to morals. If you ask a Tomo or
Tibetan to-day why their women smear and daub
themselves in this unbecoming manner, they in-
variably reply, like the Mussulman or Hindu, that
it is custom. Mongolians do not bother themselves
about causes.
The Tomo women wear a flat green distinctive
cap, with a red badge in the front, which harmon-
izes with their complexion — a coarse, brick red, of
which the primal ingredients are dirt and cutch,
erroneously called pig's blood, and the natural
ruddiness of a healthy outdoor life in a cold climate.
A procession of these sirens is comely and pictur-
esque — at a hundred yards. They wrap themselves
round and round with a thick woollen blanket of
pleasing colour and pattern, and wear on their feet
high woollen boots with leather or rope soles. If it
was not for their disfiguring toilet many of them
would be handsome. The children are generally
pretty, and I have seen one or two that were really
beautiful. When we left a camp the villagers would
generally get wind of it, and come down for loot.
6o THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Old newspapers, tins, bottles, string, and cardboard
boxes were treasured prizes. We threw these out of
our cave, and the children scrambled for them, and
even the women made dives at anything particu-
larly tempting. My last impression of Lingmathan^
was a group of women giggling and gesticulating
over the fashion plates and advertisements in a
niunber of the Lady, which somebody's memsahih
had used for the packing of a ham.
The Tomos, though not naturally given to cleanli-
ness, realize the hygienic value of their hot springs.
There are resorts in the neighbourhood of Chumbi
as fashionable as Homburg or Salsomaggiore ;
mixed bathing is the rule, without costumes. These
healthy folk are not morbidly conscious of sex.
The springs contain sulphur and iron, and are
undoubtedly efficacious. Where they are not hot
enough, the Tomos bake large boulders in the
ashes of a log fire, and roll them into the water to
increase the temperature.
Tomos and Tibetans are fond of smoking. They
dry the leaves of the wild rhubarb, and mix them
with tobacco leaves. The mixture is called dopta,
and was the favourite blend of the country. Now
hundreds of thousands of cheap American cigarettes
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 6i
are being introduced, and a lucrative tobacco-trade
has sprung up. Boxes of ten, which are sold at a
pice in Darjeeling, fetch an anna at Chumbi, and
two annas at Phari. Sahibs smoke them, sepoys
smoke them, drivers and followers smoke them, and
the Tomo coolies smoke nothing else. Tibetan
children of three appreciate them hugely, and the
road from Phari to Rungpo is literally strewn with
the empty boxes.
There is a considerable Chinese element in the
Chumbi Valley — a frontier officer, with the local
rank of the Fourth Button, a colonel, clerks of the
Customs House, and troops numbering from one
to two hundred. These, of course, were not in
evidence when we occupied the valley in December.
The Chinese are not accompanied by their wives,
but take to themselves women of the country,
whose offspring people the so-called Chinese villages.
The pure Chinaman does not remain in the country
after his term of office. Life at Chumbi is the most
tedious exile to him, and he looks down on the
Tomos as barbarous savages. He is as unhappy
as a Frenchman in Tonquin, cut off from all the
diversions of social and intellectual life. The frontier
officer at Bibi-thang told me that he had brought
62 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
his wife with him, and the poor lady had never left
the house, but cried incessantly for China and
civilization. Yet to the uninitiated the Chinese
villages of Gob-sorg and Bibi-thang might have
been taken from the far East and plumped down
on the Indian frontier. There is the same far-
Eastern smell, the same doss-house, the same hang-
ing lamps, the same red lucky paper over the lintels
of the doors, and the same red and green abortions
on the walls.
Much has been written and duly contradicted
about the fertility of the Chumbi Valley. If one
does not expect orange-groves and rice-fields at
12,000 feet, it must be admitted that the valley is,
relatively speaking, fertile — that is to say, its
produce is sufficient to support its three or four
thousand inhabitants.
The lower valley produces buckwheat, turnips,
potatoes, radishes, and barley. The latter, the
staple food of the Tibetans, has, when ground, an
appetizing smell very like oatmeal. The upper
valley is quite sterile, and produces nothing but
barley, which does not ripen ; it is gathered for
fodder when green, and the straw is sold at high
prices to the merchants who visit Phari from Tibet
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 63
and Bhutan. This year the Tibetan merchants are
afraid to come, and the commissariat benefits by a
very large supply of fodder which ought to see them
through the summer.
The idea that the valley is unusually fertile prob-
ably arose from the well-to-do appearance of the
natives of Rinchengong and Chumbi, and their
almost palatial houses, which give evidence of a
prosperity due to trade rather than agriculture.
The hillsides around Chmnbi produce wild straw-
berries, raspberries, currants, and cherries ; but these
are quite insipid in this sunless climate.
The Chinese Customs officer at Yatung tells me
that the summer months, though not hot, are re-
laxing and enervating. The thermometer never
rises above 70°. The rainfall does not average
quite 50 inches ; but almost daily at noon a mist
creeps up from Bhutan, and a constant drizzle falls.
In June, July, and August, 1901, there were only
three days without rain.
At Phari I met a venerable old gentleman who
gave me some statistics. The old man, Katsak
Kasi by name, was a Tibetan from the Kham
province, acting at Phari as trade agent for the
Bhutanese Government. His face was seared and
64 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
parchment-like from long exposure to cold winds
and rough weather. His features were compara-
tively aquiline — that is to say, they did not look
as if they had been flattened out in youth. He
wore a very large pair of green spectacles, with a
gold bulb at each end and a red tassel in the middle,
which gave him an air of wisdom and distinction.
He answered my rather inquisitive questions with
courtesy and decision, and yet with such a serious*
care for details that I felt quite sure his figures
must be accurate.
If statistics were any gauge of the benefits Indian
trade would derive from an open market with Tibet,
the present mission, as far as commercial interests
are concerned, would be wasted. According to
Kasi's statistics, the cost of two dozen or thirtj;
mules would balance the whole of the annual revenue
on Indian imports into the country. The idea that
duties are levied at the Yatung and Gob-sorg barriers
is a mistake. The only Customs House is at Phari,
where the Indian and Bhutanese trade-routes meet.
The Customs are under the supervision of the two
jongpens, who send the revenue to Lhasa twice a year.
The annual income on imports from India, Kasi
assured me, is only 6,000 rupees, whereas the in-
THE CHUMBI VALLEY.
65
come on exports amounts to 20,000. Tibetan trade
with India consists almost entirely of wool, yaks'-
tails, and ponies. There is a tax of 2 rupees 8 annas
on ponies, i rupee a maund on wool, and i rupee
8 annas a maund on yaks'-tails. Our imports into
Tibet, according to Kasi's statistics, are practically
nil. Some piece goods, iron vessels, and tobacco
leaves find their way over the Jelap, but it is a
common sight to see mules returning into Tibet with
nothing but their drivers' cooking utensils and warm
clothing.*
* The only articles imported to the value of £1,000 are cotton
goods, woollen cloths, metals, chinaware, coral, indigo, maize,
silk, fur, and tobacco.
The only exports to the value of £1,000 are musk, ponies, skins,
wool, and yaks'-tails.
Appended are the returns for the years 1895-1902 :
Value of Articles
Value of Articles
Total Value of
Year.
Imported into
Exported from
Imports and
Exports.
Tibet.
Tibet.
Rs.
Rs.
Rs.
1895
416,218
634,086
1,050,304
1896
561,395
781,269
1,342,664
1897
674.139
820,300
1,494,436
1898
718,475
817,851
1,536,326
1899
962,637
822,760
1,785,397
1900
730,502
710,012
1,440,514
1901
734,075
783,480
1,517,555
1902
761,837
805,338
1,567,075
Customs House Returns, Yatung.
66 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
At present no Indian tea passes Yatung. That
none is sold at Phari confirms the rumour I men-
tioned that the Chinese Amban, after signing the
trade regulations between India and Tibet in Dar-
jeeling, 1893, crossed the frontier to introduce new
laws, virtually annulling the regulations. Indian
tea might be carried into Tibet, but not sold there.
Tibet has consistently broken all her promises and
treaty obligations. She has placed every obstacle
in the way of Indian trade, and insulted our Com-
missioners ; yet the despatch of the present mission
with its armed escort has been called an act of
aggression.
When I asked Kasi if the Tibetans would be
angry with him for helping us, he said they would
certainly cut off his head if he remained in the fort
after we had left. There is some foundation in
travellers' stories about the punishment inflicted on
the guards of the passes and other officials who fail
to prevent Europeans entering Tibet or pushing on
towards Lhasa.
Some Chumbi traders who were in Lhasa when we
entered the valley are still detained there, as far
as I can gather, as hostages for the good behaviour
of their neighbours. In Tibet the punishment does
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 67
not fit the crime. The guards of a pass are punished
for letting white men through, quite irrespective of
the opposing odds.
The commonest punishment in Tibet is flogging,
but the ordeal is so severe that it often proves fatal.
I asked Kasi some questions about the magisterial
powers of the two jongpens, or district officers, who
remained in the fort some days after we occupied
it. He told me that they could not pass capital
sentence, but they might flog the prisoners, and if
they died, nothing was said. Several victims have
died of flogging at Phari.
The natives in Darjeeling have a story of Tibetan
methods, which have always seemed to me the
refinement of cruelty. At Gyantse, they say, the
criminal is flung into a dark pit, where he cannot
tell whether it is night or day. Cobras and scorpions
and reptiles of various degrees of venom are his com-
panions ; these he may hear in the darkness, for it
is still enough, and seek or avoid as he has courage.
Food is sometimes thrown in to tempt any faint-
hearted wretch to prolong his agony. I asked Kasi
if there were any truth in the tale. He told me
that there were no venomous snakes in Tibet, but
he had heard that there was a dark prison in Gyantse,
68 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
where criminals sometimes died of scorpion bites ;
he added that only the worst offenders were punished
in this way. The modified version of the story is
gruesome enough.
It is usual for Tibetan and Bhutanese officials to re-
ceive their pay in grain, it being understood that their
position puts them in the way of obtaining the other
necessaries of life, and perhaps a few of its luxuries.
Kasi, being an important official, receives from the
Bhutan Government forty maunds of barley and
forty maunds of rice annually. He receives, in
addition, a commission on the trade disputes that
he decides in proportion to their importance. He
is now an invaluable servant of the British Govern-
ment. At his nod the barren solitudes round Phari
are wakening into life. From the fort bastions one
^sees sometimes on the hills opposite an indistinct
black line, like a caterpillar gradually assuming
shape. They are Kasi's yaks coming from some
blind valley which no one but a hunter or mountain-
eer would have imagined to exist. Ponies, grain,
and fodder are also imported from Bhutan and sold
to the mutual gratification of the Bhutanese and
ourselves. The vaks are hired and employed on the
Jine of rommnnications.
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 69
It is to be hoped that the Bhutanese, when they
hear of our good prices, will send supplies over the
frontier to hasten our advance. But we must take
care that no harm befalls Kasi for his good services.
When I asked him how he stood with the Tibetan
Government, he laid his hand in a significant manner
across his throat.
LiNGMATHANG,
February.
Before entering the bare, unsheltered plateau of
Tibet, the road to Lhasa winds through seven miles
of pine forest, which recalls some of the most beau-
tiful valleys of Switzerland.
The wood-line ends abruptly. After that there
is nothing but barrenness and desolation. The
country round Chumbi is not very thickly forested.
There are long strips of arable land on each side of
the road, and villages every two or three miles.
The fields are terraced and enclosed within stone
walls. Scattered on the hillside are stone-built
houses, with low, over-hanging eaves, and long
wooden tiles, each weighed down with a gray
boulder. One might imagine one's self in Kan-
dersteg or Lauterbrunnen ; only lofty praying
flags and wam-walls brightly painted with Bud-
70 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
dhistic pictures and inscriptions dispel the illu-
sion.
There is no lack of colour. In the winter months
a brier with large red berries and a low, foxy-
brown thombush, like a young osier in March, lend
a russet hue to the landscape. Higher on the hills
the withered grass is yellow, and the blending of
these quiet tints, russet, brown, and yellow, gives
the valley a restful beauty ; but in cloud it is
sombre enough.
Three years ago I visited Yatung in May. In
springtime there is a profusion of colour. The
valley is beautiful, beyond the beauty of the grandest
Alpine scenery, carpeted underfoot with spring
flowers, and ablaze overhead with flowering rhodo-
dendrons. To try to describe mountains and forests
is a most unprofitable task ; all the adjectives of
scenic description are exhausted ; the coinage has
been too long debased. For my own part, it has
been almost a pain to visit the most beautiful parts
of the earth and to know that one's sensations are
incommunicable, that it is impossible to make
people believe and understand. To those who have
not seen, scenery is either good, bad, or indifferent ;
there are no degrees. Ruskin, the greatest master of
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 71
description, is most entertaining when he is telling
us about the domestic circle at Heme Hill. But
mountain scenery is of all the most difficult to
describe. The sense of the Himalayas is intangible.
There are elusive lights and shades, and sounds and
whispers, and unfamiliar scents, and a thousand
fleeting manifestations of the genius of the place
that are impossible to arrest. Magnificent, majestic,
splendid, are weak, colourless words that depict
nothing. It is the poets who have described what
they have not seen who have been most successful.
Milton's hell is as real as any landscape of Byron's,
and the country through which Childe Roland rode
to the Dark Tower is more vivid and present to us
than any of Wordsworth's Westmoreland tarns
and valleys. So it is a poem of the imagination —
' Kubla Khan ' — that seems to me to breathe some-
thing of the spirit of the Yatung and Chumbi
Valleys, only there is a little less of mystery and
gloom here, and a little more of sunshine and bright-
ness than in the dream poem. Instead of attempt-
ing to describe the valley — Paradise would be easier
to describe — I will try to explain as logically as pos-
sible why it fascinated me more than any scenery
I have seeji.
72 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
I had often wondered if there were any place in
the East where flowers grow in the same profusion
as in Europe — in England, or in Switzerland. The
nearest approach I had seen was in the plateau of
the Southern Shan States, at about 4,000 feet, where
the flora is very homelike. But the ground is not
carpeted ; one could tread without crushing a blos-
som. Flowers are plentiful, too, on the southern
slopes of the Himalayas, and on the hills on the
Siamese side of the Tennasserim frontier, but I had
seen nothing Uke a field of marsh-marigolds and
cuckoo-flowers in May, or a meadow of buttercups
and daisies, or a bank of primroses, or a wood car-
peted with bluebells, or a hillside with heather, or
an Alpine slope with gentians and ranunculus. I
had been told that in Persia in springtime the valleys
of the Shapur River and the Karun are covered
profusely with lilies, also the forests of Manchuria
in the neighbourhood of the Great White Moun-
tain * but until I crossed the Jelapla and struck
down the valley to Yatung I thought I would have
to go West to see such things again. Never was
such profusion. Besides the primulas * — I counted
* Between Gnatong and Gautsa, thirteen different species of
primulas are found. They are : Primula Pctiolaris, P. glabra.
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 73
eight different kinds of them — and gentians and
anemones and celandines and wood sorrel and wild
strawberries and irises, there were the rhododen-
drons glowing like coals through the pine forest.
As one descended the scenery became more fascin-
ating ; the valley narrowed, and the stream was
more boisterous. Often the cHffs hung sheer over
the water's edge ; the rocks were coated with
green and yellow moss, which formed a bed for
the dwarf rhododendron bushes, now in full flower,
white and crimson and cream, and every hue be-
tween a dark reddish brown and a light sulphury
yellow — not here and there, but everywhere, jost-
ling one another for nooks and crannies in the rock.*
These delicate flowers are very different from
their dowdy cousin, the coarse red rhododendron
of the Enghsh shrubbery. At a Uttle distance they
resemble more hothouse azaleas, and equal them in
wealth of blossom.
p. Sapphirina, P. pusilla, P. Kingii, P. Elwesiana, P. Capitata,
P. Sikkimensis, P. Involucra, P. Deniiculata, P. Stuartii, P.
Soldanelloides, P. Stirtonia.
* The species are : Rhododendron catnpanulatutn, purple
flowers ; R. Fulgens, scarlet ; R. Hodgsonii, rose-coloured ;
R. Anthopogon, white ; R. Virgatum, purple ; R. Nivale, rose-
red ; R. Wightii, yellow ; R. Falconeri, cream-coloured ; R»
cinnabannum, brick-red C The Gates of Tibet,' Appendix I.,
J. A. H. Louis).
3«
74 THE Um^TLTNG OF LHASA.
The great moss-grown rocks in the bed of the
stream were covered with equal profusion. Look-
ing behind, the snows crowned the pine-trees, and
over them rested the blue sky. And here is the
second reason — as I am determined to be logical
in my preference — why I found the valley so fascin-
ating. In contrasting the Himalayas with the Alps,
there is always something that the former is with-
out. Never the snows, and the water, and the
greenery, at the same time ; if the greenery is at
your feet, the snows are far distant ; where the
Himalayas gain in grandeur they lose in beauty.
So I thought the wild valley of Lauterbrunnen,
lying at the foot of the Jungfrau, the perfection of
Alpine scenery until I saw the valley of Yatung,
a pine-clad mountain glen, green as a hawthorn
hedge in May, as brilUantly variegated as a beech-
wood copse in autumn, and culminating in the
snowy peak that overhangs the Jelapla. The valley
has besides an intangible fascination, indescribable
because it is illogical. Certainly the Hght that
played upon all these colours seemed to me softer
than everyday sunshine ; and the opening spring
foliage of larch and birch and mountain ash seemed
more delicate and varied than on common ground.
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 75
Perhaps it was that I was approaching the forbidden
land. But what irony, that this seductive valley
should be the approach to the most bare and un-
sheltered country in Asia !
Even now, in February, I can detect a few salrnon-
coloured leaf-buds, which remind me that the month
of May will be a revelation to the mission force,
when their veins are quickened by the unfamiliar
warmth, and their eyes dazzled by this unexpected
treasure which is now germinating in the brown
earth.
Four miles beyond Chumbi the road passes
through the second military wall at the Chinese
village of Gob-sorg, Riding through the quiet
gateway beneath the grim, hideous figure of the
goddess Dolma carved on the rock above, one
feels a silent menace. One is part of more than a
material invasion ; one has passed the gate that has
been closed against the profane for centuries ; one
has committed an irretrievable step. Goddess and
barrier are symbols of Tibet's spiritual and material
agencies of opposition. We have challenged and
defied both. We have entered the arena now, and
are to be drawn into the vortex of all that is most
sacred and hidden, to struggle there with an im-
76 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
placable foe, who is protected by the elemental
forces of nature.
Inside the wall, above the road, stands the Chinese
village of Gob-sorg. The Chinamen come out of
their houses and stand on the revetment to watch
us pass. They are as quiet and ugly as their gods.
They gaze down on our convoys and modern con-
trivances with a silent contempt that imphes a
consciousness of immemorial superiority. Who can
tell what they think or what they wish, these un-
divinable creatures ? They love money, we know,
and they love something else that we cannot know.
It is not country, or race, or religion, but an in-
scrutable something that may be allied to these
things, that induces a mental obstinacy, an un-
fathomable reserve which may conceal a wisdom
beyond our philosophy or mere callousness and
indifference. The thing is there, though it has no
European name or definition; It has caused many
curious and unexplained outbreaks in different
parts of the world, and it is no doubt symbolized
in their inexpressibly hideous flag. The element is
non-conductive, and receives no current from prog-
ress, and it is therefore incommunicable to us who
are wrapped in the pride of evolution. The ques-
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. ^j
tion here and elsewhere is whether the Chinese love
money more or this inscrutable dragon element.
If it is money, their masks must have concealed a
satisfaction at the prospect of the increased trade
that follows our flag ; if the dragon element, a grim
hope that we might be cut off in the wilderness
and annihilated by Asiatic hordes.
Unlike the Chinese, the Tomos are unaffectedly
glad to see us in the valley. The humblest peasant
is the richer by our presence, and the landowners
and traders are more prosperous than they have
been for many years. Their uncompromising re-
ception of us makes a withdrawal from the Chumbi
Valley impossible, for the Tibetans would punish
them relentlessly for the assistance they have given
their enemies.
A mile beyond Gob-sorg is the Tibetan village of
Gahng-ka, where the praying-flags are as thick as
masts in a dockyard, and streams of paper prayers
•are hung across the valley to prevent the entrance
of evil spirits. Chubby little children run out and
salute one with a cry of * Backsheesh 1 ' the first
ahen word in their infant vocabulary.
A mile further a sudden turn in the valley brings
one to a level plain — a phenomenally flat piece of
78 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
ground where one can race two miles along the
straight. No one passes it without remarking that
it is the best site for a hill-station in Northern India.
Where else can one find a racecourse, polo-ground,
fishing, and shooting, and a rainfall that is little
more than a third of that of Darjeeling ? Three
hundred feet above the stream on the west bank
is a plateau, apparently intended for building sites.
The plain in the valley was naturally designed for
the training of mounted infantry, and is now, prob-
ably for the first time, being turned to its proper
use.
LiNGMATHANG,
March i8.
I have left the discomforts of Phari, and am camp-
ing now on the Lingmathang Plain. I am writing
in a natural cave in the rock. The opening is walled
in by a sangar of stones 5 feet high, from which
pine-branches support a projecting roof. On fine
days the space between the roof and wall is left
open, and called the window ; but when it snows,
gunny-bags are let down as purdahs, and the den
becomes very warm and comfortable. There is a
natural hearth, a natural chimney-piece, and a
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 79
natural chimney that draws excellently. The place
is sheltered by high cliffs, and it is very pleasant to
look out from this snugness on a wintry landscape,
and ground covered deep with snow.
Outside, seventy shaggy Tibetan ponies, rough
and unshod, averaging 12.2 hands, are tethered under
the shelter of a rocky cliff. They are being trained
according to the most approved methods of modern
warfare. The Mounted Infantry Corps, mostly vol-
unteers from the 23rd and 32nd Pioneers and 8th
Gurkhas, are under the command of Captain Ottley
of the 23rd. The corps was raised at Gnatong in
December, and though many of the men had not
ridden before, after two months' training they cut
a very respectable figure in the saddle. A few years
ago a proposal was made to the military authorities
that the Pioneers, like other regiments, should go
in for a course of mounted infantry training. The
reply caused much amusement at the time. The
suggestion was not adopted, but orders were issued
that ' every available opportunity should be taken
of teaching the Pioneers to ride in carts.' A wag
in the force naturally suggests that the new Ekka
Corps, now running between Phari and Tuna, should
be utilized to carry out the spirit of this order.
8o THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Certainly on the road beyond the Tangla the ekkas
would require some sitting.
The present mission is the third * show ' on which
the 23rd and 32nd have been together during the
last nine years. In Chitral and Waziristan they
fought side by side. It is no exaggeration to say
that these regiments have been on active service
three years out of five' since they were raised in
1857. The original draft of the 32nd, it will be
remembered, was the unarmed volunteer corps of
Mazbi Sikhs, who offered themselves as an escort
to the convoy from Lahore to Delhi during the
siege. The Mazbis were the most lawless and
refractory folk in the Punjab, and had long been
the despair of Government. On arrival at Delhi
they were employed in the trenches, rushing in to
fill up the places of the killed and wounded as fast
as they fell. It will be remembered that they
formed the fatigue party who carried the powder-
bags to blow up the Cashmere Gate. A hundred
and fifty-seven of them were killed during the siege.
With tliis brilHant opening it is no wonder that
they have been on active service almost continually
since.
A frontier campaign would be incomplete with-
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 8i
out the 32nd or 23rd. It was the 32nd who cut
their way through 5 feet of snow, and carried the
battery guns to the reUef of Chitral. The 23rd
Pioneers were also raised from the Mazbi Sikhs in
the same year of the Mutiny, 1857. The history of
the two regiments is very similar. The 23rd dis-
tinguished themselves in China, Abyssinia, Afghan-
istan, and numerous frontier campaigns. One of
the most brilliant exploits was when, with the Gor-
don Highlanders under Major (now Sir George)
White, they captured the Afghan guns at Kandahar.
To-day the men of the two regiments meet again as
members of the same corps on the Lingmathang
Plain. Naturally the most cordial relations exist
between the men, and one can hear them discussing
old campaigns as they sit round their pinewood
fires in the evenings. They and the twenty men
of the 8th Gurkhas (of Manipur fame) turn out to-
gether every morning for exercise on their diminu-
tive steeds. They ride without saddle or stirrups,
and though they have only been horsemen for two
months, they seldom fall off at the j umps. The other
day, when a Mazbi Sikh took a voluntary into the
hedge, a genial Gurkha reminded him of the eccentric
order ' to practise riding in carts.'
82 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
At Lingmathang we have had a fair amount of
sport of a desultory kind. The neighbouring forests
are the home of that very rare and httle-known
animal, the shao, or Sikkim stag. The first animal
of the species to fall to a European gun was shot
by Major Wallace Dunlop on the Lingmathang
Hills in January, A month later Captain Ottley
wounded a buck which he was not able to follow
up on account of a heavy fall of snow. Lately one
or two shao — does in all cases — have come down to
visit the plain. While we were breakfasting on the
morning of the i6th, we heard a great deal of
shouting and halloaing, and a Gurkha jemadar ran
up to tell us that a female shao, pursued by village
dogs, had broken through the jungle on the hill-
side and emerged on the plain a hundred yards
from our camp. We mounted at once, and Ottley
deployed the mounted infantry, who were ready
for parade, to head the beast from the hills. The
shao jinked like a hare, and crossed and recrossed
the stream several times, but the poor beast was
exhausted, and, after twenty minutes' exciting
chase, we surrounded it. Captain Ottley threw
himself on the animal's neck and held it down
until a sepoy arrived with ropes to bind its hind-
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 83
legs. The chase was certainly a unique incident in
the history of sport — a field of seventy in the Hima-
layas, a clear spurt in the open, no dogs, and the
quarry the rarest zoological specimen in the world.
The beast stood nearly 14 hands, and was remarkable
for its long ears and elongated jaw. The sequel was
sad. Besides the fright and exhaustion, the cap-
tured shao sustained an injury in the loin ; it
pined, barely nibbled at its food, and, after ten
da3^s, died.
Sikkim stags are sometimes shot by native shik-
aris, and there is great rivalry among members of
the mission force in buying their heads. They
are shy, inaccessible beasts, and they are not met
with beyond the wood limit.
The shooting in the Chumbi Valley is interesting
to anyone fond of natural history, though it is a
httle disappointing from the sportsman's point of
view. When officers go out for a day's shooting,
they think they have done well if they bring home
a brace of pheasants. When the sappers and miners
began to work on the road below Gautsa, the blood-
pheasants used to come down to the stream to watch
the operations, but now one sees very few game-
birds in the valley. The minal is occasionally shot.
84 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
The cock-bird, as all sportsmen know, is, with the
exception of the Argus-eye, the most beautiful
pheasant in the world. There is a lamasery in the
neighbourhood, where the birds are almost tame.
The monks who feed them think that they are
inhabited by the spirits of the blest. Where the
snow melts in the pine-forests and leaves soft patches
and moist earth, you will find the blood-pheasant.
When you disturb them they will run up the hill-
side and call vociferously from their new hiding-
place, so that you may get another shot. Pheasant-
shooting here is not sport ; the birds seldom rise,
and when they do it is almost impossible to get a
shot at them in the thick jungle. One must shoot
them running for the pot. Ten or a dozen is not
a bad bag for one gun later in the year, when more
snow has fallen.
At a distance the blood-pheasant appears a dowdy
bird. The hen is quite insignificant, but, on a closer
acquaintance, the cock shows a deUcate colour-
scheme of mauve, pink, and green, which is quite
different from the plumage of any other bird I
have seen. The skins fetch a good price at home,
as fishermen find them useful for making flies. A
sportsman who has shot in the Yatung Valley regu-
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 85
larly for four years tells me that the cock-bird of
this species is very much more numerous than the
hen. Another Chumbi pheasant is the tracopan, a
smaller bird than the minal, and very beautifully
marked. I have not heard of a tracopan being shot
this season ; the bird is not at all common any-
where on this side of the Himalayas.
Snow-partridge sometimes come down to the
Lingmathang hills ; in the adjacent Kongbu Valley
they are plentiful. These birds are gregarious, and
are found among the large, loose boulders on the
hill-tops. In appearance they are a cross between
the British grouse and the red-legged partridge,
having red feet and legs uncovered with feathers,
and a red bill and chocolate breast. The feathers
of the back and rump are white, with broad, de-
fined bars of rich black.
Another common bird is the snow-pigeon. Large
flocks of them may be seen circUng about the valley
anywhere between Phari and Chumbi. Sometimes,
when we are sitting in our cave after dinner, we
hear the tweek of solitary snipe flying overhead,
but we have never flushed any. Every morning
before breakfast I stroll along the river bank with
a gun, and often put up a stray duck. I have fre-
86 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
quently seen goosanders on the river, but not more
than two or three in a party. They never leave
the Himalayas. The only migratory duck I have
observed are the common teal and Brahminy or
ruddy sheldrake, and these only in pairs. The latter,
though despised on the plains, are quite edible up
here. I discredit the statement that they feed on
carrion, as I have never seen one near the carcasses
of the dead transport animals that are only too
plentiful in the valley just now. After comparing
notes with other sportsmen, I conclude that the
Ammo Chu Valley is not a regular route for migra-
tory duck. The odd teal that I shot in February
were probably loiterers that were not strong enough
to join in the flight southwards.
Near Lingmathang I shot the ibis bill (Ibidorhyn-
chus Struthersi), a bird which is allied to the oyster
catchers. This was the first Central Asian species
I met.
Gautsa,
February.
Gautsa, which lies five miles north of Lingmathang,
nearly half-way between Chumbi and Phari, must be
added to the map. A week or two ago the place
was deserted and unnamed i it did not boast a single
THE CHUMBI VALLEY. ^,7
cowherd's hut. Now it is a busy camp, and Ukely
to be a permanent halting-place on the road to
Phari. The camp lies in a deep, moss-carpeted
h'^Uow, with no apparent egress. On three sides
it is flanked by rocky cliffs, densely forested with
pine and silver birch ; on the fourth rises an abrupt
wall of rock, which is suffused with a glow of amber
Hght an hour before sunset. The Ammo Chu,
which is here nothing but a 20-foot stream frozen
over at night, bisects the camp. The valley is
warm and sheltered, and escapes much of the bitter
wind that never spares Chumbi. After dinner one
prefers the open-air and a camp fire. Officers who
have been up the line before turn into their tents
regretfully, for they know that they are saying
good-bye to comfort, and will not enjoy the genial
warmth of a good fire again until they have crossed
the bleak Tibetan tablelands and reached the
sparsely-wooded Valley of Gyantse.
CHAPTER IV
PHARI JONG
February 15.
ICY winds and suffocating smoke are not con-
ducive to a literary style, though they some-
times inspire a rude eloquence that is quite unfit
for pubHcation. As I write we are huddhng over
the mess-room brazier — our youngest optimist
would not call it a fire. Men drop in now and then
from fatigue duty, and utter an incisive phrase
that expresses the general feehng, while we who
write for an enlightened public must sacrifice force
for euphemism. A week at Phari dispels all illu-
sions ; only a bargee could adequately describe
the place. Yet the elements, which * feelingly
persuade us * what we are, sometimes inspire us
with the eloquence of discomfort.
At Gautsa the air was scented with the fragrance
of warm pine-trees, and there was no indication of
winter save the ice on the Ammo Chu. The torrent
PHARI JONG. 89
roared boisterously beneath its frozen surface, and
threw up httle tentacles of frozen spray, which
glistened fantastically in the sun. Three miles
further up the stream the wood-belt ends abruptly ;
then, after another three miles, one passes the last
stunted bush ; after that there is nothing but
brown earth and yellow withered grass.
Five miles above Gautsa is Dotah, the most cheer-
less camp on the march. The wind blows through
the gorge unceasingly, and penetrates to the bone.
On the left bank of the stream is the frozen water-
fall, which might be worshipped by the fanciful and
superstitious as embodying the genius of the place,
hard and resistless, a crystallized monument of the
implacable spirit of Nature in these high places.
At Kamparab, where we camped, two miles higher
up the stream, the thermometer fell to 14° below
zero. Close by is the meeting-place of the sources
of the Ammo Chu. All the plain is undermined
with the warrens of the long-haired marmots and
voles, who sit on their thresholds like a thousand
little spies, and curiously watch our approach, then
dive down into their burrows to tell their wives of
the strange bearded invaders. They are the despair
of their rivals, the sappers and miners, who are
90 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
trying to make a level road for the new light ekkas.
One envies them their warmth and snugness as
one rides against the bitter penetrating winds.
Twelve miles from Gautsa a txirn in the valley
brings one into view of Phari Jong. At first sight
it might be a huge isolated rock, but as one ap-
proaches the bastions and battlements become more
distinct. Distances are deceptive in this rarefied
air, and objects that one imagines to be quite close
are sometimes found to be several miles distant.
The fort is built on a natural mound in the plain.
It is a huge rambling building six stories high, sur-
rounded by a courtyard, where mules and ponies
are stabled. As a military fortification Phari Jong
is by no means contemptible. The walls are of
massive stonework which would take heavy guns
to demolish. The angles are protected from attack-
ing parties by machicolated galleries, and three
enormous bastions project from each flank. These
are crumbling in places, and the Pioneers might
destroy the bastion and breach the wall with a bag
or two of guncotton. On the eastern side there is
a square courtyard like an Arab caravanserai, where
cattle are penned. The fortress would hold the
whole Tibetan army, with provisions for a year.
PHARI JONG. 91
It was evacuated the night before we reconnoitred
the valley.
The interior of the Jong is a warren of stairs,
landings, and dark cavernous rooms, which would
take a whole day to explore. The walls are built
of stone and mud, and coated with century-old
smoke. There are no chimneys or adequate win-
dows, and the filth is indescribable. When Phari
was first occupied, eighty coolies were employed a
whole week clearing away refuse. Judging by the
accretion of dirt, a new-comer might class the build-
ing as medieval ; but filth is no criterion of age,
for everything left in the same place becomes
quickly coated with grime an inch thick. The dust
that invades one's tent at Chumbi is clean and
wholesome compared to the Phari dirt, which is
the filth of human habitation, the secretion of cen-
turies of foul living. It falls from the roof on
one's head, sticks to one's clothes as one brushes
against the wall, and is blown up into one's eyes
and throat from the floor.
The fort is most insanitary, but a military occu-
pation is necessary. The hacking coughs which are
prevalent among officers and men are due to im-
purities of the air which affect the lungs. Cart-
92 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA
loads of dirt are being scraped away every day, but
gusts of wind from the lower stories blow up more
dust, which penetrates every nook and cranny of
the draughty rooms, so that there is a fresh layer
by nightfall. To clear the lower stories and cellars
would be a hopeless task ; even now rooms are
found in unexpected places which emit clouds of
dust whenever the wind eddies round the basement.
I explored the ground-floor with a lantern, and
was completely lost in the maze of passages and
dark chambers. When we first occupied the fort,
they were filled with straw, gunpowder, and old
arms. A hundred and forty maunds of inferior
gunpowder was destroyed, and the arms now litter
the courtyard. These the Tibetans themselves aban-
doned as rubbish. The rusty helmets, shields, and
breastplates are made of the thinnest iron plates
interlaced with leathern thongs, and would not stop
an arrow. The old bell-mouthed matchlocks, with
their wooden ground-rests, would be more dan-
gerous to the Tibetan marksmen than the enemy.
The slings and bows and arrows are reckoned ob-
solete even by these primitive warriors. Perhaps
they attribute more efficacy to the praying-wheels
which one encounters at every comer of the fort.
PHARI JONG. 93
The largest are in niches in the wall to left and
right of the gateway ; rows of smaller ones are
attached to the banisters on the landings and to
the battlements of the roof. The wheels are
covered with grime — the grime of Lamas' hands.
Dirt and religion are inseparable in Tibet. The
Lamas themselves are the most filthy and mal-
odorous folk I have met in the country. From
this it must not be inferred that one class is more
cleanly in its habits than another, for nobody ever
thinks of washing. Soap is not included in the list
of sundries that pass the Customs House at Yatung.
If the Lamas are dirtier than the yakherds and
itinerant merchants it is because they lead an in-
door life, whereas the pastoral folk are continually
exposed to the purifying winds of the tablelands,
which are the nearest equivalent in Tibet to a cold
bath.
I once read of a Tibetan saint, one of the pupils
of Naropa, who was credited with a hundred mirac-
ulous gifts, one of which was that he could dive
into the water like a fish. Wherein the miracle lay
had often puzzled me, but when I met the Lamas
of the Kanjut Gompa I understood at once that it
was the holy man's contact with the water.
94 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Phari is eloquent of piety, as it is understood in
Tibet. The better rooms are frescoed with Bud-
dhistic paintings, and on the third floor is a library,
now used as a hospital, where xylograph editions of
the I^maist scriptures and lives of the saints are
pigeon-holed in lockers in the wall. The books are
printed on thin oblong sheets of Chinese paper,
enclosed in boards, and illuminated with quaint
coloured tailpieces of holy men in devotional atti-
tudes. Phari fort, with its casual hlendmg of East
and West, is full of incongruous effects, but the
oddest and most pathetic incongruity is the chorten
on the roof, from which, amidst praying-flags and
pious offerings of coloured raiment, flutters the
Union Jack.
February i8.
The troops are so busy making roads that they
have very little time for amusements. The 8th
Gurkhas have already constructed some eight miles
of road on each side of Phari for the ekka transport.
Companies of the 23rd Pioneers are repairing the
road at Dotah, Chumbi, and Rinchengong. The
32nd are working at Rinchengong, and the sappers
and miners on the Nathula and at Gautsa.
We have started football, and the Gurkhas have
PHARI JONG. 95
a very good idea of the game. One loses one's
wind completely at this elevation after every spurt
of twenty yards, but recovers it again in a wonderfully
short time. Other amusem.ents are sliding and
tobogganing, which are a little disappointing to
enthusiasts. The ice is lumpy and broken, and the
streamlets that run down to the plain are so tortuous
that fifty yards without a spill is considered a good
run for a toboggan. The funniest sight is to see the
Gurkha soldiers trying to drag the toboggan uphill,
slipping and tumbling and sprawling on the ice,
and immensely enjoying one another's discomfiture.
To clear the dust from one's throat and shake off
the depression caused by weeks of waiting in the
same place, there is nothing like a day's shooting
or exploring in the neighbourhood of Phari. I get
up sometimes before daybreak, and spend the whole
day reconnoitring with a small party of mounted
infantry. Yesterday we crossed a pass which looked
down into the Kongbu Valley— a likely camping-
ground for the Tibetan troops. The valley is con-
nected to the north with the Tuna plateau, and is
almost as fertile in its lower stretches as Chumbi.
A gray fortress hangs over the cliff on the western
side of the valley, and above it tower the glaciers
9b THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
of Shudu-Tsenpa and the Gora Pass into Sikkim.
On the eastern side, at a creditable distance from
the fort, we could see the Kongbu nunnery, which
looked from where we stood like an old Roman
viaduct. The nuns, I was told, are rarely celibate ;
they shave the head and wear no ornaments.
Riding back we saw some burrhel on the opposite
hills, too far off to make a successful stalk possible.
The valley is full of them, and a week later some
officers from Phari on a yak-collecting expedition
got several good heads. The Tibetan gazelle, or
goa (Gazella hirticaudata) , is very common on the
Phari plateau, and we bagged two that afternoon.
When the force first occupied the Jong, they were
so tame that a sportsman could walk up to within
100 yards of a herd, and it was not an uncommon
thing for three buck to fall to the same gun in a
morning. Now one has to manoeuvre a great deal
'to get within 300 yards of them.
Sportsmen who have travelled in other parts of
Tibet say the goa are very shy and inaccessible.
Perhaps their comparative tameness near Phari
may be accounted for by the fact that the old trade
route crosses the plateau, and they have never been
molested by the itinerant merchants and carriers.
PHARI JONG. 97
Gazelle meat is excellent. It has been a great
resource for the garrison. No epicure could wish
for anything better.
Another unfamiliar beast that one meets in the
neighbourhood of Phari is the kyang, or Tibetan
wild ass (Equus hemionus), one or two of which
have been shot for specimens. The kyang is more
like a zebra than a horse or donkey. Its flesh, I
believe, is scorned even by camp-followers. Hare
are fairly plentiful, but they are quite flavourless.
A huge solitary gray wolf {Cams laniger) was shot
the other day, the only one of its kind I have seen.
Occasionally one puts up a fox. The Tibetan species
has a very fine brush that fetches a fancy price in the
bazaar. At present there is too much ice on the
plain to hunt them, but they ought to give good
sport in the spring.
It was dark when we rode into the Jong. After
a long day in the saddle, dinner is good, even though
it is of yak's flesh, and it is good to sit in front of a
fire even though the smoke chokes you. I went
so far as to pity the cave-dwellers at Chumbi. Phari
is certainly very much colder, but it has its diver-
sions and interests. There is still some shooting to
be had, and the place has a quaint old-world indi-
98 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
viduality of its own, which seasons the monotony
of life to a contemplative man. One is on the
borderland, and one has a Micawber-like feeling
that something may turn up. After dinner there is
bridge, which fleets the time considerably, but at
Chumbi there were no diversions of any kind —
nothing but dull, blank, uninterrupted monotony.
Fehrtiary 20.
For two days half a blizzard has been blowing,
and expeditions have been impossible. Everything
one eats and drinks has the same taste of argol
smoke. At breakfast this morning we had to put
our chapatties in our pockets to keep them clean,
and kept our meat covered with a soup-plate,
making surreptitious dives at it with a fork. After
a few seconds' exposure it was covered with grime.
Sausages and bully beef, which had just been boiled,
were found to be frozen inside. The smoke in the
mess-room was suffocating. So to bed, wrapped in
sheepskins and a sleeping-bag. Under these de-
pressing conditions I have been reading the narra-
tives of Bogle and Manning, old English worthies
who have left on record the most vivid impressions
of the dirt and cold and misery of Phari.
PHARI JONG. 99
It is ninety years since Thomas Manning passed
through Phari on his way to Lhasa. Previously to
his visit we only know of two Englishmen who
have set foot in Phari — Bogle-. in 1774, and Turner
in 1783, both emissaries of Warren Hastings.
Manning's journal is mostly taken up with com-
plaints of his Chinese servant, who seems to have
gained some mysterious ascendancy over him, and
to have exercised it most unhandsomely. As a
traveller Manning had a genius for missing effects ;
it is characteristic of him that he spent sixteen days
at Phari, yet except for a casual footnote, evidently
inserted in his journal after his return, he makes
no mention of the Jong. Were it not for Bogle's
account of thirty years before, we might conclude
that the building was not then in existence.
On October 21, 181 1, Manning writes in his diary :
* We arrived at Phari Jong. Frost. Frost also
two days before. I was lodged in a strange place,
but so were the natives.' On the 27th he sum-
marized his impressions of Phari : — * Dirt, dirt,
grease, smoke, misery, but good mutton.'
Manning's journal is expressive, if monosyllabic.
He was of the class of subjective travellers, who
visit the ends of the earth to record their own
100 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
personal discomforts. Sensitive, neurotic, ever on
the look-out for slights, he could not have been a
happy vagabond. A dozen lines record the impres-
sions of his first week at Phari. He was cheated ;
he was treated civilly ; he slighted the magistrates,
mistaking them for idle fellows ; he was turned out
of his room to make way for Chinese soldiers ; he
quarrelled with his servant. A single extract por-
trays the man to the life, as if he were sitting de-
jectedly by his yak-dung fire at this hour brooding
over his wrongs : —
* " The Chinaman was cross again." Sajrs I,
" Was that a bird at the magistrate's that flapped
so loud ? " Answer : " What signifies whether it
was a bird or not ? " Where he sat I thought he
might see ; and I was curious to know if such large
birds frequented the building. These are the an-
swers I get. He is always discontented and grum-
bling, and takes no trouble off my hands. Being
younger, and, like all Asiatics, able to stoop and
crouch without pain or difficulty, he might assist me
in many things without trouble to himself. A
younger brother or any English young gentleman
would in his place of course lay the cloth, and do
other little sersdces when I am tired ; but he does
PHARI JONG. loi
not seem to have much of the generous about him,
nor does he in any way serve me, or behave to me
with any show of affection or good-will : conse-
quently I grow no more attached to him than the
first day I saw him. I could not have thought it
possible for me to have lived so long with anyone
without either disliking him or caring sixpence for
him. He has good qualities, too. The strangeness
of his situation may partly excuse him. (I am
more attached to my guide, with all his faults, who
has been with me but a few days.) My guide has
behaved so damnably ill since I wrote that, that I
wish it had not come into my mind.'
I give the extract at length, not only as an
illuminating portrait of Manning, but as an inci-
dental proof that he visited the Jong, and that it
was very much the same building then as it is to-
day. But had it not been for the flapping of the
bird which occasioned the quarrel with his Chinese
servant, Manning would have left Phari without a
reference to the wonderful old fortress which is the
most romantic feature on the road from India to
Gyantse. Appended to the journal is tliis footnote
to the word building, which I have italicized in the
extract : ' The building is im.mensely large, six or
102 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
more stories high, a sort of fortress. At a distance
it appears to be all Phari Jong. Indeed, most of
it consists of miserable galleries and holes.*
Members of the mission force who have visited
Phari will no doubt attribute Manning's evident
ill-humour arid depression during his stay there to
the environments of the place, wliich have not
changed much in the last ninety years. But his
spirits improved as he continued his journey to
Gyantse and Lhasa, and he reveals himself the
kindly, eccentric, and affectionate soul who was the
friend and intimate of Charles Lamb.
Bogle arrived at Phari on October 23, 1774. He
and Turner and Manning all entered Tibet through
Bhutan. ' As we advanced,' he wrote in his journal,
* we came in sight of the castle of Phari Jong, which
cuts a good figure from without. It rises into
several towers with the balconies, and, having few
windows, has the look of strength ; it is surrounded
by the town.* The only other reference he makes to
the Jong shows us that the fortress was in bad repair
so long ago as 1774. * The two Lhasa officers who
have the government of Phari Jong sent me some
butter, tea, etc., the day after my arrival ; and
letting me know that they expected a visit from
PHARI JONG. 103
me, I went. The inside of the castle did not answer
the notion I had formed of it. The stairs are
ladders worn to the bone, and the rooms are little
better than garrets.*
The origin of the fort is unknown. Some of the
inhabitants of Phari say that it was built more than
a hundred years ago, when the Nepalese were over-
running Sikkim. But this is obviously incorrect, as
the Tibetan-Nepalese War, in which the Chinese
drove the Gurkhas out of Tibet, and defeated their
army within a day's march of Khatmandu, took
place in 1788-1792, whereas Bogle's description of
the Jong was written fourteen years earlier. A
more general impression is that centuries ago orders
came from Lhasa to collect stones on the hillsides,
and the building was constructed by forced labour
in a few months. That is a tale of endurance and
suffering that might very likely be passed from
father to son for generations.
Bogle's description of the town might have been
written by an ofhcer of the garrison to-day, only
he wrote from the inmate's point of view. He
noticed the houses ' so huddled together that one
may chance to overlook them,' and the fiat roofs
covered with bundles of straw. He knocked his
104 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
head against the low ceilings, and ran against the
pillars that supported the beams. ' In the middle
of the roof,' he wrote, ' is a hole to let out smoke,
which, however, departs not without making the
whole room as black as a chimney. The opening
serves also to let in the light ; the doors are full of
holes and crevices, through which the women and
children keep peeping.' Needless to say nothing
has changed in the last hundred and thirty years,
unless it is that the women are bolder. I looked
down from the roof this morning on Phari town,
lying like a rabbit-warren beneath the fort. All
one can see from the battlement are the flat roofs
of low black houses, from which smoke issues in
dense fumes. The roofs are stacked with straw,
and connected by a web of coloured praying-fiags
running from house to house, and sometimes over
the narrow alleys that serve as streets. Enormous
fat ravens perch on the wall, and innumerable flocks
of twittering sparrows. For warmth's sake most of
the rooms are underground, and in these subter-
ranean dens Tibetans, black as coal-heavers, huddle
together with yaks and mules. Tibetan women,
equally dirty, go about, their faces smeared and
blotched with caoutchouc, wearing a red, hoop-like
PHARI JONG. 105
head-dress, ornamented with alternate turquoises
and ruby-coloured stones.
In the fort the first thing one meets of a morning
is a troop of these grimy sirens, climbing the stairs,
burdened with buckets of chopped ice and sacks of
yak-dung, the two necessaries of life. The Tibetan
coolie women are merry folk ; they laugh and
chatter over their work all day long, and do not in
the least resist the familiarities of the Gurkha
soldiers. Sometimes as they pass one they giggle
coyly, and put out the tongue, which is tlieir way
of showing respect to those in high places ; but
when one hears their laughter echoing down the
stairs it is, difficult to believe that it is not intended
for saucy impudence. Their merriment sounds un-
natural in all this filth and cold and discomfort.
Certainly if Bogle returned to Phari he would find
the women very much bolder, though, I am afraid,
not any cleaner. Could he see the Englishmen in
Phari to-day, he might not recognise his compatriots.
Often in civilized places I shall think of the group
at Phari in the mess-room after dinner — a group
of i^uffianly-looking bandits in a blackened, smut-be-
grimed room, clad in wool and fur from head to foot,
bearded like wild men of the woods, and sitting round
4a
lo6 THE UNVEILING OF LHASa.
a yak-dung fire, drinking rum. After a week at Phari
the best-groomed man might qualify for a caricature
of Bill Sikes. Perhaps one day in Piccadilly one
may encounter a half-remembered face, and some-
thing familiar in walk or gait may reveal an old
friend of the Jong. Then in * Jimmy's,' memories
of argol-smoke and frozen moustaches will give a
zest to a bottle of beaune or chablis, which one had
almost forgotten was once dreamed of among the
unattainable luxuries of life.
March 26-28.
Orders have come to advance from Phari Jong.
It seems impossible, unnatural, that we are going
on. After a week or two the place becomes part of
one's existence ; one feels incarcerated there. It
is difficult to imagine life anywhere else. One feels
as if one could never again be cold or dirty, or
miserably uncomfortable, without thinking of that
gray fortress with its strange unknown history,
standing alone in the desolate plain. For my own
part, speaking figuratively — and unfigurative lan-
guage is impotent on an occasion like this — the
place will leave an indelible black streak — very
black indeed — on a kaleidoscopic past. There can
be no faint impressions in one's memories of Phari
PHARI JONG. 107
Jong. The dirt and smoke and dust are elemental,
and the cold is the cold of the Lamas* frigid
heU.
All the while I was in Phari I forgot the mystery
of Tibet, I have felt it elsewhere, but in the Jong
I only wondered that the inscrutable folk who had
lived in the rooms where we slept, and fled in the
night, were content with their smut-begrimed walls,
blackened ceilings, and chimneyless roofs, and still
more how amidst these murky environments any
spiritual instincts could survive to inspire the re-
ligious frescoings on the walls. Yet every figure
in this intricate blending of designs is significant
and symbolical. One's first impression is that these
allegories and metaphysical abstractions must have
been meaningless to the inmates of the Jong ; for
we in Europe cannot dissociate the artistic expres-
sion of religious feeling from cleanline^ and refine-
ment, or at least pious care. One feels that they
must be the relics of a decayed spirituality, preserved
not insincerely, but in ignorant superstition, like
other fetishes all over the world. Yet this feeling
of scepticism is not so strong after a month or two
in Tibet. At first one is apt to think of these dirty
people as merely animal and sensual, and to attribute
io8 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
their religious observances to the fear of demons
who will punish the most trivial omission in ritual.
Next one begins to wonder if they really believe
in the efficacy of mechanical prayer, if they take
the trouble to square their conscience with their
inclinations, and if they have any sincere desire to
be absorbed in the universal spirit. Then there
may come a suspicion that the better classes,
though not given to inquiry, have a settled dogma
and definite convictions about things spiritual and
natural that are not easily upset. Perhaps before
we turn our backs on the mystery of Tibet we
will realize that the Lamas despise us as gross
materialists and philistines — we who are always
groping and grasping after the particular, while
they are absorbed in the sublime and universal.
After all, devious and unscrupulous as their policy
may have been, the Tibetans have had one definite
aim in view for centuries — the preservation of
their Church and State by the exclusion of all foreign
and heretical influences. When we know that the
Mongol cannot conceive of the separation of the
spiritual and temporal Government, it is only
natural to infer that the first mission, spiritual
or otherwise, to a foreign Court should introduce
PHARI JONG: £09
the first elements of dissolution in a system of
Government that has held the country intact for
centuries. And let it be remarked that Great
Britain is not responsible for this deviation in a
hitherto inveterate policy.
But to return to Phari. My last impression of
the place as I passed out of its narrow alleys was
a very dirty old man, seated on a heap of yak-
dung over the gutter. He was turning his prayer-
wheel, and muttering the sacred formula that was
to release him from all rebirth in this suffering
world. The wish seemed natural enough.
It was a bright, clear morning when we turned
our backs on the old fort and started once more on
the road to Lhasa. Five miles from Phari we
passed the miserable little village of Chuggya,
which is apparently inhabited by ravens and spar-
rows, and a diminutive mountain-finch that looks
Uke a half -starved robin. A mile to the right before
entering the village is the monastery of the Red
Lamas, which was the lodging-place of the Bhutanese
Envoy during his stay at Phari. The building,
which is a landmark for miles, is stone-built, and
coated over with red earth, which gives it the appear-
ance of brick. Its overhanging gables, mullioned
no THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
windows without glass, that look like dominoes
in the distance, the pendent bells, and the gay
decorations of Chinese paper, look quaint and
mystical, and are in keeping with the sacred char-
acter of the place. Bogle stopped here on October
27, 1774, and drank tea with the Abbot. It is very
improbable that any other white man has set foot
in the monastery since, until the other day, when
some of the garrison paid it a visit and took photo-
graphs of the interior. The Lamas were a little
deprecatory, but evidently amused. I did not
expect them to be so tolerant of intrusion, and
their clamour for backsheesh on our departure
dispelled one more illusion.
At Chuggya we were at the very foot of Chumu-
lari (23,930 feet), which seems to rise sheer from
the plain. The western flank is an abrupt wall of
rock, but, as far as one can see, the eastern side is a
gradual ascent of snow, which would present no
difficulties to the trained mountaineer. One could
ride up to 17,000 feet, and start the climb from a
base 2,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc. Chumu-
lari is the most sacred mountain in Tibet, and it is
usual for devout Buddhists to stop and offer a
sacrifice as they pass. Bogle gives a detailed
PHARI JONG. Ill
account of the service, the rites of which are very
similar to some I witnessed at Galingka on the
Til)etan New Year, February i6.
' Here we halted,* he wrote in his journal, * and
the servants gathering together a parcel of dried
cow -dung, one of them struck fire with his tinder-
box and lighted it. When the fire was well kindled,
Parma took out a book of prayers, one brought a
copper cup, another filled it with a kind of fer-
mented liquor out of a new-killed sheep's paunch,
mixing in some rice and flour ; and after throwing
some dried herbs and flour into the flame, they
began their rites. Parma acted as chaplain. He
chanted the prayers in a loud voice, the others accom-
panying him, and every now and then the little cup
was emptied towards the rock, about eight or ten of
these libations being poured forth. The ceremony
was finished by placing upon the heap of stones the
little ensign which my fond imagination had before
offered up to my own vanity.'
Most of the flags and banners one sees to-day on
the chortens and roofs of houses, and cairns on the
mountain-tops, must be planted with some such
inaugural ceremony.
Facing Chumulari on the west, and apparently
112 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
only a few miles distant, are the two vSikkim peaks
of Powhunri (23,210 feet) and Shudu-Tsenpa
(22,960 feet). From Chuggya the Tangla is reached
by a succession of gradual rises and depressions.
The pass is not impressive, like the Jelap, as a
passage won through a great natural barrier. One
might cross it without noticing the summit, were
it not for the customary cairns and praying-flags
which the Lamas raise in all high places.
From a slight rise on the east of the pass one
can look down across the plateau on Tuna, an
irregular black line like a caterpillar, dotted with
white spots, which glasses reveal to be tents. The
Bamtso lake lies shimmering to the east beneath
brown a^d yellow hills. At noon objects dance
elusively in the mirage. Distances are deceptive.
Yaks grazing are like black Bedouin tents. Llere,
then, is the forbidden land. The approach is as it
should be. One's eyes explore the road to Lhasa
dimly through a haze. One would not have it
laid out with the precision of a diagram.
CHAPTER V
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT
TO write of any completed phase of the expedi-
tion at this stage, when I have carried my
readers only as far as Tuna, is a lapse in continuity
that requires an apology. My excuse is that to all
transport officers, and everyone who was in touch
with them, the Tuna and Phari plains will be
remembered as the very backbone of resistance,
the most implacable barriers to our advance.
The expedition was essentially a transport
' show.' It is true that the Tibetans proved them-
selves brave enemies, but their acquired military
resources are insignificant when compared with the
obstacles Nature has planted in the path of their
enemies. The difficulty of the passes, the severity
of the climate, the sterility of the mountains and
tablelands, make the interior of the country almost
inaccessible to an invading army. That we went
114 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
through these obstacles and reached Lhasa itself
was a matter of surprise not only to the Tibetans, but
to many members of the expeditionary force.
To appreciate the difficulties the mission force
had to contend with, one must first realize the
extraordinary changes of climate that are experi-
enced in the journey from Siliguri to Tuna. Choose
the coldest day in the year at Kew Gardens, ex-
pose yourself freely to the wind, and then spend
five minutes in the tropical house, and you may
gather some idea of the sensation of sleeping in
the Rungpo Valley the night after crossing the
Jelapla.
When I first made the journey in early January,
even the Rungpo Valley was chilly, and the vicissi-
tudes were not so marked ; but I felt the change
very keenly in March, when I made a hurried rush
into Darjeeling for equipment and supplies. Our
camp at Lingmathang was in the pine-forest at an
elevation of 10,500 feet. It was warm and sunny
in the daytime, in places where there was shelter
from the wind. Leaf -buds were beginning to open,
frozen waterfalls to thaw, migratory duck were
coming up the valley in twos and threes from the
plains of India — even a few vultures had arrived to
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 115
fatten on the carcasses of the dead transport animals.
The morning after leaving Lingm.athang I left the
pine-forest at 13,000 feet, and entered a treeless
waste of shale and rock. When I crossed the Jelapla
half a hurricane was blowing. The path was a
sheet of ice, and I had to use hands and knees, and
take advantage of every protuberance in the rock
to prevent myself from being blown over the khud.
The road was impassable for mules and ponies.
The cold was numbing. The next evening, in a
valley 13,000 feet beneath, I was suffering from
the extreme of heat. The change in scenery and
vegetation is equally striking — from glaciers and
moraines to tropical forests brilliant with the scarlet
cotton-flower and purple Baleria. In Tibet I had
not seen an insect of any kind for two months, but
in the Sikkim valleys the most gorgeous butterflies
were abundant, and the rest-house at Rungpo was
invested by a plague of flies. In the hot weather
the climate of the Sikkim valleys is more trying
than that of most stations in the plains of India.
The valleys are close and shut in, and the heat is
intensified by the radiation from the rocks, cliffs,
and boulders. In the rains the climate is relaxing
and malarious. The Supply and Transport Corps,
no THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
who were left behind at stages Uke Rungpo through
the hot weather, had, to my mind, a much harder
time on the whole than the half-frozen troops at
the front, and they were left out of all the fun.
Besides the natural difficulties of the road, the
severity of climate, and the scarcity of fodder and
fuel, the Transport Corps had to contend with every
description of disease and misfortune — anthrax,
rinderpest, foot and mouth disease, aconite and
rhododendron poisoning, falling over precipices,
exhaustion from overwork and underfeeding. The
worst fatalities occurred on the Khamba Jong side
in 1903. The experiments with the transport were
singularly unsuccessful. Out of two hundred buf-
faloes employed at low elevations, only three sur-
vived, and the seven camels that were tried on the
road between Siliguri and Gantok all died by way
of protest. Later on in the year the yak corps
raised in Nepal was practically exterminated. From
four to five thousand were originally purchased, of
which more than a thousand died from anthrax
before they reached the frontier. All the drinking-
water on the route was infected ; the Nepalese did
not believe the disease was contagious, and took no
precautions. The disease spread almc^t universall y
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 117
among the cattle, and at the worst time twenty or
thirty died a day. The beasts were massed on the
Nepal frontier. Segregation camps were formed,
and ultimately, after much patient care, the disease
was stamped out.
Then began the historic march through Sikkim,
which, as a protracted struggle against natural
calamities, might be compared to the retreat of
the Ten Thousand, or the flight of the Kalmuck
Tartars. Superstitious natives might well think
that a curse had fallen on us and our cattle. As
soon as they' were immune from anthrax, the re-
duced corps were attacked by rinderpest, which
carried off seventy. When the herds left the Singli-
la range and descended into the valley, the sudden
change in climate overwhelmed hundreds. No real
yak survived the heat of the Sikkim valleys. All
that were now left were the zooms, or halfbreeds
from the bull-yaks and the cow, and the cross from
the bull and female yaks. In Sikkim, which is
always a hotbed of contagious cattle diseases, the
wretched survivors were infected with foot and
mouth disease. The epidemic is not often fatal,
but visiting an exhausted herd, fever-stricken, and
weakened by every vicissitude of climate, it carried
Ii8 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
off scores. Then, to avoid spreading contagion,
the yaks were driven through trackless, unfre-
quented country, up and down precipitous moun-
tain-sides, and through dense forests. Again segre-
gation camps were formed, and the dead cattle were
burnt, twenty and thirty at a time. Every day
there was a holocaust. Then followed the ascent
into high altitudes, where a more insidious evil
awaited the luckless corps. The few survivors were
exterminated by pleuro-pneumonia. When, on
January 23, the 3rd Yak Corps reached Chumbi, it
numbered 437 ; two months afterwards all but 70
had died. On March 21, 80 exhausted beasts
straggled into Chumbi ; they were the remainder
of the 1st and 2nd Yak Corps, which originally
numbered 2,300 heads. The officers, who, bearded
and weather-beaten, deserted by many of their
followers, after months of wandering, reached our
camp with the remnants of the corps, told a story
of hardship and endurance that would provide a
theme for an epic.
The epic of the yaks does not comprise the whole
tale of disaster. Rinderpest carried off 77 pack-
bullocks out of 500, and a whole corps was segregated
for two months with foot and mouth disease.
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 119
Amongst other casualties there were heavy losses
among the Cashmere pony corps, and the Tibet pony
corps raised locally. The animals were hastily
mobilized and incompletely equipped, overworked
and underfed. Cheap and inferior saddlery was
issued, which gave the animals sore backs within a
week. The transport officer was in a constant
dilemma. He had to overwork his animals or delay
the provisions, fodder, atnd warm clothing so urgently
needed at the front. Ponies and mules had no
rest, but worked till they dropped. Of the original
draft of mules that were employed on the line to
Khamba Jong, fully 50 per cent. died. It is no
good trying to blink the fact that the expedition
was unpopular, and that at the start many econom-
ical shifts were attempted which proved much more
expensive in the end. Our party system is to
blame. The Opposition must be appeased, ex-
penses kept down, and the business is entered into
half-heartedly. In the usual case a few companies
are grudgingly sent to the front, and then, when
something like a disaster falls or threatens, John
Bull jumps at the sting, scenting a national insult.
A brigade follows, and Government wakes to the
necessity of grappling with the situation seriously.
120 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
But to return to the spot where the evil effects
of the system were felt, and not merely girded at.
To replace and supplement the local drafts of
animals that were dying, trained Government mule
corps were sent up from the plains, properly equipped
and under experienced officers. These did excellent
work, and 2,600 mules arrived in Lhasa on August 3
in as good condition as one could wish. Of all
transport animals, the mule is the hardiest and
most enduring. He does not complain when he is
overloaded, but will go on all day, and when he
drops there is no doubt that he has had enough.
Nine times out of ten when he gives up he dies.
No beast is more indifferent to extremes of heat and
cold. On the road from Kamparab to Phari one day,
three mules fell over a cliff into a snowdrift, and
were almost totally submerged. Their drivers could
not pull them out, and, to solve the dilemma, went
on and reported them dead. The next day an
ofl&cer found them and extricated them alive.
They had been exposed to 46° of frost. They still
survive.
Nothing can beat the Sircar mule when he is in
good condition, unless it is the Balti and Ladaki
coolie. Several hundred of these hardy moun-
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 121
taineers were imported from the North-West
frontier to work on the most dangerous and diffi-
cult sections of the road. They can bear cold and
fatigue and exposure better than any transport
animal on the line, and they are surer-footed.
Mules were first employed over the Jelap, but were
afterwards abandoned for coolies. The Baltis are
excellent workers at high altitudes, and sing cheerily
as they toil up the mountains with their loads. I
have seen them throw down their packs when they
reached the summit of a pass, make a rush for the
shelter of a rock, and cheer lustily like school-boys.
But the coolies were not all equally satisfactory.
Those indented from the Nepal durbar were prac-
tically an impressed gang. Twelve rupees a month
with rations and warm clothing did not seem to
reconcile them to hard work, and after a month or
two they became discontented and refractory.
Their officers, however, were men of tact and de-
cision, and they were able to prevent what might
have been a serious mutiny. The discontented ones
were gradually replaced by Baltis, Ladakis, and
Garwhalis, and the coolies became the most reliable
transport corps on the line.
Thus, the whole menagerie, to use the expression
122 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
current at the time, was got into working order,
and a sj'stem was gradually developed by which
the right animal, man, or conveyance was working
in the right place, and supplies were sent through
at a pace that was very creditable considering the
coimtry traversed.
From the railway base at Siliguri to Gantok, a
distance of sixty miles, the ascent in the road is
scarcely perceptible. With the exception of a few
contractors' ponies, the entire carrying along this
section of the hne was worked by bullock-carts.
Government carts are built to carry ii maunds
(880 pounds), but contractors often load theirs with
15 or 16 maunds. As the carrying power of mules,
ponies, and pack-bullocks is only 2 maunds, it will
be seen at once that transport in a mountainous
coimtry, where there can be no road for vehicles,
is nearly five times as difficult and complicated as
in the plains. And this is without making any
allowance for the inevitable mortality among trans-
port animals at high elevations, or taking into account
the inevitable congestion on mountain-paths, often
blocked by snow, carried away by the rains, and
always too narrow to admit of any large volume
of traffic.
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 123
In the beginning of March, when the line was in
its best working order, from 1,500 to 2,000 maunds
were poured into Rungpo daily. Of these, only
400 or 500 maunds reached Phari ; the rest was
stored at Gantok or consumed on the road. Later,
v>hen the line was extended to Gyantse, not more
than 100 maunds a day reached the front.
In the first advance on Gyantse, our column was
practically launched into the unknown. As far as
we knew, no local food or forage could be obtained.
It was too early in the season for the spring pasturage.
We could not live on the country. The ever-
lengthening line of communication behind us was
an artery, the severing of which would be fatal to
our advance.
One can best realize the difficulties grappled with
by imagining the extreme case of an army entering
an entirely desert country. A mule, it must be
remembered, can only carry its own food for ten
days. That is to say, in a country where there is
no grain or fodder, a convoy can make at the most
nine marches. On the ninth day beasts and drivers
will have consumed all the supplies takan with them.
Supposing on the tenth day no supply-base has
been reached, the convoy is stranded, and can
124 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
neither advance nor retire. Nor must we forget
that our imaginary convoy, which has perished in
the desert, has contributed nothing to the advance
of the army. Food and clothing for the troops, tents,
bedding, guns, ammunition, field-hospital, treasury,
still await transport at the base.
Fortunately, the country between our frontier
and Lhasa is not all desert. Yet it is barren enough
to make it a matter of wonder that, with such short
preparation, we were able to push through troops
to Gyantse in April, when there was no grazing on
the road, and to arrive in Lhasa in August with a
force of more than 4,000 fighting men and followers.
Before the second advance to Gyantse the spring
crops had begun to appear. Without them we
could not have advanced. All other local produce
on the road was exhausted. That is to say, for
160 miles, with the important exception of wayside
fodder, we subsisted entirely on our own supplies.
The nuiles carried their own grain, and no more.
Gyantse once reached, the Tibetan Government
granaries and stores from the monasteries produced
enough to carry us on. But besides the transport
mules, there were 100 Maxim and battery mules, as
well as some 200 mounted infantry ponies, and at
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 125
least 100 officers' mounts, to be fed, and these carried
nothing — contributed nothing to the stomach of
the army.
How were these beasts to be fed, and how was
the whole apparatus of an army to be carried along,
when every additional transport animal was a tax
on the resources of the transport ? There were
two possible solutions, each at first sight equally
absurd and impracticable : — wheeled transport in
Tibet, or animals that did not require feeding.
The Supply and Transport men were resourceful and
fortunate enough to provide both. It was due to
the light ekka and that providentially ascetic beast,
the yak, that we were able to reach Lhasa.
The ekkas were constructed in the plains, and
carried by coolies from the cart-road at Rungpo
eighty miles over the snow passes to Kamparab on
the Phari Plain. The carrying capacity of these
light carts is 400 pounds, two and a half times that
of a mule, and there is only one mouth to feed. They
were the first vehicles ever seen in Tibet, and they
saved the situation.
The ekkas worked over the Phari and Tuna plains,
and down the Nyang Chu Valley as far as Kangma.
They were supplemented by the yaks.
125 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
The yak is the most extraordinary animal Nature
has provided the transport ofiicer in his need. He
carries i6o pounds, and consumes nothing. He sub-
sists solely on stray blades of grass, tamarisk, and
tufts of hchen, that he picks up on the road. He
moves slowly, and wears a look of ineffable resig-
nation. He is the most melancholy disillusioned
beast I have seen, and dies on the slightest
provocation. The red and white tassels and
favours of cowrie-shells the Tibetans hang about
his neck are as incongruous on the poor beast
as gauds and frippery on the heroine of a
tragedy.
If only he were dependable, our transport diffi-
culties would be reduced to a minimum. But he
is not. We have seen how the four thousand died
in their passage across Sikkim without doing a
day's work. Local diafts did better. Yet I have
often passed the Lieutenant in command of the
corps lamenting their lack of grit. * Two more of
my cows died this morning. Look, there goes an-
other I D — n the beasts ! I beheve they do it
out of spite ! ' And the chief Supply and Trans-
port officer, always a humorist in adversity, when
asked why they were dying off every day, said :
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 127
*I think it must be due to overfeeding.* But we
owe much to the yak.
The final advance from Gyantse to Lhasa was
a comparatively easy matter. Crops were plenti-
ful, and large supplies of grain were obtained from
the monasteries and jongs on the road. We found,
contrary to anticipation, that the produce in this part
of Tibet was much greater than the consumption.
In many places we found stores that would last a
village three or four years. Our transport animals
lived on the country. We arrived at Lhasa with
2,600 mules and 400 coolies. The yak and donkey
corps were left at the river for convoy work. It
would have been impossible to have pushed through
in the winter.
All the produce we consumed on the road was
paid for. In this way the expense of the army's
keep fell on the Lhasa Government, who had to
pay the indemnity, and our presence in the country
was not directly, at any rate, a burden on the agri-
cultural population of the villages through which
we passed.
Looking back on the splendid work accomplished
by the transport, it is difficult to select any special
phase more memorable than another. The com-
128 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
plete success of the organization and the endurance
and grit displayed by officers and men are equally
admirable. I could cite the coolness of a single
officer in a mob of armed and mutinous coolies,
when the compelling will of one man and a few
blows straight from the shoulder kept the discon-
tented harnessed to their work and quelled a revolt ;
or the case of another who drove his diseased yaks
over the snow passes into Chumbi, and after two
days' rest started with a fresh corps on ten months
of the most tedious labour the mind of man can
imagine, rising every da}^ before daybreak in an
almost Arctic cold, traversing the same featureless
tablelands, and camping out at night cheerfully in
the open plain with his escort of thirty rifles. There
was always the chance of a night attack, but no
other excitement to break the eternal monotony.
But it was all in the day's work, and the subaltern
took it like a picnic. Another supreme test of en-
durance in man and beast were the convoys between
Chumbi and Tuna in the early part of the year,
which for hardships endured remind me of Skobe-
leff's dash through the Balkans on Adrianople.
Only our labours were protracted, Skobeleff' s the
struggle of a few days. Even in mid-March a con-
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 129
voy of the 12th Mule Corps, escorted by two com-
panies of the 23rd Pioneers, were overtaken by a
bhzzard on their march between Phari and Tuna,
and camped in two feet of snow with the thermom-
eter 18° below zero. A driving hurricane made it
impossible to light a fire or cook food. The officers
were reduced to frozen bully beef and neat spirits,
while the sepoys went without food for thirty-six
hours. The fodder for the mules was buried deep in
snow. The frozen flakes blowing through the tents
cut hke a knife. While the detachment was cross-
ing a stream, the mules fell through the ice, and
were only extricated with great difficulty. The
drivers arrived at Tuna frozen to the waist. Twenty
men of the 12th Mule Corps were frost-bitten, and
thirty men of the 23rd Pioneers were so incapacitated
that they had to be carried in on mules. On the
same day there were seventy cases of snow-blindness
among the 8th Gurkhas.
Until late in April all the plain was intersected by
frozen streams. Blankets were stripped from the
mules to make a pathway for them over the ice. Often
they went without water at night, and at mid-day,
when the surface of the ice was melted, their thirst
was so great that many died from over-drinking.
5
130 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Had the Tibetans attacked us in January, they
would have taken us at a great disadvantage. The
bolts of our rifles jammed with frozen oil. Oil
froze in the Maxims, and threw them out of gear.
More often than not the mounted infantry found
the butts of their rifles frozen in the buckets, and
had to dismount and use both hands to extricate
them.
I think these men who took the convoys through
to Tuna ; the 23rd, who wintered there and supphed
most of the escort ; and the 8th Gurkhas, who cut
a road in the frost-bound plain, may be said to
have broken the back of the resistance to our ad-
vance. They were the pioneers, and the troops
who followed in spring and summer httle reahzed
what they owed to them.
The great difi&culties we experienced in pushing
through supplies to Tuna, which is less than 150
miles from our base railway-station at SiUguri,
show the absurdity of the idea of a Russian advance
on Lhasa. The nearest Russian outpost is over
1,000 miles distant, and the country to be traversed
is even more barren and inhospitable than on our
frontier.
Up to the present the route to Chumbi has been
THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT. 131
via Siliguri and the Jelap and Nathu Passes, but
the natural outlet of the valley is by the Ammo
Chu, which flows through Bhutan into the Dooars,
where it becomes the Torsa. The Bengal-Dooars
Railway now extends to Madhari Hat, fifteen miles
from the point where the Torsa crosses the fron-
tier, whence it is only forty-eight miles as the crow
flies to Rinchengong in the Chumbi Valley. When
the projected Ammo Chu cart-road is completed,
all the difiiculty of carrying stores into Chumbi will
be obviated. Engineers are already engaged on
the first trace, and the road will be in working
order within a few months. It avoids all snow
passes, and nowhere reaches an elevation of more
than 9,000 feet. The direct route will shorten the
journey to Chumbi by several days, bring Lhasa
within a month's journey of Calcutta, and consid-
erably improve trade faciUties between Tibet and
India.
T
CHAPTER VI
THE ACTION AT THE HOT SPRINGS
HE village of Tuna, which lies at the foot of bare
-■- yellow hills, consists of a few deserted houses.
The place is used mainly as a halting-stage by the
Tibetans. The country around is sterile and unpro-
ductive, and wood is a luxury that must be carried
from a distance of nearly fifty miles.
It was in these dismal surroundings that Colonel
Younghusband's mission spent the months of Jan-
uary, February, and March. The small garrison
suffered all the discomforts of Phari. The dirt and
grime of the squalid little houses became so depress-
ing that they pitched their tents in an open court-
yard, preferring the numbing cold to the filth of
the Tibetan hovels. Many of the sepoys fell vic-
tims to frost-bite and pneumonia, and nearly every
case of pneumonia proved fatal, the patient dying
of suffocation owing to the rarefied air.
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 133
Colonel Younghusband had not been at Tuna
many days before it became clear that there could
be no hope of a peaceful solution. The Tibetans
began to gather in large numbers at Guru, eight
miles to the east, on the road to Lhasa. The
Depon, or Lhasa General, whom Colonel Young-
husband met on two occasions, repeated that he
was only empowered to treat on condition that
we withdrew to Yatung. Messages were sent from
the Tibetan camp to Tuna almost daily asking us
to retire, and negotiations again came to a dead-
lock. After a month the tone of the Tibetans be-
came minatory. They threatened to invest our
camp, and an attack was expected on March i,
the Tibetan New Year. The Lamas, however,
thought better of it. They held a Commination
Service instead, and cursed us solemnly for five
days, hoping, no doubt, that the British force would
dwindle away by the act of God. Nobody was
* one penny the worse.'
Though we made no progress with the Tibetans
during this time, Colonel Younghusband utilized
the halt at Tuna in cementing a friendship with
Bhutan. The neutrality of the Bhutanese in the
case of a war with Tibet was a matter of the
134 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
utmost importance. Were these people unfriendly
or disposed to throw in their lot with their co-
religionists, the Tibetans, our line of communica-
tions would be exposed to a flank attack along the
whole of the Tuna Plain, which is conterminous
with the Bhutan frontier, as well as a rear attack
anywhere in the Chumbi Valley as far south as
Rinchengong. The Bhutanese are men of splendid
physique, brave, warlike, and given to pillage.
Their hostiUty would have involved the despatch
of a second force, as large as that sent to Tibet,
and might have landed us, if unprepared, in a seri-
ous reverse. The complete success of Colonel Young-
husband's diplomacy was a great reUef to the Indian
Government, who were waiting with some anxiety
to see what attitude the Bhutanese would adopt.
Having secured from them assiuances of their good
will, Colonel Younghusband put their friendship to
immediate test by broaching the subject of the
Ammo Chu route to Chumbi through Bhutanese
territory. Very little time was lost before the con-
cession was obtained from the Tongsa Penlop, ruler
of Bhutan, who himself accompanied the mission
as far as Lhasa in the character of mediator between
the Dalai Lama and the British Government. The
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 135
importance of the Ammo Chu route in our future
relations with Tibet I have emphasized elsewhere.
I doubt if ever an advance was more welcome
to waiting troops than that which led to the engage-
ment at the Hot Springs.
For months, let it be remembered, we had been
marking time. When a move had to be made to
escort a convoy, it was along narrow mountain-
paths, where the troops had to march in single file.
There was no possibility of an attack this side of
Phari. The ground covered was familiar and monot-
onous. One felt cooped in, and was thoroughly
bored and tired of the delay, so that when General
Macdonald marched out of Phari with his Uttle
army in three columns, a feehng of exhilaration
communicated itself to the troops.
Here was elbow-room at last, and an open plain,
where all the army corps of Europe might manoeuvre.
At Tuna, on the evening of the 29th, it was given
out in orders that a reconnaissance in force was to
be made the next morning, and two companies of the
32nd Pioneers would be left at Guru. The Tibetan
camp at the Hot Springs lay right across our hue
of march, and the hill that flanked it was lined with
their sangars. They must either fight or retire.
136 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Most of us thought that the Tibetans would fade
away in the mysterious manner they have, and
build another futile wall further on. The extraor-
dinary affair that followed must be a unique event
in mihtary history.
The morning of the 30th was bitterly cold. An
icy wind was blowing, and snow was lying on the
ground. I put on my thick sheepskin for the first
time for two months, and I owe my life to it.
About an hour after leaving Tuna, two or three
Tibetan messengers rode out from their camp to
interview Colonel Younghusband. They got down
from their ponies and began chattering in a very
excited manner, like a flock of frightened parrots.
It was evident to us, not understanding the lan-
guage, that they were entreating us to go back, and
the constant reference to Yatung told us that they
were repeating the message that had been sent
into the Tuna camp almost daily during the past
few months — that if we retired to Yatung the Dalai
Lama would send an accredited envoy to treat
with us. Being met with the usual answer, they
mounted dejectedly, and rode off at a gallop to
their camp.
Soon after they had disappeared another group
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 137
of horsemen were seen riding towards us. These
proved to be the Lhasa Depon, accompanied by
an influential Lama and a small escort armed with
modern rifles. The rifles were naturally inspected
with great interest. They were of different pat-
terns — Martini-Henry, Lee-Metford, Snider — but the
clumsily-painted stocks alone were enough to show
that they were shoddy weapons of native manufac-
ture. They left no mark on our troops.
According to Tibetan custom, a rug was spread
on the ground for the interview between Colonel
Younghusband and the Lhasa Depon, who con-
ferred sitting down. Captain O'Connor, the secre-
tary of the mission, interpreted. The Lhasa Depon
repeated the entreaty of the messengers, and said
that there would be trouble if we proceeded. Colonel
Younghusband's reply was terse and to the point.
* Tell him,' he said to Captain O'Connor, ' that
we have been negotiating with Tibet for fifteen
years ; that I myself have been waiting for eight
months to meet responsible representatives from
Lhasa, and that the mission is now going on to
Gyantse. Tell him that we have no wish to fight,
and that he would be well advised if he ordered
his soldiers to retire. Should they remain block-
138 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
ing our path, I will ask General Macdonald to re-
move them.'
The Lhasa Depon was greatly perturbed. He
said that he had no wish to fight, and would try
and stop his men firing upon us. But before he left
he again tried to induce Colonel Younghusband to
turn back. Then he rode away to join his men.
What orders he gave them will never be known.
I do not think the Tibetans ever believed in our
serious intention to advance. No doubt they at-
tributed our evacuation of Kharaba Jong and our
long delay in Chumbi to weakness and vacillation.
And our forbearance since the negotiations of 1890
must have lent itself to the same interpretation.
As we advanced we could see the Tibetans run-
ning up the hill to the left to occupy the sangars.
To turn their position. General Macdonald deployed
the 8th Gurkhas to the crest of the ridge ; at the
same time the Pioneers, the Maxim detachment of
the Norfolks, and Mountain Battery were deployed
on the right until the Tibetan position was sur-
rounded.
The manoeuvre was completely successful. The
Tibetans on the hill, finding themselves outflanked
by the Gurkhas, ran down to the cover of the wall
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 139
by the main camp, and the whole mob was encircled
by our troops.
It was on this occasion that the Sikhs and Gurkhas
displayed that coolness and discipline which won
them a European reputation. They had orders not
to hre unless they were fired upon, and they walked
right up to the walls of the sangars until the muzzles
and prongs of the Tibetan matchlocks were almost
touching their chests. The Tibetans stared at our
men for a moment across the wall, and then turned
and shambled down sulkily to join their comrades
in the redan.
No one dreamed of the sanguinary action that was
impending. I dismounted, and hastily scribbled a
despatch on my saddle to the effect that the Tibetan
position had been taken without a shot being fired.
The mounted orderly who carried the despatch bore
a similar message from the mission to the Foreign
Office. Then the disarming began. The Tibetans
were told that if they gave up their arms they would
be allowed to go off unmolested. But they did not
wish to give up their arms. It was a ridiculous
position, Sikh and Mongol swaying backwards and
forwards as they wrestled for the possession of swords
and matchlocks. Perhaps the humour of it made
140 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
one careless of the underlying danger. Accounts
differ as to how this wrestUng match developed into
war, how, to the delight of the troops, the toy show
became the * real thing.* Of one thing I am cer-
tain, that a rush was made in the south-east comer
before a shot was fired. If there had been any
firing, I would not have been wandering about by
the Tibetan fiank without a revolver in my hand.
As it was, my revolver was buried in the breast
pocket of my Norfolk jacket under my posh teen.
I have no excuse for this folly except a misplaced
contempt for Tibetan arms and courage — a con-
tempt which accounted for our only serious casualty
in the affair of 1888.* Also I think there was in
the margin of my consciousness a feeling that one
individual by an act of rashness might make him-
self responsible for the lives of hundreds. Hemmed
in as the Tibetans were, no one gave them credit
for the spirit they showed, or imagined that they
would have the folly to resist. But we had to deal
with the most ignorant and benighted people on
earth, most of whom must have thought our maga-
♦ When G)lonel Bromhead ptirsued a Tibetan unarmed. Called
upon to surrender, the Tibetan turned on Colonel Bromhead,
cut ofi his right arm, and badly mutilated the left.
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 141
zine rifles and Maxims as harmless as their own
obsolete matchlocks, and believed that they bore
charms by which they were immune from death.
The attack on the south-east corner was so sudden
that the first man was on me before I had time to
draw my revolver.* He came at me with his sword
hfted in both hands over his head. He had a clear
run of ten yards, and if I had not ducked and caught
him by the knees he must have smashed my skull
open. I threw him, and he dragged me to the
ground. Trying to rise, I was struck on the temple
by a second swordsman, and the blade glanced off
my skull. I received the rest of my wounds, save
one or two, on my hands — as I lay on my face I
used them to protect my head. After a time the
blows ceased ■ my assailants were all shot down or
had fled. I lay absolutely still for a while until I
thought it safe to raise my head. Then I looked
* The reports sent home at the time of the Hot Springs affair
were inaccurate as to the manner in which I was wounded, and
also Major Wallace Dimlop, who was the only European any-
where near me at the time. Major Dunlop shot his own man, but
at such close quarters that the Tibetan's sword slipped down
the barrel of his rifle and cut ofE two fingers of his left hand.
General Macdonald and Captain Bignell, who shot several men
with their revolvers, were standing at the comer where the wall
joined the ruined house, and did not see the attack on myself
and Dunlop.
142 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
round, and, seeing no Tibetans near in an erect
position, I got up and walked out of the ring be-
tween the rifles of the Sikhs. The firing line had
been formed in the meantime on a mound about
thirty yards behind me, and I had been exposed
to the bullets of our own men from two sides, as
well as the promiscuous fire of the Tibetans.
The Tibetans could not have chosen a spot more
fatal for their stand — a bluff hill to the north, a
marsh and stream on the east, and to the west a
stone wall built across the path, which they had
to scale in their attempted assault on General Mac-
donald and his escort. Only one man got over.
Inside there was barely an acre of ground, packed
so thickly with seething humanity that the cross-
fire which the Pioneers poured in offered little
danger to their own men.
The Lhasa General must have fired off his revolver
after I was struck down. I cannot credit the
rumour that his action was a signal for a general
attack, and that the Tibetans allowed themselves
to be herded together as a ruse to get us at close
quarters. To begin with, the demand that they
should give up their arms, and the assurance that
they might go off unmolested, must have been
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 143
quite unexpected by them, and I doubt if they
realized the advantage of an attack at close quarters.
My own impression is that the shot was the act
of a desperate man, ignorant and regardless of
what might ensue. To return to Lhasa with his
army disarmed and disbanded, and without a shot
having been fired, must have meant ruin to him,
and probably death. When we reached Gyantse
we heard that his property had been confiscated
from his family on account of his failure to prevent
our advance.
The Depon was a man of fine presence and bear-
ing. I only saw him once, in his last interview
with Colonel Younghusband, but I cannot dissoci-
ate from him a personal courage and a pride that
must have rankled at the indignity of his position.
Probably he knew that his shot was suicidal.
The action has been described as one of extreme
folly. But what was left him if he lived except
shame and humiliation ? And what Englishman
with the same prospect to face, caught in this dark
eddy of circumstance, would not have done the
same thing ? He could only fire, and let his men
take their chance, God help them !
And the rabble ? They have been called treach-
144 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
erous. Why, I don't know. They were mostly
impressed peasants. They did not wish to give
up their arms. Why should they ? They knew
nothing of the a\vful odds against them. They
were being hustled by white men who did not
draw knives or fire gmis. Amid that babel of
1,500 men, many of them may not have heard the
command ; they may not have believed that their
lives would have been spared.
Looking back on the affair with all the sanity
of experience, nothing is more natural than what
happened. It was folly and suicide, no doubt i
but it was hiunan nature. They were not going
to give in without having a fling. I hope I shall
not be considered a pro-Tibetan when I say that
I admire their gallantry and dash.
As my wounds were being dressed I peered over
the mound at the rout. They were walking away !
Why, in the name of all their Bodhisats and
Munis, did they not nm ? There was cover be-
hind a bend in the hill a few hundred yards dis-
tant, and they were exposed to a devastating hail
of bullets from the Maxims and rifles, that seemed
to mow down every third or fourth man. Yet
they walked I
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS, s 145
It was the most extraordinary procession I have
ever seen. My friends have tried to explain the
phenomenon as due to obstinacy or ignorance, or
Spartan contempt for Hfe. But I think I have the
solution. They were bewildered. The impossible
had happened.
Prayers, and charms, and mantras, and the
holiest of their holy men, had failed them. I
believe they were obsessed with that one thought.
They walked with bowed heads, as if they had
been disillusioned in their gods.
After the last of the retiring Tibetans had dis-
appeared round the comer of the Guru road, the
8th Gurkhas descended from the low range of hills
on the right of the position, and crossed the Guru
Plain in extended order with the 2nd Mounted
Infantry on their extreme left. Orders were then
received by Major Row, commanding the detach-
ment, to take the left of the two houses which
were situated under the hills at the further side
of the plain. This movement was carried out in
conjunction with the mounted infantry. The
advance was covered by the 7-pounder guns of
the Gurkhas under Captain Luke, R.A. The
attacking force advanced in extended order by a
146 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
•eries of small rushes. Cover was scanty, but the
Tibetans, though firing vigorously, fired high, and
there were no casualties. At last the force reached
the outer wall of the house, and regained breath
under cover of it. A few men of the Gurkhas
then climbed on to the roof and descended into
the house, making prisoners of the inmates, who
numbered forty or fifty. Shortly afterwards the
door, which was strongly barricaded, was broken
in, and the remainder of the force entered the
house.
During the advance a munber of the Tibetans
attempted to escape on mules and ponies, but
the greater number of these were followed up and
killed. The Tibetan casualties were at least 700.
Perhaps no British victory has been greeted
with less enthusiasm than the action at the Hot
Springs. Certainly the ofiicers, who did their
duty so thoroughly, had no heart in the business
at all. After the first futile rush the Tibetans
made no further resistance. There was no more
fighting, only the slaughter of helpless men.
It is easy to criticise after the event, but it
seems to me that the only way to have avoided
the lamentable affair at the Hot Springs would
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 147
have been to have drawn up more troops round
the redan, and, when the Tibetans were hemmed
in with the diff in their rear, to have given them
at least twenty minutes to lay down their arms.
In the interval the situation might have been
made clear to everyone. If after the time-limit
they still hesitated, two shots might have brought
them to reason. Then, if they were mad enough
to decide on resistance, their suicide would be on
their own heads. But to send two dozen sepoys
into that sullen mob to take away their arms was
to invite disaster. Given the same circumstances,
and any mob in the world of men, women, or
children, civilized or savage, and there would be
found at least one rash spirit to explode the mine
and set a spark to a general conflagration.
It was thought at the time that the lesson would
save much future bloodshed. But the Tibetan
is so stubborn and convinced of his self-sufficiency
that it took many lessons to teach him the dis-
parity between his armed rabble and the resources
of the British Raj. In the light of after-events
it is clear that we could have made no progress
without inflicting terrible punishment. The
slaughter at Guru only forestalled the inevitable.
148 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
We were drawn into the vortex of war by the
Tibetans* own folly. There was no hope of their
regarding the British as a formidable Power, and
a force to be reckoned with, until we had killed
several thousand of their men.
After the action the Tibetan wounded were
brought into Tuna, and an abandoned dwelling-
house was fitted up as a hospital. An empty
cowshed outside served as an operating-theatre.
The patients showed extraordinary hardihood and
stoicism. After the Dzama Tang engagement
many of the wounded came in riding on yaks from
a distance of fifty or sixty miles. They were con-
sistently cheerful, and always ready to appreciate
a joke. One man, who lost both legs, said : ' In
my next battle I must be a hero, as I cannot run
away.' Some of the wounded were terribly muti-
lated by shell. Two men who were shot through
the brain, and two who were shot through the
lungs, survived. For two days Lieutenant Davys,
Indian Medical Service, was operating nearly all
day. I think the Tibetans were really impressed
with our humanity, and looked upon Davys as
some incarnation of a medicine Buddha. They
never hesitated to undergo operations, did not
THE ACTION AT HOT SPRINGS. 149
flinch at pain, and took chloroform without fear.
Their recuperative power was marvellous. Of
the 168 who were received in hospital, only 20
died ; 148 were sent to their homes on hired yaks
cured. Everyone who visited the hospital at
Tuna left it with an increased respect for the
Tibetans.
*****
Three months after the action I found the
Tibetans still lying where they fell. One shot
through the shoulder in retreat had spun as he
fell facing our rifles. Another tore at the grass
with futile fingers through which a delicate pink
primula was now blossoming. Shrunk arms and
shanks looked hideously dwarfish. By the stream
the bodies lay in heaps with parched skin, Hke
mummies, rusty brown. A knot of coarse black
hair, detached from a skull, was circling round in
an eddy of wind. Everything had been stripped
from the corpses save here and there a wisp of
cloth, looking more grim than the nakedness it
covered, or round the neck some inexpensive
charm, which no one had thought worth taking
for its occult powers. Nature, more kindly, had
strewn round them beautiful spring flowers —
150 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA,
primulas, buttercups, potentils. The stream
* bubbled oilily,' and in the ruined house bees
were swarming.
Ten miles beyond the Springs an officer was
watering his horse in the Bamtso Lake. The
beast swung round trembling, with eyes astare.
Among the weeds lay the last victim.
CHAPTER VII
A HUMAN MISCELLANY
THE Tibetans stood on the roofs of their houses
like a row of cormorants, and watched the
doolie pass underneath. At a httle distance it
was hard to distinguish the children, so motionless
were they, from the squat praying-flags wrapped
in black skin and projecting from the parapets of
the roof. The very babes were impassive and
inscrutable. Beside them perched ravens of an
ebony blackness, sleek and well groomed, and so
consequential that they seemed the most human
element of the group.
My Tibetan bearers stopped to converse with
a woman on the roof who wore a huge red hoop in
her hair, which was matted and touzled like a
negress's. A child behind was searching it, with
apparent success. The woman asked a question,
and the bearers jerked out a few guttural mono-
152 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
syllables, which she received with indifference.
She was not visiVjly elated when she heard that
the doolie contained the first victim of the Tibetan
arms. I should like to have heard her views on
the political situation and the question of a settle-
ment. Some of her relatives, perhaps, were killed
in the mel^e at the Hot Springs, Others who
had been taken prisoners might be enhsted in the
new doolie corps, and receiving an unexpected
wage ; othei'S, perhaps, were wounded and being
treated in our hospitals with all the skill and
resources of modern science ; or they were bring-
ing in food-stuffs for our troops, or setting booby-
traps for them, and lying in wait IxOnml ^nurai-s
to snipe them in the Ked Idol Gor^
The bearers started again ; the hot sun and
the continued exertion made them stink intoler-
ably. Every now and then they put down the
doolie, and began discussing their loot— ear-rings
and cliarmSi rough turquoises and ruby-coloured
stones, torn from the btxiies of the dead and
wounded. For the moment I was tired of Tibet.
I remembered iuiother exodus wheji I was dis-
gusted with the country, I hud been allured
across tl><- iTlin.l i\as by the daziUng purity ol
A HUMAN MISCELLANY. 153
che snows. I had escaped the Avemus of the
plains, and I might have been content, but there
was the seduction of the snows. I had gained an
upper story, but I must cHmb on to the roof.
Every morning the Sun-god threw open the mag-
nificent portals of his domain, dazzling rifts and
spires, black chffs glacier-bitten, the flawless
vaulted roof of Kinchenjunga —
' Myriads of topaz lights and jacinth work
Of subtlest jewellery.'
One morning the roof of the Sun-god's palace
was clear and cloudless, but about its base hung
little clouds of snow-dust, as though the Olympians
had been holding tourney, and the dust had risen
in the tracks of their chariots. All this was seen
over galvanized iron roofs. The Sun-god had
thrown open his palace, and we were playing pitch
and toss on the steps. While I was so engrossed
I looked up. Columns of white cloud were rising
to obscure the entrance. Then a sudden shaft
of sunlight broke the fumes. There was a vivid
flash, a dazzle of jewel-work, and the portals
closed, I was covered with bashfulnc ' •lamc.
It was a direct invitation. I made xcuse
154 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
to my companion, said I had an engagement,
went straight to my rooms, and packed.
But while the aroma of my carriers insulted
the pure air, and their chatter over their tawdry
spoil profaned the silent precincts of Chumulari,
their mountain goddess, I thought more of the dis-
enchantment of that earUer visit. I remembered
sitting on a hillside near a lamasery, which was
surrounded by a small village of Lamas' houses.
Outside the temple a priest was operating on a
yak for vaccine. He had bored a large hole in
the shoulder, into which he alternately buried his
forearm and squirted hot water copiously. A
hideous yellow trickle beneath indicated that the
poor beast was entirely perforated. A crowd of
admiring Httle boys and girls looked on with
reUsh. The smell of the poor yak was distressing,
but the smell of the Lama was worse. I turned
away in disgust — turned my back contentedly
and without regret on the mysterious land and
the road to the Forbidden City. At that moment,
if the Dalai Lama himself had sent me a chaise
with a dozen outriders and implored me to come,
I would not have visited him, not for a thousand
yaks. The scales of vagabondage fell from my
A HUMAN MISCELLANY. 155
eyes j the spirit of unrest died within me. I had
a longing for fragrant soap, snowy white linen,
fresh-complexioned ladies and clean-shaven, well-
groomed men.
And here again I was returning very slowly to
civilization j but I was coming back with half an
army corps to shake the Dalai Lama on his throne
—or if there were no throne or Dalai Lama, to do
what ? I wondered if the gentlemen sitting
snugly in Downing Street had any idea.
At Phari I was snow-bound for a week, and
there were no doolie-bearers. The Darjeeling
dandy-wallahs were no doubt at the front, where
they were most wanted, as the trained army doolie
corps are plainsmen, who can barely breathe,
much less work, at these high elevations. At last
we secured some Bhutias who were returning to
the front.
The Bhutia is a type I have long known, though
not in the capacity of bearer. These men regarded
the dooHe with the invahd inside as a piece of
baggage that had to be conveyed from one camp
to another, no matter how. Of the art of their
craft they knew nothing, but they battled with the
elements so stoutly that one forgave them their
156 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
awkwardness. They carried me along mountain-
paths so slippery that a mule could find no foot-
hold, through snow so deep and clogging that
with all their toil they could make barely half a
mile an hour ; and they took shelter once from a
hailstorm in which exposure without thick head-
covering might have been fatal. Often they
dropped the doolie, sometimes on the edge of a
precipice, in places where one perspired with
fright ; they collided quite unnecessarily with
stones and rocks ; but they got through, and
that was the main point. Men who have carried
a dooHe over a difiicult mountain-pass (14,350 feet),
slipping and stumbhng through snow and ice in
the face of a hurricane of wind, deserve well of
the great Raj which they serve.
On the road into DarjeeUng, owing to the absence
of trained doolie-bearers, I met a human miscellany
that I am not hkely to forget. Eight miles beyond
the Jelap Ues the fort of Gnatong, whence there is
a continual descent to the plains of India. The
neighbouring hills and valleys had been searched
for men ; high wages were offered, and at last
from some remote village in Sikkim came a dozen
weedy Lepchas, simian in appearance, and of
A HUMAN MISCELLANY. 157
uncouth speech, who understood no civilized
tongue. They had never seen a doolie, but in
default of better they were employed. It was
nobody's fault j bearers must be had, and the
profession was unpopular. I was their * first job.*
I settled myself comfortably, all unconscious of
my impending fate. They started off with a wild
whoop, threw the dooHe up in the air, caught it
on their shoulders, and played cup and ball with
the contents until they were tired. I swore at
them in Spanish, English, and Hindustani, but it
was small reUef, as they didn't take the slightest
notice, and I had neither hands to beat them nor
feet to kick them over the khud. My orderly
followed and told them in a mild North-Country
accent that they would be punished if they did it
again ; there is some absurd army regulation about
British soldiers striking followers. For all they
knew, he was addressing the stars. They dropped
the thing a dozen times in ten miles, and thought
it the hugest joke in the world. I shall shy at a
hospital dooUe for the rest of my natural life.
There is a certain Mongol smell which is the
most unpleasant human odour I know. It is
common to Lepchas. Bhutanese, and Tibetans
158 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
but it is found in its purest essence in these low-
country, cross-bred Lepchas, who were my close
companions for two days. When we reached the
heat of the valley, they jumped into the stream
and bathed, but they emerged more unsavoury
than ever. It was a rehef to pass a dead mule.
At the next village they got drunk, after which
they developed an amazing surefootedness, and
carried me in without mishap.
After two days with my Lepchas we reached
Rungli (2,000 feet), whence the road to the plains
is almost level. Here a friend introduced me to
a Jemadar in a Gurkha regiment.
* He writes all about our soldiers and the fighting
in Tibet,' he said. * It all goes home to England
on the telegraph-wire, and people at home are
reading what he says an hour or two after he has
given khubher to the office here.'
' Oh yes,' said the Jemadar in Hindustani, * and
if things are well the people in England will be
very glad ; and if we are ill and die, and there is
too much cold, they will be very sorry.*
The Jemadar smiled. He was most sincere and
sympathetic. If an EngUshman had said the same
thing, he would have been thought half-witted.
A HUMAN MISCELLANY. 159
but Orientals have a way of talking platitudes as
if they were epigrams.
The Jemadar's speech was so much to the point
that it called up a little picture in my mind of
the London Underground and a liveried official
dealing out Daily Mails to crowds of inquirers
anxious for news of Tibet. Only the sun blazed
overhead and the stream made music at our feet.
I left the little rest-hut in the morning, resigned
to the inevitable jolting, and expecting another
promiscuous collection of humanity to do duty as
kahars. But, to my great joy, I found twelve
Lucknow doolie-wallahs waiting by the veranda,
lithe and erect, and part of a drilled corps. Drill
discipine is good, but in the art of their trade
these men needed no teaching. For centuries
their ancestors had carried palanquins in the plains,
bearing Rajas and ladies of high estate, perhaps
even the Great Mogul himself. The running step
to their strange rhythmic chants must be an instinct
to them. That morning I knew my troubles were
at an end. They started off with steps of velvet,
improvising as they went a kind of plaintive song
like an intoned litany.
The leading man chanted a dimeter Hue, gener-
i6o THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
ally with an iambus in the first foot ; but when
the road was difficult or the ascent toilsome, the
metre became trochaic, in accordance with the
best traditions of classical poetry. The hind-men
responded with a sing-song trochaic dimeter which
sounded hke a long-drawn-out monosyllable. They
never initiated anything. It was not custom ; it
had never been done. The laws of Nature are not
so immutable as the ritual of a Hindu guild.
We sped on smoothly for eight miles, and when
I asked the kahars if they were tired, they said
they would not rest, as relays were waiting on the
road. All the way they chanted their hymn of
the obvious : —
' Moxintaias are steep ;
Chorus : Yes, they are.
The road is narrow ;
Yes, it is.
The sahib is wounded ;
That is so.
With many wounds ;
They are many.
The road goes down ;
Yes, it does.
Now we are hurrying ;
Yes, we are.'
Here they ran swiftly till the next rise in the hill.
Waiting in the shade for relays, I heard two
A HUMAN MISCELLANY. i6i
Englishmen meet on the road. One had evidently
been attached, and was going down to join his
regiment ; the other was coming up on special
service. I caught fragments of our crisp expres-
sive argot.
Officer going down [apparently disillusioned) :
' Oh, it's the same old bald-headed maidan we
usually muddle into.'
Officer coming up : * . . . Up above Phari ideal
country for native cavalry, isn't it ? ... A few
men with lances prodding those fellows in the
back would soon put the fear of God into them.
Why don't they send up the — ^th Light Cavalry ? *
Officer going down : * They've Walers, and you
can't feed 'em, and the — th are all Jats. They're
no good ; can't do without a devil of a lot of milk.
They want bucketsful of it. Well, bye-bye ; you'll
soon get fed up with it.'
The doolie was hitched up, and the kahars re-
sumed their chant :
* A sahib goes up ;
Yes, he does.
A sahib goes down ;
That is so.'
The heat and the monotonous cadence induced
6
i62 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
drowsiness, and one fell to thinking of this odd
motley of men, all of one genus, descended from
the anthropoid ape, and exhibiting various phases
of evolution — ^the primitive Lepcha, advanced
little further than his domestic dog ; the Tibetan
kahar caught in the wheel of civiUzation, and
forming part of the mechanism used to bring his
own people into line ; the Lucknow dooUe-bearer
and the Jemadar Sahib, products of a hoary
civilization that have escaped complexity and
nerves • and lord of all these, by virtue of his
race, the most evolved, the English subaltern.
All these folk are brought together because the
people on the other side of the hills will insist on
being obsolete anachronisms, who have been asleep
for hundreds of years while we have been develop-
ing the sense of our duty towards our neighbour.
They must come into Une; it is the will of the
most evolved.
The next day I was carried for miles through a
tropical forest. The damp earth sweated in the
sun after last night's thunder-storm, and the vegeta-
tion seemed to grow visibly in the steaming moisture.
Gorgeous butterflies, the epicures of a season, came
out to indulge a love of sunshine and suck nectar
A HUMAN MISCELLANY. 163
from all this profusion. Overhead, birds shrieked
and whistled and beat metal, and did everything
but sing. The cicadas raised a deafening din in
praise of their Maker, seeming to think, in their
natural egoism, that He had made the forest,
oak, and gossamer for their sakes. We were not
a thousand feet above the sea. Thousands of
feet above us, where we were camping a day or
two ago, our troops were marching through snow.
The next morning we crossed the Tista River,
and the road led up through sal forests to a tea-
garden at 3,500 feet. Here we entered the most
perfect climate in the world, and I enjoyed genial
hospitality and a foretaste of civilization : a bed,
sheets, a warm bath, clean linen, fruit, sparkling
soda, a roomy veranda with easy-chairs, and out-
side roses and trellis-work, and a garden bright
with orchids and wild-turmeric and a profusion of
semi-tropical and English flowers — all the things
which the spoilt children of civilization take as a
matter of course, because they have never slept
under the stars, or known what it is to be hungry
and cold, or exhausted by struggling against the
forces of untamed Nature.
At noon next day, in the cantonments at Jela-
l64 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
pahar, an officer saw a strange sight — a field-
hospital doolie with the red cross, and twelve kahars,
Lucknow men, whose plaintive chant must have
recalled old days on the North-West frontier.
Behind on a mule rode a British orderly of the King's
Own Scottish Borderers, bearded and weather-
stained, and without a trace of the spick-and-spanness
of cantonments. I saw the officer's face lighten ;
he became visibly excited ; he could not restrain
himself — he swung round, rode after my orderly,
and began to question him without shame. Here
was civilization longing for the wilderness, and over
there, beyond the mist, under that snow-clad peak,
were men in the wilderness longing for civilization.
A cloud swept down and obscured the Jelap, as
if the chapter were closed. But it is not. That
implacable barrier must be crossed again, and
then, when we have won the most secret places of
the earth, we may cry with Burton and his Arabs,
' Voyaging is victory I '
CHAPTER VIII
THE ADVANCE OF THE MISSION OPPOSED
THE intention of the Tibetans at the Hot Springs
has not been made clear. They say that
their orders were to oppose our advance, but to
avoid a battle, just as our orders were to take away
their arms, if possible, without firing a shot. The
muddle that ensued lends itself to several inter-
pretations, and the Tibetans ascribe their loss to
British treachery. They say that we ordered them
to destroy the fuses of their matchlocks, and then
fired on them. This story was taken to Lhasa,
with the result that the new levies from the capital
were not deterred by the terrible punishment in-
flicted on their comrades. Orders were given to
oppose us on the road to Gyantse, and an armed
force, which included many of the fugitives from
Guru, gathered about Kangma.
The peace delegates always averred that we fired
i66 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
the first shot at Guru. But even if we give the
Tibetans the benefit of the doubt, and admit that
the action grew out of the natural excitement of
two forces struggling for arms, both of whom were
originally anxious to avoid a conflict, there is still
no doubt that the responsibiUty of continuing the
hostilit^i nes with the Tibetans.
On tlie morning of April 7 ten scouts of the 2nd
Mounted Infantry, under Captain Peterson, found
the Tibetans occup3dng the village of Samando,
seventeen miles beyond Kalatso. As our men had
orders not to fire or provoke an attack, they sent
a messenger up to the walls to ask one of the Tibetans
to come out and parley. They said they would send
for a man, and invited us to come nearer. When
we had ridden up to within a hundred yards of the
village, they opened a heavy fire on us with their
matchlocks. Our scouts spread out, rode back a
few hundred yards, and took cover behind stones.
Not a man or pony was hit. Before retiring, the
mounted infantry fired a few volleys at the Tibetans
who were lining the roofs of two large houses and
a wall that connected them, their heads only ap-
pearing above the low turf parapets. Twice the
Tibetans sent off a mounted man for reinforcements.
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 167
but our shooting was so good that each time the
horse returned riderless. The next morning we
found the village unoccupied, and discovered six
dead left on the roofs, most of whom were wounded
about the chest. Our bullets had penetrated the
two feet of turf and killed the man behind. Putting
aside the question of Guru, the Samando affair was
the first overt act of hostility directed against the
mission.
After Samando there was no longer any doubt
that the Tibetans intended to oppose our advance.
On the 8th the mounted infantry discovered a wall
built across the valley and up the hills just this
side of Kangma, which they reported as occupied
by about 1,000 men. As it was too late to attack
that night, we formed camp. The next morning
we found the wall evacuated, and the villagers re-
ported that the Tibetans had retired to the gorge
below. This habit of building formidable barriers
across a valley, stretching from crest to crest of the
flanking hills, is a well-known trait of Tibetan
Wcirfare. The wall is often built in the night and
abandoned the next morning. One would imagine
that, after toiling all night to make a strong posi-
tion, the Tibetans would hold their wall if they
i68 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
intended to make a stand anywhere. But they do
not grudge the labour. Wall-building is an instinct
with them. When a Tibetan sees two stones by the
roadside, he cannot resist placing one on the top
of the other. So wherever one goes the whole
countryside is studded with these monuments of
wasted labour, erected to propitiate the genii of
the place, or from mere force of habit to while away
an idle hour. During the campaign of 1888 it was
this practice of strengthening and abandoning posi-
tions more than anything else which gained the
Tibetans the reputation of cowardice, which they
have since shown to be totally undeserved.
On April 8, owing to the delay in reconnoitring
the wall, we made only about eight miles, and
camped. The next morning we had marched
about two miles, when we found the high ridge
on the left flank occupied by the enemy, and the
mounted infantry reported them in the gorge be-
yond. Two companies of the 8th Gurkhas under
Major Row were sent up to the hill on the left to
turn the enemy's right flank, and the mountain
battery (No. 7) came into action on the right at
over 3,000 yards. The enemy kept up a continuous
but ineffectual fire from the ridge, none of their
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 169
jingal bullets falling anywhere near us. The
Gurkhas had a very difficult climb. The hill was
quite 2,000 feet above the valley ; the lower and
a good deal of the other slopes were of coarse sand
mixed with shale, and the rest nothing but slippery
rock. The summit of the hill was approached by a
number of step-like shale terraces covered with
snow. When only a short way up, a snowstorm
came on and obscured the Gurkhas from view. The
cold was intense, and the troops in the valley began
to collect the sparse brushwood, and made fires to
keep themselves warm.
On account of the nature of the hillside and the
high altitude, the progress of the Gurkhas was very
slow, and it took them nearly three hours to reach
the ridge held by the enemy. When about two-
thirds of the way up, they came under fire from
the ridge, but all the shots went high. The jingals
carried well over them at about 1,200 yards. The
enemy also sent a detachment to meet them on the
top, but these did not fire long, and retired as the
Gurkhas advanced. When the 8th reached the
summit, the Tibetans were in full flight down the
opposite slope, which was also snow-covered.
Thirty were shot down in the rout, and fifty-
6a
170 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
four who were hiding in the caves were made
prisoners.
In the meanwhile the battery had been making
very good practice at 3,000 yards. Seven men
were found dead on the stunmit, and four wounded,
evidently by their fire.
But to return to the main action in the gorge.
The Tibetans held a very strong position among
some loose boulders on the right, two miles beyond
the gully which the Gurkhas had ascended to make
their flank attack. The rocks extended from the
bluff cliff to the path which skirted the stream.
No one could ask for better cover ; it was most diffi-
cult to distinguish the drab-coated Tibetans who
lay concealed there. To attack this strong posi-
tion General Macdonald sent Captain Bethune with
one company of the 32nd Pioneers, placing Lieu-
tenant Cook with his Maxim on a mound at 500
yards to cover Bethune's advance. Bethune led a
frontal attack. The Tibetans fired wildly until
the Sikhs were within eighty yards, and then fled
up the valley. Not a single man of the 32nd was
hit during the attack, though one sepoy was wounded
in the pursuit by a bullet in the hand from a man
who lay concealed behind a rock within a few
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 171
yards of him. While the 32nd were dislodging the
Tibetans from the path and the rocks above it, the
mounted infantry galloped through them to recon-
noitre ahead and cut off the fugitives in the valley.
They also came through the enemy's fire at very
close quarters without a casualty. On emerging
from the gorge the mounted infantry discovered
that the ridge the Tibetans had held was shaped
like the letter S, so that by doubling back along
an almost parallel valley they were able to intercept
the enemy whom the Gurkhas had driven down the
cliffs. The unfortunate Tibetans were now hemmed
in between two fires, and hardly a man of them
escaped.
The Tibetan casualties, as returned at the time,
were much exaggerated. The killed amounted to
100, and, on the principle that the proportion of
wounded must be at least two to one, it was esti-
mated that their losses were 300. But, as a matter
of fact, the wounded could not have numbered
more than two dozen.
The prisoners taken by the Gurkhas on the top
of the ridge turned out to be impressed peasants,
who had been compelled to fight us by the Lamas.
They were not soldiers by inclination or instinct.
172 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
and I believe their greatest fear was that they
might be released and driven on to fight us again.
The action at the Red Idol Gorge may be re-
garded as the end of the first phase of the Tibetan
opposition. We reached Gyantse on April ii, and
the fort was surrendered without resistance. Noth-
ing had occurred on the march up to disturb our
estimate of the enemy. Since the campaign of
1888 no one had given the Tibetans any credit for
martial instincts, and until the Karo la action and
the attack on Gyantse they certainly displayed
none. It would be hard to exaggerate the strategical
difficulties of the country through which we had to
pass. The progress of the mission and its escort
under similar conditions would have been impossible
on the North-West frontier or in any country in-
habited by a people with the rudiments of sense or
spirit. The difficulties of transport were so great
that the escort had to be cut down to the finest
possible figure. There were barely enough men for
pickets, and many of the ordinary precautions of
field manoeuvres were out of the question. But the
Tibetan failed to realize his opportunities. He
avoided the narrow forest-clad ravines of Sikkim
and Chumbi, and made his first staj^d on the open
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 173
plateau at Guru. Fortunately for us, he never
learnt what transport means to a civilized army.
A bag of barley-meal, some weighty degchies, and
a massive copper teapot slung over the saddle are
all he needs ; evening may produce a sheep or a
yak. His movements are not hampered by sup-
plies. If the importance of the transport question
had ever entered his head, he would have avoided
the Tuna camp, with its Maxims and mounted in-
fantry, and made a dash upon the line of com-
munications. A band of hardy mountaineers in
their own country might very easily surprise and
annihilate an ill-guarded convoy in a narrow valley
thickly forested and flanked by steep hills. To
furtively cut an artery in your enemy's arm and
let out the blood is just as effective as to knock him
on the head from in front. But in this first phase
of the operations the Tibetans showed no strategy ;
they were badly led, badly armed, and apparently
devoid of all soldier-like qualities. Only on one or
two occasions they displayed a desperate and fatal
courage, and this new aspect of their character was
the first indication that we might have to revise the
views we had formed sixteen years ago of an enemy
who has seemed to us since a unique exception to
174 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
the rule that a hardy mountain people are never
deficient in courage and the instinct of self-defence.
The most extraordinary aspect of the fighting up
to our arrival at Gyantse was that we had only one
casualty from a gunshot wound — the Sikh who was
shot in the hand at the Dzama Tang affair by a
Tibetan whose jezail was almost touching him.
Yet at the Hot Springs the Tibetans fired off their
matchlocks and rifles into the thick of us, and at
Guru an hour afterwards the Gurkhas walked right
up to a house held by the enemy, under heavy fire,
and took it without a casualty. The mounted in-
fantry were exposed to a volley at Samando at
100 yards, and again in the Red Idol Gorge they
rode through the enemy's fire at an even shorter
range. In the same action the 32nd made a frontal
attack on a strong position which was held until
they were within eighty yards, and not a man was
hit. No wonder we had a contempt for the Tibetan
arms. Their matchlocks, weapons of the rudest
description, must have been as dangerous to their
own marksmen as to the enemy ; their artillery fire,
to judge by our one experience of it at Dzama Tang,
was harmless and erratic ; and their modem Lhasa-
made rifles had not left a mark on our men. The
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 175
Tibetans' only chance seemed to be a rush at close
quarters, but they had not proved themselves com-
petent swordsmen. My own individual case was
sufficient to show that they were bunglers. Besides
the twelve wounds I received at the Hot Springs,
I found seven sword-cuts on my poshteen, none of
which were driven home. During the whole cam-
paign we had only one death from sword-woimds.
Arrived at Gyantse, we settled down with some
sense of security. A bazaar was held outside the
camp. The people seemed friendly, and brought
in large quantities of supplies. Colonel Young-
husband, in a despatch to the Foreign Office, re-
ported that with the surrender of Gyantse Fort
on April 12 resistance in that part of Tibet was
ended. A letter was received from the Amban
stating that he would certainly reach Gyantse
within the next three weeks, and that competent
and trustworthy Tibetan representatives would
accompany him. The Lhasa officials, it was said,
were in a state of panic, and had begged the
Amban to visit the British camp and effect a settle-
ment.
On April 20 General Macdonald's staff, with the
lo-pounder guns, three companies of the 23rd
176 THE UNVEILING OF XHASA.
Pioneers, and one and a half companies of the 8th
Giirkhas, returned to Chumbi to relieve the strain
on the transport and strengthen the line of com-
munications. Gyantse Jong was evacuated, and
we occupied a position in a group of houses, as we
thought, well out of range of fire from the fort.
Everything was quiet until the end of April, when
we heard that the Tibetans were occupying a wall
in some strength near the Karo la, forty-two miles
from Gyantse, on the road to Lhasa. Colonel
Brander, of the 32nd Pioneers, who was left in com-
mand at Gyantse, sent a small party of mounted
infantry and pioneers to reconnoitre the position.
They discovered 2,000 of the enemy behind a strong
loopholed wall stretching across the valley, a dis-
tance of nearly 600 yards. As the party explored
the ravine they had a narrow escape from a booby-
trap, a formidable device of Tibetan warfare, which
was only employed against our troops on this occa-
sion. An artificial avalanche of rocks and stones
is so cunningly contrived that the removal of one
stone sends the whole engine of destruction thun-
dering down the hillside. Luckily, the Tibetans did
not wait for our main body, but loosed the machine
on an advance guard of mounted infantry, who
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 177
were in extended order and able to take shelter
behind rocks.
On the return of the reconnaissance Colonel
Brander decided to attack, as he considered the
gathering threatened the safety of the mission. The
Karo Pass is an important strategical position, lying
as it does at the junction of the two roads to
India, one of which leads to Kangma, the other to
Gyantse. A strong force holding the pass might at
any moment pour troops down the valley to Kangma,
cut us off in the rear, and destroy our line of com-
munications. When Colonel Brander led his small
force to take the pass, it was not with the object
of clearing the road to Lhasa. The measure was
purely defensive : the action was undertaken to keep
the road open for convoys and reinforcements, and
to protect isolated posts on the line. The force
with the mission was still an * escort,* and so far
its operations had been confined to dispersing the
armed levies that blocked the road.
On May 3 Colonel Brander left Gyantse with his
column of 400 rifles, comprising three companies of
the 32nd Pioneers, under Captains Bethune and
Cullen and Lieutenant Hodgson ; one company of
the 8th, under Major Row and Lieutenant Coleridge,
178 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
with two 7-pounder guns ; the Maxim detachment
of the Norfolks, under Lieutenant Hadow ; and
forty-five of the ist Mounted Infantry, under Cap-
tain Ottley. On the first day the column marched
eighteen miles, and halted at Gobshi. On the second
day they reached Ralung, eleven miles further, and
on the third marched up the pass and encamped on
an open spot about two miles from where the
Tibetans had built their wall. A reconnaissance
that afternoon estimated the enemy at 2,000, and
they were holding the strongest position on the
road to Lhasa. They had built a wall the whole
length of a narrow spur and up the hill on the other
side of the stream, and in addition held detached
sangars high up the steep hills, and well thrown
forward. Their flanks rested on very high and
nearly precipitous rocks. It was only possible to
climb the ridge on our right from a mile behind,
and on the left from nearly three-quarters of a mile.
Colonel Brander at first considered the practica-
bility of delaying the attack on the main wall imtil
the Gurkhas had completed their flanking move-
ments, cleared the Tibetans out of the sangars that
enfiladed our advance in the valley, and reached a
position on the hills beyond the wall, whence they
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 179
could fire into the enemy's rear. But the cliffs were
so sheer that the ascent was deemed impracticable,
and the next morning it was decided to make a
frontal attack without waiting for the Gurkhas to
turn the flank. No one for a moment thought it
could be done.
The troops marched out of camp at ten o'clock.
One company of the 32nd Pioneers, under Captain
Cullen, was detailed to attack on the right, and a
second company, under Captain Bethune, to follow
the river-bed, where they were under cover of the
high bank until within 400 yards of the wall, and
then rush the centre of the position. The ist
Mounted Infantry, under Captain Ottley, we<T. to
follow this company along the valley. The guns,
Maxims, and one company of the 32nd m reserve,
occupied a small plateau in the centre. Half a
company of the 8th Gurkhas were left behind to
guard the camp. A second half-company, under
Major Row, were sent along the hill-side on the left
to attack the enemy's extreme right sangar, but
their progress over the shifting shale slopes and
jagged rocks was so slow that the front attack did
not wait for them.
The fire from the wall was very heavy, and the
i8o THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
advance of Cullen's and Bethune's companies was
checked. Bethune sent half a company back, and
signalled to the mounted infantry to retire. Then,
compelled by some fatal impulse, he changed his
mind, and with half a company left the cover of the
river-bed and rushed out into the open within forty
yards of the main wall, exposed to a withering fire
from three sides. His half-company held back,
and Bethime fell shot through the head with only
four men by his side — a bugler, a store-office babu,
and two devoted Sikhs. What the clerk was doing
there no one knows, but evidently the soldier in the
man had smouldered in suppression among the
office files and triumphed splendidly. It was a
gallant reckless charge against uncounted odds.
Poor Bethime had learnt to despise the Tibetans*
fire, and his contempt was not unnatural. On the
march to Gyantse the enemy might have been firing
blank cartridges for all the effect they had left on
our men. At Dzama Tang Bethune had made a
frontal attack on a strong position, and carried it
without losing a man. Against a similar rabble it
might have been possible to rush the wall with his
handful of Sikhs, but these new Kham levies who
held the Karo la were a very different type of soldier.
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. i8i
The frontal attack was a terrible mistake, as was
shown four hours afterwards, when the enemy were
driven from their position without further loss to
ourselves by a flanking movement on the right.
At twelve o'clock Major Row, after a laborious
climb, reached a point on a hillside level with the
sangars, which were strongly held on a narrow
ledge 200 yards in front of him. Here he sent up
a section of his men under cover of projecting rocks
to get above the sangars and fire down into them.
In the meanwhile some of the enemy scrambled on
to the rocks above, and began throwing down
boulders at the Gurkhas, but these either broke up
or fell harmless on the shale slopes above. After
waiting an hour, Major Row went back himself
and found his section checked half-way by the
stone-throwing and shots from above ; they had
tried another way, but found it impracticable.
Keeping a few men back to fire on any stone-
throwers who showed themselves. Row dribbled
his men across the difficult place, and in half an
hour reached the rocky ledge above the sangars and
looked right down on the enemy. At the first few
shots from the Gurkhas they began to bolt, and,
coming into the fire of the men below, who now
i82 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
rushed forward, nearly every man — forty in all —
was killed. One or two who escaped the fire found
their flight cut off by a precipice, and in an aban-
donment of terror hurled themselves down on the
rocks below. After clearing the sangar, the Gurkhas
had only to surmount the natural difficulties of the
rocky and steep hill ; for though the enemy fired on
them from the wall, their shooting was most erratic.
When at last they reached a small spur that over-
looked the Tibetan main position, they found, to
their disgust, that each man was protected from
their fire by a high stone traverse, on the right-
hand of which he lay secure, and fired through
loopholes barely a foot from the ground.
The Gurkhas had accomplished a most difficult
mountaineering feat under a heavy fire ; they had
turned the enemy out of their sangars, and after
four hours' cUmbing they had scaled the heights
everyone thought inaccessible. But their further
progress was barred by a sheer cliff; they had
reached a cul-de-sac. Looking up from the valley,
it appeared that the spot where they stood com-
manded the enemy's position, but we had not reck-
oned on the traverses. , This amazing advance in
the enemy's defensive tactics had rendered their
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 183
position unassailable from the left, and made the
Gurkhas' flanking movement a splendid failure.
It was now two o'clock, and, except for the cap-
ture of the enemy's right sangars, we had done
nothing to weaken their opposition. The frontal
and flanking attacks had failed. Bethune was
killed, and seventeen men. Our guns had made
no impression on their wall. Looking down from
the spur which overlooked the Tibetan camp and
the valley beyond, the Gurkhas could see a large
reinforcement of at least 500 men coming up to
join the enemy. The situation was critical. In
four hours we had done nothing, and we knew that
if we could not take the place by dusk we would
have to abandon the attack or attempt to rush
the camp at night. That would have been a des-
perate undertaking — 400 men against 3,000, a rush
at close quarters with the bayonet, in which the
superiority of our modern rifles would be greatly
discounted.
Matters were at this crisis, when we saw the
Tibetans running out of their extreme left sangars.
At twelve o'clock, when the front attack had failed
and the left attack was apparently making no prog-
ress, fifteen men of the 32nd who were held in re-
i84 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
serve were sent up the hill on the right. They had
reached a point above the enemy's left forward
sangar, and were firing into it with great effect.
Twice the Tibetans rushed out, and, coming under
a heavy Maxim fire, bolted back again. The third
time they fied in a mass, and the Maxims mowed
down about thirty. The capture of the sangars
was a signal for a general stampede. From the
position they had won the Sikhs could enfilade
the main wall itself. The Tibetans only waited a
few shots ; then they turned and fled in three huge
bodies down the valley. Thus the fifteen Sikhs
on the right saved the situation. The tension had
been great. In no other action during the cam-
paign, if we except Palla, did the success of our
arms stand so long in doubt. Had we failed to
take the wall by daylight. Colonel Brander's col-
umn would have been in a most precarious position.
We could not afford to retire, and a night attack
could only have been pushed home with heavy loss.
Directly the flight began, the ist Mounted In-
fantry — forty-two men, under Captain Ottley —
rode up to the wall. They were ten minutes mak-
ing a breach. Then they poured into the valley
and harassed the flying masses, riding on their
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 185
flanks and pursuing them for ten miles to within
sight of the Yamdok Tso. It showed extraordinary-
courage on the part of this Httle band of Masbis
and Gurkhas that they did not hesitate to hurl
themselves on the flanks of this enormous body of
men, like terriers on the heels of a flock of cattle,
though they had had experience of their stubborn
resistance the whole day long, and rode through
the bodies of their fallen comrades. Not a man
drew rein. The Tibetans were caught in a trap.
The hills that sloped down to the valley afforded
them little cover. Their fate was only a question
of time and ammunition. The mounted infantry
returned at night with only three casualties, having
killed over 300 men.
The sortie to the Karo la was one of the most
brilliant episodes of the campaign. We risked more
then than on any other occasion. But the safety
of the mission and many isolated posts on the line
was imperilled by this large force at the cross-roads,
which might have increased until it had doubled
or trebled if we had not gone out to disperse it.
A weak commander might have faltered and weighed
the odds, but Colonel Brander saw that it was a
moment to strike, and struck home. His action
i86 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
was criticised at the time as too adventurous. But
the sortie is one of the many instances that our
interests are best cared for by men who are beyond
the telegraph-poles, and can act on their own ini-
tiative without reference to Government offices in
Simla.
As the column advanced to the Karo la, a mes-
sage was received that the mission camp at Gyantse
had been attacked in the early morning of the 5th,
and that Major Murray's men — 150 odd rifles —
had not only beaten the enemy off, but had made
three sorties from different points and killed 200.
With the action at the Karo la and the attack
on the mission at Gyantse began the second phase
of the operations, during which we were practically
besieged, in our own camp, and for nine weeks com-
pelled to act on the defensive. The courage of the
Tibetans was now proved beyond a doubt. The
new levies from Kham and Shigatze were composed
of very different men from those we herded hke
sheep at Guru. They were also better armed than
our previous assailants, and many of them knew
how to shoot. At the same time they were better
led. The primitive ideas of strategy hitherto dis-
played by the Tibetans gave place to more advanced
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 187
tactics. The usual story got wind that the Tibetans
were being led by trained Russian Buriats. But
there was no truth in it. The altered conditions
of the campaign, as we may call it, after it became
necessary to begin active operations, were due to
the force of circumstances — the arrival of stouter
levies from the east, the great numerical superiority
of the enemy, and their strongly fortified positions.
The operations at Gyantse are fully dealt with
in another chapter, and I will conclude this account
of the opposition to our advance with a descrip-
tion of the attack on the Kangma post, the only
attempt on the part of the enemy to cut off our
line of communications. Its complete failure seems
to have deterred the Tibetans from subsequent ven-
tures of the kind.
From Ralung, ten miles this side of the Karo la,
two roads branch off to India. The road leading
to Kangma is the shortest route ; the other road
makes a detour of thirty miles to include Gyantse.
Ralung lies at the apex of the triangle, as shown
in the rough diagram. Gyantse and Kangma form
the two base angles.
If it had been possible, a strong post would have
been left at the Karo la after the action of May 6.
i88 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
■<7
KANaUA
But our small force was barely sufficient to garri-
son Gyantse, and we had to leave the alternative
approach to Kangma unguarded. An attack was
expected there i the post was strongly fortified,
and garrisoned by two companies of the 23rd Pion-
eers, under Captain Pearson.
The attack, which was made on June 7, was un-
expectedly dramatic. We have learnt that the
Tibetan has courage, but in other respects he is
still an unknown quantity. In motive and action
he is as mysterious and unaccountable as his para-
doxical associations would lead us to imagine. In
dealing with the Tibetans one must expect the
unexpected. They will try to achieve the impossible,
and shut their eyes to the obvious. They have a
genius for doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Their ^lan, their dogged courage, their undoubted
heroism, their occasional acuteness, their more gen-
eral imbecile folly and vacillation and inability to
grasp a situation, make it impossible to say what
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 189
they will do in any given circumstances. A few
dozen men will hurl themselves against hopeless
odds, and die to a man fighting desperately ; a
handful of impressed peasants will devote them-
selves to death in the defence of a village, like the
old Roman patriots. At other times they will for-
sake a strongly sangared position at the first shot,
and thousands will prowl round a camp at night,
shouting grotesquely, but too timid to make a deter-
mined attack on a vastly outnumbered enemy.
The uncertainty of the enemy may be accounted
for to some extent by the fact that we are not often
opposed by the same levies, which would imply
that theirs is greatly the courage of ignorance.
Yet in the face of the fighting at Palla, Naini, and
Gyantse Jong, this is evidently no fair estimate
of the Tibetan spirit. The men who stood in the
breach at Gyantse in that hell of shrapnel and
Maxim and rifle fire, and dropped down stones on
our Gurkhas as they climbed the wall, met death
knowingly, and were unterrified by the resources
of modern science in war, the magic, the demons,
the unseen, unimagined messengers of death.
But the men who attacked the Kangma post,
what parallel in history have we for these ? They
igo THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
came by night many miles over steep mountain
cliffs and rocky ravines, perhaps silently, with deter-
mined purpose, weighing the odds ; or, as I like to
think, boastfully, with song and jest, saying, ' We
will steal in upon these English at dawn before
they wake, and slay them in their beds. Then we
will hold the fort and kill all who come near.*
They came in the gray before dawn, and hid in
a gully beside our camp. At five the reveille
sounded and the sentry left the bastions. Then
they sprang up and rushed, sword in hand, their
rifles slung behind their backs, to the wall. The
whole attack was directed on the south-east front,
an unscalable wall of solid masonry, with bastions
at each comer four feet thick and ten feet
high. They directed their attack on the bastions,
the only point on that side they could scramble
over. They knew nothing of the fort and its trac-
ing. Perhaps they had expected to find us en-
camped in tents on the open ground. But from
the shallow nullah where they lay concealed, not
200 yards distant, and watched our sentry, they
could survey the uncompromising front which they
had set themselves to attack with the naked sword.
They had no artillery or guncotton or materials
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 191
for a siege, but they hoped to scale the wall and
annihilate the garrison that held it. They had
come from Lhasa to take Kangma, and they were
not going to turn back. They came on undis-
mayed, like men flushed with victory. The sepoys
said they must be drunk or drugged. They rushed
to the bottom of the wall, tore out stones, and flung
them up at our sepoys ; they leapt up to seize the
muzzles of our rifles, and scrambled to gain a foot-
hold and lift themselves on to the parapet ; they
fell bullet-pierced, and some turned savagely on
the wall again. It was only a question of time,
of minutes, and the cool mechanical fire of the
23rd Pioneers would have dropped every man.
One hundred and six bodies were left under the
wall, and sixty more were killed in the pursuit.
Never was there such a hopeless, helpless struggle,
such desperate and ineffectual gallantry.
Almost before it was light the yak corps with
their small escort of thirty rifles of the 2nd Gurkhas
were starting on the road to Kalatso. They had
passed the hiding-place of the Tibetans without
noticing the 500 men in rusty-coloured cloaks
breathing quietly among the brown stones. Then
the Tibetans made their charge, just as the trans-
192 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
port had passed, and a party of them made for the
yaks. Two Tibetan drivers in our service stood
directly in their path. * Who are you ? ' cried one
of the enemy. * Only yak-drivers/ was the fright-
ened answer. ' Then, take that,* the Tibetan said,
slashing at his arm with no intent to kill. The
Gurkha escort took up a position behind a sangar
and opened fire — all save one man, who stood by his
yak and refused to come under cover, despite the
shouts and warnings of his comrades. He killed
several, but fell himself, hacked to pieces with
swords. The Tibetans were driven off, and joined
the rout from the fort. The whole affair lasted
less than ten minutes.
Our casualties were : the isolated Gurkha killed,
two men in the fort wounded by stones, and three
of the 2nd Gurkhas severely wounded — two by
sword-cuts, one by a bullet in the neck.
But what was the flame that smouldered in these
men and hghted them to action 7 They might have
been Paladins or Crusaders. But the Buddhists
are not fanatics. They do not stake eternity on a
single existence. They have no Mahdis or Jugger-
naut cars. The Tibetans, we are told, are not
patriots. Pohticians say that they want us in their
ADVANCE OF MISSION OPPOSED. 193
country, that they are priest-ridden, and hate and
fear their Lamas. What, then, drove them on ?
It was certainly not fear. No people on earth have
shown a greater contempt for death. Their Lamas
were with them until the final assault. Twenty
shaven polls were found hiding in the nullah down
which the Tibetans had crept in the dark, and were
immediately despatched. What promises and ca-
joleries and threats the holy men used no one will
ever know. But whatever the alternative, their
simple followers preferred death.
The second phase of the operations, in which we
had to act on the defensive in Gyantse, and the
beginning of the third phase, which saw the arrival
of reinforcements and the collapse of the Tibetan
opposition, are described by an eye-witness in the
next two chapters. During the whole of these
operations I was invahded in Darjeeling, owing to
a second operation which had to be performed on
my amputation wound.
CHAPTER IX
GYANTSE
[By Henry Newman]
GYANTSE PLAIN lies at the intersection of four
great valleys running almost at right angles
to one another. In the north-eastern comer there
emerge two gigantic ridges of sandstone. On one
is built the jong, and on the other the monastery.
The town fringes the base of the jong, and creeps
into the hollow between the two ridges. The plain,
about six miles by ten, is cultivated almost to the
last inch, if we except a few stony patches here and
there. There are, I believe, thirty-three villages
in the plain. These are built in the midst of groves
of poplar and willow. At one time, no doubt, the
waters from the four valleys united to form a lake.
Now they have found an outlet, and flow peacefully
down Shigatze way. High up on the cold moun-
tains one sees the cold bleached walls of the Seven
GYANTSE. 195
Monasteries, some of them perched on almost inac-
cessible chffs, whence they look sternly down on
the warmth and prosperity below.
For centuries the Gyantse folk had lived self-
contained and happy, practising their simple arts
of agriculture, and but dimly aware of any world
outside their own. Then one day there marched
into their midst a column of British troops — white-
faced Englishmen, dark, Hthe Gurkhas, great, solemn,
bearded Sikhs — and it was borne in upon the wonder-
ing Gyantse men that beyond their frontiers there
existed great nations — so great, indeed, that they
ventured to dispute on equal terms with the awful
personage who ruled from Lhasa. It is true that
from time to time there must have passed through
Gyantse rumours of war on the distant frontier.
The armies that we defeated at Guru and in the
Red Idol Gorge had camped at Gyantse on their
way to and fro. Gyantse saw and wondered at
the haste of Lhasa despatch-riders. But I question
whether any Gyantse man realized that events,
great and shattering in his world, were impending
when the British column rounded the corner of
Naini Valley.
At first we were received without hostility, or
196 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
even suspicion. The ruined jong, uninhabited save
for a few droning Lamas, was surrendered as soon
as we asked for it. A clump of buildings in a large
grove near the river was rented without demur —
though at a price — to the Commission. And when
the country-people found that there was a sale for
their produce, they flocked to the camp to sell.
The entry of the British troops made no difference to
the peace of Gyantse till the Lamas of Lhasa em-
barked on the fatal policy of levying more troops in
Lhasa, Shigatze, and far-away Kham, and sending
them down to fight. Then there entered the peace-
ful valley all the horrors of war — dead and maimed
men in the streets and houses, burning villages,
death and destruction of all kinds. Gyantse Plain
and the town became scenes of desolation. To the
British army in India war, unfortunately, is noth-
ing new, but one can imagine what an upheaval this
business of which I am about to write meant to
people who for generations had hved in peace.
The incidents connected with the arrival of the
mission with its escort at Gyantse need not be de-
scribed in detail. On the day of arrival we camped
in the midst of some fallow fields about two miles
from the jong. The same afternoon a Chinese ofl&-
GYANTSE. 197
cial, who called himself ' General * Ma, came into
camp with the news that the jong was unoccupied,
and that the local Tibetans did not propose to offer
any resistance. The next morning we took quiet
possession of the jong, placing two companies of
Pioneers in garrison. The General with a small
escort visited the monastery behind the fort, and
was received with friendliness by the venerable
Abbot. Neither the villagers nor the towns-people
showed any signs of resentment at our presence.
The Jongpen actively interested himself in the ques-
tion of procuring an official residence for Colonel
Younghusband and the members of the mission.
There were reports of the Dalai Lama's representa-
tives coming in haste to treat. Altogether the out-
look was so promising that nobody was surprised
when, after a stay of a week, General Macdonald,
bearing in mind the difficulty of procuring supplies
for the whole force, announced his intention of re-
turning to Chumbi with the larger portion of the
escort, leaving a sufficient guard with the mission.
The guard left behind consisted of four com-
panies of the 32nd Pioneers, under Colonel Brander 3
four companies of the 8th Gurkhas, under Major
Row; the ist Mounted Infantry, under Captain
198 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Ottley ; and the machine gun section of the Nor-
folks, under Lieutenant Hadow. Mention should
also be made of the two 7-pounder mountain-guns
attached to the 8th Gurkhas, under the command
of Captain Luke.
Before the General left for Chumbi he decided
to evacuate the jong. The grounds on which this
decision was come to were that the whole place
was in a ruinous and dangerous condition, the sur-
roundings were insanitary, there was only one build-
ing fit for human habitation, the water supply was
bad and deficient, and there seemed to be no pros-
pect of further hostihties. Besides, from the mili-
tary point of view there was some risk in splitting
up the small guard to be left behind between the
jong and the mission post. However, the precau-
tion was taken of further dismantling the jong.
The gateways and such portions as seemed capable
of lending themselves to defence, were blown up.
The house, or, rather, group of houses, rented by
Colonel Younghusband for the mission was situated
about 100 yards from a well-made stone bridge
over the river. A beautiful grove, mostly of willow,
extended behind the post along the banks of the
river to a distance of about 500 yards. The jong
GYANTSE. 199
lay about 1,800 yards to the right front. There
were two houses in the intervening space, built
amongst fields of iris and barley. Small groups
of trees were dotted here and there. Altogether,
the post was located in a spot as pleasant as one
could hopd to find in Tibet.
For some days before the General left, all the
troops were engaged in putting the post in a state
of defence. It was found that the force to be left
behind could be easily located within the perimeter
of a wall built round the group of houses. There
was no room, however, for 200 mules and their
drivers, needed for convoy purposes. These were
placed in a kind of horn-work thrown out to the
right front.
After the departure of the General we resigned
ourselves to what we conceived would be a monot-
onous stay at Gyantse of two or three months,
pending the signing of the treaty. The people
continued to be perfectly friendly. A market was
estabUshed outside the post, to which practically
the whole bazaar from Gyantse town was removed.
We were able to buy in the market, very cheap,
the famous Gyantse carpets, for which enormous
prices are demanded at Darjeeling and elsewhere
200 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
in India. Unarmed officers wandered freely about
Gyantse town, and the monks of Palkhor Choide,
the monastery behind the fort, wilHngly conducted
parties over the most sacred spots. They even
readily sold some of the images before the altars,
and the silk screens which shrouded the forms of
the gigantic Buddhas. I mention these facts about
the carpets and images because, when hereafter
they adorned Simla and Darjeeling drawing-rooms,
unkind people began to say that British officers
had wantonly looted Palkhor Choide, one of the
most famous monasteries in Tibet.
A little shooting was to be had, and officers wan-
dered about the plain, gun in hand, bringing home
mountain-hare — a queer little beast with a blue
rump — duck, and pigeon. Occasionally an excursion
up one of the side valleys would result in the shooting
of a biurhel or of a Tibetan gazelle. The country-
people met with were all perfectly friendly.
Another feature of those first few peaceful days
at Gyantse was the eagerness with which the Tibetans
availed themselves of the skilled medical attendance
with the mission. At first only one or two men
wounded at the Red Idol Gorge were brought in,
but the skill of Captain Walton, Indian Medical
GYANTSE. 201
Service, soon began to be noised abroad, and every
morning the little outdoor dispensary was crowded
with sufferers of all kinds.
But during the last week in May reports began
to reach Colonel Younghusband that, so far from
attempting to enter into negotiations, the Lhasa
Government was levying an army in Kham, and
that already five or six hundred men were camped
on the other side of the Karo la, and were busily
engaged in building a wall. Lieutenant Hodgson
with a small force was sent to reconnoitre. He
came back with the news that the wall was already
built, stretching from one side of the valley to the
other, and that there were several thousand well-
armed men behind it. Both Colonel Younghus-
band and Colonel Brander considered it highly neces-
sary that this gathering should be immediately dis-
persed, for it is a principle in Indian frontier war-
fare to strike quickly at any tribal assembly, in
order to prevent it growing into dangerous propor-
tions. The possibly exciting effect the force on
the Karo la might have on the inhabitants of Gy-
antse had particularly to be considered. Accord-
ingly, on May 3 Colonel Brander led the major
portion of the Gyantse garrison towards the Karo
7«
202 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
la, leaving behind as a guard to the post two com-
panies of Gurkhas, a company of the 32nd Pioneers,
and a few mounted infantry, all under the command
of Major Murray.
I accompanied the Karo la column, and must
rely on hearsay as to my facts with regard to the
attack on the mission. We heard about the attack
the night before Colonel Brander drove the Tibetans
from their wall on the Karo la, after a long fight
which altered all our previous conceptions of the
fighting qualities of the Tibetans. The courage
shown by the enemy naturally excited apprehension
about the safety of the mission. Colonel Brander
did not stay to rest his troops after their day of
arduous fighting, but began his return march next
morning, arriving at Gyantse on the 9th.
The column had been warned that it was hkely
to be fired on from the jong if it entered camp by
the direct Lhasa road. Accordingly, we marched
in by a circuitous route, moving in under cover of
the grove previously mentioned. The Maxims and
guns came into action at the edge of the grove to
cover the baggage. But, though numbers of Ti-
betans were seen on the walls of the jong, not a
shot was fired.
GYANTSE. 203
We then learnt the story of the attack on the
post. . It appears that the day after Colonel Brander
left for the Karo la (May 3) certain wounded and
sick Tibetans that we had been attending informed
the mission that about 1,000 armed men had come
down towards Gyantse from Shigatze, and were
building a wall about twelve miles away. It was
added that they might possibly attack the post if
they got to know that the garrison had been largely
depleted. This news seemed to be worth inquiring
into, and, accordingly, next day Major Murray sent
some mounted infantry to reconnoitre up the Shi-
gatze road. The latter returned with the infor-
mation that they had gone up the valley some
seven or eight miles, but had found no signs of any
enemy.
The very next morning the post was attacked
at dawn. It appears that the Shigatze force, about
1,000 strong, was really engaged in building a wall
twelve miles away. Hearing that very few troops
were guarding the mission, its commander — who, I
hear, was none other than Khomba Bombu, the
very man who arrested Sven Hedin's dash to Lhasa
— determined to make a sudden attack on the post.
He marched his men during the night, and about
204 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
an hour before sunrise had them crouching behind
trees and inside ditches all round the post.
The attack was sudden and simultaneous. A
Gurkha sentry had just time to fire off his rifle
before the Tibetans rushed to our walls, and had
their muskets through our loopholes. The enemy
did not for the moment attempt to scale, but con-
tented themselves with firing into the post through
the loopholes they had taken. This delay proved
fatal to their plans, for it gave the small garrison
time to rise and arm. The brunt of the Tibetan
fire was directed on the courtyard of the house where
the tents of the members of the mission were pitched.
Major Murray, who had rushed out of bed half clad,
first directed his attention to this spot. The Sikhs,
emerging from their tents with bandolier and rifle,
in extraordinary costumes, were directed towards
the loopholes. Some were sent on the roof of the
mission-house, whence they could enfilade the
attackers. Elsewhere various junior officers had
taken command. Captain Luke, who, owing to
sickness, had not gone on with the Karo la column,
took charge of the Gurkhas on the south and west
fronts. Lieutenant Franklin, the medical officer of
the 8th Gurkhas, raUied Gurkhas and Pioneers to
GYANTSE. 205
the loopholes on the east and north. Lieutenant
Lynch, the treasure-chest officer, who had a guard
of about twenty Gurkhas, took his men to the main
gate to the south. There were at this time in hos-
pital about a dozen Sikhs, who had been badly
burnt in a lamentable gunpowder explosion a few
days previously. These men, bandaged and crippled
as they were, rose from their couches, made their
painful way to the tops of the houses, and fired into
the enemy below. About a dozen Tibetans had
just begun to scramble over the wall by the time
the defenders had manned the whole position, which
was now not only held by fighting men, but by
various members of the mission, including Colonel
Younghusband, who had emerged with revolvers and
sporting guns. A few of the enemy got inside the
defences, and were immediately shot down.
Our fire was so heavy and so well directed that
it is supposed that not more than ten minutes
elapsed from the time the first shot was fired
to the time the enemy began to withdraw. The
withdrawal, however, was only to the shelter of
trees and ditches a few hundred yards away,
whence a long but almost harmless fusillade was
kept up on the post. After about twenty minutes
2o6 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
of this firing, Major Murray determined on a rally.
Lieutenant Lynch with his treasure guard dashed
out from the south gate. Some five-and-twenty
Tibetans were discovered hiding in a small refuse
hut about fifteen yards from the gate. The
furious Gurkhas rushed in upon them and killed
them all, and then dashed on through the long
grove, clearing the enemy in front of them. Re-
turning along the banks of the river, the same
party discovered another body of Tibetans hiding
under the arches of the bridge. Twenty or thirty
were shot down, and about fifteen made prisoners.
Similar success attended a rally from the north-
east gate made by Major Murray and Lieutenant
Franklin. The enemy fled howling from their
hiding-places towards the town and jong as soon
as they saw our men issue. They were pursued
almost to the very walls of the fort. Indeed, but
for the fringe of houses and narrow streets at the
base of the jong, Major Murray would have gone
on. The Tibetans, however, turned as soon as
they reached the shelter of walls, and it would
have been madness to attack five or six hundred
determined men in a maze of alleys and passages
with only a weak company. Major Murray, ac-
GYANTSE. 207
cordingly made his way back to the post, picking
up a dozen prisoners en route.
In this affair our casualties only amounted to
five wounded and two killed. One hundred and
forty dead of the enemy were counted outside the
camp.
During the course of the day Major Murray sent
a flag of truce to the jong with an intimation to
the effect that the Tibetans could come out and
bury their dead without fear of molestation. The
reply was that we could bury the dead ourselves
without fear of molestation. As it was impossible
to leave all the bodies in the vicinity of the camp,
a heavy and disagreeable task was thrown on the
garrison.
Towards sundown the enemy in the jong began
to fire into the camp, and our troops became
aware of the unpleasant fact that the Tibetans
possessed jingals, which could easily range from
1,800 to 2,000 yards. It was also realized that
the jong entirely dominated the post j that our
walls and stockades, protection enough against
a direct assault from the plain, were no protec-
tion against bullets dropped from a height. So
for the next four days, pending the return of the
2o8 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Karo la column, the little garrison toiled unceas-
ingly at improving the defences. Traverses were
built, the walls raised in height, the gates strength-
ened. It was discovered that the Tibetan fire was
heaviest when we attempted to return it by sniping
at figures seen on the Jong. Accordingly, pending
the completion of the traverses and other new
protective works. Major Murray forbade any return
fire.
Such was the position of affairs when the Karo la
column returned. One of Colonel Brander's first
acts, after his weary troops had rested for an hour
or two, was to turn the Maxim on the groups who
could be seen wandering about the jong. They
quickly disappeared under cover, but only to man
their jingals. Then began the bombardment of
the post, which we had to endure for nearly seven
weeks.
This is the place to speak of the bombardment
generally, for it would be tedious to recapitulate
in the form of a diary incidents which, however
exciting at the time, now seem remarkable only
for their monotony. It may be said at once that
the bombardment was singularly ineffective. From
first to last only fifteen men in the post were hit.
GYANTSE. 209
Of these twelve were either killed or died of the
wound. Of course, I exclude the casualties in the
fighting, of which I will presently speak, outside
the post. But the futihty of the bombardment
must not be entirely put down to bad marksman-
ship on the part of the Tibetans. That our losses
were not heavier is largely due to the fact that
the garrison laboured daily — and at first at night
also — in erecting protecting walls and traverses.
Practically every tent had a traverse built in
front of it. It was found that the homwork in
which the mules were located came particularly
under fire of the jong. This was pulled down one
dark night, and the mules transferred to a fresh
enclosure at the back of the post. Strong para-
pets of sand-bags were built on the roofs of the
houses. Every window facing the jong was securely
blocked with mud bricks. It will be realized how
considerable was the labour involved in building
the traverses when it is remembered that the jong
looked down into the post. The majority of the
walls had to be considerably higher than the tents
themselves. They were mostly built of stakes cut
from the grove, with two feet of esirth rammed
in between. After the first week or so the enemy
210 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
brought to bear on the post several brass cannon,
throwing balls weighing four or five pounds, and
travelling with a velocity which enabled them to
penetrate our traverses — when they struck them,
for the majority of shots from the cannon whistled
harmlessly over our heads.
Practically, we did not return the fire from the
jong. All that was done in this direction was to
place one of Lieutenant Hadow's Maxims on the
roof of the house occupied by the mission, and
thence to snipe during the daylight hours at any
warriors who showed themselves above the walls
of the jong. Hadow was very patient and per-
sistent with his gun, and quickly made it clear to
the Tibetans that, if we were obhged to keep under
cover, so were they. But our fire from the post
was probably as ineffective as that of the enemy
from the jong, for the Tibetans build walls with
extraordinary rapidity. Working mostly at night
in order to avoid the mahgnant Maxim, the enemy
within a few days almost altered the face of the
Jong. New walls, traverses, and covered ways
seemed to spring up with the rapidity of mush-
rooms.
Our life during the siege, if so the bombardment
GYANTSE. 211
can be called, was hardly as unpleasant as people
might imagine. To begin with, we were never
short of food — that is to say, of Tibetan barley
and meat. The commissariat stock of tea — a.
necessity in Tibet — also never gave out. From
time to time also convoys and parcel-posts with
little luxuries came through. Again, the longest
period for which we were without a letter-post
was eight days. Socially, the relations of the
officers with one another and with the members
of the Commission were most harmonious. I make
a point of mentioning this fact, because all those
who have had any experience of sieges, or of
similar conditions where small communities are
shut up together in circumstances of hardship and
danger, know how apt the temper is to get on
edge, how often small differences axe Hkely to give
rise to bitter animosities. But we had in the
Gyantse garrison men of such vast experience and
geniaUty as Colonel Brander, of such high culture
and attainment as Colonel Younghusband, Captain
O'Connor, and Mr. Perceval Landon — the corre-
spondent of The Times ; men whose spirits never
failed and who found humour in everything, such
as Major Row, Captain Luke, Captain Coleridge,
212 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Lieutenant Franklin. Amongst the besieged was
Colonel Waddell, I.M.S., an Orientalist and Sin-
ologist of European fame. Hence, in some of its
aspects the Gyantse siege was almost a deUghtful
episode. In the later days, when all the outpost
fighting occurred, our spirits were somewhat
damped, for we had to mourn brave men killed
and sympathize with others dangerously wounded.
Of course, one of the first questions for con-
sideration when the Karo la column returned to
Gyantse was whether the enemy could or could
not be turned out of the Jong. To make a frontal
attack on the frowning face overlooking the post
would have been foolhardy, but Colonel Brander
decided to make a reconnaissance to a monastery
on the high hills to our right, whence the jong itself
could be overlooked. A subsidiary reason for visit-
ing this monastery was that it was known to have
afforded shelter to a number of those who had fled
from the attack on the post. The hill was climbed
with every military precaution, but only a few old
monks were found in occupation of the buildings.
More disappointing was the fact that an examina-
tion through telescopes of the rear of the jong
showed that the Tibetans had been also building
GYANTSE. 213
indefatigably there. A strong loopholed wall ran
zigzagging up the side of the rock. It was clear
that nothing could be done till the General returned
from Chumbi with more troops and guns.
For more than two weeks our rear remained
absolutely open. The post, carried by mounted
infantry, came in and went out regularly. Two
large convoys reached us unopposed. The only
danger lay in the fact that people seen entering
or leaving the post came under a heavy fire from
the Jong. To minimize risks, departures from the
post were always made before dawn.
During the two weeks streams of men could be
seen entering the jong from both the Shigatze and
Lhasa roads. Emboldened by numbers, and also
by our non-aggressive attitude, the enemy began
to cast about for means of taking the post. One
of the first steps taken by the Tibetan General in
pursuance of this policy was to occupy during the
night a small house surrounded by trees, lying to
our left front, almost midway between the jong
and the post. On the morning of the i8th bullets
from a new direction were whizzing in amongst
us, and partly enfilading our traverses. This was
not to be tolerated, and the same night arrange-
214 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
merits were made for the capture of the posi-
tion.
Five companies stole out during the hours of
darkness and surrounded the house. The rush,
dehvered at dawn, was left to the Gurkhas. But
the entrance was found blocked with stones, and
the enemy was thoroughly awake by the time the
Gurkhas were under the wall. Luckily, the loop-
holes were not so constructed as to allow the
Tibetans to fire their jingals down upon our men,
who had only to bear the brunt of showers of
stones thrown upon them from the roof. The
shower was well directed enough to bruise a good
many Gurkhas. Three officers were struck —
Major Murray, Lieutenant Lynch, and Lieutenant
FrankUn. I.M.S. Whilst the Gurkhas were striv-
ing to effect an entrance, the Pioneer companies
deployed on the flanks came under a heavy fire
from the jong. We had three men hit. One
fell on a bit of very exposed ground, and was
gallantly dragged under cover by Colonel Brander
and Captain Minogue, Staff officer.
It was soon evident that the Gurkhas would
never get in without explosives. Accordingly, Lieu-
tenant Gurdon, 32nd Pioneers, was sent to join
GYANTSE. 215
them with a box of guncotton. Gurdon speedily
blew a hole through the wall, and the Gurkhas
dashed in yelling. The Tibetans on the roof could
easily at this time have jumped off and escaped
towards the jong. But they chose a braver part.
They sHd down into the middle of the courtyard,
and, drawing their swords, awaited the Gurkha
onset. I must not describe the pitiful struggle
that followed. The Tibetans — about fifty in num-
ber — herded themselves together as if to meet a
bayonet charge, but our troops, rushing through
the door, extended themselves along the edges of
the courtyard, and emptied their magazines into
the mob. Within a minute all the fifty were eith^
dead or mortally wounded.
The house was hereafter held by a company of
Gurkhas all through the bombardment, and proved
a great thorn in the side of the enemy; for the
Gurkhas often used to sally out at night and am-
buscade parties of men and convoys on the Shigatze
road.
o
CHAPTER X
GYANTSE — continued
[By Henry Newman]
N the afternoon of the day on which the house
was taken we were provided with a new ex-
citement — continuous firing was heard to the rear
of the post about a mile away. Captain Ottley
galloped out with his mounted infantry, and was
only just in time to save a party of his men who
were coming up from Kangma with the letter-
bags. These Sikhs — eight in number — were riding
along the edge of the river, when they were met by
a fusillade from a number of the enemy concealed
amongst sedges on the opposite bank. Before the
Sikhs could take cover, one man was killed, three
wounded, and seven out of the eight horses shot
down. The remaining men showed rare courage.
They carried their wounded comrades under cover
of a ditch, untied and brought to the same place
GYANTSE. 217
the letter-bags, and then lay down and returned
the fire of the enemy. The Tibetans, however,
were beginning to creep round, and the ammuni-
tion of the Sikhs was running low, when Captain
Ottley dashed up to the rescue. Without waiting
to consider how many of the enemy might be
hiding in the sedge, Ottley took his twenty men
splashing through the river. Nearly 300 Tibetans
bolted out in all directions Hke rabbits from a
cover. The mounted infantry, shooting and smit-
ing, chased them to the very edge of the plain.
On reaching hilly ground the enemy, who must have
lost about fifty of their number, began to turn,
having doubtless realized that they were running
before a handful of men. At the same time shots
were fired from villages, previously thought un-
occupied, on Ottley *s left, and a body of match-
lock men were seen running up to reinforce from
a large village on the Lhasa road. Under these
conditions it would have been madness to continue
the fight, and Ottley cleverly and skilfully with-
drew without having lost a single man. In the
meanwhile a company of Pioneers had brought
in the men wounded in the attack on the postal
riders.
2l8 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
This affair was even more significant than the
occupation by the enemy of the position taken by
the Gurkhas in the early morning. It showed
that the Tibetan General had at last conceived a
plan for cutting off our line of communications.
This was a rude shock. It implied that the enemy
had received reinforcements which were to be
utilized for offensive warfare of the kind most
to be feared by an invader. We knew that so
long as our ammunition lasted there was abso-
lutely no danger of the post being captured. But
an enemy on the lines would certainly cause the
greatest annoyance to, and might even cut off,
our convoys. As it would be very difi&cult to get
messages through, apprehensions as to our safety
would be excited in the outer world. Further,
General Macdonald's arrangements for the relief of
the mission would have to be considerably modified
if he were obliged to fight his way through to us.
With the same prompt decision that marked his
action with regard to the gathering on the Karo la.
Colonel Brander determined on the very next day
to clear the villages found occupied by the mounted
infantry. As far as could be discovered, the
villages were five in number, all on the right bank
GYANTSE. 219
of the river, and occupying a position which could
be roughly outlined as an equilateral triangle.
Captain Ottley was sent round to the rear of the
villages to cut off the retreat of the enemy ; Captain
Luke took his two mountain-guns, under cover of
the right bank of the river, to a position whence he
could support the infantry attack, if necessary, by
shell fire. Two companies of Pioneers with one
in reserve were sent forward to the attack.
The first objective was two villages forming the
base of the triangle of which I have spoken. The
troops advanced cautiously, widely extended, but
both villages were found deserted. They were set
on fire. Then Captain Hodgson with a company
went forward to the village forming the apex of
the triangle. He came under a flanking fire from
the villages on the left, and had one man severely
wounded. The houses in front seemed to be im-
occupied, and our right might have been swung
round to face this fire ; but Colonel Brander was
determined to do the work thoroughly, and Hodg-
son was directed to move on and bum the village
ahead of him before changing front. The troops
accordingly took no notice of the flanking fire,
and moved on till they were under the walls of
220 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
the two houses of which the village was com-
posed.
Suddenly fire was opened on our soldiers from
the upper windows of the two houses. All the doors
were found blocked with bricks and stones. Two
Sikhs dropped, and for the moment it seemed as
if we would lose heavily. But Lieutenant Gurdon
with half a dozen men rushed up with a box of
explosives, and blew a breach in the wall. Two
of the party helping to lay the fuse were killed by
shots fired from a loophole a few feet above.
Captain Hodgson was the first man through the
breach. He was confronted by a swordsman, who
cut hard just as Hodgson fired his revolver. The
man fell dead, but Hodgson received a severe
wound on the wrist. But this was the only man
who stood after the explosion. About thirty others
in the village rushed to the roofs of the houses,
jumped off, and fled to the left. They came, how-
ever, under a very heavy fire as they were running
away, and the majority dropped.
Preparations were now made for taking the re-
maining village. This was protected by a high
loopholed embankment, which sheltered about
five or six hundred of the enemy. The Pioneers
GYANTSE. 221
had just extended, and were advancing, when
someone who happened to be looking at the jong
through his glasses suddenly uttered a loud ex-
clamation. Turning round, we all saw a dense
stream of men, several thousands in number,
forming .up at the base of the rock, evidently
with the intention of rushing the mission post
whilst the majority of the garrison and the guns
were engaged elsewhere. Colonel Brander im-
mediately gave the order for the whole force to
retire into the post at the double. The with-
drawal was effected before the Tibetans made
their contemplated rush, but we all felt that it
was rather a narrow shave.
Troops were to have gone out again the next
day to clear the village we had left imtaken, but
the mounted infantry reconnoitring in the morning
reported that the enemy had fled, and that the
lines of communication were again clear.
On the succeeding day a large convoy and re-
inforcements under Major Peterson, 32nd Pioneers,
came safely through. The additional troops in-
cluded a section of No. 7 (British) Mountain Bat-
tery, under Captain Easton ; one and a half com-
panies of Sappers and Miners, under Captain Shep-'
222 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
herd and Lieutenant Gctrstin ; and another company
of the 32nd Pioneers. Major Peterson reported
that his convoy had come under a heavy fire from
the village and monastery of Naini. This monastery
hes about seven miles from Gyantse in an opening
of the valley just before the road turns into Gyantse
Plain. It holds about 5,000 monks. When the
column first passed by it, the monks were extremely
friendly, bringing out presents of butter and eggs,
and readily selling flour and meat. The monastery
is surrounded by a wall thirty feet high, and at
least ten feet thick. The buildings inside are also
sohdly built of stone. Altogether the position was
a very difficult one to tackle, but Colonel Brander,
following his usual pohcy, decided that the enemy
must be turned out of it at all costs. Accordingly,
on the 24th a column, which included Captain
Easton's two guns, marched out to Naini. But
the monastery and the group of buildings outside it
were found absolutely deserted. The walls were
far too heavy and strong to be destroyed by a small
force, which had to return before nightfall, but
Captain Shepherd blew up the four towers at the
comers and a portion of the hall in which the Bud-
dlias were enthroned.
GYANTSE. 223
The 27th provided a new excitement. About
1,000 yards to the right of the post stood what
was known as the Palla House, the residence of a
Tibetan nobleman of great wealth. The building
consisted of a large double-storied house, sur-
rounded by a series of smaller buildings, each
within a courtyard of its own. During the night
the Tibetans in the jong built a covered way ex-
tending about half the distance between the jong
and Palla. In the morning the latter place was
seen to be swarming with men, busily occupied in
erecting defences, making loopholes, and generally
engaged in work of a menacing character. The
enemy could less be tolerated in Palla than in the
Ghurka outpost, for fire from the former would
have taken us absolutely in the flank, and the
garrison was not strong enough to provide the
labour necessary for building an entirely new series
of traverses.
That very night Colonel Brander detailed the
troops that were to take Psdla by assault at dawn.
The storming-party was composed of three com-
panies of the 32nd under Major Peterson, assisted
by the Sappers and Miners with explosives under
Captain Shepherd. Our four mountain-gims, the
224 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
7-pounders under Captain Luke, and the 10-
pounders under Captain Easton, escorted by a
company of Gurkhas, were detailed to occupy a
position on a ridge which overlooked Palla. The
troops fell in at two in the morning. The night
was pitch-dark, but with such care wdre the opera-
tions conducted that the troops had made a long
detour, and got into their respective positions
before dawn, without an alarm being raised.
Daylight was just breaking when Captain Shep-
herd crept up to the wall of the house on the ex-
treme left, where it was believed the majority of
the enemy were located, and laid his explosives.
A tremendous explosion followed, the whole side
of the house falling in. A minute afterwards,
and Palla was alarmed and firing furiously all
round, and even up in the air. The jong also
awoke, and from that time till the village was finally
ours poured a continuous storm of bullets into
Palla, regardless whether friend or foe was hit.
Our guns on the ridge did their best to quiet the
jong, but without much effect. Against Tibetan
walls, provided as they are with head cover, our
experience showed shrapnel to be almost entirely
useless.
GYANTSE 225
A company of Pioneers followed Captain Shep-
herd into the breach he had made. But they
found themselves only in a small courtyard, with
no means of entering the rest of the village, except
over or through high walls lined by the enemy. All
that could be done was to blow in another breach.
The preparations for doing this were attended with
a good deal of danger. Of three men who attempted
to rush across the courtyard, two were killed and
the third mortally wounded. However, by creeping
along under cover of the wall. Captain Shepherd and
Lieutenant Garstin were able to lay the guncotton
and light the fuse for another explosion. They
were fired at from a distance of a few yards, but
escaped being hit by a miracle. But the second
explosion only led into another courtyard, from
which there was also no exit. There was the same
fire to be faced from the next house whilst the
needful preparations were being made for making
a third breach.
During the time Shepherd with his gallant lieu-
tenants and equally gallant sepoys was working
his way in from the left, the companies of Pioneers
lining ditches and banks outside Palla were exposed
to a persistent fire from about a hundred of the
8
226 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
enemy inside the big two-storied house mentioned
above. The men in this house — all Kham warriors
— seemed to be filled with an extraordinary fury.
Many exposed themselves boldly at the windows,
calling to our men to come on. A dozen or so even
cUmbed to the roof of the house, and danced about
thereon in what seemed frantic derision. There
was a Maxim on the ridge with the mountain-guns,
the fire from which put an end to the fantastic dis-
play. Our rifle fire, however, seemed totally un-
able to check the Tibetan warriors in the loopholed
windows. They kept up a fusillade which made a
rush impossible. Major Peterson finally, with great
daring, led a few men into the dwelling on the ex-
treme right. The escalade was managed by means
of a ruined tree which projected from the waJl.
But Peterson, Hke Shepherd, found himself in a court-
yard with high walls which baified further progress.
The fight now began to drag. Hours passed
without any signal incident. The Tibetans were
greatly elated at the failure of our troops to make
progress. They shouted and yelled, and were en-
couraged by answering cheers from the Jong. Then
about mid-day the jong Commandant conceived the
idea of reinforcing Palla. A dozen men mounted on
GYANTSE, 227
black mules, followed by about fifty infantry, sud-
denly dashed out from the half-completed covered
way mentioned above, and made for the village.
This party was absolutely annihilated. As soon as
it emerged from the covered way it came under the
fire, not only of the troops round the village and on
the hill, but of the Maxim on the roof of the mission-
house. In three minutes every single man and mule
was down, except one animal with a broken leg,
gazing disconsolately at the body of its master.
This disaster evidently shook the Tibetans in
Palla. Their fire slackened. Captain Luke on the
ridge was then directed to put some common shell
into the roof of the double-storied house. He
dropped the shells exactly where they were wanted,
and so disconcerted the enemy that Shepherd was
able to resume his preparations for making a way
into the Tibetan stronghold. But he still had to
face an awkward fire, and the three further breaches
he made were attended by the loss of several men,
including Lieutenant Garstin, shot through the
head. But the last explosion led our troops into
the big house. Tibetan resistance then practically
ceased. About twenty or thirty men made an
attempt to get away to the jong, but the majority
228 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
were shot down before they could reach the covered
way.
In this affair our total casualties were twenty-
three. In addition to Lieutenant Garstin, we had
seven men killed. The wounded included Captain
O'Connor, R.A., secretary to the mission, and
Lieutenant Mitchell, 32nd Pioneers. The enemy
must have lost quite 250 in killed and wounded.
The position at Palla was too important to be
abandoned, and for the rest of the bombardment
it was held by a company of Sikhs. In order to
provide free communication both day and night.
Captain Shepherd, with his usual energy, dug a
covered way from the post to the village.
The fight at Palla was the last affair of any im-
portance in which the garrison was engaged pending
the arrival of the relieving force. The Tibetans
had received such a shock that in future they con-
fined themselves practically to the defensive, if we
except five half-hearted night attacks which were
never anywhere near being pushed home. There,
were no more attempts to interrupt our lines of
communication, though later on Naini was again
occupied cis part of the Tibetan scheme for resisting
General Macdonald's advance. The jong Com-
GYANTSE. 229
mandant devoted his energies chiefly to Istrengthen-
ing his already strong position.
The night attacks were all very similar in char-
acter, and may be summed up and dismissed in a
paragraph. Generally about midnight, bands of
Tibetans would issue from the jong and take up
their position about four or five hundred yards from
the post. Then they would shout wildly, and fire
off their matchlocks and Martini rifles. The troops
would immediately rush to their loopholes, clad in
impossible garments, and wait shivering in the
cold, finger on trigger, for the rush that never came.
After shouting and firing for about an hour, the
Tibetans would retire to the jong and our troops
creep back to their beds. On no occasion did the
enemy come close enough to be seen in the dark.
We never" fired a single shot from the post. Twice,
however, the Gurkha outpost and the Sikhs at
Palla were enabled to get in a few volleys at Tibetans
as they slunk past. During the night attacks the
jong remained silent, except on one occasion, when
there was so much firing from the Gurkha outpost
that the enemy thought we were about to make a
counter-attack. Every jingal, musket, and rifle in
the jong was then loosed off in any and every
330 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
direction. We even heard firing in the rear of the
monastery. Although no one was hit in this wild
fire, the volume of it was ominously indicative of
the strength in which the jong was held.
But even more ominous against the day when
our troops should be called upon to take the jong
were the defensive preparations mentioned above.
Nearly every morning we found that during the
night the enemy had built up a new wall or covered
way somewhere on the jong or about the village
that fringed the base of the rock. When the fortress
was fortified as strongly as Tibetan wit could devise,
the jong Commandant began to fortify and place in
a position of defence the villages and monasteries
on his right and left. It was calculated that, from
the small monastery perched on the hills to his left
to Tsechen Monastery on a ridge to his- right, the
Tibetan General had occupied and fortified a posi-
tion with nearly seven miles of front.
Whilst the Tibetans were engaged in making
these preparations, our garrison was busy collect-
ing forage for the enormous number of animals
coming up with the relief column. Our rear being
absolutely open, small parties with mules were able
to collect quantities of hay from villages within a
GYANTSE. 231
radius of seven miles behind us. It wa3 the fire
opened on these parties when they attempted to
push to the right or left of the jong which first re-
vealed to us the full extent of the defensive position
occupied by the enemy.
On June 6 Colonel Younghusband left the post
with a returning convoy, in order to confer with
the General at Chumbi. This convoy was attacked
whilst halting at the entrenched post at Kangma.
The enemy in this instance came down from the
Karo la, and it is for this reason that I do not in-
clude the Kangma attack amongst the operations
at and around Gyantse.
It was not till June 15 that we got definite news
of the approaching advance of the relief column.
Reinforcements had come up to Chumbi from India
in the interval, and the General was accompanied
by the 2nd Mounted Infantry under Captain Peter-
son, No. 7 British Mountain Battery under Major
Fuller, a section of No. 30 Native Mountain Bat-
tery under Captain Marindin, four companies of the
Royal Fusiliers under Colonel Cooper, four com-
panies of the 40th Pathans under Colonel Bum, five
companies of the 23rd Pioneers under Colonel Hogge,
and the two remaining companies of the 8th Gurkhas
232 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
under Colonel Kerr, together with the usual medical
and other details.
The force arrived at Kangma on June 23. On
the 25th a party of mounted infantry from Gyantse
met Captain Peterson's mounted infantry recon-
noitring at the monastery of Naini, previously
mentioned. Whilst greetings were being exchanged
a sudden fire was opened on our men from the
monastery, which the enemy had apparently occupied
and fortified during the night. The position was
apparently held in strength, and the mounted in-
fantry had no other course except to retire to their
respective camps. Captain Peterson had one man
mortally wounded.
On the evening of the 26th the sentries at the
mission post saw about twenty mounted men, fol-
lowed by two or three hundred infantry, issue from
the rear of the jong and creep up the hills on our
left in the direction of Naini. It was evident that
a determined effort was to be made at the monastery
to check the advance of the relief column, which
was expected at Gyantse next day. Colonel Brander
came to the conclusion that he had found an oppor-
tunity for catching the Tibetans in a trap. He
determined to send out a force which would block
GYANTSE. 233
the retreat of the enemy when they retired before
the advance of the relief column. Accordingly,
before dawn four companies of Pioneers, four guns,
and the Maxim gun left the post, and ascended the
hills overlooking the monastery. Captain Ottley's
mounted infantry were directed to close the road
leading directly from Gyantse to the monastery.
Colonel Brander's forces were in position some
hours before the mounted infantry of the relief
column appeared in sight. It was discovered that
the enemy not only held the monastery, but some
ruined towers on the hill above, and a cluster of
one-storied dwellings in a grove below. Captain
Peterson with his mounted infantry appeared in
front of the monastery at eleven o'clock. He had
with him a company of the 40th Pathans, and his
orders were to clear the monastery with this small
force, if the enemy made no signs of a stubborn
resistance. Otherwise he was to await the arrival
of more troops with the mountain-guns.
Peterson delivered his attack from the left, having
dismounted his troopers, who, together with the
40th Pathans, were soon very hotly engaged. The
troops came under a heavy fire both from the mon-
astery and from a ruined tower above it, but ad-
234 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
vanced most gallantly. When under the walls of the
monastery, they were checked for some time by the
difficulty of finding a way in. In the meanwhile,
hearing the heavy firing, the General and his Staff,
followed by Major Fuller's battery and the rest of
the 40th, had hastened up. The battery came into
action against the tower, and the 40th rushed up
in support of their comrades. Colonel Brander's
guns and Maxim on the top of the hill were also
brought into play. For nearly an hour a furious
cannonade and fusillade raged. Then the Pathans
and Peterson's troopers, circling round the walls of
the monastery, found a ramp up which they could
climb. They swarmed up, and were quickly inside
the building. But the Tibetans had realized that
their retreat was cut off, and, instead of making
a clean bolt for it, only retired slowly from room
to room and passage to passage. Two companies
of the 23rd were sent up to assist in clearing the
monastery. It proved a perfect warren of dark
cells and rooms. The Tibetan resistance lasted for
over two hours. Bands of desperate swordsmen were
found in knots under trap-doors and behind sharp
turnings. They would not surrender, and had to be
killed by rifle shots fired at a distance of a few feet.
GYANTSK 235
While the monastery was being cleared, another
fight had developed in the cluster of dwellings out-
side it to the right. From this spot Tibetan rifle-
men were enfilading our troops held in reserve. The
remaining companies of the 23rd were sent to clear
away the enemy. They took three houses, but
could not effect an entrance into the fourth, which
was very strongly barricaded. Lieutenant Turn-
bull, walking up to a window with a section, had
three men hit in a few seconds. One man fell
directly imder the window. TumbuU carried him
into safety in the most gallant fashion. Then the
General ordered up the guns, which fired into the
house at a range of a few hundred yards. But not
till it was riddled with great gaping holes made by
common shell did the fire from the house cease.
At about three o'clock the Tibetan resistance
had completely died away, and the column resumed
its march towards Gyantse, which was not reached
till dark. But as the transport was making its
slow way past Naini, about half a dozen Tibetans
who had remained in hiding in the monastery and
village opened fire on it. Tha Gurkha rearguard
had a troublesome task in clearing these men out,
and lost one man killed.
236 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
In this affaif at Naini our casualties were six killed
and nine wounded, including Major Lye, 23rd
Pioneers, who received a severe sword-cut in the
hand.
The General's camp was pitched about a mile
from the mission post, well out of range of the jong,
though our troops whilst crossing the river came
under fire from some of the bigger jingals. The
next day was one of rest, which the troops badly
needed after their long march from Chumbi. The
Tibetans in the jong also refrained from firing. On
the 29th the General began the operations intended
to culminate in the capture of the jong. His ob-
jective was Tsechen Monastery, on the extreme
left. But before the monastery could be attacked,
some twelve fortified villages between it and the
river had to be cleared. It proved a dif&cult task,
not so much on account of the resistance offered
by the enemy — for after a few idle shots the Tibetans
quickly retired on the monastery — as because of the
nature of the ground that had to be traversed. The
whole country was a network of deep irrigation
channels and water-cuts, in the fording and crossing
of which the troops got wet to the skin. However,
by four in the afternoon all the villages had been
GYANTSE. 237
cleared, and the Fusiliers were lying in a long grove
under the right front of the monastery.
It was then discovered that not only was Tsechen
very strongly held, but that masses of the enemy
were lying behind the rocks on the top of the ridge,
on the summit of which there was a ruined tower, also
held by fifty or sixty men. The General sent two
companies of Gurkhas to scale the ridge from the
left, whilst the 40th Pathans were ordered to make
a direct assault on the monastery. A hundred
mounted infantry made their way to the rear to cut
off the retreat of the enemy. Fuller and Marindin
with their guns covered the advance of the infantry.
Four Maxims were also brought into action. Our
guns made splendid practice on the top of the
ridge, and time and again we could see the enemy
bolting from cover. But with magnificent bravery
they would return to oppose the advance of the
Gurkhas creeping round their flank. The guns had
presently to cease fire to enable the Gurkhas to get
nearer. A series of desperate little fights then took
place on the top of the ridge, the Tibetans slinging
and throwing stones when they found they could
not load their muskets quickly enough. But as
the Gurkhas would not be stopped, the Tibetans
238 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
had to move. In the meanwhile the Pathans worked
through the monastery below, only meeting with
small resistance from a band of men in one house.
The Tibetans fled in a mass over the right edge of
the ridge into the jaws of the mounted infantry
lying in wait below. Slaughter followed.
It was now quite dark, and the troops made their
way back to camp. Next morning a party went
up to Tsechen, found it entirely deserted, and set
fire to it. The taking of the monastery cost us the
lives of Captain Craster, 40th Pathans, and two
sepoys. Our wounded numbered ten, including
Captains Bliss and Humphrej^, 8th Gurkhas.
On July I the General intended assaulting the
jong, but in the interval the jong Commandant sent
in a flag of truce. He prayed for an armistice pend-
ing the arrival of three delegates who were posting
down from Lhasa with instructions to make peace.
As Colonel Younghusband had been directed to lose
no opportunity of bringing affairs to an end at
Gyantse, the armistice was granted, and two da5rs
afterwards the delegates, all Lamas, were received
in open durbar in a large room in the mission post.
Colonel Younghusband, after having satisfied him-
self that the delegates possessed proper credentials.
GYANTSE. 239
made them a speech. He reviewed the history of
the mission, pointing out that we had only come
to Gyantse because of the obstinacy and evasion of
the Tibetan officials, who could easily have treated
with us at Khamba Jong and again at Tuna, had
they cared to. We were perfectly willing to come to
terms here, and it rested with the peace delegates
whether we went on to Lhasa or not. Young-
husband then informed the delegates that he was
prepared to open negotiations on the next day.
The delegates were due at eleven next morning, but
they did not put in an appearance till three. They
were then told that as a preliminary they must
surrender the jong by noon on the succeeding day.
They demurred a great deal, but the Commissioner
was quite firm, and they went away downcast, with
the assurance that if the jong was not surrendered
we should take it by force. Younghusband, how-
ever, added that after the capture of the fort he
was perfectly willing to open negotiations again.
Next day, shortly after noon, a signal gun was
fired to indicate that the armistice was at an end,
and the General forthwith began his preparations
to stcrm the formidable hill fortress. The Tibetans
had taken advantage of the armistice to build more
240 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
walls and sangars. No one could look at the
bristling jong without realizing how difficult was
the task before our troops, and without anxiety as
to the outcome of the assault in killed and wounded.
But we all knew that the jong had to be taken, what-
ever the cost.
Operations began in the afternoon, the General
making a demonstration against the left face of the
jong and Palkhor Choide Monastery. Fuller's bat-
tery took up a position about i,6oo yards from the
jong. Five companies of infantry were extended
on either flank. Both the j ong and monastery opened
fire on our troops, and we had one man mortally
wounded. The General's intention, however, was
only to deceive the Tibetans into thinking that we
intended to assault from that side. As soon as dusk
fell, the troops were withdrawn and preparations
made for the real assault.
The south-eastern face of the rock on which the
jong is built is most precipitous, yet this was ex-
actly the face which the General decided to storm.
His reasons, I imagine, were that the fringe of houses
at the base of the rock was thinnest on this side,
and that the very multiplicity of sangars and walls
that the enemy had built prevented their having
GYANTSE., 241
the open field of fire necessary to stop a rash.
Moreover, down the middle of the rock ran a deep
fissure or cleft, which was commanded, the General
noticed, by no tower or loopholed wall. At two
points, however, the Tibetans had built walls across
the fissure. The first of these the General believed
could be breached by our artillery. Our troops
through that could work their way round to either
flank, and so into the heart of the jong.
The plan of operations was very simple. Before
dawn three columns were to rush the fringe of
houses at the base. Then was to follow a storm
of artillery fire directed on all the salient points of
the jong, after which our guns were to make a
breach in the lower wall across the cleft up which
the storming-party was later on to climb.
The action turned out exactly as was planned,
with the exception that the fighting lasted much
longer than was expected, for the Tibetans made
a heroic resistance. The troops were astir shortly
after midnight. The night was very dark, and the
necessary deployment of the three columns took
some hours. However, an hour before dawn the
troops had begun their cautious advance, the
General and his Staff taking up their p^ ition at
243 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Palla. The alarm was not given till our leading
files were within twenty yards of the fringe of
houses at the base of the rock. The storm of fire
which then burst from the jong was an alarming
indication of the strength in which it was held.
The heavy jingals were all directed on Palla, and
the General and his Staff had many narrow escapes.
As on the previous occasion when the jong bom-
barded us at night, there were moments when every
building in it seemed outlined in flame.
Of the three columns, only that on the extreme
left, Gurkhas under Major Murray, was able to get
in at once. The other two columns were for the
time being checked, so bullet-swept was the open
space they had to cross. From time to time small
parties of two or three dashed across in the dark,
and gained the shelter of the walls of the houses in
front. There were barely twenty men and half a
dozen officers across when Captain Shepherd blew
in the walls of the house most strongly held. The
storming-party came under a most heavy fire from
the jong above. Among those hit was Lieutenant
Gurdon, of the 32nd. He was shot through the
head, and died almost immediately. The breach
made by Shepherd was the point to which most ol
GYANTSE. 243
the men of the centre and right columns made, but
their progress became very slow when daylight
appeared and the Tibetans could see what they
were firing at. It was not till nearly nine o'clock
that the whole fringe of houses at the base of the
front face of the rock was in our possession.
Then followed several hours of cannonading and
small-arms fire. The position the troops had now
won was commanded almost absolutely from the
jong. It was found impossible to return the
Tibetan fire from the roofs of the houses we had
occupied without exposing the troops in an un-
necessary degree, but loopholes were hastily made
in the walls of the rooms below, and the 40th Pathans
were sent into a garden on the extreme right, where
some cover was to be had. Colonel Campbell, com-
manding the first line, was able to show the enemy
that our marksmen were still in a position to pick
off such Tibetans as were rash enough to unduly
expose themselves. In the meanwhile, Luke's guns
on the extreme right. Fuller's battery at Palla, and
Marindin's guns at the Gurkha outpost threw a
stream of shrapnel on all parts of the jong.
But it was not till four o'clock in the afternoon
that the General decided that the time had come
244 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
to make the breach aforementioned. The reserve
companies of Gurkhas and Fusiliers were sent across
from Palla in the face of very heavy jingal and
rifle fire, and took cover in the houses we had occu-
pied. In the meanwhile Fuller was directed to
make the breach. So magnificent was the shooting
made by his guns that a dozen rounds of common
shell, planted one below the other, had made a hole
large enough for active men to clamber through.
The enemy quickly saw the purport of the breach.
Dozens of men could be distinctly seen hurrying
to the wall above it.
Then the Gurkhas and Fusiliers began their perilous
ascent. The nimble Gurkhas, led by Lieutenant
Grant, soon outpaced the Fusiliers, and in ten brief
minutes forty or fifty of them were crouching under
the breach. The Tibetans, finding their fire could
not stop us, tore great stones from the walls arid
rolled them down the cleft. Dozens of men were hit
and bruised. Presently Grant was through the breach,
followed by fifteen or twenty flushed arid shouting
men. The breach won, the only thought of the enemy
was flight. They made their way by the back of
the jong into the monastery. By six o'clock every
building in the great fortress was in our possession.
GYANTSE- 245
Our casualties in this affair were forty-three-^
Lieutenant Gurdon and seven men killed, and
twelve officers, including the gallant Grant, and
twenty-three men wounded. These casualties ex-
clude a number of men cut and bruised with stones.
Next morning the monastery was found deserted.
It was reported that the bulk of the enemy had
fled to Dongtse, about ten miles up the Shigatze
road. A column was sent thither, but found the
place empty, except for a very humble and sub-
missive monk.
On the 14th, having waited for over a week in
the hope of the peace delegates putting in an ap-
pearance, the force started on its march to Lhasa.
CHAPTER XI
gossip on the road to the front
Ari, Sikkim,
June 24.
I WRITE in an old forest rest-house on the borders
of British Bhutan.
The place is quiet and pastoral; climbing roses
overhang the roof and invade the bedrooms ; martins
have built their nests in the eaves ; cuckoos are
calling among the chestnuts down the hill. Outside
is a flower-garden, gay with geraniums and petunias
and familiar English plants that have overrun their
straggling borders and scattered themselves in the
narrow plot of grass that fringes the forest. Some
Government officer must have planted them years
ago, and left them to fight it out with Nature and
the caretaker.
The forest has encroached, and it is hard to say
where Nature's hand or Art's begins and ends.
Beside a rose-bush there has sprung up the solid
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD. 247
pink club of the wild ginger, and from a bed of
amaryllis a giant arum raises itself four feet in its
dappled, snake-like sheath. Gardens have most
charm in spots like this, where their mingled trim-
ness and neglect contrast with the insolent unconcern
of an encroaching forest.
At Ari I am fifty miles from Darjeeling, on the
road to Lhasa.
On June 21 I set my face to Lhasa for the second
time. I took another route to Chumbi, via Kalim-
pong and Pedong in British Bhutan. The road is
no further, but it compasses some arduous ascents.
On the other hand it avoids the low, malarious
valleys of Sikkim, where the path is constantly
carried away by slips. There is less chance of a
block, and one is above the cholera zone. The
Jelap route, which I strike to-morrow, is closed,
owing to cholera and landslips, so that I shall not
touch the line of conmiunications until within a
few miles of Chumbi, in which time my wound will
have had a week longer to heal before I risk a medical
examination and the chance of being sent back.
The relief column is due at Gyantse in a few days ;
it depends on the length of the operations there
whether I catch the advance to Lhasa.
248 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Through avoiding the Nathu-la route to Chumbi
I had to arrange my own transport. In DarjeeHng
my cooUes bolted without putting a pack on their
backs. More were secured ; these disappeared in
the night at Kalimpong without waiting to be paid.
Pack-ponies were hired to replace them, but these
are now in a state of collapse. Arguing, and hag-
gling, and hectoring, and blarneying, and persuading
are wearisome at all times, but more especially in
these close steamy valleys, where it is too much
trouble to lift an eyelid, and the air induces an
almost immoral state of lassitude, in which one is
tempted to dole out silver indifferently to anyone
who has it in his power to oil the wheels of life. I
could fill a whole chapter with a jeremiad on trans-
port, but it is enough to indicate, to those who go
about in vehicles, that there are men on the road
to Tibet now who would beggar themselves and
their families for generations for a macadamized
highway and two hansom cabs to carry them and
their belongings smoothly to Lhasa. Before I
reached Kalimpong I wished I had never left the
' radius.' No one should embark on Asiatic travel
who is not thoroughly out of harmony with civiliza-
tion.
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD. 249
The servant question is another difficulty. No
native bearer wishes to join the field force. Why
should he ? He has to cook and pack and do
the work of three men ; he has to make long, ex-
hausting marches j he is exposed to hunger, cold,
and fatigue ; he may be under fire every day ;
and he knows that if he falls into the hands of the
Tibetans, Hke the unfortunate servants of Captain
Parr at Gyantse, he will be brutally murdered and
cut up into mincemeat. In return for which he
is fed and clothed, and earns ten rupees more a
month than he would in the security of his own
home. After several unsuccessful trials, I have
found one Jung Bir, a Nepali bearer, who is at-
tached to me because I forget sometimes to ask for
my bazaar account, and do not object to his being
occasionally drunk. In Tibet the poor fellow will
have little chance of drinking.
My first man lost his nerve altogether, and, when
told to work, could only whine out that his father
and mother were not with him. My next applicant
was an opium-eater, prematurely bent and aged,
with the dazed look of a toad that has been in-
carcerated for ages in a rock, and is at last restored
to light and the world by the blow of a mason's
250 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
hammer. He wanted money to buy more dreams,
and for this he was wilHng to expose his poor old
body to hardships that would have killed him in
a month. Jung Bir was a Gurkha and more
martial. His first care on being engaged was
to buy a long and heavy chopper — ' for making
mince,' he said ; but I knew it was for the Tibetans.
To reach Ari one has to descend twice, crossing
the Teesta at 700 feet, and the Russett Chu at
1,500 feet. These valleys are hotter than the
plains of India. The streams run east and west,
and the cliffs on both sides catch the heat of the
early morning sun and hold it all day. The
closeness, the refraction from the rocks, and the
evaporation of the water, make the atmosphere
almost suffocating, and one feels the heat the
more intensely by the change from the bracing air
above. Crossing the Teesta, one enters British
Bhutan, a strip of land of less than 300 square
miles on the left bank of the river. It was ceded
to us with other territories by the treaty of 1865 ;
or, in plain words, it was annexed by us as a pun-
ishment for the outrage on Sir Ashley Eden, the
British Envoy, who was captured and grossly
insulted by the Bhutanese at Punakha in the
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD. 25T
previous year. The Bhutanese were as arrogant,
exclusive, and impossible to deal with, in those
days, as the Tibetans are to-day. Yet they have
been brought into line, and are now our friends.
Why should not the Tibetans, who are of the
same stock, yield themselves to enlightenment ?
Their evolution would be no stranger.
Nine miles above the Teesta bridge is Kalim-
pong, the capital of British Bhutan, and virtually
the foreign mart for what trade passes out of Tibet.
The Tomos of the Chumbi Valley, who have the
monopoly of the carr5dng, do not go further south
than this. At Kalimpong I found a horse-dealer
with a good selection of * Bhutia tats.' These ex-
cellent little beasts are now well known to be as
strong and plucky a breed of mountain ponies as
can be found anywhere. I discovered that their
fame is not merely modern when I came across
what must be the first reference to them in his-
tory in the narrative of Master Ralph Fitch, Eng-
land's pioneer to India. ' These northern mer-
chants,' says Fitch, speaking of the Bhutia, ' report
that in their countrie they haue very good horses,
but they be htle.' The Bhutias themselves, equally
ubiquitous in the Sikkim Himalayas, but not equally
252 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
indispensable, Fitch describes to the letter. At
Kalimpong I found them dirty, lazy, good-natured,
independent rascals, possessed, apparently, of wealth
beyond their deserts, for hard work is as alien
to their character as straight dealing. Even the
drovers will pay a coolie good wages to cut grass for
them rather than walk a mile downhill to fetch it
themselves.
The main street of Kalimpong is laid out in
the correct boulevard style, with young trees pro-
tected by tubs and iron raihngs. It is dominated
by the church of the Scotch Mission, whose steeple
is a landmark for miles. The place seems to be
overrun with the healthiest-looking English chil-
dren I have seen anywhere, whose parents are
given over to very practical good works.
I took the Bhutan route chiefly to avoid running
the gauntlet of the medicals j but another induce-
ment was the prospect of meeting Father Des-
godins, a French Roman Cathohc, Vicar Apostolic
of the Roman CathoUc Mission to Western Tibet,
who, after fifty years* intimacy with various Mongol
types, is probably better acquainted with the
Tibetans than any other living European.
I met Father Desgodins at Pedong. The rest-
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD. 253
house here looks over the valley to his sym-
metrical French presbytery and chapel, perched on
the hillside amid waving maize-fields, whose spring
verdure is the greenest in the world. Scattered
over the fields are thatched Lamas' houses and
low-storied gompas, with overhanging eaves and
praying-flags — * horses of the wind,' as the Tibetans
picturesquely call them, imagining that the prayers
inscribed on them are carried to the good god,
whoever he may be, who watches their particular
fold and fends off intruding spirits as well as material
invaders.
Behind the presbytery are terraced rice-fields,
irrigated by perennial streams, and bordered by
thick artemisia scrub, which in the hot sim, after
rain, sends out an aromatic scent, never to be
dissociated in travellers' dreams and reveries
from these great southern slopes of the Himalayas.
Pdre Desgodins is an erect old gentleman with
quiet, steely gray eyes and a tawny beard now
turning gray. He is known to few Englishmen,
but his adventurous travels in Tibet and his de-
voted, strenuous life are known throughout Europe.
He was sent out from France to the Tibet Mis-
sion shortly after the murder of Krick and Bourry
354 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA
by the Mishmis. Failing to enter Tibet from the
south through Sikkim, he made preparations for an
entry by Ladak. His journey was arrested by the
Indian Mutiny, when he was one of the besieged
at Agra. He afterwards penetrated Western Tibet
as far as Khanam, but was recalled to the Chinese
side, where he spent twenty-two perilous and adven-
turous years in the estabUshment of the mission at
Batang and Bonga. The mission was burnt down
and the settlement expelled by the Lamas. In 1888
Father Desgodins was sent to Pedong, his present
post, as Pro-vicar of the Mission to Western Tibet.
With regard to the present situation in Tibet,
Father Desgodins expressed astonishment at our
policy of folded arms.
* You have missed the occasion/ he said ; ' you
should have made your treaty with the Tibetans
themselves in 1888, You could have forced them
to treat then, when they were unprepared for a
military invasion. You should have said to them '
— here Pere Desgodins took out his watch — * " It
is now one o'clock. Sign that treaty by five, or
we advance to-morrow." What could they have
done ? Now you are too late. They have been
preparing for this for the last fifteen years.'
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD. 255
Father Desgodins was right. It is the old story
of ill-advised conciliation and forbearance. We
were afraid of the bugbear of China. The British
Government says to her victim after the chastise-
ment : * You've had your lesson. Now run off
and be good.* And the spoilt child of arrested
civilization runs off with his tongue in his cheek
and learns to make new arms and friends. The
British Government in the meantime sleeps in
smug complacency, and Exeter Hall is appeased.
* But why did you not treat with the Tibetans
themselves ? * Pere Desgodins asked. * China ! * —
here he made an expressive gesture — * I have
known China for fifty years. She is not your
friend.* Of course it is to the interest of China
to keep the tea monopoly, and to close the market
to British India. Travellers on the Chinese borders
are given passports and promises of assistance,
but the natives of the districts they traverse are
ordered to turn them back and place every obstacle
in their way. Nobody knows this better than
Father Desgodins, China's policy is the same
with nations as with individuals. She will always
profess willingness to help, but protest that her
subjects are unmanageable and out of hand. Why,
256 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
then, deal with China at all ? We can only answer
that she had more authority in Lhasa in 1888.
Moreover, we were more afraid of offending her
susceptibilities. But that bubble has burst.
Others who hold different views from P^re Des-
godins say that this very unruliness of her vassal
ought to make China welcome our intervention
in Tibet, if we engage to respect her claims there
when we have subdued the Lamas. This policy
might certainly point a temporary way out of the
muddle, whereby we could save our face and be
rid of the Tibet incubus for perhaps a year. But
the plan of leaving things to the suzerain Power
has been tried too often.
As I rode down the Pedong street from the pres-
bytery someone called me by name, and a little,
smiling, gnome-like man stepped out of a white-
washed office. It WcLS Phuntshog, a Tibetan
friend whom I had known six years previously
on the North-East frontier. I dismounted, ex-
pecting entertainment.
The office was bare of furniture save a new
writing-table and two chairs, but heaped round
the walls were piles of cast steel and iron plates
and files and pipes for bellows. Phuntshog ex-
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD. 257
plained that he was frontier trade examiner, and
that the steel had been purchased in Calcutta
by a Lama last year, and was confiscated on the
frontier as contraband. It was material for an
armoury. The spoilt child was making new arms,
like the schoolboy who exercises his muscle to
avenge himself after a beating.
" Do you get much of this sort of thing ? ' I
asked.
* Not now,' he said ; * they have given up trying
to get it through this way.*
A few years ago eight Mohammedans, experts
in rifle manufacture, had been decoyed from a
Calcutta factory to Lhasa. Two had died there,
and one I traced at Yatung. His wife had not
been allowed to pass the barrier, but he was given
a Tibetan helpmate. The wife lived some months
at Yatung, and used to receive large instalments
from her husband ; once, I was told, as much as
Rs. 1,400. But he never came back. The Tibetans
have learned to make rifles for themselves now.
Phuntshog had a story about another suspicious
character, a mysterious Lama who arrived in Dar-
jeeling in 1901 from Calcutta with 5,000 alms
bowls for Tibet, which he said he had purchased
9
258 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
in Germany. The man was detained in Darjeeling
five months under police espionage, and finally sent
back to Calcutta.
Our Intelligence Department on this frontier is
more alert than it used to be. Dorjieff, Phuntshog
told me, had been to Darjeeling twice, and stayed
in a trader's house at Kalimpong several days. He
wore the dress of a Lama. The ostensible object
of his journey was to visit the sacred Chorten at
Khatmandu and the shrines of Benares. He
visited these, and was known to spend some time
in Calcutta. On the occasion of the mission to
St. Petersburg Dorjieff and his colleagues entered
India through Nepal, took train to Bombay, and
shipped thence to Odessa. The discovery of the
Lamas' visit to India was almost simultaneous
with their departure from Bombay.
Phuntshog is not an admirer of our Tibetan
policy. We ought to have laid ourselves out, he
said, to influence the Lamas by secret agents, as
Russia did. There was no chance of a com-
promise now ; they would fight to the death.
Phuntshog said much more which I suspected was
inspired by the daily newspapers, so I questioned
him as to the feelings of the natives of the district.
GOSSIP ON THE ROAD. 259
' The feeling of patriotism is extinct,' he said ;
and he looked at his stomach, showing that he
spoke the truth. ^ We Tibetan British subjects
are fed well and paid well by your Government.
We want nothing more. My family are here.
Now I have no trade to examine.' His eyes
slowly surveyed the room, glanced over his office
table, with its pen and ink and blank paper, lit
on the 150 maunds of cast-steel, and finally rested
on two volumes by his elbow.
* Do you read much ? ' I asked.
' Sometimes,' he said. ^ I have learnt a good
deal from these books.'
They were the Holy Bible and Miss Braddon's
' Dead Men's Shoes.'
' Phuntshog,' I said, * you are a psychological
enigma. Your mind is like that cast-iron huddled
in the comer there, bought in an enlightened
Western city and destined for your benighted
Lhasa, but stuck halfway. Only it was going
the other way. You don't understand ? Neither
doL'
And here at Ari, as I look across the valley of
the Russett Chu to Pedong, and hear the vesper
bell, I cannot help thinking of that strange con-
26o THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
flict of minds — the devotee who, seeing further
than most men, has cared nothing for the things
of this incarnation, and Phuntshog, the strange
hybrid product of restless Western energies, stir-
ring and muddying the shallows of the Eastern
mind. Or are they depths ?
Who knows ? I know nothing, only that these
men are inscrutable, and one cannot see into their
hearts.
CHAPTER XII
TO THE GREAT RIVER
I REACHED Gyantse on July 12. The advance
to Lhasa began on the 14th. As might be ex-
pected from the tone of the delegates, peace negotia-
tions fell through. The Lhasa Government seemed
to be chaotic and conveniently inaccessible. The
Dalai Lama remained a great impersonality, and
the four Shapes or Councillors disclaimed all re-
sponsibility. The Tsong-du, or National Assembly,
who virtually governed the country, had sent us no
communication. The delegates' attitude of non
possumus was not assumed. Though these men
were the highest officials in Tibet, they could not
guarantee that any settlement they might make
with us would be faithfully observed. There
seemed no hope of a solution to the deadlock except
by absolute militarism. If the Tibetans had
fought so stubbornly at Gyantse, what fanaticism
262 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
might we not expect at Lhasa ! Most of us thought
that we could only reach the capital through the
most awful carnage. We pictured the 40,000 monks
of Lhasa hurling themselves defiantly on our camp.
We saw them mown down by Maxims, lanes of
dead. A hopeless struggle, and an ugly page in
military history. Still, we must go on ; there was
no help for it. The blood of these people was on
their own heads.
We left Gyantse on the 14th, and plunged into
the unknown towards Lhasa, which we had reason
to believe lay in some hidden valley 150 miles
to the north, beyond the unexplored basin of the
Tsangpo. Every position on the road was held.
The Karo la had been enormously strengthened,
and was occupied by 2,000 men. The enemy's
cavahy, which we had never seen, were at Nagartse
Jong. Gubshi, a dilapidated fort, only nineteen
miles on the road, was held by several hundred.
The Tibetans intended to dispute the passage of
the Brahmaputra, and there were other strong
positions where the path skirted the Kyi-chu for
miles beneath overhanging rocks, which were care-
fully prepared for booby-traps. We had to launch
ourselves into this intensely hostile region and
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 263
compel some people — ^we did not know whom — to
attach their signatures and seals to a certain parch-
ment which was to bind them to good behaviour in
the future, and a recognition of obligations they
had hitherto disavowed.
Our force consisted of eight companies of the
8th Gurkhas, five companies of the 32nd Pioneers,
four companies of the 40th Pathans, four com-
panies of the Royal Fusiliers, two companies of
Mounted Infantry, No. 30, British Mountain Bat-
tery, a section of No. 7 Native Mountain Battery,
1st Madras Sappers and Miners, machine-gun
section of the Norfolks, and details.* The 23rd
Pioneers, to their disgust, were left to garrison
Gyantse. The transport included mule, yak, donkey,
and coolie corps.
The first three marches to Ralung were a repeti-
tion of the country between Kalatso and Gyantse
— in the valley a strip of irrigated land, green and
gold, with alternate barley and mustard fields
between hillsides bare and verdureless save for
tufts of larkspur, astragalus, and scattered yellow
poppies. To Gyantse one descends 2,000 feet
♦ Companies of Pathans and Gurkhas were left to garrison
Ralung, Nagartse, Pehte, Chaksam, and Toilxing Bridge.
264 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
from a country entirely barren of trees to a valley
of occasional willow and poplar groves ; while
from Gyantse, as one ascends, the clusters of trees
become fewer, until one reaches the treeless zone
again at Ralung (15,000 feet). The last grove is
at Gubchi.
I quote some notes of the march from my diary :
'July 14. — ^The villages by the roadside are
deserted save for old women and barking dogs.
The Tibetans came down from the Karo la and
impressed the villagers. Many have fled into the
hills, and are hiding among the rocks and caves.
Our pickets fired on some to-night. Seeing their
heads bobbing up and down among the rocks, they
thought they were surrounded. Many of the
fugitives were women. Luckily, none were hit.
They were brought into camp whimpering and
salaaming, and became embarrassingly grateful
when it was made clear to them that they were
not to be tortured or killed, but set free. They
were called back, however, to give information
about grain, and thought their last hour had
come.'
* July 16. — ^AU the houses between Gubchi and
Ralung are decorated with diagonal blue, red, and
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 265
white stripes, characteristic of the Ning-ma sect
of Buddhists. They remind me of the walls of
Damascus after the visit of the German Emperor.
Heavy rain falls every day. Last night we camped
in a wet mustard-field. It is impossible to keep
our bedding dry.'
From Ralung the valley widens out, and the
country becomes more bleak. We enter a plateau
frequented by gazelle. Cultivation ceases. The
ascent to the Karo Pass is very gradual. The
path takes a sudden turn to the east through a
narrow gorge.
On the 17th we camped under the Karo la in
the snow range of Noijin Kang Sang, at an eleva-
tion of 1,000 feet above Mont Blanc. The pass
was free of snow, but a magnificent glacier de-
scended within 500 feet of the camp. We lay
within four miles of the enemy's position. Most
of us expected heavy fighting the next morning,
as we knew the Tibetans had been strengthening
their defences at the Karo la for some days. Vol-
leys were fired on our scouts on the i6th and 17th.
The old wall had been extended east and west
until it ended in vertical cliffs just beneath the
snow-line. A second barrier had been built further
266 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
on, and sangars constructed on every prominent
point to meet flank attacks. The wall itself was
massively strong, and it was approached by a steep
cliff, up which it was impossible to make a sus-
tained charge, as the rarefied air at this elevation
(16,600 feet) leaves one breathless after the slightest
exertion. The Karo la was the strongest position
on the road to Lhasa. If the Tibetans intended to
make another stand, here was their chance.
In the messes there was much discussion as to
the seriousness of the opposition we were likely
to meet with. The flanking parties had a long
and difficult climb before them that would take
them some hours, and the general feeling was
that we should be lucky if we got the transport
through by noon. But when one of us suggested
that the Tibetans might fail to come up to the
scratch, and abandon the position without firing
a shot, we laughed at him ; but his conjecture was
very near the mark.
At 7 a.m. the troops forming the line of advance
moved into position. The disposition of the enemy's
sangars made a turning movement extremely diffi-
cult, but a frontal attack on the wall, if stubbornly
resisted, could not be carried without severe loss.
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 267
General Macdonald sent flanking parties of the
8th Gurkhas on both sides of the valley to scale
the heights and turn the Tibetan position, and
despatched the Royal Fusihers along the centre
of the valley to attack the wall when the opposition
had been weakened.
Stretched on a grassy knoll on the left, enjoying
the sunshine and the smell of the warm turf, we
civilians watched the whole affair with our glasses.
It might have been a picnic on the Surrey downs
if it were not for the tap-tap of the Maxim, like a
distant woodpecker, in the valley, and the occasional
report of the lo-pounders by our side, which made
the valleys and cliffs reverberate Hke thunder.
The Tibetans' ruse was to open fire from the
wall directly our troops came into view, and then
evacuate the position. They thus delayed the pur-
suit while we were waiting for the scaHng-party to
ascend the heights.
At nine o'clock the Gurkhas on the left signalled
that no enemy were to be seen. At the same time
Colonel Cooper, of the Royal Fusiliers, hehographed
that the wall was unoccupied and the Tibetans in
full retreat. The mounted infantry were at once
called up for the pursuit. Meanwhile one or two
268 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
jingals and some Tibetan marksmen kept up an
intermittent fire on the right flanking party from
clefts in the overhanging cHffs. A battery repUed
with shrapnel, covering our advance. These pickets
on the left stayed behind and engaged our right
flanking party until eleven o'clock. To turn the
position the Gurkhas chmbed a parallel ridge, and
were for a long time under fire of their jingals.
The last part of the ascent was along the edge of a
glacier, and then on to the shoulder of the ridge by
steps which the Gurkhas cut in the ice with their
kukris, helping one another up with the butts of
their rifles. They carried rope scaUng-ladders, but
these were for the descent. At 11.30 Major Murray
and his two companies of Gurkhas appeared on the
heights, and possession was taken of the pass. The
ridge that the Tibetans had held was apparently
deserted, but every now and then a man was seen
crouching in a cave or behind a rock, and was shot
down. One Kham man shot a Gurkha who was
looking into the cave where he was hiding. He
then ran out and held up his thumbs, expecting
quarter. He was rightly cut down with kukris.
The dying Gurkha's comrades rushed the cave, and
drove six more over the precipice without using
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 269
steel or powder. They fell sheer 300 feet. Another
Gurkha cut off a Tibetan's head with his own sword.
On several occasions they hesitated to soil their
kukris when they could despatch their victims in
any other way.
On a further ridge, a heart-breaking ascent of
shale and boulders, we saw two or three hundred
Tibetans ascending into the clouds. We had marked
them at the beginning of the action, before we
knew that the wall was unoccupied. Even then
it was oiear that the men were fugitives, and had
no thought of holding the place. We could see
them hours afterwards, with our glasses, crouching
under the cliffs. We turned shrapnel and Maxims
on them ; the hillsides began to move. Then a
company of Pathans was sent up, and despatched
over forty. It was at this point I saw an act of
heroism which quite changed my estimate of these
men. A group of four were running up a cliff, under
fire from the Pathans at a distance of about 500
yards. One was hit, and his comrade stayed be-
hind to carry him. The two unimpeded Tibetans
made their escape, but the rescuer could only shamble
along with difficulty. He and his wounded com-
rade were both shot down.
270 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
The i8th was a disappointing day to our soldiers.
But the action was of great interest, owing to the
altitude in which our flanking parties had to operate.
There is a saying on the Indian frontier : * There is
a hill ; send up a Gurkha.' These sturdy little men
are splendid mountaineers, and ^^dll climb up the
face of a rock while the enemy are rolling down
stones on them as coolly as they will rush a wall
under heavy fire on the flat. Their arduous climb
took three and a half hours, and was a real moun-
taineering feat. The cave fighting, in which they
had three casualties, took place at 19,000 feet, and
this is probably the highest elevation at which an
action has been fought in history.
A few of the Tibetans fled by the highroad, along
which the mounted infantry pursued, killing twenty
and taking ten prisoners. I asked a native officer
how he decided whom to spare or kill, and he said
he killed the men who ran, and spared those who
came towards him. The destiny that preserved the
lives of our ten Kham prisoners when nearly the
whole of the levy perished reminded me in its capri-
ciousness of Caliban's whim in Setebos :
' Let twenty pass, and stone the twenty-first.
Loving not, hating not, just choosing so.'
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 271
These Kham men were in our mounted infantry
camp until the release of the prisoners in Lhasa,
and made themselves useful in many ways — loading
mules, carrying us over streams, fetching wood and
water, and fodder for our horses. They were fed
and cared for, and probably never fared better in
their lives. When they had nothing to do, they
would sit down in a circle and discuss things resign-
edly — the English, no doubt, and their ways, and
their own distant country. Sometimes they would
ask to go home ; their mothers and wives did not
know if they were alive or dead. But we had no
guarantee that they would not fight us again.
Now they knew the disparity of their arms they
nlight shrink from further resistance, yet there was
every chance that the Lamas would compel them
to fight. They became quite popular in the camp,
these wild, long-haired men, they were so good-
humoured, gentle in manner, and ready to help.
I was sorry for these Tibetans. Their struggle
was so hopeless. They were brave and simple,
and none of us bore the shghtest vindictiveness
against them. Here was all the brutality of war,
and none of the glory and incentive. These men
were of the same race as the people I had been liv-
272 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
ing amongst at Darjeeling — cheerful, jolly fellows
— and I had seen their crops ruined, their houses
burnt and shelled, the dead lying about the thresh-
olds of what were their homes, and all for no fault
of their own — only because their leaders were politi-
cally impossible, which, of course, the poor fellows
did not know, and there was no one to tell them.
They thought our advance an act of unprovoked
aggression, and they were fighting for their homes.
Fortunately, however, this slaughter was begin-
ning to put the fear of God into them. We never
saw a Tibetan within five miles who did not carry
a huge white flag. The second action at the Karo
la was the end of the Tibetan resistance. The fall
of Gyantse Jong, which they thought unassailable,
seems to have broken their spirit altogether. At
the Karo la they had evidently no serious intention
of holding the position, but fought like men driven
to the front against their will, with no confidence
or heart in the business at all. The friendly Bhu-
tanese told us that the Tibetans would not stand
where they had once been defeated, and that levies
who had once faced us were not easily brought into
the field again. These were casual generaUzations,
no doubt, but they contained a great deal of truth.
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 273
The Kham men who opposed us at the first Karo
la action, the Shigatze men who attacked the mis-
sion in May, and the force from Lhasa who hurled
themselves on Kangma, were all new levies. Many
of our prisoners protested very strongly against
being released, fearing to be exposed again to our
bullets and their own Lamas.
On the 1 8th we reached Nagartse Jong, and
found the Shapes awaiting us. They met us in
the same impracticable spirit. We were not to
occupy the jong, and they were not empowered to
treat with us unless we returned to Gyantse. It
was a repetition of Khamba Jong and Tuna. In
the afternoon a durbar was held in Colonel Young-
husband's tent, when the Tibetans showed them-
selves appallingly futile and childish. They did
not seem to realize that we were in a position to
dictate terms, and Colonel Younghusband had to
repeat that it was now too late for any compromise,
and the settlement must be completed at Lhasa.
From Nagartse we held interviews with these
tedious delegates at almost every camp. They
exhausted everyone's patience except the Com-
missioner's. For days they did not yield a point,
and refused even to discuss terms unless we returned
274 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
to Gyantse. But their protests became more urgent
as we went on, their tone less minatory. It was
not until we were within fifty miles of Lhasa that
the Tibetan Government deigned to enter into com-
munication with the mission. At Tamalung Colonel
Younghusband received the first communication
from the National Assembly ; at Chaksam arrived
the first missive the British Government had ever
received from the Dalai Lama. During the delay
at the ferry the councillors practically threw them-
selves on Colonel Younghusband's mercy. They
said that their lives would be forfeited if we pro-
ceeded, and dwelt on the severe punishment they
might incur if they failed to conclude negotiations
satisfactorily. But Colonel Younghusband was equal
to every emergency. It would be impossible to find
another man in the British Empire with a person-
ality so calculated to impress the Tibetans. He sat
through every durbar a monument of patience and
inflexibility, impassive as one of their own Buddhas.
Priests and councillors found that appeals to his
mercy were hopeless. He, too, had orders from his
King to go to Lhasa ; if he faltered, his fife also was
at stake ) decapitation would await him on his
return. That was the impression he purposely gave
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 275
them. It curtailed palaver. How in the name of
all their Buddhas were they to stop such a man ?
The whole progress of negotiations put me in mind
of the coercion of very naughty children. The Lamas
tried every guile to reduce his demands. They would
be cajoling him now if he had not given them an ulti-
matum, and if they had not learnt by six weeks*
contact and intercourse with the man that shuffling
was hopeless, that he never made a promise that was
not fulfilled, or a threat that was not executed.
The Tibetan treaty was the victory of a personality,
the triumph of an impression on the least impres-
sionable people in the world. But I anticipate.
While the Shapes were holding Colonel Young-
husband in conference at Nagartse, their cavalry
were escorting a large convoy on the road to Lhasa.
Our mounted infantry came upon them six miles
beyond Nagartse, and as they were rounding them
up the Tibetans foolishly fired on them. We cap-
tured eighty riding and baggage ponies and mules
and fourteen prisoners, and killed several. They
made no stand, though they were well armed with
a medley of modern rifles and well mounted. This
was actually the last shot fired on our side. The
delegates had been full of assurances that the coun-
276 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
try was clear of the enemy, hoping that the convoy
would get well away while they delayed us with
fruitless protests and reiterated demands to go
back. While they were palavering in the tent,
they looked out and saw the Pathans go past with
their rich yellow silks and personal baggage looted
in the brush with the cavalry. Their consterna-
tion was amusing, and the situation had its element
of humour. A servant rushed to the door of the
tent and deUvered the whole tale of woe. A mounted
infantry officer arrived and explained that our scouts
had been fired on. After this, of course, there was
no talk of anything except the restitution of the
loot. The Shapes deserved to lose their kit. I do
not remember what was arranged, but if any readers
of this record see a gorgeous yellow cloak of silk and
brocade at a fancy-dress ball in London, I advise
them to ask its history.
This last encounter with the Tibetans is especially
interesting, as they were the best-armed body of men
we had met. The weapons we captured included
a Winchester rifle, several Lhasa-made Martinis, a
bolt rifle of an old Austrian pattern, an Enghsh-
made muzzle-loading riile, a 12-bore breech-loading
shot-gun, some Eley's ammunition, and an English
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 277
gun-case. The reports of Russian arms found in
Tibet have been very much exaggerated. During
the whole campaign we did not come across more
than thirty Russian Government rifles, and these
were weapons that must have drifted into Tibet
from Mongoha, just as rifles of British pattern found
their way over the Indian frontier into Lhasa.
Also it must be remembered that the weapons locally
made in Lhasa were of British pattern, and manu-
factured by experts decoyed from a British factory.
Had these men been Russian subjects, we should
have regarded their presence in Lhasa as an un-
questionable proof of Muscovite assistance. Jeal-
ousy and suspicion make nations wilfully blind.
Russia fully beUeves that we are giving underhand
assistance to the Japanese, and many Englishmen,
who are unbiassed in other questions, are ready to
believe, without the slightest proof, that Russia
has been supplying Tibet with arms and generals.
We had been informed that large quantities of Rus-
sian rifles had been introduced into the country,
and it was rumoured that the Tibetans were reserv-
ing these for the defence of Lhasa itself. But it is
hardly credible that they should have sent levies
against us armed with their obsolete matchlocks
278 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
when they were well supplied with Wfeapons of a
modern pattern. Russian intrigue Was active iti
Lhasa, but it had not gone so far as open armament.
At Nagartse we came across the great Yamdok
or Palti Lake, along the shores of which winds the
foad to Lhasa. Nagartse Jong is a striking old
keep, built on a bluff promontofy of hill stretching
out t6wards the blue waters of the lake. In the
distance we saw the crag-perched mtonastery of
Samdihg, where lives the mysterious Dorje Phagmd,
the incarnation of the goddess Tara.
The wild mountain scenery of the Yamdok Tso,
the most romantic in Tibet, has naturally inspired
many legends. When Samding was threatened by
the Dzungarian invaders early in the eighteenth
century, Dorje Phagmo miraculously converted her-
self and all her attendant monks atid nuns into
pigs. Serung Dandub^ the Dzungarian chief, finding
the monastery deserted, said that he would not
loot a place guarded only by swine, whereupon
Dorje Phagmo again metamorphosed herself and
her satellites. The terrified invaders prostrated
themselves iti awe before the goddess, and presented
the monastery with the most priceless gifts. Simi-
larly^ the Abbot of Pehte saved the fortress and
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 279
towa from another band of invaders by giving the
lake the appearance of green pasturelands, into
which the Dzungarians galloped and were engulfed.
I quote these tales, which have been mentioned in
nearly every book on Tibet, as typical of the coun-
try. Doubtless similar legends will be current in
a few years about the British to account for the
sparing of Samding, Nagartse, and Pehte Jong.
Special courtesy was shown the monks and nuns
of Samding, in recognition of the hospitahty afforded
Sarat Chandra Dass by the last incarnation of Dorje
Phagmo, who entertained the Bengali traveller,
and saw that he was attended to and cared for
through a serious illness. A letter was sent Dorje
Phagmo, asking if she would receive three British
officers, including the antiquary of the expedition.
But the present incarnation, a girl of six or seven
years, was invisible, and the convent was reported
to be bare of ornament and singularly disappoint-
ing. There were no pigs.
If only one were without the incubus of an army,
a month in the Noijin Kang Sang country and the
Yamdok Plain would be a delightful experience.
But when one is accompanying a column one loses
more than half the pleasure of travel. One has to
28o THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
get up at a fixed hour — generally uncomfortably
early — breakfast, and pack and load one's mules
and see them started in their allotted place in the
line, ride in a crowd all day, often at a snail's pace,
and halt at a fixed place. Shooting is forbidden
on the line of march. When alone one can wander
about with a gun, pitch camp where one likes, make
short or long marches as one likes, shoot or fish or
loiter for days in the same place. The spirit which
impels one to travel in wild places is an impulse,
conscious or unconscious, to be free of laws and
restraints, to escape conventions and social obliga-
tions, to temporarily throw one's self back into
an obsolete phase of existence, amidst surroundings
which bear little mark of the arbitrary meddling
of man. It is not a high ideal, but men often de-
ceive themselves when they think they make expe-
ditions in order to add to science, and forsake the
comforts of life, and endure hunger, cold, fatigue,
and lonehness, to discover in exactly what parallel
of unknown country a river rises or bends to some
particular point of the compass. How many trav-
ellers are there who would spend the same time in an
office poring over maps or statistics for the sake of
geography or any other science ? We like to have
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 281
a convenient excuse, and make a virtue out of a
hobby or an instinct. But why not own up that
one travels for the glamour of the thing ? In pre-
vious wanderings my experience had always been
to leave a base with several different objectives in
view, and to take the route that proved most allur-
ing when met by a choice of roads — some old de-
serted city or ruined shrine, some lake or marshland
haunted by wild-fowl that have never heard the
crack of a gun, or a strip of desert where one must
calculate how to get across with just sufficient sup-
plies and no margin. I like to drift to the magnet
of great watersheds, lofty mountain passes, fron-
tiers where one emerges among people entirely
different in habit and belief from folk the other
side, but equally convinced that they are the only
enlightened people on earth. Often in India I had
dreamed of the great inland waters of Tibet and
Mongoha, the haunts of myriads of duck and geese
— Yamdok Tso, Tengri Nor, Issik Kul, names of
romance to the wild-fowler, to be breathed with
reverence and awe. I envied the great flights of
mallard and pochard winging northward in March
and April to the unknown ■ and here at last I was
camping by the Yamdok Tso itself — with an army.
282 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Yet I have digressed to grumble at the only
means by which a sight of these hidden waters
was possible. When we passed in July, there were
no wild-fowl on the lake except the bar-headed
geese and Brahminy duck. The ruddy sheldrake,
or Brahminy, is found all over Tibet, and will be
associated with the memory of nearly every march
and camping-ground. It is distinctly a Buddhist
bird. From it is derived the title of the established
Church of the Lamas, the Abbots of which wear
robes of ruddy sheldrake colour, Gelug-pa.* In
Burmah the Brahminy is sacred to Buddhism as a
symbol of devotion and fidelity, and it was figured
on Asoka's pillars in the same emblematical char-
acter.! The Brahminy is generally found in pairs,
and when one is shot the other will often hover
round till it falls a victim to conjugal love. In
India the bird is considered inedible, but we were
glad of it in Tibet, and discovered no trace of fishy
flavour.
Early in April, when we passed the Bam Tso
and Kala Tso we found the lakes frequented by
nearly all the common migratory Indian duck ;
and again, on our return large flights came in.
♦ Waddell, ' Lamaism in Tibet,' p. 200. f J'Wi., p. 409.
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 283
But during the summer months nothing remained
except the geese and sheldrake and the goosander,
which is resident in Tibet and the Himalayas. I
take it that no respectable duck spends the summer
south of the Tengri Nor. At Lhasa, mallard, teal,
gadwall, and white-eyed pochard were coming in
from the north as we were leaving in the latter
half of September, and followed us down to the
plains. They make shorter flights than I imagined,
and longer stays at their fashionable Central Asian
watering-places.
We marched three days along the banks of the
Yamdok Tso, and halted a day at Nagartse. Duck
were not plentiful on the lake. Black-headed gulls
and redshanks were common. The fields of blue
borage by the villages were an exquisite sight.
On the 22nd we reached Pehte. The jong, a medi-
eval fortress, stands out on the lake like Chillon,
only it is more crumbling and dilapidated. The
courtyards are neglected and overgrown with
nettles. Soldiers, villagers, both men and women,
had run away to the hills with their flocks and valu-
ables. Only an old man and two boys were left
in charge of the chapel and the fort. The hide
fishing-boats were sunk, or carried over to the
284 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
other side. On July 24 we left the lake near the
village of Tamalung, and ascended the ridge on our
left to the Khamba Pass, 1,200 feet above the lake
level. A sudden turn in the path brought us to
the saddle, and we looked down on the great river
that has been guarded from European eyes for
nearly a century. In the heart of Tibet we had
found Arcadia — not a detached oasis, but a continu-
ous strip of verdure, where the Tsangpo cleaves the
bleak hills and desert tablelands from west to east.
All the valley was covered with green and yellow
cornfields, with scattered homesteads surrounded
by clusters of trees, not dwarfish and stunted in
the struggle for existence, but stately and spread-
ing — trees that would grace the valley of the Thames
or Severn.
We had come through the desert to Arcady.
When we left Phari, months and months before,
and crossed the Tang la, we entered the desert.
Tuna is built on bare gravel, and in winter-time
does not boast a blade of grass. Within a mile
there are stunted bushes, dry, withered, and sap-
less, which lend a sustenance to the gazelle and
wild asses, beasts that from the beginning have
chosen isolation, and, like the Tibetans, who people
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 285
the same waste, are content with spare diet so
long as they are left alone.
Every Tibetan of the tableland is a hermit by
choice, or some strange hereditary instinct has
impelled him to accept Nature's most niggard
gifts as his birthright, so that he toils a lifetime
to win by his own labour and in scanty measure
the necessaries which Nature deals lavishly else-
where, herding his yaks on the waste lands, tilling
the unproductive soil for his meagre crop of barley,
and searching the hillsides for yak-dung for fuel
to warm his stone hut and cook his meal of
flour.
Yet north and south of him, barely a week*s
journey, are warm, fertile valleys, luxuriant crops,
unstinted woodlands, where Mongols like himself
accept Nature's largess philosophically as the most
natural thing in the world.
It seems as if some special and economical law
of Providence, such a law as makes at least one
man see beauty in every type of woman, even the
most unlovely, had ordained it, so that no comer
of the ecirth, not even the Sahara, Tadmor, Tuna,
or Guru, should lack men who devote themselves
blindly and without question to live there, and
286 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
care for what one might think God Himself had
forgotten and overlooked.
These men — Bedouin, Tibetans, and the like —
enjoy one thing, for which they forego most things
that men crave for, and that is freedom. They do
not possess the gifts that cause strife, and divisions,
and law-making, and political parties, and changes
of Government. They have too little to share.
Their country is invaded only at intervals of cen-
turies. On these occasions they fight bravely, as
their one inheritance is at stake. But they are
bigoted and benighted ; they have not kept time
with evolution, and so they are defeated. The
conservatism', the exclusiveness, that has kept them
free so long has shut the door to ' progress,' which,
if they were enlightened and introspective, they
would recognise as a pestilence that has infected
one half of the world at the expense of the other,
making both unhappy and discontented.
The Tuna Plain is like the Palmyra Desert at
the point where one comes within view of the
snows of Lebanon. It is not monotonous ; there
is too much play of light and shade for that.
Everywhere the sun shines, the mirage dances ;
the white calcined plain becomes a flock of fright-
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 287
ened sheep hurrying down the wind ; the stunted
sedge by the lakeside leaps up like a squadron
in ambush and sweeps rapidly along without ever
approaching nearer. Sometimes a herd of wild
asses is mingled in the dance, grotesquely magni-
fied ; stones and nettles become walls and men.
All the country is elusive and unreal.
A few miles beyond Guru the road skirts the
Bamtso Lake, which must once have filled the
whole valley. Now the waters have receded, as
the process of desiccation is going on which has
entirely changed the geographical features of
Central Asia, and caused the disappearance of
great expanses of water like the Koko Nor, and
the dwindling of lakes and river from Khotan to
Gobi. The Roof of the World is becoming less and
less inhabitable.
From the desert to Arcady is not a long journey,
but armies travel slowly. After months of wait-
ing and delay we reached the promised land. It
was all suddenly unfolded to our view when we
stood on the Khamba la. Below us was a purely
pastoral landscape. Beyond lay hills even more
barren and verdureless than those we had crossed.
But every mile or so green fan-shaped valleys.
288 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
irrigated by clear streams, interrupted the barren-
ness, opening out into the main valley east and
west with perfect symmetry. To the north-east
flowed the Kyi Chu, the valley in which Lhasa
lay screened, only fifty-six miles distant.
To the south of the pass lay the great Yamdok
Lake, wild and beautiful, its channels twining
into the dark interstices of the hills — valleys of
mystery and gloom, where no white man has
ever trod. Lights and shadows fell caressingly
on the lake and hills. At one moment a peak
was ebony black, at another — as the heavy clouds
passed from over it, and the sun's rays illumined
it through a thin mist — golden as a field of butter-
cups. Often at sunset the grassy cones of the
hills glow like gilded pagodas, and the Tibetans,
I am told, call these sunlit plots the * golden
ground.'
In bright sunlight the lake is a deep turquoise
blue, but at evening time transient lights and
shades fleet over it with the moving clouds, light
forget-me-not, deep purple, the azure of a butter-
fly's wing — then all is swept away, immersed in
gloom, before the dark, menacing storm-clouds.
On the 25th I crossed the river with the ist
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 289
Mounted Infantry and 40th Pathans. My tent is
pitched on the roof of a rambling two-storied
house, under the shade of a great walnut-tree.
Crops, waist-deep, grow up to the walls — barley,
wheat, beans, and peas. On the roof are garden
flowers in pots, hollyhocks, and marigolds. The
cornfields are bright with English wild-flowers —
dandelions, buttercups, astragalus, and a purple
Michaelmas daisy.
There is no village, but farmhouses are dotted
about the valley, and groves of trees — walnut and
peach, and poplar and willow — enclosed within
stone walls. Wild birds that are almost tame are
nesting in the trees — black and white magpies,
crested hoopoes, and turtle-doves. The groves
are irrigated like the fields, and carpeted with flowers.
Homelike butterflies frequent them, and honey-
bees.
Everything is homelike. There is no mystery
in the valley, except its access, or, rather, its in-
accessibility. We have come to it through snow
passes, over barren, rocky wildernesses ; we have
won it with toil and suffering, through frost and
rain and snow and blistering sun.
And now that we had found Arcady, I would
10
290 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
have stayed there. Lhasa was only four marches
distant, but to me, in that mood of almost im-
moral indolence, it seemed that this strip of ver-
dure, with its happy pastoral scenes, was the most
impassable barrier that Nature had planted in our
path. Like the Tibetans, she menaced and threat-
ened us at first, then she turned to us with smiles
and cajoleries, entreating us to stay, and her
seduction was harder to resist.
******
To trace the course of the Tsangpo River from
Tibet to its outlet into Assam has been the goal
of travellers for over a century. Here is one of
the few unknown tracts of the world, where no
white man has ever penetrated. Until quite
recently there was a hot controversy among geo-
graphers as to whether the Tsangpo was the main
feeder of the Brahmaputra or reappeared in Burmah
as the Irawaddy. All attempts to explore the
river from India have proved fruitless, owing to the
intense hostility of the Abor and Passi Minyang
tribes, who oppose all intrusion with their poisoned
arrows and stakes, sharp and formidable as spears,
cunningly set in the ground to entrap invaders ;
while the vigilance of the Lamas has made it im-
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 291
possible for any European to get within 150 miles
of the Tsangpo Valley from Tibet. It was not
until 1882 that all doubt as to the identity of the
Tsangpo and Brahmaputra was set aside by the
survey of the native explorer A. K. And the
course of the Brahmaputra, or Dihong, as it is
called in Northern Assam, was never thoroughly
investigated until the explorations of Mr. Needham,
the Political Officer at Sadiya, and his trained
Gurkhas, who penetrated northwards as far as
Gina, a village half a day's journey beyond Passi
Ghat, and only about seventy miles south of the
point reached by A. K, from Tibet.
The return of the British expedition from Tibet
was evidently the opportunity of a century for
the investigation of this unexplored country. We
had gained the hitherto inaccessible base, and
were provided with supplies and transport on the
spot ; we had no opposition to expect from the
Tibetans, who were naturally eager to help us
out of the country by whatever road we chose,
and had promised to send officials with us to their
frontier at Gyala Sendong, who would forage for
us and try to impress the villagers into our service.
The hostile tribes beyond the frontier were not so
292 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
likely to resist an expedition moving south to their
homes after a successful campaign as a force
entering their country from our Indian frontier.
In the latter case they would naturally be more
suspicious of designs on their independence. The
distance from Lhasa to Assam was variously esti-
mated from 500 to 700 miles. I think the cal-
culations were influenced, perhaps unconsciously,
by sympathy with, or aversion from, the enterprise.
The Shapes, it is true, though they promised to
help us if we were determined on it, advised us
emphatically not to go by the Tsangpo route.
They said that the natives of their own outlying
provinces were bandits and cut-throats, practi-
cally independent of the Lhasa Government,
while the savages beyond the frontier were dan-
gerous people who obeyed no laws. The Shapes'
notions as to the course of the river were most
vague. When questioned, they said there was a
legend that it disappeared into a hole in the earth.
The country near its mouth was inhabited by
savages, who went about unclothed, and fed on
monkeys and reptiles. It was rumoured that they
were homed like animals, and that mothers did
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 293
not know their ovvn children. But this they could
not vouch for.
It was believed that tracks of a kind existed
from village to village all along the route, but
these, of course, after a time would become im-
practicable for pack transport. The mules would
have to be abandoned, and sent back to Gyantse
by our guides, or presented to the Tibetan officials
who accompanied us. Then we were to proceed
by forced marches through the jungle, with coolie
transport if obtainable; if not, each man was to
carry rice for a few days. The distance from the
Tibet frontier to Sadiya is not great, and the un-
explored country is reckoned not to be more than
seven stages. The force would bivouac, and, if
their advance were resisted, would confine them-
selves solely to defensive tactics. In case of op-
position, the greatest difficulty would be the care
of the wounded, as each invalid would need four
carriers. Thus, a few casualties would reduce
enormously the fighting strength of the escort.
But opposition was unlikely. Mr. Needham,
who has made the tribes of the Dihong Valley
the study of a lifetime, and succeeded to some
extent in gaining their confidence, considered the
294 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
chances of resistance small. He would, he said,
send messages to the tribes that the force coming
through their country from the north were his
friends, that they had been engaged in a punitive
expedition against the Lamas (whom the Abors
detested), that they were returning home by the
shortest route to Assam, and had no designs on
the territory they traversed. It was proposed
that Mr. Needham should go up the river as far
as possible and furnish the party with supplies.
All arrangements had been made for the ex-
ploring-party, which was to leave the main force
at Chaksam Ferry, and was expected to arrive in
Sadiya almost simultaneously with the winding
up of the expedition at Siliguri. Captain Ryder,
R.E., was to command the party, and his escort
was to be made up of the 8th Gurkhas, who had
long experience of the Assam frontier tribes, and
were the best men who could be chosen for the
work. Officers were selected, supply and trans-
port details arranged, everything was in readiness,
when at the last moment, only a day or two before
the party was to start, a message was received
from Simla refusing to sanction the expedition.
Colonel Younghusband was entirely in favour of
TO THE GREAT RIVER. 295
it, but the military authorities had a clean slate ;
they had come through so far without a single
disaster, and it seemed that no scientific or geo-
graphical considerations could have any weight
with them in their determination to take no risks.
Of course there were risks, and always must be
in enterprises of the kind ; but I think the cir-
cumstances of the moment reduced them to a
minimum, and that the results to be obtained
from the projected expedition should have entirely
outweighed them.
In European scientific circles much was expected
of the Tibetan expedition. But it has added very
little to science. The surveys that were made
have done little more than modify the previous
investigations of native surveyors.*
* The only expedition sanctioned is that which is now ex-
ploring the little-known trade route between Gyantse and Gar-
tok, where a mart has been opened to us by the recent Tibetan
treaty. The party consists of Captain Ryder, R.E., in command.
Captain Wood, R.E., Lieutenant Bailey, of the 32nd Pioneers,
and six picked men of the 8th Gurkhas. They follow the main
feeder of the Tsangpo nearly 500 miles, then strike into the high
lacustrine tableland of Western Tibet, passing the great Man-
sarowar Lake to Gartok ; thence over the Indus watershed, and
down the Sutlej Valley to Simla, where they are expected about
the end of January. The party will be able to collect useful
information about the trade resources of the covintry ; but the
route has already been mapped by Nain Singh, the Indian sur«
296 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
An expedition to the mountains bordering the
Tengri Nor, only nine days north of Lhasa, would
have linked all the unknown country north of the
Tsang po with the tracts explored by Sven Hedin,
and left the map without a hiatus in four degrees
of longitude from Cape Comorin to the Arctic
Ocean. But military considerations were para-
mount.
For myself, the abandonment of the expedition
was a great disappointment. I had counted on
it as early as February, and had made all prepara-
tions to join it.
veyor, and the geographical results of the expedition will be
small compared with what would have been derived from the
projected Tengri Nor and Brahmaputra trips.
CHAPTER XIII
LHASA AND ITS VANISHED DEITY
THE passage of the river was difficult and dan-
gerous. If we had had to depend on the
four Berthon boats we took with us, the crossing
might have taken weeks. But the good fortune
that attended the expedition throughout did not
fail us. At Chaksam we found the Tibetans had
left behind their two great ferry-boats, quaint old
barges with horses' heads at the prow, capacious
enough to hold a hundred men. The Tibetan
ferrymen worked for us cheerfully. A number
of hide boats were also discovered. The transport
mules were swum over, and the whole force was
across in less than a week.
But the river took its toll most tragically. The
current is swift and boisterous ; the eddies and
whirlpools are dangerously uncertain. Two Ber-
thon boats, bound together into a raft, capsized,
lo a
298 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
and Major Bretherton, chief supply and transport
officer, and two Gurkhas were drowned. It
seemed as if the genius of the river, offended at
our intrusion, had claimed its price and carried
off the most valuable life in the force. It was
Major Bretherton 's foresight more than anything
that enabled us to reach Lhasa. His loss was
calamitous.
We left our camp at the ferry on July 31, and
started for Lhasa, which was only forty-three
miles distant. It was difficult to believe that in
three days we would be looking on the Potala.
The Kyi Chu, the holy river of Lhasa, flows into
the Tsangpo at Chushul, three miles below Chak-
sam ferry, where our troops crossed. The river
is almost as broad as the Thames at Greenwich,
and the stream is swift and clear. The valley is
cultivated in places, but long stretches are bare
and rocky. Sand-dunes, overgrown with artemisia
scrub, extend to the margin of cultivation, leaving
a well-defined line between the green cornfields and
the barren sand. The crops were ripening at the
time of our advance, and promised a plentiful
harvest.
For many miles the road is cut out of a pre-
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 299
cipitous cliff above the river. A few hundred
men could have destroyed it in an afternoon, and
delayed our advance for another week. Newly-
built sangars at the entrance of the gorge showed
that the Tibetans had intended to hold it. But
they left the valley in a disorganized state the
day we reached the Tsangpo. Had they fortified
the position, they might have made it stronger
than the Karo la.
The heat of the valley was almost tropical.
Summer by the Kyi Chu River is very different
from one's first conceptions of Tibet. To escape
the heat, I used to write my diary in the shade of
gardens and willow groves. Hoopoes, magpies,
and huge black ravens became inquisitive and
confidential. I have a pile of little black note-
books I scribbled over in their society, dirty and
torn and soiled with pressed flowers. For a pic-
ture of the valley I will go to these. One's freshest
impressions are the best, and truer than remi-
niscences.
Nethang.
In the most fertile part of the Kyi Chu Valley,
where the fields are intersected in all directions
by clear-running streams bordered with flowers.
300 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
in a grove of poplars where doves were singing
all day long, I found Atisa's tomb.
It was built in a large, plain, bam-like building,
clean and sweet-smelling as a granary, and inno-
cent of ornament outside and in. It was the only
clean and simple place devoted to religion I had
seen in Tibet.
In every house and monastery we entered on the
road there were gilded images, tawdry paintings,
demons and she-devils, garish frescoes on the
wall, hideous grinning devil-masks, cdl the Lama's
spurious apparatus of terrorism.
These were the outward S5mibols of demonolatry
and superstition invented by scheming priests as
the fabric of their sacerdotalism. But this was
the resting-place of the Reformer, the true son
of Buddha, who came over the Himalayas to preach
a religion of love and mercy.
I entered the building out of the glare of the
sun, expecting nothing but the usual monsters
and abortions — ^just as one is dragged into a church
in some tourist-ridden land, where, if only for the
sake of peace, one must cast an apathetic eye at the
lions of the country. But as the tomb gradually
assumed shape in the dim light, I knew that there
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 301
was someone here, a priest or a community, who
understood Atisa, who knew what he would have
wished his last resting-place to be ; or perhaps the
good old monk had left a will or spoken a plain
word that had been handed down and remembered
these thousand years, and was now, no doubt,
regarded as an eccentric's whim, that there must
be no gods or demons by his tomb, nothing ab-
normal, no pretentiousness of any kind. If his
teaching had lived, how simple and honest and
different Tibet would be to-day !
The tomb was not beautiful — a large square
plinth, supporting layers of gradually decreasing
circumference and forming steps two feet in height,
the last a platform on which was based a sub-
stantial vat-like structure with no ornament or
inscription except a thin line of black pencilled
saints. By climbing up the layers of masonry
I found a pair of slant eyes gazing at nothing
and hidden by a curve in the stone from gazers
below. This was the only painting on the tomb.
Never in the thousand years since the good monk
Was laid to rest at Nethang had a white man entered
this shrine. To-day the courtyard was crowded
with mules and drivers : Hindus and Pathans in
302 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
British uniform ; they were ransacking the place
for com. A transport officer was shouting :
* How many bags have you, babu ? *
* A hundred and seven, sir.*
' Remember, if anyone loots, he will get fifty
beyni * (stripes with the cat-o '-nine-tails).
Then he turned to me.
' What the devil is that old thief doing over
there ? ' he said, and nodded at a man with archaeo-
logical interests, who was peering about in a dark
corner by the tomb. ' There is nothing more here.*
* He is examining Atisa's tomb.*
* And who the devil is Atisa ? '
And who is he ? Merely a name to a few dry-
as-dust pedants. Everything human he did is
forgotten. The faintest ripple remains to-day
from that stone cast into the stagnant waters so
many years ago. A few monks drone away their
days in a monastery close by. In the courtyard
there is a border of hollyhocks and snapdragon and
asters. Here the unsavoury guardians of Atisa's
tomb watch me as I write, and wonder what on
earth I am doing among them, and what spell or
mantra I am inscribing in the little black book
that shuts so tightly with a clasp.
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 303
TOILUNG.
To-morrow we reach Lhasa.
A few hours ago we caught the first glunpse
of the Potala Palace, a golden dome standing
out on a bluff rock in the centre of the valley.
The city is not seen from afar perched on a hill
like the great monasteries and Jongs of the coun-
try. It is literally * hidden.' A rocky promontory
projects from the bleak hills to the south like a
screen, hiding Lhasa, as if Nature conspired in its
seclusion. Here at a distance of seven miles we
can see the Potala and the Lamas' Medical College.
Trees and undulating ground shut out the view
of the actual city until one is within a mile of it.
To-morrow we camp outside. It is nearly a
hundred years since Thomas Manning, the only
Englishman (until to-day) who ever saw Lhasa,
preceded us. Our journey has not been easy, but
we have come in spite of everything.
The Lamas have opposed us with all their material
and spiritual resources. They have fought us with
medieval weapons and a medley of modern fire-
arms. They have held Commination Services,
recited mantras, and cursed us solemnly for days.
Yet we have come on.
304 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
They have sent delegates and messengers of
every rank to threaten and entreat and plead
with us — emissaries of increasing importance as
we have drawn nearer their capital, until the
Dalai Lama despatched his own Grand Chamber-
lain and Grand Secretary, and, greater than these,
the Ta Lama and Yutok Shap6, members of the
ruling Council of Five, whose sacred persons had
never before been seen by European eyes. To-
morrow the Amban himself comes to meet Colonel
Younghusband. The Dalai Lama has sent him a
letter sealed with his own seal.
Every stretch of road from the frontier to Lhasa
has had its symbol of remonstrance. Cairns and
chortens, and mani walls and praying-flags, demons
painted on the rock, v^Titings on the wall, white
stones piled upon black, have emitted their ray
of protest and malevolence in vain.
The Lamas knew we must come. Hundreds of
years ago a Buddhist saint wrote it in his book
of prophecies, Ma-ong Lung-Ten, which may be
bought to-day in the Lhasa book-shops. He pre-
dicted that Tibet would be invaded and conquered
by the Philings (Europeans), when all of the true
religion would go to Chang Shambula, the Northern
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 305
Paradise, and Buddhism would become extinct in
the country.
And now the Lamas beHeve that the prophecy
will be fulfilled by our entry into Lhasa, and that
their religion will decay before foreign influence.
The Dalai Lama, they say, will die, not by violence
or sickness, but by some spiritual visitation. His
spirit will seek some other incarnation, when he
can no longer benefit his people or secure his coun-
try, so long sacred to Buddhists, from the contam-
ination of foreign intrusion.
The Tibetans are not the savages they are de-
picted. They are civilized, if medieval. The coun-
try is governed on the feudal system. The monks
are the overlords, the peasantry their serfs. The
poor are not oppressed. They and the small tenant
farmers work ungrudgingly for their spiritual mas-
ters, to whom they owe a blind devotion. They
are not discontented, though they give more than
a tithe of their small income to the Church. It must
be remembered that every family contributes at
least one member to the priesthood, so that, when
we are inclined to abuse the monks for consuming
the greater part of the country's produce, we should
remember that the laymen are not the victims of
3o6 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
class prejudice, the plebeians groaning under the
burden of the patricians, so much as the servants
of a community chosen from among themselves, and
with whom they are connected by family ties.
No doubt the Lamas employ spiritual terrorism
to maintain their influence and preserve the tem-
poral government in their hands ; and when they
speak of their rehgion being injured by our intru-
sion, they are thinking, no doubt, of another un-
veiling of mysteries, the dreaded age of material-
ism and reason, when little by little their ignorant
serfs will be brought into contact with the facts
of hfe, and begin to question the justness of the
relations that have existed between themselves
and their rulers for centuries. But at present the
people are medieval, not only in their system of
government and their rehgion, their inquisition,
their witchcraft, their incantations, their ordeals
by fire and boihng oil, but in every aspect of their
daily hfe.
I question if ever in the history of the world there
has been another occasion when bigotry and dark-
ness have been exposed with such abruptness to the
inroad of science, when a barrier of ignorance created
by jealousy and fear as a screen between two peoples
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 307
living side by side has been demolished so suddenly
to admit the light of an advanced civilization.
The Tibetans, no doubt, will benefit, and many
abuses will be swept away. Yet there will always
be people who will hanker after the medieval and
romantic, who will say : * We men are children.
Why could we not have been content that there
was one mystery not unveiled, one country of an
ancient arrested civilization, and an established
Church where men are still guided by sorcery and
incantations, and direct their mundane affairs with
one eye on a grotesque spirit world, which is the
most real thing in their lives — a land of topsy-turvy
and inverted proportions, where men spend half
their Hves mumbling unintelligible mantras and
turning mechanical prayers, and when dead are
cut up into mincemeat and thrown to the dogs
and vultures ? '
To-morrow, when we enter Lhasa, we will have
unveiled the last mystery of the East. There are
no more forbidden cities which men have not mapped
and photographed. Our children will laugh at
modern travellers' tales. They will have to turn
again to GulHver and Haroun al Raschid. And
they wall soon tire of these. For now that there
3o8 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
are no real mysteries, no unknown land of dreams,
where there may still be genii and mahatmas and
bottle-imps, that kind of literature will be tolerated
no longer. Children will be sceptical and matter-
of-fact and disillusioned, and there will be no sale
for fairy-stories any more.
But we ourselves are children. Why could we
not have left at least one city out of bounds ?
Lhasa,
August 3.
We reached Lhasa to-day, after a march of seven
miles, and camped outside the city. As we ap-
proached, the road became an embankment across
a marsh. Butterflies and dragon-flies were hovering
among the rushes, clematis grew in the stonework
by the roadside, cows were grazing in the rich
pastureland, redshanks were calHng, a flight of teal
passed overhead ; the whole scene was most home-
hke, save for the bare scarred chffs that jealously
preclude a distant view of the city.
Some of us cUmbed the Chagpo Ri and looked
down on the city. Lhasa lay a mile in front of
us, a mass of huddled roofs and trees, dominated
by -the golden dome of the Jokhang Cathedral.
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 309
It must be the most hidden city on earth. The
Chagpo Ri rises bluffly from the river-bank hke a
huge rock. Between it and the Potala hill there
is a narrow gap not more than thirty yards wide.
Over this is built the Pargo Kaling, a typical Tibetan
chorten, through which is the main gateway into
Lhasa. The city has no walls, but beyond the
Potala, to complete the screen, stretches a great
embankment of sand right across the valley to the
hills on the north.
Lhasa,
August 4.
An epoch in the world's history was marked to-
day when Colonel Younghusband entered the city
to return the visit of the Chinese Amban. He was
accompanied by all the members of the mission,
the war correspondents, and an escort of two com-
panies of the Royal Fusiliers and the 2nd Mounted
Infantry. Half a company of mounted infantry,
two guns, a detachment of sappers, and four com-
310 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
panics of infantry were held ready to support the
escort if necessary.
In front of us marched and rode the Amban's
escort — his bodyguard, dressed in short loose coats
of French gray, embroidered in black, with various
emblems ; pikemen clad in bright red with black
embroidery and black pugarees ; soldiers with pikes
and scythes and three - pronged spears, on all of
which hung red banners with devices embroidered
in black.
We found the city squahd and filthy beyond
description, undrained and unpaved. Not a single
house looked clean or cared for. The streets after
rain are nothing but pools of stagnant water fre-
quented by pigs and dogs searching for refuse.
Even the Jokhang appeared mean and squahd at
close quarters, whence its golden roofs were invisible.
There was nothing picturesque except the marigolds
and hollyhocks in pots and the doves and singing-
birds in wicker cages.
The few Tibetans we met in the street were
strangely inciurious. A baker kneading dough
glanced at us casually, and went on kneading.
A woman weaving barely looked up from her work.
The streets were almost deserted, perhaps by
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 311
order of the authorities to prevent an outbreak.
But as we returned small crowds had gathered in
the doorways, women were peering through win-
dows, but no one followed or took more than a
listless interest in us. The monks looked on sullenly.
But in most faces one read only indifference and
apathy. One might think the entry of a foreign
army into Lhasa and the presence of English Polit-
ical Officers in gold-laced uniform and beaver hats
were everyday events.
The only building in Lhasa that is at all impos-
ing is the Potala.
It would be misleading to say that the palace
dominated the city, as a comparison would be im-
plied — a picture conveyed of one building stand-
ing out signally among others. This is not the
case.
The Potala is superbly detached. It is not a
palace on a hill, but a hill that is also a palace.
Its massive walls, its terraces and bastions stretch
upwards from the plain to the crest, as if the great
bluff rock were merely a foundation-stone planted
there at the divinity's nod. The divinity dwells
in the palace, and underneath, at the distance of
a furlong or two, humanity is huddled abjectly in
312 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
squalid smut-begrimed houses. The proportion is
that which exists between God and man.
If one approached within a league of Lhasa,
saw the glittering domes of the Potala, and turned
back without entering the precincts, one might
still imagine it an enchanted city, shining with
turquoise and gold. But having entered, the illu-
sion is lost. One might think devout Buddhists had
excluded strangers in order to preserve the myth
of the city's beauty and mystery and wealth, or
that the place was consciously neglected and de-
faced so as to offer no allurements to heretics, just
as the repulsive women one meets in the streets
smear themselves over with grease and cutch to
make themselves even more hideous than Nature
ordained.
The place has not changed since Manning visited
it ninety years ago, and wrote : — ' There is nothing
striking, nothing pleasing, in its appearance. The
habitations are begrimed with smut and dirt. The
avenues are full of dogs, some growling and gnawing
bits of hide that lie about in profusion, and emit a
charnel - house smell j others Umping and looking
livid ; others ulcerated ; others starved and dying,
and pecked at by ravens ; some dead and preyed
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 313
upon. In short, everything seems mean and gloomy,
and excites the idea of something unreal.' That is
the Lhasa of to-day. Probably it was the same cen-
turies ago.
Above all this squalor the Potala towers superbly.
Its golden roofs, shining in the sun like tongues
of fire, are a landmark for miles, and must inspire
awe and veneration in the hearts of pilgrims com-
ing from the desert parts of Tibet, Kashmir, and
MongoHa to visit the sacred city that Buddha has
blessed.
The secret of romance is remoteness, whether in
time or space. If we could be thrown back to the
days of Agincourt we should be enchanted at first,
but after a week should vote everything common-
place and dull. Falstaff, the beery lout, would be
an impossible companion, and Prince Hal a tire-
some young cub who wanted a good dressing-down.
In travel, too, as one approaches the goal, and the
country becomes gradually familiar, the husk of
romance falls oH. Childe Roland must have been
sadly disappointed in the Dark Tower ; filth and
familiarity very soon destroyed the romance of
Lhasa.
But romance still clings to the Potala. It is still
314 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
remote. Like Imray, its sacred inmate has achieved
the impossible. Divinity or no, he has at least the
divine power of vanishing. In the material West,
as we like to call it, we know how hard it is for the
humblest subject to disappear, in spite of the con-
fused hub of traffic and intricate network of communi-
cations. Yet here in Lhasa, a city of dreamy repose,
a King has escaped, been spirited into the air, and
nobody is any the wiser.
When we paraded the city yesterday, we made
a complete circuit of the Potala. There was no
one, not even the humblest follower, so unimagin-
ative that he did not look up from time to time
at the frowning cliff and thousand sightless win-
dows that concealed the unknown. Those hidden
corridors and passages have been for centuries,
and are, perhaps, at this very moment, the scenes
of unnatural piety and crime.
Within the precincts of Lhasa the taking of Ufe
in any form is sacrilege. Buddha's first law was,
' Thou shalt not kill ' ; and life is held so sacred
by his devout followers that they are careful not
to kill the smallest insect. Yet this palace, where
dwells the divine incarnation of the Bodhisat, the
head of the Bhuddist Church, must have witnessed
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 315
more murders and instigations to crime than the
most blood-stained castle of medieval Europe.
Since the assumption of temporal power by the
fifth Grand Lama in the middle of the seventeenth
century, the whole history of the Tibetan hierarchy
has been a record of bloodshed and intrigue. The
fifth Grand Lama, the first to receive the title
of Dalai, was a most unscrupulous ruler, who secured
the temporal power by inciting the Mongols to in-
vade Tibet, and received as his reward the king-
ship. He then established his claim to the god-
head by tampering with Buddhist history and
writ. The sixth incarnation was executed by the
Chinese on account of his profligacy. The seventh
was deposed by the Chinese as privy to the murder
of the regent. After the death of the eighth, of
whom I can learn nothing, it would seem that the
tables were turned : the regents systematically
murdered their charge, and the crime of the seventh
Dalai Lama was visited upon four successive incarna-
tions. The ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth all
died prematurely, assassinated, it is beUeved, by
their regents.
There are no legends of malmsey-butts, secret
smotherings, and hired assassins. The children
3i6 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
disappeared ; they were absorbed into the Uni-
versal Essence ; they were Hterally too good to
live. Their regents and protectors, monks only
less sacred than themselves, provided that the
spirit in its yearning for the next state shoula not
be long detained in its mortal husk. No questions
were asked. How could the devout trace the
comings and goings of the divine Avalokita, the
Lord of Mercy and Judgment, who ordains into
what heaven or hell, demon, god, hero, mollusc,
or ape, their spirits must enter, according to their
sins ?
So, when we reached Lhasa the other day, and
heard that the thirteenth incarnation had fled, no
one was surprised. Yet the wonder remains. A
great Prince, a god to thousands of men, has been
removed from his palace and capital, no one knows
whither or when. A ruler has disappeared who
travels with every appanage of state, inspiring awe
in his prostrate servants, whose movements, one
would think, were watched and talked about more
than any Sovereign's on earth. Yet fear, or loyalty,
or ignorance keeps every subject tongue-tied.
We have spies and informers everywhere, and
there are men in Lhasa who would do much to
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 317
please the new conquerors of Tibet. There are
also witless men, who have eyes and ears, but, it
seems, no tongues.
But so far neither avarice nor witlessness has
betrayed anything. For all we know, the Dalai
Lama may be' still in his palace in some hidden
chamber in the rock, or maybe he has never left
his customary apartments, and still performs his
daily offices in the Potala, confident that there at
least his sanctity is inviolable by unbeHevers.
The British Tommy in the meanwhile parades
the streets as indifferently as if they were the New
Cut or Lambeth Palace Road. He looks up at
the Potala, and says : ' The old bloke's done a
bunk. Wish we'd got 'im ; we might get 'ome
then.'
Lhasa,
August — .
We had been in Lhasa nearly three weeks before
we could discover where the Dalai Lama had fled.
We know now that he left his palace secretly in the
night, and took the northern road to Mongolia.
The Buriat, Dorjieff met him at Nagchuka, on the
verge of the great desert that separates inhabited
Tibet from Mongolia, 100 miles from Lhasa. On
3i8 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
the 20th the Amban told us that he had already
left Nagchuka twelve days, and was pushing on
across the desert to the frontier.
I have been trying to find out something about
the private life and character of the Grand Lama.
But asking questions here is fruitless ; one can
learn nothing intimate. And this is just what
one might expect. The man continues a bogie, a
riddle, undivinable, impersonal, remote. The people
know nothing. They have bowed before the throne
as men come out of the dark into a blinding light.
Scrutiny in their view would be vain and blasphem-
ous. The Abbots, too, will reveal nothing ; they
will not and dare not. When Colonel Younghus-
band put the question direct to a head Lama in
open durbar, ' Have you news of the Dalai Lama ?
Do you know where he is ? ' the monk looked slowly
to left and right, and answered, * I know nothing.'
' The ruler of your country leaves his palace and
capital, and you know nothing ? ' the Commis-
sioner asked. ' Nothing,' answered the monk,
shuffling his feet, but without changing colour.
From various sources, which differ surprisingly
little, I have a fairly clear picture of the man's
face and figure. He is thick-set, about five feet
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 319
nine inches in height, with a heavy square jaw,
nose remarkably long and straight for a Tibetan,
eyebrows pronounced and turning upwards in a
phenomenal manner — probably trained so, to make
his appearance more forbidding — face pock-marked,
general expression resolute and sinister. He goes
out very little, and is rarely seen by the people,
except on his annual visit to Depung, and during
his migrations between the Summer Palace and
the Potala. He was at the Summer Palace when
the messenger brought the news that our advance
was inevitable, but he went to the Potala to put
his house in order before projecting himself into
the unknown.
His face is the index of his character. He is a
man of strong personality, impetuous, despotic,
and intolerant of advice in State affairs. He is
constantly deposing his Ministers, and has estranged
from himself a large section of the upper classes,
both ecclesiastical and official, owing to his way-
ward and headstrong disposition. As a child he
was so precociously acute and resolute that he
survived his regent, and so upset the traditional
policy of murder, being the only one out of the
last five incarnations to reach his majority. Since
320 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
he took the government of the country into his
own hands, he has reduced the Chinese suzerainty
to a mere shadow, and, with fatal results to him-
self, consistently insulted and defied the British.
His inchnation to a rapprochement with Russia is
not shared by his Ministers.
The only glimpse I have had into the man him-
self was reflected in a conversation with the Nepalese
Resident, a podgy little man, very ugly and good-
natured, with the manners of a French comedian
and a face generally expanded in a broad grin.
He shook with laughter when I asked him if he
knew the Dalai Lama, and the idea was really in-
tensely funny, this mercurial, irreverent little man
hobnobbing with the divine. * I have seen him,'
he said, and exploded again. * But what does he
do all day ? ' I asked. The Resident puckered up
his brow, aping abstraction, and began to wave his
hand in the air solemnly with a slow circular move-
ment, mumbling * Om man Padme om * to the revolu-
tions of an imaginary praying-wheel. He was im-
mensely pleased with the effort and the effect it
produced on a sepoy orderly. * But has he no in-
terests or amusements ? * I asked. The Resident
could think of none. But he told me a story to
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 321
illustrate the dulness of the man, for whom he evi-
dently had no reverence. On his return from his
last visit to India, the Maharaja of Nepal had given
him a phonograph to present to the Priest-King.
The impious toy was introduced to the Holy of
HoUes, and the Dalai Lama walked round it un-
easily, as it emitted the strains of English band
music, and raucously repeated an indelicate Bhutan-
ese song. After sitting a long while in deep thought
he rose and said he could not Hve with this voice
without a soul ; it must leave his palace at once.
The rejected phonograph found a home with the
Chinese Amban, to whom it was presented with
due ceremonial the same day. ' The Lama is gumar*
the Resident said, using a Hindustani word which
may be translated, according to our charity, by
anything between * boorish * and ' unenlightened.'
I was glad to meet a man in this city of evasive-
ness whose views were positive, and who was eager
to communicate them. Through him I tracked the
shadow, as it were, of this impersonahty, and found
that to many strangers in Lhasa, and perhaps to
a few Lhasans themselves, the divinity was all clay,
a palpable fraud, a pompous and puritanical dull-
ard masquerading as a god.
II
322 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
For my own part, I think the oracle that coun-
selled his flight wiser than the statesmen who object
that it was a political mistake. He has lost his
prestige, they say. But imagine him dragged into
durbar as a signatory, gazed at by profane eyes,
the subject of a few days* gossip and comment,
then sunk into commonplace, stripped of his mys-
tery hke this city of Lhasa, through which we now
saunter familiarly, wondering when we shall start
again for the wilds.
To escape this ordeal he has fled, and to us,
at least, his flight has deepened the mystery that
envelops him, and added to his dignity and re-
moteness ; to thousands of mystical dreamers it
has preserved the effulgence of his godhead im-
soiled by contact with the profane world.
From our camp here the Potala draws the eye
like a magnet. There is nothing but sky and
marsh and bleak hill and palace. When we look
out of our tents in the morning, the sun is striking
the golden roof like a beacon light to the faithful.
Nearly every day in August this year has opened
fine and closed with storm-clouds gathering Irom
the west, through which the sun shines, bathing
the eastern valley in a soft, pearly light. The
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 323
western horizon is dark and lowering, the eastern
peaceful and serene. In this division of darkness
and light the Potala stands out like a haven, not
flaming now, but faintly luminous with a restful
mystic light, soothing enough to rob Buddhist
metaphysics of its pessimism and induce a mood,
even in unbelievers, in which one is content to
merge the individual and become absorbed in the
universal spirit of Nature.
No wonder that, when one looks for mystery in
Lhasa, one's thoughts dwell solely on the Dalai
Lama and the Potala. I cannot help dwelling
on the flight of the thirteenth incarnation. It
plunges us into medievalism. To my mind, there is
no picture so romantic and engrossing in modem
history as that exodus, when the spiritual head of
the Buddhist Church, the temporal ruler of six
millions, stole out of his palace by night and was
borne away in his palanquin, no one knows on
what errand or with what impotent rage in his
heart. The flight was really secret. No one but
his immediate confidants and retainers, not even
the Amban himself, knew that he had gone. I
can imagine the awed attendants, the burying of
treasure, the locking and sealing of chests, faint
324 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
lights flickering in the passages, hurried footsteps
in the corridors, dogs barking intermittently at
this unwonted bustle — I feel sure the 'Priest-King
kicked one as he stepped on the terrace for the
last time. Then the procession by moonlight up
the narrow valley to the north, where the roar of
the stream would drown the footsteps of the
palanquin-bearers.
A month afterwards I followed on his track,
and stood on the Phembu Pass twelve miles north
of Lhasa, whence one looks down on the huge belt
of mountains that lie between the Brahmaputra
and the desert, so packed and huddled that their
crests look like one continuous undulating plain
stretching to the horizon. Looking across the
valley, I could see the northern road to Mongolia
winding up a feeder of the Phembu Chu. They
passed along here and over the next range, and
across range after range, until they reached the
two conical snow-peaks that stand out of the plain
beside Tengri Nor, a hundred miles to the north.
For da)^ they skirted the great lake, and then, as
if they feared the Nemesis of our offended Raj
could pursue them to the end of the earth, broke
into the desert, across which they must be hurrying
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 325
now toward the great mountain chain of Burkhan
Buddha, on the southern limits of Mongolia.
Lhasa,
August 19.
The Tibetans are the strangest people on earth.
To-day I discovered how they dispose of their
dead.
To hold life sacred and benefit the creatures are
the laws of Buddha, which they are supposed to
obey most scrupulously. And as they think they
may be reborn in any shape of mammal, bird, or
fish, they are kind to living things.
During the morning service the Lamas repeat
a prayer for the minute insects which they have
swallowed inadvertently in their meat and drink,
and the formula insures the rebirth of these mi-
crobes in heaven. Sometimes, when a Lama's
life is despaired of, the monks will ransom a yak
or a bullock from the shambles, and keep him a
pensioner in their monastery, praying the good
Buddha to spare the sick man's life for the life
ransomed. Yet they eat meat freely, all save
the G^lug-pa, or Reformed Church, and square
their conscience with their appetite by the pretexjt
326 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
that the sin rests with the outcast assassin, the
public butcher, who will be bom in the next in-
carnation as some tantalized spirit or agonized
demon. That, however, is his own affair.
But it is when a Tibetan dies that his charity
to the creatiu-es becomes really practical. Then,
by his own tacit consent when living, his body is
given as a feast to the dogs and vultures. This
is no casual or careless gift to avoid the trouble of
burial or cremation. All creatures who have a
taste for these things are invited to the cere-
mony, and the corpse is carved to their Hking
by an expert, who devotes his life to the prac-
tice.
When a Tibetan dies he is left three days in his
chamber, and a slit is made in his skull to let his
soul pass out. Then he is rolled into a ball^.
wrapped in a sack, or silk if he is rich, packed
into a jar or basket, and carried along to the music
of conch shells to the ceremonial stone. Here a
Lama takes the corpse out of its vessel and wrap-
pings, and lays it face downwards on a large flat
slab, and the pensioners prowl or hop round, waiting
for their dole. They are quite tame. The Lamas
stand a httle way apart, and see that strict eti-
LHASA'S VANISHED DEITY. 327
quette is observed during the entertainment. The
carver begins at the ankle, and cuts upwards,
throwing little strips of flesh to the guests ; the
bones he throws to a second attendant, who pounds
them up with a heavy stone.
I passed the place to-day as I rode in from a
reconnaissance. The slab lies a stone's-throw to
the left of the great northern road to Tengri Nor
and Mongolia, about two miles from the city.
A group of stolid vultures, too demoralized to
range in search of carrion, stood motionless on
a rock above, waiting the next dispenser of
charity.
A few ravens hopped about sadly ; they, too,
were evidently pauperized. One magpie was pry-
ing round in suspicious proximity, and dogs conscious
of shame slunk about without a bark in them,
and nosed the ground diligently. They are always
there, waiting.
There was hardly a stain on the slab, so quick
and eager are the applicants for charity. Only
a few rags lay around, too poor to be carried
away.
I have not seen the ceremony, and I have no
mind to. My companion this morning, a hardened
328 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
young subaltern who was fighting nearly every
day in April, May, and June, and has seen more
bloodshed than most veterans, saw just as much
as I have described. He then felt very ill, dug
his spurs into his horse, and rode away.
CHAPTER XIV
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES
BY the first week in September I had visited all
the most important temples and monasteries
in Lhasa. We generally went in parties of four and
five, and a company of Sikhs or Pathans was left
in the courtyard in case of accidents. We were
well armed, as the monks were sullen, though I
do not think they were capable of any desperate
fanaticism. If they had had the abandon of
dervishes, they might have rushed our camp long
before. They missed their chance at Gyantse,
when a night attack pushed home by overwhelm-
ing numbers could have wiped out our little garri-
son. In Lhasa there was the one case of the
Lama who ran amuck outside the camp with the
coat of mail and huge paladin's sword concealed
beneath his cloak, a medieval figure who thrashed
the air with his brand like a flail in sheer lust of
330 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
blood. He was hanged medievally the next day
within sight of Lhasa, Since then the exploit
has not been repeated, but no one leaves the peri-
meter unarmed.
I have written of the squalor of the Lhasa streets.
The environs of the city are beautiful enough —
willow groves intersected by clear-running streams,
walled-in parks with palaces and fish-ponds, marshes
where the wild-duck flaunt their security, and ripe
barley-fields stretching away to the hills. In
September the trees were wearing their autumn
tints, the willows were mostly a sulphury yellow,
and in the pools beneath the red-stalked poly-
gonum and burnished dock-leaf glowed in brilliant
contrast. Just before dusk there was generally a
storm in the valley, which only occasionally reached
the city ; but the breeze stirred the poplars, and
the silver under the leaves glistened brightly against
the background of clouds. Often a rainbow hung
over the Potala like a nimbus.
On the Lingkhor, or circular road, which winds
round Lhasa, we saw pilgrims and devotees moving
slowly along in prayer, always keeping the Potala
on their right hand. The road is only used for
devotion. One meets decrepit old women and men.
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 331
halting and limping and slowly revolving their
prayer-wheels and mumbling charms. I never saw
a healthy yokel or robust Lama performing this
rite. Nor did I see the pilgrims whom one reads of
as circumambulating the city on their knees by a
series of prostrations, bowing their heads in the
dust and mud. All the devotees are poor and
ragged, and many blind. It seems that the people
of Lhasa do not begin to think of the next in-
carnation until they have nothing left in this.
When one leaves the broad avenues between the
walls of the groves and pleasure-gardens, and
enters the city, one's senses are offended by every-
thing that is unsightly and unclean. Pigs and
pariah dogs are nosing about in black oozy mud.
The houses are solid but dirty. It is hard to
believe that they are whitewashed every year.
Close to the western entrance are the huts of
the Ragyabas, beggars, outcasts, and scavengers,
who cut up the dead. The outer walls of their
houses are built of yak-horns.
Some of the houses had banks of turf built up
outside the doors, with borders of English flowers.
The dwellings are mostly two or three storied.
Bird-cages hang from the windows.
332 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
The outside of the cathedral is not at all im-
posing. From the streets one cannot see the
golden roof, but only high blank walls, and at
the entrance a forest of dingy pillars beside a
massive door. The door is thrown open by a
sullen monk, and a huge courtyard is revealed
with more dingy pillars that were once red. The
entire wall is covered with paintings of Buddhist
myth and symbolism. The colours are subdued
and pleasing. In the centre of the yard are
masses of hollyhocks, marigolds, nasturtiums, and
stocks. Beside the flower-borders is a pyra-
midical structure in which are burnt the leaves
of juniper and pine for sacrifice.
The cloisters are two-storied ; on the upper
floor the monks have their cells. Looking up,
one can see hundreds of them gazing at us with
interest over the banisters. The upper story, as
in every temple in Tibet, is coated with a dark
red substance which looks like rough paint, but
is really sacred earth, pasted on to evenly-clipped
brushwood so as to seem like a continuation of the
masonry. On the face of the wall are emblems in
gilt, Buddhist symbols, like our Prince of Wales*'
feathers, sun and crescent moon, and various other
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 333
devices A heavy curtain of yak-hair hangs above
the entrance-gate. On the roof are large cylinders
draped in yak-hair cloth topped by a crescent or
a spear. Every monastery and jong, and most
houses in Tibet, are ornamented with these. When
one first sees them in the distance they look like
men walking on the roof.
Generally one ascends steps from the outer court-
yard to the temple, but in the Jokhang the floors
are level. We enter the main temple by a dark
passage. The great doorway that opens into the
street has been closed behind us, but we leave a
company of Pathans in the outer yard, as the monks
are sullen. Our party of four is armed with
revolvers.
Service is being held before the great Buddhas
as we enter, and a thunderous harmony like an
organ-peal breaks the interval for meditation.
The Abbot, who is in the centre, leans forward
from his chair and takes a bundle of peacock-
feathers from a vase by his side. As he points
it to the earth there is a clashing of cymbals, a
beating of drums, and a blowing of trumpets and
conch shells.
Then the music dies away like the reverbera-
334 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
tion of cannon in the hills. The Abbot begins the
chant, and the monks, facing each other like
singing-men in a choir, repeat the litany. They
have extraordinary deep, devotional voices, at
once unnatural and impressive. The deepest bass
of the West does not approach it, and their sense
of time is perfect.
The voice of the thousand monks is like the
drone of some subterranean monster, musically
plaintive — the wail of the Earth God praying for
release to the God of the Skies.
The chant sounds like the endless repetition of
the same formula ; the monks sway to it rhythmi-
cally. The temple would be dark if it were not
for the flickering of many thousands of votive
candles and butter lamps. Rows upon rows of
them are placed before every shrine.
In an inner temple we found the three great
images of the Buddhist trinity — the Buddhas of
the past, present, and future. The images were
greater than life-size, and set with jewels from
foot to crown. As in the cloisters of an English
cathedral, there were Uttle side-chapels, which
held sacred relics and shrines.
There were lamps of gold, and solid golden
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 335
bowls set on altars, and embossed salvers of copper
and bronze.
A hanging grille of chainwork protected the
precincts from sacrilege, and an extended hand,
bloody and menacing, was stretched from the
wall, terrible enough when suddenly revealed in
that dim light to paralyze and strike to earth
with fright any profane thief who would dare to
enter.
In the upper story we found a place which we
called * Hell,' where some Lamas were worshipping
the demon protectress of the Grand Lama. The
music here was harsh and barbaric. There were
displayed on the pillars and walls every freak of
diabolical invention in the shape of scrolls and
devil-masks. The obscene object of this worship
was huddled in a comer — a dwarfish abortion,
hideous and malignant enough for such rites.
All about the Lamas* feet ran little white mice
searching for grain. They are fed daily, and are
scrupulously reverenced, as in their frail white
bodies the souls of the previous guardians of the
shrine are believed to be reincarnated.
In another temple we found the Lamas holding
service in worship of the many-handed Buddha,
336 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Avalokitesvara. The picture of the god hung
from pillars by the altar. The chief Lamas were
wearing peaked caps picturesquely coloured with
subdued blue and gold, and vestments of the
same hue. The lesser Lamas were bare-headed,
and their hair was cropped.
When we first entered, an acolyte was pouring
tea out of a massive copper pot with a turquoise
on the spout. Each monk received his tea in a
wooden bowl, and poured in barley-flour to make
a paste.
During this interval no one spoke or wliispered.
The footsteps of the acolytes were noiseless. Only
the younger ones looked up at us self-consciously
as we watched them from a latticed window in the
corridor above.
Centuries ago this service was ordained, and the
intervals appointed to further the pursuit of truth
through silence and abstraction. The monks sat
there quiet as stone. They had seen us, but they
were seemingly oblivious.
One wondered, were they pursuing truth or were
they petrified by ritual and routine ? Did they
regard us as immaterial reflexes, imsubstantial
and illusory, passing shadows of the world cast
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 337
upon them by an instant's illusion, to pass away
again into the unreal, while they were absorbed
in the contemplation of changeless and universal
truths ? Or were we noted as food for gossip
and criticism when their self-imposed ordeal was
done ?
The reek of the candles was almost suffocating.
* Thank God I am not a Lama ! * said a subaltern
by my side. An Afridi Subadar let the butt of
his rifle clank from his boot to the pavement.
At these calls to sanity we clattered out of this
unholy atmosphere of dreams as if by an unques-
tioned impulse into the bright sunshine outside.
In the bazaar there is a gay crowd. The streets
are thronged by as good-natured a mob as I have
met anywhere. Sullenness and distrust have van-
ished. Officers and men. Tommies, Gurkhas, Sikhs,
and Pathans, are stared at and criticised good-
humouredly, and their accoutrements fingered and
examined. It is a bright and interesting crowd,
full of colour. In a comer of the square a street
singer with a guitar and dancing children attracts
a small crowd. His voice is a rich baritone, and
he yodels like the Tyrolese. The crowd is parted
by a Shap6 riding past in gorgeous yellow silks and
338 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
brocades, followed by a mounted retinue whose
head-gear would be the despair of an operatic
hatter. They wear red lamp-shades, yellow motor-
caps, exaggerated Gainsboroughs, inverted cooking-
pots, coal-scuttles, and medieval helmets. And
among this topsy-turvy, which does not seem out of
place in Lhasa, the most eccentrically hatted man
is the Bhutanese Tongsa Penlop, who parades the
streets in an English gray felt hat.
The Mongolian caravan has arrived in Lhasa,
after crossing a thousand miles of desert and moun-
tain tracks. The merchants and drivers saunter
about the streets, trying not to look too rustic.
But they are easily recognisable — tall, sinewy men,
very independent in gait, with faces burnt a dark
brick red by exposure to the wind and sun. I
saw one of their splendidly robust women, clad in a
sheepskin cloak girdled at the waist, bending over a
cloth stall, and fingering samples as if shopping
were the natural business of her life.
On fine days the wares are spread on the cobbles
of the street, and the coloured cloth and china
make a pretty show against the background of
garden flowers. At the doors of the shops stand
pale Nuwaris, whose ancestors from Nepal settled
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 339
in Lhasa generations ago. They wear a flat
brown cap, and a dull russet robe darker than
that of the Lamas. The Cashmiri shopkeepers
are turbaned, and wear a cloak of butcher's blue.
They and the Nuwaris and the Chinese seem to
monopolize the trade of the city.
British officers haunt bazaars searching for
curios, but with very little success. Lhasa has
no artistic industries ; nearly all the knick-knacks
come from India and China. Cloisonne ware is
rare and expensive, as one hsis to pay for the
1,800 miles of transport from Peking. Religious
objects are not sold. Turquoises are plentiful,
but coarse and inferior. Hundreds of paste imita-
tions have been bought. There is a certain sale
for amulets, rings, bells, and ornaments for the
hair, but these and the brass and copper work
can be bought for half the price in the Darjeeling
bazaar. The few relics we have found of the
West must have histories. In the cathedral there
was a bell with the inscription ' Te Deum lauda-
mus,' probably a rehc of the Capuchins. In the
purlieus of the city we found a bicycle without
tyres, and a sausage-machine made in Birmingham.
With the exception of the cathedral, most of
340 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
the temples and monasteries are on the outskirts
of the city. There is a sameness about these
places of worship that would make description
tedious. Only the Ramo-ch6 and Moru temples,
which are solely devoted to sorcery, are different.
Here one sees the other soul-side of the people.
The Ramo-ch6 is as dark and dingy as a vault.
On each side of the doorway are three gigantic
tutelary demons. In the vestibule is a collection
of bows, arrows, chain-armour, stag-horns, stuffed
animals, scrolls, masks, skulls, and all the para-
phernalia of devil-worship. On the left is a dark
recess where drums are being beaten by an unseen
choir.
A Lama stands, chalice in hand, before a deep
aperture cut in the wall like a buttery hatch, and
illumined by dim, flickering candles, which reveal
a malignant female fiend. As a second priest
pours holy water into a chalice, the Lama raises
it solemnly again and again, muttering spells to
propitiate the fury.
In the hall there are neither ornaments, gods,
hanging canopies, nor scrolls, as in the other
temples. There is neither congregation nor priests.
The walls are apparently black and unpainted,
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 341
but here and there a lamp reveals a Gorgon's head,
a fiend's eye, a square inch or two of pigment that
time has not obscured.
The place is immemorially old. There are huge
vessels of carved metal and stone, embossed, like
the roof, with griffins and skulls, which probably
date back to before the introduction of Buddhism
into Tibet, and are survivals of the old Bon re-
ligion. There is nothing bright here in colour or
sound, nothing vivid or animated.
Stricken men and women come to remove a
curse, vindictive ones to inflict one, bereaved ones
to pay the initiated to watch the adventures of
the soul in purgatory and guide it on its passage
to the new birth, while demons and furies are
lurking to snatch it with fiery claws and drag it
to hell.
All these beings must be appeased by magic
rites. So in the Ramo-ch6 there is no rapture of
music, no communion with Buddha, no beatitudes,
only solitary priests standing before the shrines
and mumbling incantations, dismal groups of two
or three seated Buddha-fashion on the floor, and
casting spells to exercise a deciding influence, as
they hope, in the continual warfare which is being
342 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
waged between the tutelary and malignant deities
for the prize of a soul.
In the chancel of the temple, behind the altar, is
a massive pile of masonry stretching from floor
to roof, under which, as folk believe, an abysmal
chasm leads down to hell. Round this there is a
dark and narrow passage which pilgrims circum.
ambulate. The floor and walls are as slippery as
ice, worn by centuries of pious feet and groping
hands. One old woman in some urgent need is
drifting round and round abstractedly.
Elsewhere one might linger in the place fasci-
nated, but here in Lhasa one moves among mys-
teries casually ; for one cannot wonder, in this
isolated land where the elements are so aggressive,
among these deserts and wildernesses, heaped
mountain chains, and impenetrable barriers of
snow, that the children of the soil believe that
earth, air, and water are peopled by demons who
are struggling passionately over the destinies of
man.
I will not describe any more of the Lhasa temples.
One shrine is very like another, and details would be
tedious. Personally, I do not care for systematic
sightseeing, even in Lhasa, but prefer to loiter
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 343
about the streets and bazaars, and the gardens out-
side the city, watch the people, and enjoy the at-
mosphere of the place. The religion of Tibet is
picturesque enough in an unwholesome way, but to
inquire how the layers of superstition became added
to the true faith, and trace the growth of these
spurious accretions, I leave to archaeologists. Per-
haps one reader in a hundred will be interested to
know that a temple was built by the illustrious
Konjo, daughter of the Emperor Tai-Tsung and wife
of King Srong-btsangombo, but I think the other
ninety and nine will be devoutly thankful if I omit
to mention it.
Yet one cannot leave the subject of the Lhasa
monasteries without remarking on the striking
resemblance between Tibetan Lamaism and the
Romish Church. The resemblance cannot be ac-
cidental. The burning of candles before altars,
the sprinkling of holy water, the chanting of
hymns in alternation, the giving ahns and saying
Masses for the dead, must have their origin in the
West. We know that for many centuries large
Christian communities have existed in Western
China near the Tibetan frontier, and several Roman
Catholic missionaries have penetrated to Lhasa and
344 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
other parts of Tibet during the last three centuries.
As early as 1641 the Jesuit Father Grueber visited
Lhasa, and recorded that the Lamas wore caps and
mitres, that they used rosaries, bells, and censers,
and observed the practice of confession, penance,
and absolution. Besides these points common to
Roman Catholicism, he noticed the monastic and
conventual system, the tonsure, the vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience, the doctrine of incarnation
and the Trinity, and the belief in purgatory and
paradise.*
We occasionally saw a monk with the refined
ascetic face of a Roman Caxdinal. Te Rinpoche,
♦ It is interesting to compare Gnieber's account with the
journal of Father Rubruquis, who travelled in Mongolia in the
thirteenth century. In 1253 he wrote of the Lamas :
* All their priests had their heads shaven quite over, and they
are clad in saffron -coloured garments. Being once shaven,
they lead an unmarried life from that time forward, and they
live a hundred or two of them in one cloister. . . . They have
with them also, whithersoever they go, a certain string, with a
hundred or two hundred nutshells thereupon, much like our
beads which we carry about with us ; and they do alwajrs mutter
these words, " Om mani pectavi (om mani padme hom) " —
" God, Thou knowest," as one of them expounded it to me ;
and so often do they expect a reward at God's hands as they
pronounce these words in remembrance of God. ... I made
a visit to their idol temple, and found certain priests sitting in
the outward portico, and those which I saw seemed, by their
shaven beards, as if they had been our covmtrymen ; they wore
certain ornaments upon their heads like mitres made of paper.'
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 345
the acting regent, was an example. One or two
looked as if they might be humane and benevolent
— men who might make one accept the gentle old
Lama in * Kim * as a not impossible fiction ; but
most of them appeared to me to be gross and
sottish. I must confess that during the protracted
negotiations at Lhasa I had little sympathy with
the Lamas. It is a mistake to think that they
keep their country closed out of any religious
scruple. Buddhism in its purest form is not e::-
clusive or fanatical. Sakya Muni preached a mis-
sionary religion. He was Christlike in his universal
love and his desire to benefit all living creatures.
But Buddhism in Tibet has become more and more
degenerate, and the Lamaist Church is now little
better than a political mechanism whose chief
function is the uncompromising exclusion of for-
eigners. The Lamas know that intercourse with
other nations must destroy their influence with the
people.
And Tibet is really ruled by the Lamas. Out-
side Lhasa are the three great monasteries of
Depung, Sera, and Gaden, whose Abbots, backed
by a following of nearly 30,000 armed and bigoted
monks, maintain a preponderating influence in the
346 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
national assembly.* These men wield a greatei'
influence than the four Shapes or the Dalai Lama
himself, and practically dictate the policy of the
country.
The three great monasteries are of ancient founda-
tion, and intimately associated with the history of
the country. They are, in fact, ecclesiastical
Universities,! and resemble in many ways our
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Uni-
versities are divided into colleges. Each has its
own Abbot, or Master, and disciplinary staff. The
* ' It may be asked how the monastic influence is brought
to bear on a Government in which three out of the four princi-
pal Ministers (Shap6) are laymen. The fact seems to be that
lying behind the Tak Lama, the Shap6s, and all the machinery
of the Tibetan Government, as we have hitherto been acquainted
with it, there is an institution called the " Tsong-du-chembo,"
or " Tsong-dugze-tsom," which may reasonably be compared
with what we call a " National Assembly," or, as the word
implies, " Great Assembly." It is constituted of the Kenpas
or Abbots of the three great monasteries, representatives from
the four lings or small monasteries actually in Lhasa city, and
from all the other monasteries in the province of U ; and besides
this, all the ofl&cials of the Government are present — laymen and
ecclesiastics alike — to the number of several hundreds.' — Cap-
tain O'Connor's Diary at Khamba Jong (Tibetan Blue-Book,
1904).
t I have derived most of my information regarding the disci-
pline and constitution of Depung from ' Lamaism in Tibet,' by
Colonel Augustine Waddell, who accompanied the expedition
as ArchiBologist and Principal Medical Officer.
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 347
undergraduates, or candidates for ordination, must
attend lectures and chapels, and pass examinations
in set books, which they must learn from cover to
cover before they can take their degree. Failure
in examination, as well as breaches in discipline
and manners, are punished by flogging. Corporal
punishment is also dealt out to the unfortunate
tutors, who are held responsible for their pupils'
omissions. If a candidate repeatedly fails to pass
his examination, he is expelled from the University,
and can only enter again on payment of increased
fees. The three leading Universities are empowered
to confer degrees which correspond to our Bachelor
and Doctor of Divinity. The monks live in rooms
in quadrangles, and have separate messing clubs,
but meet for general worship in the cathedral. If
their code is strictly observed, which I very much
doubt, prayers and tedious religious observances
must take up nearly their whole day. But the
Lamas are adept casuists, and generally manage
to evade the most irksome laws of their scriptures.
Soon after our arrival in Lhasa we had occasion
to visit Depung, which is probably the largest
monastery in the world. It stands in a natural
amphitheatre in the hillside two miles from the
348 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
city, a huge collection of temples and monastic
buildings, larger, and certainly more imposing,
than most towns in Tibet.
The University was founded in 1414, during the
reign of the first Grand Lama of the Reformed
Church. It is divided into four colleges, and con-
tains nearly 8,000 monks, amongst whom there
is a large Mongolian community. The fourth
Grand Lama, a Mongolian, is buried within the
precincts. The fifth and greatest Dalai Lama,
who built the Potala and was the first to combine
the temporal and spiritual power, was an Abbot
of Depung. The reigning Dalai Lama visits De-
pung annually, and a palace in the university is
reserved for his use. The Abbot, of course, is a
man of very great political influence.
All these facts I have collected to show that the
monks have some reason to be proud of their
monastery as the first in Tibet. One may forgive
them a little pride in its historic distinctions.
Even in our own alma mater we meet the best
of men who seem to gather importance from old
traditions and association with a long roll of dis-
tinguished names. What, then, can we expect of
this Tibetan community, the most conservative
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 349
in a country that has prided itself for centuries
on its bigotry and isolation — ^men who are ignorant
of science, literature, history, politics, everything,
in fact, except their own narrow priestcraft and
confused metaphysics ? We call the Tibetan * im-
possible.' His whole education teaches him to be so,
and the more educated he is the more * impossible '
he becomes.
Imagine, then, the consternation at Depung
when a body of armed men rode up to the monas-
tery and demanded supplies. We had refrained
from entering the monasteries of Lhasa and its
neighbourhood at the request of the Abbots and
Shapes, but only on condition that the monks
should bring in supplies, which were to be paid
for at a liberal rate. The Abbots failed to keep
their promise, supplies were not forthcoming, and
it became necessary to resort to strong measures.
An officer was sent to the gate with an escort of
three men and a letter saying that if the provisions
were not handed over within an hour we would
break into the monastery and take them, if neces-
sary, by force. The messengers were met by a
crowd of excited Lamas, who refused to accept
the letter, waved them away, and rolled stones
350 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
towards them menacingly, as an intimation that
they were prepared to fight. As the messengers
rode away the tocsin was heard, warning the vil-
lagers, women and children, who were gathered
outside with market produce, to depart.
General Macdonald with a strong force of British
and native troops drew up within 1,300 yards of
the monastery, guns were trained on Depung, the
infantry were deployed, and we waited the expira-
tion of the period of grace intimated in the letter.
An hour passed by, and it seemed as if military
operations were inevitable, when groups of monks
came out with a white flag, carrying baskets of
eggs and a complimentary scarf.
Even in the face of this military display they
began to temporize. They bowed and chattered
and protested in their usual futile manner, and
condescended so far as to say they would talk
the matter over if we retired at once, and send the
supplies to oiu* camp the next day, if they came
to a satisfactory decision. The Lamas are trained
to wrangle and dispute and defer and vacillate.*
• The highest degree which is coaferred on the Lamas by
their Universities is the Rabs-jam-pa (verbally overflowing
endlessly). — Waddell, ' Lamaism in Tibet.'
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 351
They seem to think that speech was made only
to evade conclusions. The curt ultimatum was
repeated, and the deputation was removed gently
by two impassive sepoys, still chattering like a
flock of magpies.
In the meanwhile we sat and waited and smoked
our pipes, and wondered if there were going to be
another Guru. It seemed the most difficult thing
in the world to save these poor fools from the
effects of their obstinate folly. The time-limit
had nearly expired, the two batteries were ad-
vanced 300 yards, the gunners took their sights
again, and trained the lo-pounders on the very
centre of the monastery.
There were only five minutes more, and we were
stirred, according to our natures, by pity or ex-
asperation or the swift primitive instinct for the
dramatic, which sweeps away the humanities, and
leaves one to the conflict of elemental pas-
sions.
At last a thin line of red-robed monks was seen
to issue from the gate and descend the hill, each
carrying a bag of suppUes. The crisis was over,
and we were spared the necessity of inflicting a
cruel punishment. I waited to see the procession.
352 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
a group of sullen ecclesiastics, who had never
bowed or submitted to external influence in their
lives, carrying on their backs their unwilling con-
tribution to the support of the first foreign army
that had ever intruded on their seclusion. It
must have been the most humiliating day in the
history of Depung.
It must be admitted that it was not a moment
when the monks looked their best. Yet I could
not help comparing their appearance with that
of the simple honest-looking peasantry. Many of
them looked sottish and degraded ; other faces
showed cruelty and cunning ; their brows were
contracted as if by perpetual scheming ; some
were almost simian in appearance, and looked
as if they could not harbour a thought that was
not animal or sensual. They waddled in their
walk, and their right arms, exposed from the
shoulder, looked soft and flabby, as if they had
never done an honest day's work in their Ufe.
One man had the face of an inquisitor — round,
beady eyes, puffed cheeks, and thin, tightly-shut
mouth.
How they hated us ! If one of us fell into their
hands secretly, I have no doubt they would rack
THE CITY AND ITS TEMPLES. 353
him limb from limb, or cut him into small pieces
with a knife.
The Depung incident shows how difficult it was
to make any headway with the Tibetans without
recourse to arms. We were present in the city
to insist on compliance with our demands. But
an amicable settlement seemed hopeless, and we
could not stay in Lhasa indefinitely. What if
these monks were to say, ' You may stay here
if you like. We will not molest you, but we
refuse to accept your terms ? ' We could only
retire or train our guns on the Potala. Retreat
was, of course, impossible.
CHAPTER XV
THE SETTLEMENT
THE political deadlock continued until within
a week of the signing of the treaty.
For a long time no responsible delegates were
forthcoming. The Shapes, who were weak men
and tools of the fugitive Dalai Lama, protested
that any treaty they might make with us would
result in their disgrace. If, on the other hand,
they made no treaty, and we were compelled to
occupy the Potala, or take some other step offen-
sive to the hierarchy, their ruin would be equally
certain. Ruin, in fact, faced them in any case.
The highest officials in Tibet visited Colonel
Younghusband, expressed their eagerness to see
differences amicably settled, and, when asked to
arrange the simplest matter, said they were afraid
to take on themselves the responsibility. And this
was not merely astutw- evasiveness. It was really a
THE SETTLEMENT. 355
fact that there was no one in Lhasa who dared
commit himself by an action or assurance of any
kind.
Yet there existed some kind of irresponsible dis-
organized machine of administration which some-
times arrived at a decision about matters of the
moment. The National Assembly was sufficiently
of one mind to depose and imprison the Ta Lama,
the ecclesiastical member of Council. His disgrace
was due to his failure to persuade us to return to
Gyantse.
The National Assembly held long sessions daily,
and after more than a week of discussion they
began to realize that there was at least one aim
that was common to them all — that the English
should be induced to leave Lhasa. They then
appointed accredited delegates, whose decisions,
they said, would be entirely binding on the Dalai
Lama, should he come back. The Dalai Lama
had left his seal with Te Rinpoche, the acting
regent, but with no authority to use it.
The terms of the treaty were disclosed to the
Amban, who communicated them to the Tsong-du.
The Tsong-du submitted the draft of their reply
to the Amban before it was presented to Colonel
356 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Yoimghusband. The first reply of the Assemblv
to our demands ought to be preser\-ed as a historic
epitome of national character. The indemnity,
they said, ought to be paid by us, and not by them.
We had invaded their territory, and spoiled their
monasteries and lands, and should bear the cost.
The question of trade marts they were obstinately
opposed to ; but, provided we carried out the other
terms of the treaty to their satisfaction, they
would consider the advisability of conceding us a
market at Rinchengong, a mile and a half beyond
the present one at Yatung. They would not be
prepared, however, to make this concesskm unless
we undertook to pay for what we purchased on
the spot, to re^)ect their womeii. and to refrain
from looting. Road-making they could not aDow,
as the blasting and upheaval oi soil oiffcaified
their gods and brought trouble on tiie neighbour-
hood. The tekgr^h-wiie was against their cus-
toms, and objectionaUe on rdigioos grounds.
With regard to foreign relations, tbey had never
bad any dealings with an outside race, and tbey
intoided to preserve this -poHcy so long as tbey
were not oompdkd to seek pfotectkni from an-
other Power.
THE SETTLEMENT. 357
The tone of the reply indicates the attitude of
the Tibetans. Obstinacy could go no further.
The document, however, was not forwarded offi-
cially to the Commissioner, but returned to the
Assembly by the Amban as too impertinent for
transmission. The Amban explained to Colonel
Younghusband that the Tibetans regarded the
negotiations in the light of a huckster's bargain.
They did not realize that we were in a position
to enforce terms, and that our demands were un-
conditional, but thought that by opening negotia-
tions in an unconciliatory manner, and asking for
more than they expected, they might be able to
effect a compromise and escape the full exaction of
the penalty.
The first concession on the part of the Tibetans
was the release of the two Lachung men, natives
of Sikkim and British subjects, who had been
captured and beaten at Tashilunpo in July, 1903,
while the Commission was waiting at Khamba
Jong. Their liberation was one of the terms of
the treaty. Colonel Yoimghusband made the re-
lease the occasion of an impressive durbar, in
which he addressed a solemn warning to the Tibetans
on the sanctity' of the British subject. The im-
358 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
prisonment of the two men from Sikkim, he said
was the most serious offence of which the Tibetans
had been guilty. It was largely on that account
that the Indian Government had decided to advance
to Gyantse. The prisoners were brought straight
from the dungeon to the audience-hall. They had
been incarcerated in a dark underground cell for
more than a year, and they knew nothing of the
arrival of the English in Lhasa until the morning
when Colonel Younghusband told them they were
free by the command of the King-Emperor. I
shall never forget the scene — the bewilderment
and delight of the prisoners, their drawn, blanched
features, and the sullen acquiescence of the Tibetans,
who learnt for the first time the meaning of the old
Roman boast, * Civis Romanus sum.'
On August 20 Colonel Yoxmghusband received
through the Amban the second reply to our demands.
The tone of the delegates was still impossible, though
slightly modified and more reasonable. Several
durbars followed, but they did not advance the
negotiations. Instead of discussing matters vital
to the settlement, the Tibetan representatives
would arrive with all the formalities and ceremoniaJ
of durbar to beg us not to cut grass in a particular
THE SETTLEMENT. 359
field, or to request the return of the empty grain-
bags to the monasteries. The Amban said that
he had met with nothing but shuffling from the
* barbarians ' during his term of office. They were
* dark and cunning adepts at prevarication, children
in the conduct of affairs.'
The counsellors, however, began to show signs
of wavering. They were evidently eager to come
to terms, though they still hoped to reduce our
demands, and tried to persuade the Commis-
sioner to agree to conditions proposed by them-
selves.
Throughout this rather trying time our social
relations with the Tibetans were of a thoroughly
friendly character. The Shapes and one or two
of the leading monks attended race-meetings and
gjnnkanas, put their money on the totalizator,
and seemed to enjoy their day out. When their
ponies ran in the visitors' race, the members of
Council temporarily forgot their stiffness, waddled
to the rails to see the finish, and were genuinely
excited. They were entertained at lunch and tea
by Colonel Younghusband, and were invited to a
Tibetan theatrical performance given in the court-
yard of the Lhalu house, which became the head-
36o THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
quarters of the mission. On these occasions they
were genial and friendly, and appreciated our
hospitaUty.
The humbler folk apparently bore us no vindic-
tiveness, and showed no signs of resenting our pres-
ence in the city. Merchants and storekeepers
profited by the exaggerated prices we paid for
everything we bought. Trade in Lhasa was never
brisker. The poor were never so Uberally treated.
One day a merry crowd of them were collected
on the plain outside the city, and largess was dis-
tributed to more than ii,ooo. Every babe in arms
within a day's march of Lhasa was brought to the
spot, and received its dole of a tanka (5d.).
I think the Tibetans were genuinely impressed
with our humanity during this time, and when, on
the eve of our departure, the benign and vener-
able Te Rinpoche held his hands over General Mac-
donald in benediction, and solemnly blessed him
for his clemency and moderation in sparing the
monasteries and people, no one doubted his thank-
fulness was sincere. The golden Buddha he pre-
sented to the General was the highest pledge of
esteem a Buddhist priest could bestow.
When, on September i, the Tibetans, after
THE SETTLEMENT. 361
nearly a month's palaver, had accepted only two
of the terms of the treaty,* Colonel Younghusband
decided that the time had come for a guarded ulti-
matum. He told the delegates that, if the terms
were not accepted in full within a week, he would
consult General Macdonald as to what measures
it would be necessary to take to enforce compli-
ance. Their submission was complete, and im-
mediate.
Colonel Younghusband had achieved a diplo-
matic triumph of the highest order. If the ulti-
matum had been given three weeks, or even a fort-
night, earlier, I believe the Tibetans would have
resisted. When we reached Lhasa on August 3,
the Nepalese Resident said that 10,000 armed monks
had been ready to oppose us if we had decided to
quarter ourselves inside the city, and they had
only dispersed when the Shapes who rode out to
meet us at Toilung returned with assurances that
we were going to camp outside. At one time it
seemed impossible to make any progress with nego-
tiations without further recourse to arms. But
patience and diplomacy conquered. We had shown
♦The liberation of the Lachimg men aad the destruction of
the Yatung and Gob-sorg barriers.
12 a
362 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
the Tibetans we could reach Lhasa and yet respect
their reUgion, and left an impression that our strength
was tempered with humanity.
The treaty was signed in the Potala on August 7,
in the Dalai Lama's throne-room. The Tibetan
signatories were the acting regent, who affixed the
seal of the Dalai Lama ; the four Shap& ; the
Abbots of the three great monasteries, Depung,
Sera, and Gaden ; and a representative of the
National Assembly. The Amban was not em-
powered to sign, as he awaited * formal sanction '
from Peking. Lest the treaty should be after-
wards disavowed through a revolution in Govern-
ment, the signatories included representatives of
every organ of administration in Lhasa.
On the afternoon of the 7th our troops Uned the
causeway on the west front of the Potala. Towards
the summit the rough and broken road became an
ascent of slippery steps, where one had to walk
crabwise to prevent faUing, and plant one's feet
on the crevices of the age-worn flagstones, where
grass and dock-leaves gave one a securer foothold.
Then through the gateway and along a maze of
sHppery passages, dark as Tartarus, but illumined
dimly by flickering butter lamps held by aged
THE SETTLEMENT. 363
monks, impassive and inscrutable. In the audience-
chamber Colonel Younghusband, General Macdonald,
and the Chinese Amban sat beneath the throne of
the Dalai Lama. On either side of them were the
British Political Officer and Tibetan signatories.
In another comer were the Tongsa Penlop of Bhutan
and his lusty big-boned men, and the dapper Httle
Nepalese Resident, wreathed in smiles. British
officers sat round forming a circle. Behind them
stood groups of Tommies, Sikhs, Gurkhas, and
Pathans. In the centre the treaty, a voluminous
scroll, was laid on a table, the cloth of which was
a Union Jack.
When the terms had been read in Tibetan, the
signatories stepped forward and attached their
seals to the three parallel columns written in Eng-
Ush, Tibetan, and Chinese. They showed no trace
of suUenness and displeasure. The regent smiled
as he added his name.
After the signing Colonel Younghusband ad-
dressed the Tibetans :
* The convention has been signed. We are now
at peace, and the misunderstandings of the past
are over. The bases have been laid for mutual
good relations in the future.
364 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
' In the convention the British Government have
been careful to avoid interfering in the smallest
degree with your religion. They have annexed
no part of your territory, have made no attempt
to interfere in your internal affairs, and have fully
recognised the continued suzerainty of the Chinese
Government. They have merely sought to in-
sure —
' I. That you shall abide by the treaty made by
the Amban in 1890.
' 2. That trade relations between India and
Tibet, which are no less advantageous to you than
to us, should be established as they have been
with every other part of the Chinese Empire, and
with every other country in the world except Tibet.
* 3. That British representatives should be treated
with respect in future.
' 4. That you should not depart from your tra-
ditional poUcy in regard to poUtical relations with
other countries.
* The treaty which has now been made I promise
you on behalf of the British Government we will
rigidly observe, but I also warn you that we will as
rigidly enforce it. Any infringement of it will be
severely punished in the end, and any obstruction
THE SETTLEMENT. 365
of trade, any disrespect or injury to British sub-
jects, will be noticed and reparation exacted.
* We treat you well when you come to India.
We do not take a single rupee in Customs duties
from your merchants. We allow any of you to
travel and reside wherever you will in India. We
preserve the ancient buildings of the Buddhist
faith, and we expect that when we come to Tibet
we shall be treated with no less consideration and
respect than we show you in India.
' You have found us bad enemies when you have
not observed your treaty obligations and shown
disrespect to the British Raj. You will find us
equally good friends if you keep the treaty and
show us civility.
* I hope that the peace which has at this moment
been established between us will last for ever, and
that we may never again be forced to treat you
as enemies.
* As the first token of peace I will ask General
Macdonald to release all prisoners of war. I ex-
pect that you on your part will set at liberty all
those who have been imprisoned on account of
dealings with us.*
At the conclusion of the speech, which was inter-
366 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
preted to the Tibetans sentence by sentence, and
again in Chinese, the Shapes expressed their inten-
tion to observe the treaty faithfully.*
* The following is a draft of the terms as communicated by
The Times Correspondent at Peking. The terms have not yet
been disclosed in their final form, but I imderstand that Dr.
Morrison's summary contains the gist of them :
' I. Tibetans to re-erect boundary -stones at the Tibet fron-
tier.
' 2. Tibetans to establish marts at Gyangtse, Yatung, Gartok,
and facilitate trade with India.
• 3. Tibet to appoint a responsible official to confer with the
British officials regarding the alteration of any objectionable
features of the treaty of 1893.
' 4. No further Customs duties to be levied upon merchandise
after the tariff shall have been agreed upon by Great Britain
and the Tibetans.
' 5. No customs stations to be established on the route between
the Indian frontier and the three marts mentioned above, where
officials shall be appointed to facilitate diplomatic and commercial
intercourse.
• 6. Tibet to pay an indemnity of £500,000 in three annual
Instalments, the first to be paid on January i, 1906.
' 7. British troops to occupy the Chumbi Valley for three years,
or until such time as the trading posts are satisfactorily estab-
lished and the indemnity liquidated in full.
' 8. All forts between the Indian frontier on routes traversed
by merchants from the interior of Tibet to be demolished.
* 9. Without the consent of Great Britain no Tibetan territory
shall be sold, leased, or mortgaged to any foreign Power what-
soever ; no foreign Power whatsoever shall be permitted to
concern itself with the administration of the government of
Tibet, or any other affairs therewith connected ; no foreign
Power shall be permitted to send either official or non-official
persons to Tibet — no matter in what pursuit they may be en-
gaged — to assist in the conduct of Tibetan afiairs ; no foreign
THE SETTLEMENT. 367
The next day in durbar a scene was enacted
which reminded one of a play before the curtain
falls, when the characters are called on the stage
and apprised of their changed fortunes, and every-
thing ends happily. Among the mutual pledges
and concessions and evidences of goodwill that
followed we secured the release of the pohtical
captives who had been imprisoned on account of
assistance rendered British subjects. An old man
and his son were brought into the hall looking
utterly bowed and broken. The old man's chains
had been removed from his hmbs that morning
for the first time in twenty years, and he came in
blinking at the unaccustomed light like a blind
man miraculously restored to sight. He had been
Power shall be permitted to construct roads or railways or erect
telegraphs or open mines anywhere in Tibet.
' In the event of Great Britain's consenting to another Power
constructing roads or railways, opening mines, or erecting tele-
graphs. Great Britain will make a full examination on her own
account for carrying out the arrangements proposed. No real
piopeity or land containing minerals or precious metals in Tibet
shall be mortgaged, exchanged, leased, or sold to any foreign
Power.
* 10. Of the two versions of the treaty, the English text to be
regarded as operative.'
The ninth clause, which precludes Russian interference and
consequent absorption, is of course the most vital article of
the treaty.
368 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA;
the steward of the Phalla estate near Dongste j
his offence was hospitality shown to Sarat Chandra
Das in 1884. An old monk of Sera was released
next. He was so weak that he had to be supported
into the room. His offence was that he had been
the teacher of Kawa Guchi, the Japanese traveller
who visited Lhasa in the disguise of a Chinese pil-
grim. We who looked on these sad relics of human-
ity felt that their restitution to hberty was in it-
self sufl&cient to justify our advance to Lhasa.
On August 14 the Amban posted in the streets
of Lhasa a proclamation that the Dalai Lama was
deposed by the authority of the Chinese Emperor,
owing to the desertion of his trust at a national
crisis. Temporal power was vested in the hands
of the National Assembly and the regent, while
the spiritual power was transferred to Panchen
Rinpoche, the Grand Lama of Tashilunpo, who is
venerated by Buddhists as the incarnation of
Amitabha, and held as sacred as the Dalai Lama
himself. The Tashe Lama, as he is called in Europe,
has always been more accessible than the Dalai
Lama. It was to the Tashe Lama that Warren
Hastings despatched the missions of Bogle and
Turner, and the intimate friendship that grew up
THE SETTLEMENT. 369
between George Bogle and the reigning incarna-
tion is perhaps the only instance of such a tie exist-
ing between an Englishman and a Tibetan. The
officials of the Tsang province, where the Tashe
Lama resides, are not so bigoted as the Lhasa oli-
garchy. It was a minister of the Tashe Lama who
invited Sarat Chandra Das to Shigatze, learnt the
Roman characters from him, and sat for hours
listening to his talk about languages and scientific
developments. The exile of this man, and the
execution of the Abbot of Dongste, who was drowned
in the Tsangpo, for hospitality shown to the Bengali
explorer, are the most recent marks of the differ-
ence in attitude between the Lhasans and the people
of Tsang.
The present incarnation has not shown himself
bitterly anti-foreign. During the operations in Tibet
he remained as neutral and inactive as safety per-
mitted, and it is not impossible that the hope of
Mr. Ular may be realized, and an Anglophile Bud-
dhist Pope established at Shigatze. Herein lies a
possible simplification of the Tibetan problem,
which has already lost some of its complexity by
the flight of the Dalai Lama to Urga.
In estimating the practical results of the Tibet
370 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
Expedition, we should not attach too much im-
portance to the exact observance of the terms of
the treaty. Trade marts and roads, and telegraph-
wires, and open communications are important
issues, but they were never our main objective.
What was really necessary was to make the Tibetans
understand that they could not afford to trifle with
us. The existence of a truculent race on our borders
who imagined that they were beyond the reach of
our displeasure was a source of great political danger.
We went to Tibet to revolutionize the whole policy
of the Lhasa oligarchy towards the Indian Govern-
ment.
The practical results of the mission are these:
The removal of a ruler who threatened our security
and prestige on the North-East frontier by over-
tures to a foreign Power ; the demonstration to
the Tibetans that this Power is unable to support
them in their pohcy of defiance to Great Britain,
and that their capital is not inaccessible to British
troops.
We have been to Lhasa once, and if necessary
we can go there again. The knowledge of this is
the most effectual leverage we could have in re-
moving future obstruction. In deaUng with people
THE SETTLEMENT. 371
like the Tibetans, the only sure basis of respect
is fear. They have flouted us for nearly twenty
years because they have not believed in our power
to punish their defiance. Out of this contempt
grew the Russian menace, to remove which was the
real object of the Tibet Expedition. Have we re-
moved it ? Our verdict on the success or failure
of Lord Curzon's Tibetan policy should, I think,
depend on the answer to this question.
There can be no doubt that the despatch of
British troops to Lhasa has shown the Tibetans
that Russia is a broken reed, her agents utterly
unreliable, and her friendship nothing but a hollow
pretence. The British expedition has not only
frustrated her designs in Tibet : it has made clear
to the whole of Central Asia the insincerity of her
pose as the Protector of the Buddhist Church.
But the Tibetans are not an impressionable
people. Their conduct after the campaign of
1888 shows us that they forget easily. To make
the results of the recent expedition permanent,
Lord Curzon's original pohcy should be carried
out in full, and a Resident with troops left in Lhasa.
It will be objected that this forward policy is too
fraught with possibilities of political trouble, and
372 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
too costly to be worth the end in view. But half-
measures are generally more expensive and more
dangerous in the long-run than a bold policy con-
sistently carried out.
We have left a trade agent at Gyantse with an
escort of fifty men, as well as four or five companies
at Chumbi and Phari Jong, at distances of lOO and
130 miles. But no vigilance at Gyantse can keep
the Indian Government informed of Russian or
Chinese intrigue in Lhasa. Lhasa is Tibet, and
there alone can we watch the ever-shifting panto-
mime of Tibetan politics and the manoeuvres of
foreign Powers. If we are not to lose the ground
we have gained, the foreign relations of Tibet must
stand under British surveillance.
But putting aside the question of vigilance, our
prestige requires that there should be a British
Resident in Lhasa. That we have left an officer
at Gyantse, and none at Lhasa, will be interpreted
by the Tibetans as a sign of weakness.
Then, again, diplomatic relations with Tibet can
only continue a farce while we are ignorant of the
pohtical situation in Lhasa. Influences in the
capital grow and decay with remarkable rapidity.
"The Lamas are adepts in intrigue. When we left
THE SETTLEMENT. 373
Lhasa, the best-informed of our pohtical officers
could not hazard a giiess as to what party would
be in power in a month's time, whether the Dalai
Lama would come back, or in what manner his
deposition would affect our future relations with
the country. We only knew that our departure from
Lhasa was likely to be the signal for a conflict of
political factions that would involve a state of con-
fusion. The Dalai Lama still commanded the
loyalty of a large body of monks. Sera Monastery
was known to support him, while Gaden, though
it contained a party who favoured the deposed
Shata Shap6, numbered many adherents to bis
cause. The only political figure who had no follow-
ing or influence of any kind was the unfortunate
Amban.* Whatever party gains the upper hand,
the position of the Chinese Amban is not enviable.
At the moment of writing China has not signed
the treaty ; she may do so yet, but her signature
is not of vital importance. The Tibetans will
decide for themselves whether it is safe to provoke
QUI hostility. If they decide to defy us, then of
* The Amban or Chinese Resident in Lhasa is in the same
position as a British Resident in the Court of a protected chief
in India. Of late years, however, the Amban's authority has been
little more than nominal.
374 THE UNVEILING OF LHASA.
course trouble may arise from their refusing to
recognize the treaty of 1904 on the pretext that
it was not signed by the Amban.
It will be remembered that after the campaign
of 1888 the convention we drew up in Calcutta was
signed by China, and afterwards repudiated by
Tibet. For many years the Tibetans have ignored
China's suzerainty, and refused to be bound by
a convention drawn up by her in their behalf ;
but now the plea of suzerainty is convenient, they
may use it as a pretext to escape their new obliga-
tions.
It is even possible that the Amban advised the
Tibetan delegates in Lhasa to agree to any terms
we asked, if they wanted to be rid of us, as any
treaty we might make with them would be invalid
without the acquiescence of China. Thus the
' vicious circle ' revolves, and a more admirable
poHtical device from the Chino-Tibetan point of
view cannot be conceived.
But the permanence of the new conditions in
Tibet does not depend on China. If the Tibetans
think they are still able to flout us, they will do
so, and one pretext will serve as well as another.
But if they have learnt that our displeasure is
THE SETTLEMENT. 375
dangerous they will take care not to provoke it
again.
The success or failure of the recent expedition
depends on the impression we have left on the
Tibetans. If that impression is to be lasting, we
must see that our interests are well guarded in
Lhasa, or in a few months we may lose the ground
we gained, with what cost and danger to ourselves
only those who took part in the expedition can
understand.
THE END.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.
Established 1798
T. NELSON
& SONS, Ltd.
PRINTERS AND
PUBLISHERS
THE
NELSON LIBRARY
OF NOTABLE BOOKS.
Uniform in Price with this Volume.
AUREABT ISSUED,
FROM A COLLEGE WINDOW. A. C Benson.
Mr. Benson is unquestionably the most popular essayist
of to-day. Everything that comes from his pen has an
indefinable charm and a peculiar fascination.
WILD ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN.
Ernest Thompson Seton.
"These stories are true. The animals in this book
were all real characters. They lived the lives I have
depicted, and showed the stamp of heroism and per-
sonality."
SELF-SELECTED ESSAYS. Augustine Birrell.
The author's pointed humour, easy charm of style, and
acute grasp of detail give him a front place among
contemporary men of letters.
II
FROM FIJI TO THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS.
Beatrice Grimshaw.
The author takes us along with her on a delightful
journey in which strange new lands are continually
being opened out before our eyes. What she sees and
describes, her experiences and adventures, and her re-
flections, are all equally entrancing. Miss Grimshaw
has a lively and humorous style. She seizes the
essentials, and imparts to the reader a vast amount of
information in a tlioroughly entertaining way. Under
her plucky and expert guidance we explore Fiji and
see the life of the people : we are not afraid to pay
a visit to the "mysterious, murderous New Hebrides,
where no one goes " ; we interview a cannibal chief —
in short, we are initiated into the many mysteries of
the remotest islands of the world.
THE LAND OF FOOTPRINTS.
Stewart Edward White.
" What does a rhino look like, where he lives, and what
did you do the first time one came at you ? I don't
want you to tell me as though I were either an old
hunter or an admiring audience, or as though you were
afraid somebody might think you were making too
much of the matter. I want to know how you really
felt Were you scared or nervous ? or did you become
cool? Tell me frankly just how it was, so I can see
the thing as happening to a common everyday human
being. Then, even at second-hand and at ten thousand
miles' distance, I can enjoy it actually, humanly, even
though vicariously, speculating a bit over my pipe as
to how I would have liked it myself." The author
endeavours to fulfil this ideal.
Ill
A PERSONAL RECORD. Joseph Conrad.
The autobiography of one of the most remarkable
figures in modern EngHsh letters.
EPISODES OF THE REVOLUTION IN BRITTANY.
G. Lenotre.
M. Lenotre has attained great popularity in France as
a picturesque writer of history. In this volume he has
culled from unpublished documents some stirring tales
of Brittany's part in the Revolution.
LIVES OF THE HUNTED. E. Thompson Seton.
A classic in the imaginative interpretation of animal
life. Mr. Thompson Seton, who is a naturalist of the
first order, gives the life stories of various animals, and
his keen sympathy makes them as dramatic as a human
romance.
THE GREAT ARMADA. Richard Hale.
A careful study of the origin, progress, and defeat of
Philip's great expedition. The author deals attractively
with a subject of which patriotic Englishmen can never
tire.
ADVENTURES ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD.
Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond.
A second series of Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond's vivid stories
of mountaineering adventure.
THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND FIELD FORCE.
Winston S. Churchill.
This was Mr. Churchill's first published book. It is
a fine piece of military history, dealing with an episode
in the Indian frontier wars.
IV
A TRAMP'S SKETCHES. Stephen Graham.
In these sketches of peasant life in remote Russian
provinces Mr. Graham reveals a world of extraordinary
interest and charm — a world almost wholly unknown to
the Western reader.
THE JOURNAL OF THE DE GONCOURTS.
This book contains innumerable portraits and anecdotes
of such men and women as Renan, Victor Hugo, Zola,
Daudet, Turgenev, Sainte-Beuve, Gambetta, and Sarah
Bernhardt.
TRUE TALES OF MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE.
Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond.
In this volume Mrs. Le Blond tells, for the benefit of
those who are not mountaineers, some of the great
stories of mountaineering.
GRAIN OR CHAFF? A. C. Plowden.
Mr. Plowden has long been famous as one of the most
popular and witty of the London Police Court magis-
trates. His " Recollections " are full of shrewd sayings
and excellent stories.
LIFE AT THE ZOO. C. J. Cornish.
The Zoo is one of our great national playgrounds, and
Mr. C. J. Cornish, who had few rivals as a naturalist,
provides in this volume a most instructive and fascinat-
ing guide.
FAMOUS MODERN BATTLES. Captain Atteridge.
This book may be taken as an appendix to Creasy's
" Decisive Battles of the World." Captain Atteri<^ge
describes those battles which have most materially
shaped the destiny of the nations of to-day — such as
the Alma, Solferino, Gettysburg, Gravelotte, Omdurman,
and the recent fights in the Balkan War. The book is
fully provided with excellent maps.
V
IN INDIA. G. W. Steevens.
This is probably, after "With Kitchener to Khartum,"
the most brilliant of the late Mr. Steevens's books. He
went to India when Lord Curzon went out, and spent
some months traversing the peninsula and turning his
searchlight on the conditions of native and European
life. Those familiar with the country have declared
that no other book is so accurate, and one critic has
said that the reader can almost smell the East in Mr.
Steevens's pages.
REMINISCENCES OF SIR HENRY HAWKINS
(LORD BRAMPTON).
The late Lord Brampton was the most original figure on
the Bench during the last twenty years, and when at
the Bar he was employed in nearly every notable case,
from the Tichborne Case downwards. In popular
estimation "Henry Hawkins" enjoyed a fame which
no lawyer has probably ever equalled. His " Reminis-
cences," edited by a distinguished brother lawyer, is a
fascinating record of a great legal career, and a mine of
good stories and good sayings.
THE ALPS FROM END TO END.
Sir William Martin Conway.
This story of the complete traverse of the Alps from
the Maritime Alps to the Tyrol is a delightful holiday
book, and the best introduction that could be found to
the scenery of the " Playground of Europe." Sir Martin
Conway is not only a famous traveller and mountaineer,
but an admirable writer, and no one can reproduce
more vividly the charms of a landscape and the atmos-
phere of the different mountain regions.
VI
FIFTEEN CHAPTERS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
G. W. E. Russell.
Mr. G. W. E. Russell gives us in this book some
sketches from an autobiography, telling us of his days
at Harrow and Oxford and in Parliament. The volume
is full of excellent stories and much brilliant character-
ization.
CRUISE OF THE "ALERTE." E. F. Knight.
This book tells of the adventures of a small yacht in
South American waters. It is one of the most vivid
and delightful of modern books of travel.
LIFE AT THE ZOO. C. J. Cornish.
The Zoo is one of our great national playgrounds, and
Mr. C. J. Cornish, who had few rivals as a naturalist,
provides in this volume a most instructive and fascinat-
ing guide.
THE FOUR MEN. Hilaire Belloc.
What "The Path to Rome" did for Central Europe
Mr. Belloc's new book does in equally pleasant fashion
for the south country of England.
THE CRUISE OF THE "FALCON." E. F. Knight.
Mr. E. F. Knight's tale of his cruise in distant South
American waters in a small yacht is one of the classics
of sea adventure.
COLLECTED POEMS OF HENRY NEWBOLT.
This volume is the reprint of Mr. Newbolt's earlier
works — "The Island Race" (which includes "Admirals
All ") and " The Sailing of the Long Ships." Equally
with Mr. Kipling, Mr. Newbolt is the poet of English
endeavour, and many of his verses, such as "Drake's
Drum," have long been classics. All lovers of poetry
will welcome a collection of some of the most inspiring
songs in the language.
VII
NELSON LIBRARY
NOTABLE BOOKS.
Ob
CONDENSED LIST.
Collections and Recollections.
The Great Boer War.
Dean Hole's "Memories."
Life of Gladstone.
Psalms in Human Life.
Wild Life in a Southern County.
The Forest.
The Golden Age.
Sir Henry Hawkins's Reminis-
cences.
Selected Essays.
Life of Lord Russell of Killowen.
Making of Modern Egypt.
From the Cape to Cairo.
Life of Alexander Hamilton.
A Book about the Garden.
Culture and Anarchy.
Collections and Recollections (2nd
Series).
Life of Frank Buckland.
A Modern Utopia.
With Kitchener to Khartum.
Unveiling of Lhasa.
Life of Lord Dufferin.
Life of Dean Stanley.
Popular Astronomy.
Dream Days.
Round the World on a Wheel.
Path to Rome.
The Life of Canon Ainger.
A Social Departure.
Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy
Nevill.
Literature and Dogma.
Letters and Recollections of Sir
Walter Scott.
Sermons by the Rev. C. H.
Spurgeon.
My Confidences.
Sir Frank Lockwood.
The Making of a Frontier.
Life of General Gordon.
Collected Poems of Henry Newbolt.
Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden.
The Ring and the Book.
The Alps from End to End.
The English Constitution.
In India.
The Life of Cobden.
The Life of Parnell.
Havelock's March.
Up from Slavery.
Recollections of the Rt. Hon. Sir
Algernon West.
Great Englishmen of 1 6th Century.
Where Black Rules White.
Historical Mysteries.
The Strenuous Life.
Memories Grave and Gay.
Life of Danton.
Felicity in France.
A Pocketful of Sixpences.
The Romance of a Proconsul (Sir
George Grey).
A Book about Roses.
Random Reminiscences.
The London Police Courts.
The Amateur Poacher,
VIII
NELSON LIBRARY OF NOTABLE BOOKS
Life at the Zoo. (^^«^'««*^).
The Bancrofts.
At the Works.
Mexico as I Saw It.
Eighteenth Century Vignettes.
The Great Andes of the Equator.
Early History of C. J. Fox.
Through the Heart of Patagonia.
Browning as a Religious Teacher.
Paris to New York.
Life of Lewis Carroll.
A Naturalist in the Guianas.
The Mantle of the East.
Letters of Dr. John Brown.
Jubilee Book of Cricket.
By Desert Ways to Baghdad.
Some Old Love Stories.
Fields, Factories, and Workshops.
Life of Lord Lawrence.
Problems of Poverty.
The Burden of the Balkans.
Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay.
— L and H.
What I Saw in Russia.
Wild England of To-day.
Leaves from an Inspector's Logbook.
Through Finland in Carts.
The Voyage of the ** Discovery." —
I. and II.
My Climbs in the Alpsand Caucasus.
John Bright.
Sea Wolves of the Mediterranean.
Poverty.
Famous Modern Battles.
The Cruise of the *' Falcon."
A.K.H.B. (A Volumeof Selections.)
The People of the Abyss.
Grain or Chaff?
The Four Men.
Cruise of the "Alerte."
Four French Adventurers.
A Reaping.
Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography.
15,000 Miles in a Ketch.
Known to the Police.
The Story of My Struggles.
The City of the World.
The Panama Canal.
The Island.
The Pleasant Land of France.
The River War.
True Tales of Mountain Adventure.
The Journal of the De Goncourts.
A Tramp's Sketches.
The Cabin.
Red Fox.
The Great Armada.
Adventures on Roof of the World.
Story of the Malakand Field Force.
In an Enchanted Island.
Folk of the Furrow.
The Eye-Witness.
Napoleon : The Last Phase.
The Life of Lord Lyons.
A Personal Record.
Episodes of the French Revolution
in Brittany.
Lives of the Hunted.
From Fiji to the Cannibal Islands.
Self-Selected Essays.
From a College Window.
A Lodge in the Wilderness.
Wild Animals I have known.
The Land of Footprints.
THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, Ltd.,
London, Edinburgh, and New York.
R
CO
w
H
C\i =
O !
<— 1
CO
t>
<M
«0
fH
1
1
£5
a>:
1
o
Pi
O
o
w
<
2;
Q
University of Toronto
L'brary
DO NOT
REMOVE
THE
CARD
FROM
THIS
POCKET
Acme Library Card Pocket
Under Pat. "Ref. Index FUf"
Made by LIBRARY BUREAU
