The British expedition reached Lhasa on the 3rd inst. with-
out a battle, and encamped by the side of the Potala Palace or Monastery, a huge building of dark crimson stone dominating the city, where for generations the Dalai Lamas have lived in complete seclusion from the world. This has not been entered, and Lhasa itself, a small stone city adorned with great ecclesiastical buildings surmounted by gilded domes, has been placed out of bounds for the ordinary troops, Colonel Younghusband wishing to affront the Lamas as little as he can. The city is a most picturesque object lying amidst hills which completely hide it from ap- proaching travellers in a lovely green valley crossed by a narrow causeway. Here Colonel Younghusband hopes to obtain his Treaty, but much, time will be lost, as the Dalai Lama has fled to a monastery some distance off, where he says he will go into retreat for three years. The Lamas, some ten thousand in number, are said to be furious, but have been persuaded to be quiet; and the people are friendly, and bring provisions. The next step is still uncertain, and no whisper of the terms of the Treaty has been allowed to ooze out ; but we have reason to believe those terms will be moderate, and, as we have explained elsewhere, Colonel Younghusband has still methods of compulsion to which he can resort. Should the terms be accepted, the expedition will at once return, possibly without a formal entrance into Lhasa.
