ing expedition of exploration connected with the Mission to Tibet.
A small party under four officers were left behind to ascend the Tsangpo Valley and reach Gartok, one of the three marts provided by the Treaty, five hundred and ten miles distant from Gyangtse and about two hundred as the crow flies from Simla. This part of Tibet is entirely un- explored, and the inhabitants seem so far to be friendly. At Shigatse, which the expedition reached on October 13th, the whole town turned out to welcome them, as the first English- men who had been there since Warren Hastings's Envoy, Captain Turner, more than a century ago. They were favour- ably received by the Teshu Lama, the new head of the Church, and report him as being a sensible and intelligent potentate. The expedition will probably end at Simla, since they hope to discover some easier passes through the moun- tains, which will facilitate the traffic between India and the holy places of Western Tibet. The journey cannot fail to be of the greatest geographical importance, for it is made behind the main range of the Himalayas, and the comparative alti- tude of the giants of Nepal can now be accurately ascer- tained. We shall soon know definitely whether Everest is to yield to some rival in the North.
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