The Government still repeat that the Mission to Tibet, in
spite of its powerful escort, is in no sense a military expe- dition. Colonel Younghusband is nevertheless being drawn farther and farther , towards Lhasa, the Lamas absolutely refusing to negotiate, and informing him that his. advance will be resisted by force. Colonel Macdonald has for all that advanced to Tann, and hopes in a few days to reach Gyangtse. The march is indescribably slow, the Pioneers .having to cut a road over every foot of the way, while the expedition crawls after them, its supplies following on yaks and the little pony-carts called ekkas. The latest march was at One point over a pass—the Tang Pass- " hundreds of feet higher than the summit of Mont Blanc," where the men who have hitherto remained .fairly well began to suffer from mountain sickness. It is difficult to see what Colonel Younghusband is to do, ejoept advance, as he cannot return re infectci, and the Lamas are capable of waiting passively for a century or two. The Tibetans, however, show signs of abandoning their traditional tactics. A force under a Lhasan general has attempted to -block the road near Term, and has been easily scattered by the expedition with heavy losses, including their general. , A few more attempts of this kind, and the rulers of Lhasa may find it prudent to change their policy. It is a notable . fact that some of the Tibetans carried rifles with the Russian Imperial stamp. .
