The most important news of the week from Tibet concerns
the armistice granted in order that the Envoys sent by the Dalai Lama to confer with Colonel Younghusband should be able to reach Gyangtse. This may be a device to gain time, which is of value, at winter in those lofty regions is both early and severe ; or It may be a tentative to ascertain what we really are asking; or it may be a sign that the Lamas, hopeless of victory, have resolved if possible to secure peace. We shall see. Meanwhile the fighting goes on, with little substantial result. On the 26th inst., for example, General Macdonald was shepherding reinforcements for Gyangtse when a force was discovered in a place called Niani which offered resistance. The Pathans, Pioneers, and mounted infantry rushed the villages, which were defended by the Tibetans with their customary futile courage. They fought, it is said, like wild cats "; but the villages were destroyed, and the reinforcements marched on. The loss at Niani was only one officer wounded, four natives killed and six wounded ; but in a later engagement at Gyangtse one officer, Captain Craster, was killed, and two officers and five native soldiers wounded. Few of the Tibetans have rifles, but their confidence in their stone walls is great, and they are clearly either fanatics or under a stronger discipline than was sus-
pected. Itis probable that the first condition of peace pressed by the Lama will be that we do not enter the Holy City.
Previous page
