436 



INDIA. 



of making proposals for peace, they massed an 

 army of 8,000 men that was ready to fall upon 

 the fortifications as soon as the European forces 

 retired to Darjeeling, and Col. Graham there- 

 fore remained at Gnatong with a part of his 

 force. The Tibetan levies were increased to 

 15,000, and though they did not venture to at- 

 tack the earthworks defended by mountain- 

 guns and steel 7-pounders, they strongly held 

 the passes. Re-enforcements of Goorkhas 

 were sent from India, and all the British 

 troops were ordered back to Sikkira. The 

 lamas advanced to the foot of the Pemberingo 

 Pass, where they threw up fortifications, and 

 pushed forward their outposts into the Sikkim 

 valleys, where several skirmishes took place 

 with British troops. The threatened advance 

 of the lamas caused consternation among the 

 European residents of Darjeeling. By the be- 

 ginning of September all the re-enforcements 

 had arrived at Gnatong, and Col. Graham 

 made preparations for an offensive movement 

 against the Tibetans, who already occupied 

 the Japhu valley in front of the Jelapla and 

 Pemberingo passes, and were ready to take 

 possession of the whole of Sikkim as soon as 

 the British should retire into winter quarters 

 at a lower level, which would tend to strength- 

 en the endeavors of the Tibet authorities to 

 confederate Nepaul, Bhotan, and the other 

 frontier powers against the Indian Govern- 

 ment. The Rajah of Sikkim was allowed to 

 remain unmolested at Entchi or Gantok, till 

 now an attempt was made to seize him in the 

 night, which resulted in his flight to the Tibet- 

 ans. On September 24 the British advanced 

 on the fortified positions. The Tibetans, who 

 mustered in strong force on the Tukola ridge, 

 were dislodged by artillery fire followed up by 

 the charge of the infantry, and fled in disorder 

 to the Jelapla and Pemberingo passes. These 

 were also occupied, and the Tibetan levies, 

 completely disorganized, escaped into Bhotan 

 and northward into Tibet, while the British 

 force crossed the mountains to Rinchigong, 

 and on the following morning occupied Chumbi 

 and the Rajah's palace, where his papers were 

 seized. The Tibetan loss was 1,000, while only 

 one Goorkha was killed on the British side, 

 though Col. Bromhead, who commanded the 

 left wing, was severely wounded. The troops 

 carried only a single day's provisions, and 

 therefore returned to Gnatong. The rout of 

 the Tibetan army was so effectual that only 

 3,000 or 4,000 out of 11,000 rallied, and their 

 magazines and commissariat supplies at Ling- 

 mutong were destroyed. The Rajah returned 

 and yielded submission, arriving at Gnatong 

 on October 2. The Chinese Amban at Lhassa 

 sent a letter requesting a meeting with the 

 Lieutenant-Governor at Darjeeling to discuss 

 terms of peace on behalf of the Tibetan Gov- 

 ernment. The Dalai Lama, whose spiritual 

 and temporal supremacy is acknowledged by 

 the Tibetan Buddhists, does not rule in person, 

 but through a regent, called the Desi, being a 



minor, as all his predecessors have been for 

 nearly a hundred years. The British were 

 anxious to make peace on any terms short of 

 acknowledging the Tibetan claim to Sikkim, 

 which would endanger their supremacy over 

 the other frontier states. The government of 

 the Dalai Lama extends over 4,000,000 people, 

 including the monks in the monasteries, and to 

 conquer this nation would necessitate not only 

 the destruction of an army of 60,000 men that 

 the lamas could immediately place in the field, 

 but the continuous occupation of a wide coun- 

 try, barren of supplies, where the native In- 

 dian troops could not endure the arctic sever- 

 ity of the winters. 



The Blaek Mountain Expedition. Col. Richmond 

 Battye and Capt. Urmston were killed in June, 

 1888, while making an excursion in the Hnzara 

 district, in the extreme northeastern part of 

 the Peshawur division of the Punjab. They 

 crossed the line into Agror, and when re- 

 turning were attacked by a body of Akazais, a 

 Black mountain tribe, against which the In- 

 dian Government had for some time maintained 

 a blockade as a punishment for various offenses. 

 The English officers were accompanied by a 

 Goorkha escort of seventy men, and in de- 

 fending Col. Battye, who was the commander 

 of the blockading force stationed at Oghi, six 

 of the sepoys were killed. In September an 

 expedition of 8,000 fighting men was equipped 

 to punish the mountaineers. There were five 

 regiments of British and nine of native in- 

 fantry, one regiment of native cavalry, a com- 

 pany of sappers, and three batteries of artil- 

 lery, all under the command of Maj.-Gen. J. 

 W. McQueen. The Government of Cashmere 

 agreed to guard the frontier near Khagan with 

 1,000 men. The Hazara field force, as the ex- 

 pedition was called, advanced in four columns 

 from Oghi and Darband early in October. The 

 Hassanzais and Akazais offered a bold resist- 

 ance, and were only dislodged after severe 

 fighting. The Likariwals were the only tribe 

 to pay their fine without fighting. Capt. C. 

 II. II. Beley, quartermaster of one of the brig- 

 ades, was killed, Col. A. Crookshank, com- 

 manding the column, received a deadly wound, 

 and two other officers were wounded. The 

 most desperate fighting was with the Hassan- 

 zais at Kotkai, the objective point of one of 

 the columns, which was occupied on October 

 5. The villages and crops of the tribesmen 

 were destroyed, and strategic positions were 

 occupied, yet their resistance was not broken, 

 and detachments sent out to scour the country 

 were more than once defeated. The Black 

 mountain district, which is only thirty miles 

 long by ten in breadth, is a rugged ridge that 

 is transected by the Indus. The Hassanzais 

 and the Akazais together mustered only 2,000 

 fighting men, armed with matchlocks, and with 

 the Chagarzais in the north, tte Allaiwals, and 

 the Pararis, the Black mountain tribes were 

 about 6,000 strong. They all belong to the 

 Yusufzai branch of the indomitable Pathan 



