298 THE SECOND HIMALAYAN JOURNEY 



' Cheen ' (Thibet). Then I said I had given my promise 

 not to go into Cheen, and would wait till my orders from 

 Darjeeling came ; he was nonplussed again. 



Well, on the 10th day it pleased Providence to afflict 

 the Soubah of Singtam with a sore colic so that he could 

 not pay me his morning visit, and as I did not ask for him 

 he took for granted that I was angry and dare not ask for 

 medicine. This was owing to the quantity of wild stuff 

 the poor soul had eked out his fare with. A servant came 

 at night to tell me how bad his master was ' like to die/ 

 he said, twisting his fingers together and laying them across 

 the pit of his stomach to indicate the commotions of the 

 Soubah's inside. I gave him a great dose at once and he 

 was on his legs next morning looking woefully. He told me 

 he had heard of ' Kongra Lama,' and would take me there 

 if I promised not to stay more than one night at Tungu. 

 I gave the same answer. Oh, he said, Tungu is not in 

 Cheen. Is it in Sikkim then ? Yes ! Very well, we will all 

 go to-morrow morning and I will stay as long as I please. 

 There was no help for it, so he laughed acquiescence. 



There is a triumphant ring in the first announcement of 

 his success. 



I have carried my point and stood on the Table-land of 

 Thibet, beyond the Sikkim frontier, at the back of all the 

 snowy mountains, alt. 15,500 feet. 



He had not only defeated, but won over his old opponent. 



We went to the Pass and into Thibet yesterday, the 

 Soubah of Lachen, my arch enemy, the guide. He has 

 made 100 rude apologies : the Chinese had threatened 

 to cut his head off, &c., &c. I answer that an Englishman 

 always carries his point, and that days, weeks, and months 

 are all the same to me. He vows he will tell no more lies, 

 not so much as that, hiding all but the very tip of his little 

 finger. That now we are friends he will show me everything, 

 and I must visit his wife in his black tent on the frontier. 

 Now the tables are turned and the Bhoteas are as civil as 

 they were before hostile and impracticable. 



July 24, 1849, was the day of triumph. The day before 



