344 A TIBETAN EPISODE. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



A TIBETAN EPISODE. 



A mystery -enshrouded land — Europeans who have seen Lhassa — The 

 Sikkini Convention of 1893 — Waddell's definition of Lamaism — Sarat 

 Chandra Das — Decision of the India Office— Failure of the negotiations 

 for sending an official mission to Tibet— Tibetan aggression — Fatuous 

 policy of the British Government — The Calcutta Convention of 1890 — 

 Tibetan disregard of the Convention of 1890 — The sham of Chinese 

 suzerainty — The views of the Government of India in 1899 — The 

 Viceroy's letter to the Dalai Lama returned unopened — The appear- 

 ance of Eussia — A supposed Eusso-Chinese convention — Negotiations 

 at Khamba Jong — An advance to Gyangtse sanctioned — Tibetan belief 

 in the support of Eussia — Gyangtse occupied — The advance to Lhassa 

 begun — The policy of the Government of India — A possible solution of 

 the Tibetan puzzle — The case of Bokhara an analogy — The Tibetan 

 dispute must be settled without reference to other Powers. 



From earliest times an impenetrable curtain of mystery- 

 has enshrouded the remote highlands of Tibet. Nature 

 herself has reared her icy barriers round this strange 

 enchanted land, and her people have taken advantage 

 to the full of her natural impenetrability. And so 

 strange stories have been woven round the people 

 behind the veil, their customs and their lives, and 

 the mysterious religion which they practise. A few 

 intrepid travellers, it is true, have at odd times pierced 

 through the curtain of obscurity which envelops the 

 sacred haunt of Buddhistic lore. In 1811, Manning, 

 the single Englishman able to boast of the achieve- 

 ment, penetrated to the heart of the country and set 



