346 A TIBETAN EPISODE. 



of Tibet,' ^ when he wrote that " Lamaism is, indeed, 

 a microcosm of the growth of rehgion and myth among 

 primitive people, and in large degree an object-lesson 

 of their advance from barbarism towards civilisation. 

 And it preserves for us much of the old-world lore 

 and petrified beliefs of our Aryan ancestors." 



It is not, however, the religion or customs of Tibet 

 that occupy me now : it is the political situation to 

 which the proceedings of its rulers have given rise that 

 I am engaged in portraying here. 



It is worthy of remark that prior to 1885 the Bengali 

 babu, Sarat Chandra Das, had on two occasions paid 

 successful visits to the authorities at Lhassa, and with 

 care and tact it is only natural to suppose that the thin 

 end of the wedge thus entered might have been success- 

 fully driven home. Of his own expeditions the babu 

 has himself left record in an interesting volume, which 

 has had the advantage in its revision of the valuable 

 services of so competent an authority as Mr W. W. 

 Eockhill. The object aimed at was at that time of 

 course trade, and, as I have said, commercial relations 

 might no doubt have followed upon the peaceful 

 missions of Chandra Das, who had become a persona 

 grata with certain lamas of high position, from whom 

 he had received a cordial invitation to return to their 

 country. But other counsels prevailed, and the India 

 Office, contrary, it is said, to the expressed wishes of 

 the Government of India, became impregnated with a 

 desire to despatch an official mission to Lhassa. 



The whole of the subsequent proceedings can only 

 be described as resulting in a dismal and humiliating 

 fiasco, and there can be little doubt that it is in the 

 first instance ourselves that we have to thank for the 

 present imbroglio in Tibet. 



1 L. Austine Waddell, M.B. 



