xii INTRODUCTION. 



any quantity of broadcloth, piece-goods, cutlery, hardware, and other 

 odds and ends which are not worth mentioning. They may also, if 

 their peculiar fancies are consulted, buy up a good deal of the Indian 

 tea which fails to command a remunerative jn-ice in other markets. In 

 return they will send us wool of admirable staple but duljious clean- 

 liness, musk, ponies, yaks' tails, borax ; and they may, if they can but 

 get over their superstitious jjrejudices against mining, contribute to 

 the solution of the currency problem by flooding the world with fresh 

 supplies of gold. These possibilities, no less attractive than indefinite, 

 have repeatedly been pressed upon the Government of India; and 

 the purely commercial arguments proper to the question have been 

 coloured by the halo of mystery wliicli surrounds the great inaccessible 

 tableland of Eastern Asia. 'I'here lies the modern Brynhilde, asleep 

 on her mountain-top ; men call on the Viceroy of India to play the 

 part of Siegfried, and awaken her from the slumber of ages. The 

 spirit of adventure and science makes common cause with the com- 

 mercial spirit in urging the most prosaic of Governments, troubled 

 rather for its finances than its soul, to open up one of the dark places 

 of the earth, and to enable many Englishmen to go where few Eng- 

 lishmen have been before. Doubtless this view of the matter is at 

 first sight highly enticing. A gap in the botanical record needs to be 

 filled; our maps of Tibet are still imperfect; and numerous ethnolo- 

 gical problems crave solution. Til)et, once free to Eurojiean travellers, 

 promises all these things, and many more, to the scientific world 

 hungering for fresh facts to assimilate. But who can doubt that the 

 Government of India is right in putting on the drag and ignoring the 

 few enthusiasts who grumble at its inaction ? AViio will deny that it 

 would be a piece of surj^assing tolly for us to alienate a possible ally 

 in China by "forcing our way into Tibet in the interests of scientific 

 curiosity, doubtfully backed by mercantile speculation ? To meddle 

 with Tibet against her will is like touching the springs of some strange 

 machine, or handling a freshly caught animal. There is no telling 

 what effect such experiments may produce. To this moment we cannot 

 say for certain what set on foot the feeling of aggressive hostility 

 which led the Tibetans to invade territory under our protection. Its 

 outward and visible signs were obvious enough, and appeared, so far 

 as any one could tell, to be of comparatively recent origin. Since Sir 

 Joseph Hooker led the way in his famous journey through Sikhim, a 

 number of Europeans, officials and others, have visited the passes of 

 the Chola range which the Tibetans claimed as their own territory. 

 All were more or less inclined to enter the terra incognita spread out 

 before them ; and all were stopped at the crest of the passes by a 

 Tibetan guard, who displayed a placard inscribed witii Tibetan and 

 Chinese characters, and intimated by siaiple but significant gestures 



