INTRODUCTION. xix 



drew from this the conclusions which most Asiatics would draw under 

 similar circumstances. 



Nevertheless, though the lamas knew it not, their ohstinacy, 

 wasting itself on our defensive tactics, was daily bringing us nearer 

 to the real object of the campaign. At relatively small cost to our- 

 selves, we were wearing out the resources of Tibet, and leading her 

 onto strike the blow which should be our oijportunity. The prisoners 

 taken at Gnatong confirmed the reports received from our officers 

 in Almora and Ladakh, that forced levies had been beaten up from 

 the most distant provinces, and were fed and kept together with 

 the utmost difficulty. The Tibetan commissariat is indeed somewhat 

 less elaborate than our own. Forty pounds of barley-flour, half a 

 brick of tea, half a pound of salt, half a small sheep's bladder of 

 butter, aad 3|f?. to buy meat, are said to represent a month's rations 

 for a fighting man ; and it may be surmised that he gets little or no pay 

 beyond this. But the simplest supplies are hard to obtain in a barren 

 region intersected by mountain-ranges, and wanting in all effective 

 means of carriage; while a militia snatched on the spur of the moment 

 from pastoral and agricultural pursuits is proverbially unsuited for 

 prolonged hostilities. 



As soon, then, as it was clear that Tibetan patience was coming 

 to an end, and that our forbearance was still mistaken for timidity, 

 fresh troops were ordered up and preparations made for bringing the 

 campaign to a close directly the rains were over. By the middle of 

 August, General Graham had under his command at Gnatong a wing 

 of the Derbyshire, the 32nd Pioneers (Sikhs), one of the newly raised 

 Goorkha regiments, and six mountain guns — in all, nearly 2,000 men. 

 After a month of waiting for fine weatiaer, the conclusive engagement 

 was brought on by the action of the Tibetans themselves. Two 

 ridges, the Tukola and the Nimla, intervene between our position at 

 Gnatong and the Kaphu valley, into which, as has been mentioned 

 above, the Jelap and Pembiringo passes open. On the night of the 

 23rd September our advanced i^ickets came in as usual, and reported 

 Final defeat of Tib- ^^° uimsual activity on the part of the Tibetans, 

 etans, 24tli September At daylight on the morning of the 24th, tho 

 1^^^- Gnatong garrison became aware that the enemy 



had advanced during the night four miles from their camp; had 

 occupied the Tukola ridge, 13,550 feet above the sea, and 1,500 feet 

 higher than Gnatong; and had built a stone wall two miles in length 

 all along the crest of the ridge. Notwithstanding this marvellous 

 piece of impromptu engineering, the weakness of their new position 

 was apparent at a glance. The whole of their large force, numbering 

 more than 11,000 men, was distributed in line along the wall; no 

 attempt had been made to take advantage of the ground or to 



