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 Bingtam 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 w^ith. A servant came 
at night to tell me how bad his master was — ' hke 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 Enghshman 
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 
