THE THIBET EXPEDITION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1676, 13 April 1904, Page 57

THE THIBET EXPEDITION.

LONDON, April 5. Thibetan villagers report that no 'further opposition will he offered to too British' expedition before Gyangtse is reached. The Chinese Amban (envoy) being unable to obtain j?- n j&isport at Gyangtsei, requests the Mission to retire to Yatung, though privately he admits that tho Thibetans are wholly’m tho wrong. LONDON, April 7. News from Thibet states that the Chinese Amban (envoy) at Lhassa (the Thibetan capital) promises to meet Colonel Younghusband at Gyangtse. The British mission is at Chain. It expects to l'each Gyangtse on Saturday next. The villagers welcomed the- mission, an/l readily sell their produce. Tho Chinese General who is proceeding with the mission advises the’Thibetans not to repeat the opposition they displayed at • Khangma. LONDON, April 8. Two hundred Thibetans who were holding a village at Sumondu, invited fifty of the British Mounted Infantry, with three officers, to approach. When within twenty yards they treacherously fired a volley fruitlessly. Tho a/ahii Lama has confiscated tho property of the General who failed to stop the Miss? .■>n at Guru. Reinforcements have been sent to bar the advance at Gyangtse. It is freely stated at Moscow that several lots of old type rifles and amnminuon were sent recently to the Dalai Lama, and also a mitrailleuse ON THE. ROAD TO LHASSA. (From Our Own Correspondent). LONDON, February 28. The first detailed account of the >d ventures of the British mission in Thibet came to hand this week from the special correspondent of the “Times.” When he wrote on January 22nd, the entire expedition bad retreated from the northern passes, and were making their way instead through the passes from the western frontier into the C'humbi valley. He gives a graphic description of the difficulties of transport in high latitudes. For the higher and more difficult stages, coolies and mules alone are of service, and even the latter fail where ice-slides cross the path or' grazing is difficult. The expedition has been travelling through passes 14,000 feet above the sea, and the exertion of carrying a pack even on the level at that altitude is beyond all comparison greater than it is in normal regions. Consequently, when there is an incline of one in three to surmount, a temperature which no ordinary thermometer can re>cord, and a scorching wind, against which thick clothes are almost useless as a protection, the labour of the journey may be imagined. Here is a glimpse of the expedition toiling through some lofty pass; —“High above the most venturesome pines and junipers, where only the dwarf rhododendron some two or three inches high survives here and there beneath the shelter of a friendly rock, and only £ho green and golden lichen still spreads over t}ie dull bitter crags of gneiss, ,md where’under foot the tense stiff bents of frozen grass prick themselves scantily from the chill and dirty slush of ice and mould, the coolies thrust their way painfully and slowly; and the garidh sun blazets down mercilessly over all. The thick duffle-clad figures in a. long line zigzag up the side of the pass, swaying from side to side as they gain a bare foothold on tlie blunt rocks. Everything hag indeed been done for them that is possible. Thick flannel-lined coats, sweaters, Balaclava caps and heavy boots have u-een served out, but this vivid cold searches through everything in spite of the glitter of the day. Butterflies', birds and boasts are alike. Only a lammergeier floats still in the air some 300 feet below one in the gulf, wheeling slowly with motionless wings, and very far below there l is a scurvy of lavender enow pigeons; but at the pass itself there is nothing but the bare elemental rock.” The absence of snow has been an important factor in the expedition's favour. A heavy fall of snow would cut the party off from their base, and lea.v© them isolated in what is practically a host He country., And there is another aspect. It seems-that in Thibet there is a, common proverb that when tb9 snow fails to fall the English will get to Lhassa. The unexpected has happened, and the present extraordinary absence of snow, combined with the advance of the English expedition, has produced a profound, effect upon the native mind.