The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-07


that these soldiers were picked troops from
Lhassa and Sigatz (ShigatZe) dispatched on
purpose 10 arrest our progress and capture
us / could not restrain a smile of contempt
for those into whose hands we had at last
fallen
A SERVANTS SUFFERING.
The Thibetans. having secured their
captives, brought Mr.. Lander and his two
men to the Grand Lama or Governor, of the
province. Chanden Sing was numerically
whipped and Mr. Lander was handed over
to a dignitary whose title was Rupun He
had come from Lhassa to arrest the party
1t looked as if the Rupun really wished
that the prisoners might be let off, but he
was in the minority and poweTless Now
turned over to the Thibetans, the torture
began. The Rupun told Mr.. Landor there
was no nope Tor the EngliShman and that
his head would be severed from his body
Mr. Landor tells of the sufferings of the
faithful Chanden:
Just then L heard the voice of my serv-
ant Chanden Sing calling TO me in a weak,
agonized tone:
= 'Hazur, Hazur, hum murgiaera.r CSir.
Sir am dying!O and, turning my head in
the direction from which these painful
sounds came. l perceived my faithful bear
er with mis- hands bound behind his back
dragging himself on his stomach toward
the uoor of one of the other rooms of the
mudhouse. His poor face was hardly rec
ognizable, it bore the traces of such awful
suffering.
II could stand no more. Pushing my
guards aside with my shoulders, l endeav-
Cred to get to ..Ie poor wretch, and had
nearly reached him when the soldiers who
stood by sprang upon me, graphing me, and
lifted me bodily off my feet. They threw
me on the back of pony.
Though l now feared the worst, / tried
to encourage my brave servant by shouting
to him that was being taken to Taklakot,
ana that he would be brought after me the
following day. He had exhausted his last
atom OF strength in creeping to the door.
he was roughly seized and brutally hurled
pack into the room of the mudhouse, so
Mansing, the coolie, was placed with his
arms pinioned on a bareback pony. The
saddle of the pony L had been thrown upon
is worthy of description. 1t was in reality
the wooden frame Of a very high-backed
saddle. from the back of which some five
or six sharp iron spikes stuck out hori-
zontally. AS | sat on this implement of tor
ture the spikes caught me in the small of
the back.
twenty or thirty mounted men Will 'skets
and swords, we set off at a furiou ,e. A
horseman riding in front of me led pony
by means of cord, as my hands we, man
acled behind my back, and thus we travelled
across country for miles.
IAN iron bar with handle of wood bound
In red cloth was being made redhOt in
brasier The Pombo, who had again placed
something in mis- mouth to produce artificial
foaming at the lips. and so to show his tenn
per, worked himself into frenzy. A Lama
taram), now redhot. and the Pombo seized
it by the handle. 'Ngaghi kin meh taxon!
eve will burn out your eyes!O cried a
chorus of Lamas The Pombo strobe up to
me, brandishing the CHASTITY implement. 1
stared at him, but he kept his eyes away
from me. He seemed reluctant, but the
Lamas around him urged him on, lifting
the mans arm toward me. You have come
to this country to see (alluding to what
had stated the previous day, viz, that l was
a traveller and pilgrim and had only come
to see the country.) This, then, is the pun
ishment for your and with these dreadful
words the Pombo raised his arm and placed
the redhot iron bar parallel to and about
an inch or two from my eyeballs, and all
but touching my nose InstinctiVely l kept
my eyes tightly closed, but the heat was SO
intense that it seemed as if my eyes. the
left one especially, We're being deSiccat ted
and my nose ScOrched. Though the time
seemed interminable, | do not think that
the heated bar was before my eyes actually
longer than thirty seconds or so. Yet it was
quite long enough, for, when l lifted my
aching eyelids ! saw everything as in a
red mist. My left eye was frightfully pain
full, and every few seconds it seemed if
something in front of it obscured it's vision
With the right eye l could still see fairly
well, except that everything, as have said
looked red instead of its usual color The
hot iron had been thrown down and was
frizzling on the wet ground few PAGES
from me-"
INGENIOUS TORTURE
One terrible cruelty was to place the butt
OF a matchbox at Mr.. Lander's forehead
and then to fire off the heavy piece, so that
he should be stunned by the recoil. Mr.. Lam
dor thought his end was near, for the exc
cutioner advanced with a drawn sword:
THE executoner, now close to me, held
the sword with his nervous nands, lifting it
high above his shoulder. He then brought
it down to my neck which he touched with
the blade, to measure the distance, as it
were, for clean, effective stroke. Then,
drawing back STEP he quickly raised the
sword again and struck a blow at me with
all his might. The sword passed disagree
ably close to my neck, but did not touch
me. l would not finch, nor speak, and my
demeanor seemed to impress him almost to
the point of frightening him. He became
reluctant to continue his diabolical perform
ance, but the Impotence and turbulence OF
the crowd were at their highest, and the
Lamas nearer to him gesticulated like mad
men and urged him on again. AS | write
this their wild shouts, their bloodthirsty
counteances, are wildly brought before
me. Apparently against his will the eXecu-
toner went through the same kind of per-
fcrmance on >the other side OF my head.
This time the blade passed so near that the
point cannot have been more than half an
inch or so from my neck,
The Pombo it seems, however, did not
wish to have the prisoners beheaded.
Finally it was arranged that Mr.. Landor
should be sent to the Indian frontier. The
return Mr.. Lander tells of:
when all was ready Mansing and / were
led on foot to Token. our guard consisting
of some fifty horsemen riding on ponies.
We had to travel at great speed despite
our severely lacerated feet, our aching
bones, and the sores and wounds with
which we were covered all over. The SOL
ders led me tied by the neck like dog, and
dragged me along when, painting, exhausted
and suffering, l could not keep up with the
ponies. We crossed several cold streams,
sinking in water and mud up to our waists.
AT Token, to my great delight, l beheld
Chanden Sing still alive. He had been kept
prisoner in the mudhouse, where he had re-
manned tied upright to a post for over three
days, and for four days he had not eaten
food nor drunk anything. He was told that
/ had been beheaded. He was in a dreadful
condition; almost dying from his wounds,
cold and starvation.
BLOOD USED AS INK.
Their condition was fearful, as the route
was long, and Mr.. Lander kept the record,
writing it with his own blood:
eve suffered considerably on these long
marches, as the soldiers i'll treated us and
would not allow us to eat every day for
fear we should get too strong. They let us
have food only every two or three days
and our exhaustion and the pain caused by
riding those wretched yaks in our wounded
condition were terrible.
"All our property mad been taken away
from us and our clothes were In rags and
swarming with vermin. We were barefooted
we generally marched from before sunrise
till sometimes an hour or two after sunseu:
and when we reached camp we were torn
off our yaks and our jailers fastened iron
cuff round our ankles. in addition to those
we had already round our wrists. Being
considered quite safe we were left to sleep
out in the open without covering of any
kind, and often lying on snow or deluged
with rain. Our guard generally pitched a
tent under which they slept; but even when
they did not have one, they usually went to