The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-05-29
GREAT BRITAIN CHASING
A BOGEY ON THE DIRTY,
DREARY ROOF OF WORLD
Remarkable Facts About the FIX
petition to the Forbidden
Land of Thibet.
GREAT MILITARY FEAT
That Is Worthy of Richer Re
ward than Probably Will
Be Gained.
WHERE FILTH ABOUNDS
Phari, $1,000 Feet Above Sea
Level, Has No Equal on
Earth for DirtinesS.
GREAT MILITARY FEAT
WHERE FILTH ABOUNDS
Special Correspondence Of the Journal.

Special Correspondence Of the Journal.
LONDON, May 15.--As a feat in military
transport Hannibal's famed passage of the
Alps is dwarfed to insignificance by COM
parison with what has been accomplished
by the little British army which, under the
guise of a political and commercial mission.
has invaded the forbidden land of Thibet
I'm pursuit of a DOGGY.
Starting from Siiguri, in the warm plains
below Daarjeeling, very little above sea
layas by the most stupendous natural stair
case in the world. despite obstacles that
would have taxed the ingenuity of an ex-
perienced mountain goat, forcing its way
upward into the region of the eternal snow
and ice, threading its way through passes
above the clouds, and camping in one place
5000 feet above sea level higher up than
the summit of Mont Blanc, the tallest
mountain in Europe. Mules failed them.
camels succumbed. yaks persisted by the
thousand, but these indomitables soldiers,
aided by Baltic coolies, pushed forward.
taking with them the guns and the stores
where no four-footed animals could carry
them and treading where feet of white men
had never trod before.
The passage of the British force into
the heretofore inaccessible land of dark
mystery and fateful fascination constitutes
the most brilliant and thrilling achievement
of military mountaineering that history
records. But for what has it been done?
To compel barbarous people, who, urged
by some instinct of self-preservation. have
passed an act of exclusion against all Eu-
70 int nd do
relations with the empire-to bring them
within the sphere of British influence.
WANTED TO BE LET ALONE.
Thibet wants to be let alone. And if there
is one land under the sun where nature
seems to have safeguarded that desire it is
Thibet. Fenced round by almost impene-
trable mountains among the Hottest on the
globe, this vast plateau, in extent about
eight times the area of Great Britain, is by
reason of its great altitude, ranging from
10000 TO 1900 feet, absolutely devoid of al
most everything that civilized can
covet. For the most part IL Is treeless
wilderness of dreary steppes-truly a for
bidding as we'll a forbidden land 1t is
not worth possessing. What trade could be
done by its wretched inhabitants would not
in many years suffice to defray the cost of
the present expedition.
The pretext officially put forward for the
with the treaty obligations of 1898. Three
years prior to that Thibetans raided the In
dian vassal state of Sikkim. A British
force drove them out. Then followed nego-
tiations, not with Thibet, but with China,
which exercises suzerainty over Thibet.
The result was some sort of treaty by
which China, behalf of Thibet-Thibet
had no say in the business-agreed that the
restrictions to trade which India imposed by
Thibet should be relaxed and a frontier
market opened. The ThibetanS paid little
heed to the treaty. They did open a new
frontier market-on the top of an inaccessi-
In general they continued to play the leave
me-alone game in the same old way. So
things logged along for many years. The
Indian government recognized that the mat
ter not worth fussing about. Then 1t
was discovered that a Russian agent, Dor
gieff, who, being a Monaghan Buddhist.
not subject to the operations % the
European exclusion act, had established
Dalai Lama, the sacred yellow pope of Thi-
bet, dispatched mission to st. Petersburg.
THE BLACK BOGEY.
II was this that brought that black DOGGY
OF India, the Russian bear. into the game.
They replied to the effect that the mission
to st. Petersburg was intended merely TO
convey to the Car the assurance of the
Dalai Lama's distinguished consideration;
that ii was devoid of political significance,
and so on. Russian oenials are construed
by the British government as lncriminat-
ing admissions. and what that huge jelly
fish, China, says does not count. Lord Cur
zon as viceroy of India saw visions of
Russia S inSldious and dangerous encrOach-
ments on the Indian frontier.
I'VE are quite content" he said, that it
(ThibeD should remain in the hands of al
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