The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-06
MARCH INTO THE HEART
OF THE LAND OF PRIESTS
Movements of the British Column
as 1t Proceeds Into
Thibet.
is NEARING LII A S A

LONDON, March 5.-The correspondent of
the Daily Mail, wiring from Chumbi, India,
says:
From DarJeeling TO Lhasa is S64 miles.
These, as in the dominions of Namgay
Doolai Raja, are mostly on end.
1.-The road crosses the Thibetan frontier
at the Jelap-la Pass Q4eOO feet). eighty
miles to the northeast. From Observatory
hill, in Darjeeling, one looks over the bleak
hog-backed ranges of Sikkim to the Shows.
To the north and northwest lie Kinchin-
junga and the tremendous chain of noun
tains that embrace Everest. To the north
east stretches a lower line of dazzling riffs
and spires, in which one can see thin.
gray wedge like slice in Christmas cake.
That Is the Jelap. Beyond IL lies Thibet.
There is good military road from Sill
guri, the base station in the plains. to Run
pc, forty-eight miles along the Teesta val
ley. After that the path is six-foot mule
track. at Its best a steep, dusty incline. at
its worst succession of broken rocks and
frozen puddles, which give no secure foot
hold to a transport animal. From Rungpo
the road skirts mountain stream for
twenty miles along fertile valley OF some
1000 feet, through rice fields and orange
groves and peaceful villages, now the scene
OF hustle and preparation.
Then ii strikes I'D the mountain side and
becomes a ladder of stone steps, over which
no animal in the world can make more than
mile and half an hour. From the val
ley to Gnatong is a climb of some 10000
feet without a break The scenery is ex-
tremely beautiful, and it is doubtful If it
is possible to find anywhere in the same
compass the characteristics of the differ
ent zones of vegetation. from tropical to
temperate, from temperate to Alpine, so
beautifully exhibited.
THE road to Gnatong lies through a
magnificent forest of oak and chestnut, and
L reached the place in time to breakfast
with the Eighth Ghurkas The camp lies
in little basin in the hills at an eleva-
ton of 1900 feet. When / last visited the
place thought 1t one of the most desolate
spots had seen. Ny first impressions were
a wilderness of gray stones and gray unin-
habited houses, felled tree trunks denuded
OF bark, white and spectral on the hill
sides. There was no life. no children's
voices or chattering of women, no bazaar
apparently, no dogs barking, not even a
pariah to greet you.
These were my impressions a year or
two ago, but now Gnatong is all life and
hustle. In the bazaar a convoy of 300 mules
was being laden; the place was crowded
with Nepalese coolies and Tibetan drivers,
picturesque In their wooden knee-boots of
red and green patterns with a white star
at the foot long russell cloakS bound tight
~ at the waist and bullying out with cook
ing utensils and change of dress, en-
broidered caps of every variety and de-
scription, as often as not tied to the head
by a wisp of hair. In Rotten row-the in
scription of 1889 still remains-I met a sub
altern with a pair of skates. He showed
me to the messroom, where / enjoyed a
breakfast and a good deal of Chaf
about correspondents who were in such a
hurry to get TO a godforsaken hole where
there wasn't going TO be the ghost of "a
show"
and reached the Jelap soon after noon. No
snow had fallen; the approach was over
broken rock and shale. At the summit was
a row Of cairns, from which fiuttered pray
ing flags and tattered bits of native raj
ment.
Here was Thibet, the forbidden. the mys-
terious. Far TO the east Chumulari (23 929
feet, with its magnificent white spire ris-
ing from the roof-like mass behind looked
like an immense cathedral of snow; at my
feet lay a narrow pine-clad ravine. through
which flowed an affiuent of the Ammo Chu
Far below a yellow hillside hung the
lamasery of Rinshingong. In the valley be-
meath lay Chumbi and the road to Lhasa.
Both at home and in India one hears
the Thibet mission spoken of enviousy as
a picnic. There is an idea of an encamp-
ment in smiling valley and easy marches
towards the mysterious city. In reality
there is plenty of hard and uninteresting
work; the expedition is attended with all
the hardships and discomforts of a cam
paign and very little of the excitement
Colonel Younghusband is now at Tuna. a
desolate hamlet on the Thibetan plateau
exposed to the coolest winds of Asia, where
the thermometer falls to % degrees below
zero. Detachments of the escort scat
tered along the line of communication in
places of carrying cold and discomfort
where they must wait until the necessary
supplies have been carried through to
Phari.
1T is not likely that Colonel Younghus-
band will be able to proceed to Gyanko be-
fore March. In the meanwhile, imagine the
pioneers and Ghurkas, too cold to wash or
shave. shivering in a dirty Thibetan fort
half suffocated with smoke from a yak
dung fire. Then there is the transport of
ficer shut up in some narrow valley of
Sikkim. trying to make half a dozen ous
of three, with his camp or sick beasts and
sheaf Of urgent kilograms calling for sup
plies. He hopes there will be a show and
that he may be in IL. Certainly, if any one
deserves to go to Lhasa and get a medal
for it, ii is the S. and T. man; but he will
be left behind"