“Tell me the whole truth of your business,” said the supervisor gravely.
“I must go to Calcutta on secret business,” said I sternly, “concerning the inner chamber of the Dalai Lama’s palace. It is so urgent that if possible I wish to return within twenty days; but if you compel me to spend more time on the way, you must give me a certificate verifying my excuse to show when I return to Lhasa.”
“It is my duty,” persisted he, “I must hear the nature of the secret business.”
“Have you the right to hear,” said I gravely and with dignity, “the secret of the Prime Minister? Furthermore, have you the right to hear the secret which no one knows but the Dalai Lama? If you compel me positively, I shall tell you the secret of my business; but you must give me a certificate signed and sealed with the chief’s stamp, and assume the responsibility for my having told the secret. If you do so and keep all men at a distance, I shall lay open before you the whole of the Dalai Lama’s secret.”
“If it be so,” said he, giving me a note addressed to Tomo-Rinchen-gang, “I shall not ask to hear it. As it is a service of such great importance that it is impossible to detain you even a day, I shall arrange to get the passport as quickly as possible. I shall write a note which you may send by your servant to Tomo-Rinchen-gang. You will receive two copies of the note, which again must be taken to the Chinese military officer at Pimbithang to get a copy of the note there. By showing the one received from Pimbithang, you may pass this guard-house without any trouble.”
PASSPORT IN TIBETAN FOR THE AUTHOR’S RETURN TO TIBET IN THE FUTURE.
As I previously said, one of the two copies of notes obtained from Tomo-Rinchen-gang is written in Chinese, and the other in Tibetan. The one written in Chinese is to be taken to Pimbithang, the third guard-house, and handed in as a certificate to the Chinese military officer there; while the other one, as shown in the picture, written in Tibetan letters, is my return certificate which, when I re-enter, must be handed to the supervisor of the fifth guard-house, serving as a testimonial for the purpose of receiving a new passport there. But as I went out of Tibet and have not yet returned, this return certificate remains in my hands as a memento.
To get a note from the supervisor Dargye was not an easy task. This man has a bad reputation as a taker of bribes. His personal appearance is disgusting. When I told him that I had secret business from the Dalai Lama, he instantly prostrated himself and bowed low again and again. I was surprised at his entire change of manner; but as I believe that, in every country, those who are haughty to their inferiors are also servile to their superiors and are usually hateful knaves, my feeling was only deepened by the sudden change.