Chao’s next move was to Chiamdo, which, according to a traveller[[55]] who was there in 1909, was not a part of Lhasa territory, but had a Government on the Lhasa principle, with an incarnated Lama as ruler and three chief Lamas as his Ministers, all residing within an enormous monastery. The whole population was said to amount to 84,000 families, say about 420,000 people. Chiamdo is the most important place between Ta-chien-lu and Lhasa, and though the State sends tribute every six years to Peking, it only did so because it received much more valuable presents in return, and as a fact, the Chinese residents in Chiamdo had to serve the Lamasery. At the end of last year there was a great deal of unrest, this traveller reported, among the Tibetans in this and other parts of Tibet owing to the appointment of Chao, whom they feared and hated, and everywhere they were preparing and drilling soldiers, and in some places had already declared their independence, and refused to give transport to Chinese officials travelling.
Chao, however, early in 1910 was entirely successful in his operations, and occupied Chiamdo, Draya, and Kiangka without suffering any casualties.
Such were the relations between the Chinese and Tibetans in those parts not directly under the Lhasa Government. That they must have profoundly affected the inhabitants of Tibet proper must be very evident, and what the effect was I will relate after I first traced the relations between the Tibetans and ourselves at this time and followed the adventures of the Dalai Lama himself.
Returning, then, to the relations between ourselves and the Tibetans on the other side of Tibet, we find representations being made by both parties as to what each considered breaches of the Treaty by the other. The Tibetans objected to our administering Chumbi during our occupation, and we objected to their reconstruction of the fortifications of Gyantse Jong.
The Government of India replied to the Tibetans that the action taken by us in the Chumbi Valley called for no explanation or defence, as it was in strict accordance with the terms of the Treaty. As we subsequently gave up the Valley, the point is not of any importance.
On the other hand, by levying trade dues at Phari, by the stoppage of free trade viâ Khamba Jong, by the stoppage of the letters of the British Trade Agent at Gartok, and by their failure to pull down defence walls on the road between Gyantse and Lhasa, Captain O’Connor considered[[56]] that the Tibetans had clearly contravened the provisions of the Treaty.
This change of attitude the Government of India attributed to fear on the part of the Lhasa authorities lest the Dalai Lama should on his return punish them for complaisance to our demands; and also to expectations that the negotiations which the Chinese Commissioner was at the time conducting in Calcutta might result in a material modification of the Convention in favour of Tibet.
Any real change there might have been at this time was, anyhow, only at Lhasa itself, for the Tashi Lama from Shigatse, spiritually an equal of the Dalai, visited India in the winter of 1905–06, was received by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales and Lord Minto, travelled to all the Buddhist shrines, saw some great manœuvres under Lord Kitchener, and returned to Tibet impressed with the cordiality of his reception.
As to the Dalai Lama himself, after fleeing from Lhasa on our approach in August of 1904, he made his way to Urga, in the North of Mongolia, where there is another incarnate Lama of great spiritual influence. But the two incarnations do not appear to have hit it off very well, and the Dalai Lama’s presence is reported to have nearly ruined the other both in revenue and in reputation. They had a disagreement as to the division of fees, and the Dalai Lama accordingly left Urga, in September, 1905, for Sining, on the borders of Tibet.