On the face of it there seems some force in the Tibetan argument that discussion should take place at Giagong; and when officials from Lhasa had at last arrived, and with a Chinese deputy as well, and even provided with credentials, and were ready to negotiate, it would seem more reasonable on our part to have met there and negotiated. But such negotiations would not in fact have led to any result. The powers they had would simply have been not to let us inside the wall. They would have had none to negotiate in the real sense of the word, and they would have been afraid to make any kind of concession for fear their property or even their lives would be forfeited. Even when we arrived close to Lhasa, and men of much higher rank came to meet us, they had absolutely no power. Even the Regent had none, nor the whole Council. The Tibetans had no machinery for the conduct of foreign relations. They were under some arrangement to let the Chinese conduct their foreign relations, and yet, as we had experienced, they refused to abide by what the Chinese did for them.
CHAPTER X
KHAMBA JONG
Now that Chinese and Tibetan representatives of some kind had appeared, even though they were not of much rank or accredited with much power, I thought it well to proceed to Khamba Jong to get into touch with them, and form my own impression of how matters stood. I therefore rode straight through from Tangu to Khamba Jong on the 18th, accompanied by Mr. Dover, the Sikkim engineer, who had made such excellent rough roads and bridges, and escorted by a few mounted men.
After Tangu the mountain-sides became more and more barren; trees were replaced by low shrubs and dwarf rhododendrons, and higher up they, too, disappeared, till, when we crossed the Kangra-la (pass), there was nothing but rough coarse scrub. The pass itself was easy enough, though it was just over 17,000 feet in height. As we descended from it we were at length really in Tibet, and the change was most marked. In place of narrow valleys were great wide plains, intersected indeed by distant ranges of mountains, and absolutely devoid of trees, but open and traversable in every direction. The sky, too, was clear. The great monsoon clouds were left behind, and the sun shone with a power which brought the temperature up to 82° in the shade, and made it quite uncomfortably hot at midday, though at night there were 4° of frost.
MISSION CAMP, KHAMBA JONG (MOUNT EVEREST IN FAR DISTANCE).
As we rode on into Tibet and got out into the open, and well away from the Himalayan range, we obtained a glorious view of that stupendous range from Chumalhari, 24,000 feet, on the extreme east, to Kinchinjunga, 28,275 feet, in the centre, and Everest itself, 29,002 feet, and ninety miles distant in the far west.
On July 20 I made a formal call upon Mr. Ho and the Tibetan delegates. Mr. Ho was not a very polished official, and did not favourably impress me. The Tibetan Chief Secretary, however, did, and I reported at the time that he had an “exceedingly genial, kind, accomplished style of face.” But appearance belied him, and right up to the conclusion of the treaty, nearly fourteen months later, he was the most inimical to us of all the Tibetans.
As this was a first interview, I did not proceed with any business discussion, but I told the delegates that, though I must await the orders of the Viceroy on the letter which the Resident had addressed him, and could not, therefore, yet commence formal negotiations, yet I would at our next meeting state plainly in detail the view which the Viceroy took of the situation, so that they might know our views, and be ready when the formal negotiations commenced to make proposals for their settlement.