stantly assumed the direction of the additional defences
which had to be made, and the next two days produced
an extraordinary alteration in the aspect of Chang-lo.
Great traverses of timber logs, interspersed with granite
boulders, rose up like magic everywhere. The Masbi
Sikh is by nature and intention a lazy man ; yet it is
possible that no Sikh in the history of his race ever
worked with such desperation as the hundred labourers
who, in very truth, had to work like the famous artizans
under the direction of Nehemiah. There was no time
to lose, for the only information we could certainly get
from the prisoners was that more men and larger guns
were even at that moment being hurried up against us
from Lhasa.
Such was the state of affairs when O’Connor and I
rode in on the evening of the 7th. The column from
the Karo la could not arrive until the afternoon of the
9th ; an attack, meanwhile, was threatened for that
same night. But the Tibetans had had too heavy a
lesson, and nothing, therefore, was done before the
arrival of the main body of the defenders had put an
end to all hope of carrying the post by storm.
As soon as. the place was put in a proper condition of
defence we had leisure to consider the extraordinary
change in the political situation, which had been caused
by the attack of the Tibetans. Of course, in one way it
simplified the position enormously; there could no
longer be any pretence on the part of the Tibetans that
they were a peace-loving and long-suffering ra ce ; the
issues were cleared. It was obvious that no negotiations
had ever been intended. We were able at last to
estimate the authority of the Chinese suzerains and
the influence of the Amban himself— neither existed.
Horn,
Work,
R E D U IT
Water Gate,
USH
Note.
The gun emplacements o f
Gyantse Jong were 1350 yards
North o f the Mission Maxim
CH iAlTGLO
IMS GTJOTSl
THE DEFENCES
M A Y — J U N E 1904 SCALE
0 5 10 20 30 F>
Houses o f So lid M asonry | |
Traverses shown t h u s -------------