But most of their missiles fell short. The ground
immediately in front of Chang-lo was scarred and seamed
with hundreds and even thousands of futile jingal balls
which had dropped uselessly into the “ football field ” or
the field outside. Only eight or ten of their best
weapons threw projectiles with accuracy and certainty.
The others heaved their muzzles up into the sky and
trusted that elevation would counteract economy of
powder and the amazing escape of gas all round the ill-
fitting bullet. The bigger guns made an astonishing
report, and a second and a half later a lump of lead from
William, as big as a Tangerine orange, would moan
through the air, sometimes with unpleasant accuracy,
whipping down into the compound, or sometimes tearing
its way through the high trees over our heads. Altogether
about four men were killed by these misshapen
projectiles, which looked like sections of a solid lead bar
with the edges roughly filed down. At first lead alone
was used, but the’ appearance among us of balls composed
of a heavy stone wrapped with lead suggested that the
supply was running short. Later on, this surmise was
justified, for a curious substitute for lead was found in
the use of pure copper. During the last two weeks of
the siege lumps of this glittering red-gold metal were
used almost as constantly as those of more humble
material.
At one time the Tibetans adopted the principle of
firing volleys. At a given signal fourteen or fifteen guns
were fired in a ragged feu de foie. There was little
additional danger to us even from the first of these concerted
pieces, and it is clear that to follow such a volley
by another, three minutes afterwards, was sheer waste
of ammunition. Still, almost everything in the post
which could be struck was struck. Tents, sand-bags,
traverses, house-walls, and trees were pounded alike.
The trees suffered most; the Tibetans never seemed to
be perfectly certain of the direction of any ball unless
it betrayed its billet a hundred yards in front of our
defences. Naturally, therefore, in order at least to
In s id e Chang-lo p o s t : the Mission qua rte rs to th e rig h t an d th e R ed u it to th e left.
ensure that no such obvious failure of aim should be
noted against them by the Commandant, they preferred
to elevate their guns at an angle which often only
resulted in a shower of twigs and leaves from the lofty
poplars over our heads.
In those trees the kites whistled and the ravens
croaked all day. Both species were twice the size of
ravens and kites elsewhere. Captain Walton would
VOL. I 2 2