with ourselves, asked that the request should be put into
writing and signed. It was a very simple thing, and the
Tibetans wrote the request without demur, but, to the
Colonel’s surprise, they point-blank refused to sign it.
After interminable persuasion one of them snatched up
a pen and made a little mark in the corner of the sheet;
this, when examined, proved to be no signature at all.
The thing was so ridiculous that the ponies for another
excursion were saddled up and brought to the gate of the
camp, and the Tibetans were told that if they could not
put their names to this protest the English could not
believe that they had authority to make it. Then, and
then only, in despair did the Tibetan officials sign the
paper. This was a most illuminating little incident, and
to the very end the Tibetans were faithful to the policy
of which it forms so good an illustration.
So it became evident that nothing could be done at
Kamba-jong, and Colonel Younghusband suspected,
as was indeed the case, that the Tibetans had got
wind of his strict injunctions not to advance further
into the country. It then became necessary to" take
stronger action, and with the concurrence of the India
Office it was arranged that he should go to Gyantse,
and there make a second attempt to carry through the
negotiations with which he had been entrusted.
At this point a divergence of opinion occurred; it
was originally suggested by Younghusband that two
columns should converge upon the Kala tso ; one with
2,500 yaks as transport should occupy the Chumbi
Valley, and move on directly by the side of the Bam tso,
under Colonel Macdonald, who had been at work for
some time in Darjeeling as C.R.E., organising the
routes along which the expedition was to tra v e l; the
other, consisting of the Mission, of which the guard
was to be considerably reinforced, with 500 yaks, was to
go across country by the Lango la ; at the same time,
400 Nepalese troops were to occupy Kamba-jong, and
cover the advance of the Mission. To this scheme
Macdonald, who now appeared for the first time, demurred
; he pointed out that this advance in two weak
columns without means of communication gave the
Tibetans the opportunity of dealing with each separately ;
that the rendezvous was an unknown point in the enemy’s
country; that the roads to it were also unknown, and that
it was, therefore, difficult to effect a meeting at a given
moment. He further pointed out that the Mission, which
would be the weaker of the two columns, would have
to march with its flank exposed to the enemy and without
communications in its rear. On the 16th of October,
Colonel Younghusband, who had returned from Kamba-
jong, seeing the uselessness of any further residence,
met Colonel (then Brigadier-General) Macdonald at
Darjeeling. By this time the matter was further complicated
by the question of yak transport. The Nepalese
made' a present of 500 yaks to the Mission ; these were
intended to act as transport for the Mission in their
cross-country journey; the other yaks were to be
bought in Nepal and taken across Sikkim. Macdonald
pointed out the dangers of attempting to take the
yaks through the Tista Valley, and his forebodings
ultimately proved to be well justified. But the 500
yaks which were to reach Kamba-jong by the Tipta la
were turned back by the Tibetans; whereupon the
Nepalese asserted that, in spite of anything Urged
to the contrary, the yaks could safely be taken down
to the level of the Tista Valley, and the military