by Tibetan soldiers, and he
and his servants were seriously ill-treated. The British officer received
a nasty wound on his forehead, and one of his servants, who behaved
heroically, was so cruelly handled that to-day, two years later, I hear
he is still an invalid.

[Illustration: MATAN SING CHAPRASSI]

[Illustration: NARENGHIRI CHAPRASSI]

[Illustration: GARBYANG]

Mr. J. Larkin, Deputy Collector at Almora, was then despatched to the
frontier. No better man could have been sent. Firm, just, and
painstaking, he became popular and much respected among the Shokas. He
listened to their troubles and sufferings; he administered justice
wherever possible. He refused audience to no one, and during his flying
visit became well acquainted with the country, the people, and all that
went on. The poor Shokas felt much relieved, thinking that at last the
Tibetan abuses would be put an end to. They were not mistaken, at least
for a time. The Jong Pen of Taklakot was called upon to answer for his
many misdeeds. He refused an interview. Mr. Larkin sent word across the
border that he would have no trifling and that he must come, upon which
the Jong Pen, with his officers and Lamas, crossed the snowy Lippu Pass.
Trembling with fear and bending low to the ground, the Tibetans, with
abject servility, entered the tent of our British envoy. The account of
the interview, which I received in full from a Shoka gentleman who was
present as interpreter, is amusing and curious, showing the mutability
and hypocrisy of the Tibetans. In the long run, and being well acquainted
with the cowardice of his visitors, Mr. Larkin not only obtained redress
on every point but gave the Jong Pen and his officers a severe harangue.
The result of the interview was that the collection of the Land Revenue
should be put a stop to, and that Tibetan law should no more be
administered on our side of the frontier.

Mr. Larkin's visit to Bhot was cut short by urgent orders to return
immediately to Almora.

The following year (the year of my visit, 1897), Mr. G., Deputy
Commissioner, undid much that the previous officer had accomplished. The
Jong Pen, when summoned, declined to come, and sent over deputies in his
place. The upshot of it is, that Land Revenue is again paid by the Shokas
to the Tibetan tax-collectors through the Peshkar.

I have mentioned these facts as representative of many, and to show how
it came that the natives, who had never had any protectio