their spoil was so
abundant and bulky as to delay their march, and the Chinese, who were
well commanded, succeeded in coming up with them before they had crossed
the mountain passes. The movements of the Chinese commander were so
skilfully made that the retreat of the Goorkhas without a battle for the
safety of their treasures became impossible.

Sund Fo, the Chinese general, according to the usual practice of his
people, began by the offer of terms to the enemy, these being the
surrender of all their spoil and of a renegade lama whose tale of the
wealth of Thibet had led to the invasion. Probably also pledges for
better conduct in future were demanded, but the proud chief of the
Goorkhas haughtily refused to accept any of these conditions and defied
his foes to do their worst. Of the battle that followed nothing is known
except its result, which was the defeat and hasty retreat of the
invaders, much of whose baggage was left behind.

The Chinese do not seem to have suffered greatly, to judge from the
promptness of their pursuit, which was made with such rapidity that the
Goorkhas were overtaken and again defeated before they had reached the
Kirong pass, they being now obliged to abandon most of their baggage and
spoil. The pursuit continued with an energy remarkable for a Chinese
army, the Goorkhas, bold as they were by nature, growing demoralized
under this unlooked-for persistence. Every encounter resulted in a
defeat, the forts which commanded the mountain passes and defiles were
taken in succession by Sund Fo's army, and he still pressed relentlessly
on. At a strong point called Rassoa the Goorkhas defended for three days
a passage over a chasm, but they had grown faint-hearted through their
successive defeats, and this post too fell into the hands of their
enemy.

The triumphs of the Chinese had not been won without severe loss, both
in their frequent assaults upon mountain strongholds and a desperate
foe, and from the passage of the snow-clad mountains, but they finally
succeeded in reaching the southern slopes of the Himalayas with an
effective force of forty thousand men. Khatmandu, the Goorkha capital,
lay not far away, and with a last effort of courage and despair the
retreating army made a stand for the defence of the seat of their
government.

Their position was a strong one, their courage that of desperation, and
their valor and resolution so great that for a time they checked the
much stronger battal