le ensign which my fond
imagination had before offered up to my own vanity.'

Most of the flags and banners one sees to-day on the chortens and roofs
of houses, and cairns on the mountain-tops, must be planted with some
such inaugural ceremony.

Facing Chumulari on the west, and apparently only a few miles distant,
are the two Sikkim peaks of Powhunri (23,210 feet) and Shudu-Tsenpa
(22,960 feet). From Chuggya the Tangla is reached by a succession of
gradual rises and depressions. The pass is not impressive, like the
Jelap, as a passage won through a great natural barrier. One might cross
it without noticing the summit, were it not for the customary cairns and
praying-flags which the Lamas raise in all high places.

From a slight rise on the east of the pass one can look down across the
plateau on Tuna, an irregular black line like a caterpillar, dotted with
white spots, which glasses reveal to be tents. The Bamtso lake lies
shimmering to the east beneath brown and yellow hills. At noon objects
dance elusively in the mirage. Distances are deceptive. Yaks grazing are
like black Bedouin tents. Here, then, is the forbidden land. The
approach is as it should be. One's eyes explore the road to Lhasa dimly
through a haze. One would not have it laid out with the precision of a
diagram.

CHAPTER V

THE ROAD AND TRANSPORT

To write of any completed phase of the expedition at this stage, when I
have carried my readers only as far as Tuna, is a lapse in continuity
that requires an apology. My excuse is that to all transport officers,
and everyone who was in touch with them, the Tuna and Phari plains will
be remembered as the very backbone of resistance, the most implacable
barriers to our advance.

The expedition was essentially a transport 'show.' It is true that the
Tibetans proved themselves brave enemies, but their acquired military
resources are insignificant when compared with the obstacles Nature has
planted in the path of their enemies. The difficulty of the passes, the
severity of the climate, the sterility of the mountains and tablelands,
make the interior of the country almost inaccessible to an invading
army. That we went through these obstacles and reached Lhasa itself was
a matter of surprise not only to the Tibetans, but to many members of
the expeditionary force.

To appreciate the difficulties the mission force had to contend with,
one must first realize the extraordinary changes of climate that a