and the Sikhs at Palla were enabled to get in a few volleys at
Tibetans as they slunk past. During the night attacks the jong remained
silent, except on one occasion, when there was so much firing from the
Gurkha outpost that the enemy thought we were about to make a
counter-attack. Every jingal, musket, and rifle in the jong was then
loosed off in any and every direction. We even heard firing in the rear
of the monastery. Although no one was hit in this wild fire, the volume
of it was ominously indicative of the strength in which the jong was
held.

But even more ominous against the day when our troops should be called
upon to take the jong were the defensive preparations mentioned above.
Nearly every morning we found that during the night the enemy had built
up a new wall or covered way somewhere on the jong or about the village
that fringed the base of the rock. When the fortress was fortified as
strongly as Tibetan wit could devise, the jong Commandant began to
fortify and place in a position of defence the villages and monasteries
on his right and left. It was calculated that, from the small monastery
perched on the hills to his left to Tsechen Monastery on a ridge to his
right, the Tibetan General had occupied and fortified a position with
nearly seven miles of front.

Whilst the Tibetans were engaged in making these preparations, our
garrison was busy collecting forage for the enormous number of animals
coming up with the relief column. Our rear being absolutely open, small
parties with mules were able to collect quantities of hay from villages
within a radius of seven miles behind us. It was the fire opened on
these parties when they attempted to push to the right or left of the
jong which first revealed to us the full extent of the defensive
position occupied by the enemy.

On June 6 Colonel Younghusband left the post with a returning convoy, in
order to confer with the General at Chumbi. This convoy was attacked
whilst halting at the entrenched post at Kangma. The enemy in this
instance came down from the Karo la, and it is for this reason that I do
not include the Kangma attack amongst the operations at and around
Gyantse.

It was not till June 15 that we got definite news of the approaching
advance of the relief column. Reinforcements had come up to Chumbi from
India in the interval, and the General was accompanied by the 2nd
Mounted Infantry under Captain Peterson, No. 7 British Mountain Battery
under