ion on
the road was held. The Karo la had been enormously strengthened, and was
occupied by 2,000 men. The enemy's cavalry, which we had never seen,
were at Nagartse Jong. Gubshi, a dilapidated fort, only nineteen miles
on the road, was held by several hundred. The Tibetans intended to
dispute the passage of the Brahmaputra, and there were other strong
positions where the path skirted the Kyi-chu for miles beneath
overhanging rocks, which were carefully prepared for booby-traps. We had
to launch ourselves into this intensely hostile region and compel some
people--we did not know whom--to attach their signatures and seals to a
certain parchment which was to bind them to good behaviour in the
future, and a recognition of obligations they had hitherto disavowed.

Our force consisted of eight companies of the 8th Gurkhas, five
companies of the 32nd Pioneers, four companies of the 40th Pathans, four
companies of the Royal Fusiliers, two companies of Mounted Infantry,
No. 30 British Mountain Battery, a section of No. 7 Native Mountain
Battery, 1st Madras Sappers and Miners, machine-gun section of the
Norfolks, and details.[14] The 23rd Pioneers, to their disgust, were
left to garrison Gyantse. The transport included mule, yak, donkey, and
coolie corps.

[14] Companies of Pathans and Gurkhas were left to garrison Ralung,
Nagartse, Pehte, Chaksam, and Toilung Bridge.

The first three marches to Ralung were a repetition of the country
between Kalatso and Gyantse--in the valley a strip of irrigated land,
green and gold, with alternate barley and mustard fields between
hillsides bare and verdureless save for tufts of larkspur, astragalus,
and scattered yellow poppies. To Gyantse one descends 2,000 feet from a
country entirely barren of trees to a valley of occasional willow and
poplar groves; while from Gyantse, as one ascends, the clusters of trees
become fewer, until one reaches the treeless zone again at Ralung
(15,000 feet). The last grove is at Gubchi.

I quote some notes of the march from my diary:

'_July 14._--The villages by the roadside are deserted save for old
women and barking dogs. The Tibetans came down from the Karo la and
impressed the villagers. Many have fled into the hills, and are hiding
among the rocks and caves. Our pickets fired on some to-night. Seeing
their heads bobbing up and down among the rocks, they thought they were
surrounded. Many of the fugitives were women. Luckily, none were hit.