They were brought into camp whimpering and salaaming, and became
embarrassingly grateful when it was made clear to them that they were
not to be tortured or killed, but set free. They were called back,
however, to give information about grain, and thought their last hour
had come.'

'_July 16._--All the houses between Gubchi and Ralung are decorated with
diagonal blue, red, and white stripes, characteristic of the Ning-ma
sect of Buddhists. They remind me of the walls of Damascus after the
visit of the German Emperor. Heavy rain falls every day. Last night we
camped in a wet mustard-field. It is impossible to keep our bedding
dry.'

From Ralung the valley widens out, and the country becomes more bleak.
We enter a plateau frequented by gazelle. Cultivation ceases. The ascent
to the Karo Pass is very gradual. The path takes a sudden turn to the
east through a narrow gorge.

On the 17th we camped under the Karo la in the snow range of Noijin Kang
Sang, at an elevation of 1,000 feet above Mont Blanc. The pass was free
of snow, but a magnificent glacier descended within 500 feet of the
camp. We lay within four miles of the enemy's position. Most of us
expected heavy fighting the next morning, as we knew the Tibetans had
been strengthening their defences at the Karo la for some days. Volleys
were fired on our scouts on the 16th and 17th. The old wall had been
extended east and west until it ended in vertical cliffs just beneath
the snow-line. A second barrier had been built further on, and sangars
constructed on every prominent point to meet flank attacks. The wall
itself was massively strong, and it was approached by a steep cliff, up
which it was impossible to make a sustained charge, as the rarefied air
at this elevation (16,600 feet) leaves one breathless after the
slightest exertion. The Karo la was the strongest position on the road
to Lhasa. If the Tibetans intended to make another stand, here was their
chance.

In the messes there was much discussion as to the seriousness of the
opposition we were likely to meet with. The flanking parties had a long
and difficult climb before them that would take them some hours, and the
general feeling was that we should be lucky if we got the transport
through by noon. But when one of us suggested that the Tibetans might
fail to come up to the scratch, and abandon the position without firing
a shot, we laughed at him; but his conjecture was very near the mark.

At 7 a.m. the t