Ghat, and only about seventy miles south of the point reached by A. K.
from Tibet.

The return of the British expedition from Tibet was evidently the
opportunity of a century for the investigation of this unexplored
country. We had gained the hitherto inaccessible base, and were
provided with supplies and transport on the spot; we had no opposition
to expect from the Tibetans, who were naturally eager to help us out of
the country by whatever road we chose, and had promised to send
officials with us to their frontier at Gyala Sendong, who would forage
for us and try to impress the villagers into our service. The hostile
tribes beyond the frontier were not so likely to resist an expedition
moving south to their homes after a successful campaign as a force
entering their country from our Indian frontier. In the latter case they
would naturally be more suspicious of designs on their independence. The
distance from Lhasa to Assam was variously estimated from 500 to 700
miles. I think the calculations were influenced, perhaps unconsciously,
by sympathy with, or aversion from, the enterprise.

* * * * *

The Shapes, it is true, though they promised to help us if we were
determined on it, advised us emphatically not to go by the Tsangpo
route. They said that the natives of their own outlying provinces were
bandits and cut-throats, practically independent of the Lhasa
Government, while the savages beyond the frontier were dangerous people
who obeyed no laws. The Shapes' notions as to the course of the river
were most vague. When questioned, they said there was a legend that it
disappeared into a hole in the earth. The country near its mouth was
inhabited by savages, who went about unclothed, and fed on monkeys and
reptiles. It was rumoured that they were horned like animals, and that
mothers did not know their own children. But this they could not vouch
for.

It was believed that tracks of a kind existed from village to village
all along the route, but these, of course, after a time would become
impracticable for pack transport. The mules would have to be abandoned,
and sent back to Gyantse by our guides, or presented to the Tibetan
officials who accompanied us. Then we were to proceed by forced marches
through the jungle, with coolie transport if obtainable; if not, each
man was to carry rice for a few days. The distance from the Tibet
frontier to Sadiya is not great, and the unexplored cou