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0205 India and Tibet : vol.1
インドとチベット : vol.1
India and Tibet : vol.1 / 205 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000295
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CRITICAI. SITUATION   167

smile as much as he possibly could, and I then said that I

had to obey the orders of my Government, just as much as

they had to obey the orders of theirs ; that I would ask

them to report to their Government what I had said, and

I would report to my Government what they had told

me. That was all that could be done at present ; but if

the Viceroy, in reply to my reports, ordered me back to

India I should personally be only too thankful, as theirs

was a cold, barren, and inhospitable country, and I had a

wife and child at Darjiling, whom I was anxious to see

again as soon as I could.

This eased matters a little. But the monks continued

to clamour for me to name a date for withdrawal, and the

situation was only relieved when a General suggested that

a messenger should return with me to Tuna to receive

there the answer from the Viceroy. The other Generals

eagerly accepted the suggestion, and the tension was at

once removed. 'Their faces became smiling again, and they

conducted me to the outer door with the same geniality

and politeness with which they had received us, though

the monks remained seated and as surly and evil-looking

as men well could look.

\Ve preserved our equanimity of demeanour and the

smiles on our faces till we had mounted our ponies and

were well outside the camp, and then we galloped off as

hard as we could, lest the monks should get the upper

hand again and send men after us. It had been a close

shave, but it was worth it.

I had sized up the situation, and felt now I knew how

I stood. I knew from that moment that nowhere else

than in Lhasa, and not until the monkish power had been

broken, should we ever make a settlement. But it was

still treason to mention the word " Lhasa " in any com-

munication to Government, and I had to keep these con-

clusions to myself for many months yet, for fear I might

frighten people in England who had not yet got accus-

tomed to the idea of our going even as far as Gyantse.

While I perceived that the monks were implacably

hostile, that they had the preponderating influence in the

State, and were entirely convinced of their power to