358 IN. TIBET AND CHINESE TURKESTAN.
not conceal that her ultimate aim is the possession of that empire. While she is strengthening her hold over new lands and reaching forth to seize others, she is unostentatiously improving her communications and intriguing for political advantages wherever intrigue is possible. A fresh illustration of this method was provided in a telegram which appeared in the Times of October 15, 1900, stating that an Envoy Extraordinary of the Dalai Lama of Lhasa had been received in audience on October 13th by the Czar at St. Petersburg.
It is not to be supposed that a large body of troops from the north could ever penetrate far to the south of the Hindu Kush, but, when the Russian and Indian frontiers are identical, there will be little or nothing to prevent the despatch of small columns to the south. In connection with this question the unsatisfactory political position of Afghanistan should not be overlooked. There duplicity and treachery flourish, and Russian roubles may exert an important influence on the tide of public and private feeling. The Afghan army having been improved, armed with modern rifles, and even supplied with about 300 Maxims, and field-guns, manufactured on a large scale in the country, attention is now directed to the organising of an efficient transport service. There can be no doubt that in the recent frontier war in Tirah not only had the tribes been aided and abetted, but many of them had been armed against us by the Amir of Afghanistan. The allegiance of this potentate could scarcely be counted on if his assistance were required, and it is clearly the duty of the Indian Government to maintain its own military forces in such strength and thoroughly up-to-date efficiency that they may be ready for any emergency.
Of the different kinds of game which I met in Sin-Chiang, the ovis Poli is undoubtedly the most worthy of
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