Our losses were, besides Lieutenant Garstin, Royal Engineers killed, Captain O’Connor, Lieutenant Mitchell, 32nd Pioneers, Lieutenant Walker, Royal Engineers, and nine men wounded. It was a heavy casualty list for our little garrison to sustain, but the capture of the village was a great shock to the Tibetans, who till then, according to a Chinaman whom Mr. Wilton met when accompanying one of our sorties, had become very truculent, and talked of first attacking us and cutting all our throats, and then murdering all Chinese.
The Palla village was occupied by our troops, and at 1.30 on the morning of May 30 the Tibetans, who had for long been trying to screw themselves up for an attack upon us, attacked both this and a Gurkha outpost we had established. It was a beautiful sight to watch, with the jong keeping up a heavy fire on us, and the houses at the foot of the jong firing away hard on the village. But the Tibetans were easily repulsed, for Colonel Brander had been careful to fortify the place well, and the Tibetans after this never ventured to take the offensive against us, and the tide now definitely began to turn.
I therefore now with less reluctance wrote letters to the Resident and Dalai Lama, saying that we were ready to negotiate at Gyantse up to June 25, but that unless by that date the Resident and competent negotiators had arrived, we would insist upon negotiations being carried on at Lhasa. The letters, together with a covering letter to the Tibetan commander in the jong, were sent by the hands of prisoners. Before undertaking their delivery, however, the bearers stipulated that they should be allowed to return to us as prisoners, which was a significant commentary on the method of enlistment of the Tibetan forces opposing us. The next morning the letters were returned by the Tibetan General, who said that it was not their custom to receive communications from the English.
On the afternoon of June 5 I received instructions from the Government of India to proceed to Chumbi, to confer with General Macdonald as to future plans. We had to a certain degree kept open our communications. Still, there were Tibetans all about, and it was a somewhat unusual, and certainly risky, proceeding for the chief of the Mission to have to ride 150 miles down the lines to consult the military commander. However, I was glad enough of the change from the monotony of our investment at Gyantse, and at four the next morning, while it was still dark, I rode out with an escort of forty mounted infantry, under Major Murray, and accompanied by that gallant doctor of the 8th Gurkhas, Dr. Franklin. We gave a wide berth to the Niani monastery, and arrived safely at Kangma, our first fortified post, forty miles distant, where Captain Pearson, of the 23rd Pioneers, was in command with about 100 men.