Mr. Ho here interposed, and said that the Tibetans were very ignorant and difficult to deal with, and he asked me if I could not meet them by agreeing to go to the frontier. I said I would with pleasure, and when representatives whom the Viceroy would permit me to negotiate with were present I would gladly ride with them to the frontier and discuss the question on the spot; but the frontier was not at Giagong, as the Tibetans supposed, but at the Kangra-la (pass), only ten miles from where we where. Mr. Ho said the actual position of the frontier was not known yet, but that it was where the waters flowed down to India. I said five minutes’ investigation would make clear where that was, and Mr. Ho said that then the matter could be very easily settled.
Mr. Ho’s Chinese secretary then suggested that I should give the Tibetans the copy of my speech which the interpreter had read from. I assented with readiness, and, with Mr. Ho’s approval, presented it to them. But they could not have got rid of a viper with greater haste than they got rid of that paper. They said that they could on no account receive it, and handed it on to Mr. Ho’s secretary, to whom, as he spoke English, I had also given an English version.
These so-called delegates never came near us again at Khamba Jong, but shut themselves up in the fort and sulked. And in reporting the result of this interview to Government, I said that both Mr. White and I were of opinion that Government must be prepared for very protracted negotiations, and also for the possibility of coercion. The attitude of the Tibetans was fully as obstructive, I said, as Mr. White and every other person acquainted with them had predicted it would be, and I saw at present little prospect of coming to a settlement without coercion, though I would use every possible means of argument and persuasion.
And if the delegates did not choose to give me any work, I was quite content to do none, for I was thoroughly happy in camp there at Khamba Jong. All my staff were delightful companions, and we were very happy together. Mr. White was the best possible hand at making a camp comfortable and feeding arrangements good; and we had neither the stifling heat of the Indian plains nor the discomforts of the rainy season in the hills. We were beyond the reach of the monsoon. We had occasional refreshing showers, but for July, August, and September, the rainfall was only 4.9 inches, and, for the most part, the weather was bright and fine and clear. We could see immense distances over the rolling plains. We would watch the mighty monsoon clouds sweeping along the Himalayas; we would catch glimpses of some noble peak rising superbly above them, and Kinchinjunga close by and Everest in the farthest distance were a perpetual joy.