TO KANGMA
All our little columns concentrated at Phari. Our camp was just outside
the 'jong' or fort. Phari-jong was quite typical of the genus 'jong,'
looking from the outside like the sort of mediaeval castle that sometimes
adorns the foreground of a drop-scene in a theatre. On the inside it was
rather extra-typical, being even more rambling, darker, and dirtier than
most jongs. A grim humorist had selected the topmost garret as the
post-office. This selection gave the local postmaster, who was also
possessed of grim humour, the vastest entertainment. For the little
columns came pouring in day after day, bringing all sorts of folk who
were pining for their letters. Every one, as soon as he was off duty,
went head-down to the post-office. We were now at a level of 15,000
feet, and the climb, at that altitude, of several hundred feet of rough
Tibetan passages and staircases was a great strain on the lungs to any
one unused to it.
The postmaster sat in his office, cool and comfortable, while all day
long officers, British rank and file, sepoys and followers, poured in
for their letters, every one arriving panting, with his tongue lolling
out, and quite unable to state his requirements for at least two
minutes. The postmaster made a point of asking every one most politely
what he wanted at the very moment of his arrival, so as not to keep him
waiting, and grinned diabolically at the desperate efforts of the latter
to splutter out his name and address. When, as one of the victims in
question, I went for my letters, and had duly provided him with my share
of the entertainment, I asked him whether he was not enjoying himself,
and he assured me it was the best fun he had ever had in his life.
From Phari to Kangma we marched in two columns, of which I accompanied
the second.
The 'Tang-La' was our first halting-place--a bleak spot very much swept
by the wind. From there we marched to Tuna, and thence to Dochen, with
Chumalari on our right, showing us a new view of himself as we rounded
each spur that jutted out into the plain. We passed many herds of the
Kiang or wild ass, some of us galloping after them in an attempt to get
a close view; but they are fleet and wary, and evaded us altogether. The
simple peasant of that part of Tibet has been known to allude to the
Kiang as the 'children of Chumalari,' and thus to explain their
sanctity, for Chumalari himself is a sacred mountain. Whether belief in
this origin of the Kiang is orthodox, or merely a local superstition, I
do not know.
Hereabouts we passed the 'hot springs,' where still lay what was left
of the corpses of many Tibetans who had fallen in the fight that had
occurred there some months before. We had, I am told, once actually
buried these corpses when we found that the enemy were making no effort
in that direction; but the Tibetans, holding curious theories on the
subject, had again unearthed them. The principle that apparently governs
Tibetan obsequies is the desirability of making a corpse fulfil its
natural function as food for animals. Hence exposure of corpses as food
for wolves or vultures causes them no pang. They even, it is said, so
far elaborate the above principle as to regard a corpse as specially
honoured when given as food to the domestic pig, the origin of this
development of the principle being of course really utilitarian; for the
high-placed Tibetan, since in his life he 'feeds high and lives soft,'
must of necessity in his death be specially nutritious. Lama-fed pork
is--so they say--regarded as the greatest of delicacies.
Leaving Dochen and the lake, on the bank of which it lies, we turned up
a valley to our left, and emerged at Kalatso, the name given to the post
which adjoins the lake of the same name. From here we marched along the
Kalatso plain to Menza. The next day was to bring us into Kangma.
My commanding officer was with the first column, and had given me orders
to ride on early on alternate days to meet him at the camp ahead of me
before he left the latter. His hour for leaving each such camp would be
9 A.M., by which hour I had to arrive there. I had to bring a sergeant
with me on each occasion. It was fifteen miles from Menza to Kangma. The
road was rather rough, so they said, but one could cover the distance in
two hours and a half, so I decided to start with the sergeant at
half-past six. At a quarter-past six I found that my pony had bruised a
fetlock against a stone in the night and was distinctly lame. I could
not get another mount, and had to share the sergeant's, and we had
little more than our two hours and a half for the journey. It so
happened that I had just been reading a story of primitive life in
Western America, called 'The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come,' in which
a very sound method by which two men can travel on one horse is alluded
to. A. starts on horseback at, say, eight miles an hour, and B. on foot
at, say, four miles. When A. has gone a given distance he dismounts,
ties the horse to the nearest tree or stone, and proceeds on foot. Up in
due course comes B., mounts the horse, and, riding on, should overtake
A. just when A. has finished his fair share of walking; after which the
process is repeated to the end of the journey.
I was A. and the sergeant was B. The road was quite deserted, and the
part through which we were going was at that time reported quite
peaceful, so there was practically no risk in leaving the pony alone for
short spells at a time. It was a most comfortable arrangement
altogether. We travelled at the average rate of six miles an hour. Each
of us had a pleasant ride alternating with a pleasant walk. Even the
pony, though, when on the move, kept going pretty hard, yet had pleasant
breathers between whiles. We arrived punctually at 8.55 A.M., of course
to find that the first column had decided to halt a day at Kangma, and
that therefore there need not have been any hurry. But then, of course,
that is always the way in such cases.
We had one great adventure just before we reached Kangma. I had been
walking, and the sergeant had just caught me up, on the pony, when two
shots rang out. I located them as coming from a village a short way off.
The sergeant affirmed that they were both volleys. I was in a beastly
funk, and perhaps the sergeant was not altogether unmoved. Just then two
mounted infantrymen, fully armed, rode up from the Kangma direction. I
have great respect for mounted infantrymen, but I have known them spin
yarns. We asked whether there were any of the enemy about, to which they
replied that their name was legion, or words to that effect, and that
they were all around us. This being so, it did not seem to matter in
which direction we went; so we pushed on, indulging in the pleasure of
each other's company for the time being (instead of one riding ahead
while the other walked). Shortly we rounded a corner, and another shot
rang out, followed by the appearance of two more mounted infantrymen. We
asked the latter what the firing was about, and they told us that the
commandant of the donkey corps, who was just round the next corner with
his donkeys, was making a fine bag of pigeons.