THE KARO-LA
The next day brought us just under the Karo-La pass, and we camped at a
height of 16,600 feet, with a great mass of snow so near us on the
hillside that, while the sun was still up, it quite hurt our eyes to
look in that direction. Avalanches of snow kept falling from the mass,
coming down with a great thud that was almost startling. There was a
little mountain sickness that night; but, considering the height and the
fatigue that had been involved in reaching it, there was remarkably
little. A very little reconnoitring to the front in the early afternoon
had revealed the enemy in position a mile or so the other side of the
pass. They had built two walls, one behind the other, on what appeared
to be admirably selected ground. They seemed in fact to have been
studying tactics to some purpose.
It was pleasant to get up the next morning in a sharp frost, and to get,
as it were, one glimpse into winter--a glimpse, however, that only
lasted till the sun got up. Cold for the past few months had not been
our bugbear, but rain, and to-day there was no rain, the sky was
cloudless, and the air crisp and fresh, and as soon as the sun was up,
even moderately warm.
A few minutes' walk took us to the top of the pass, 16,800 feet. From
there the road descended gradually, but the headquarters' Staff, whom
for the moment I was accompanying, kept to the hillside at the same
level as the top of the pass till they came to a good _coin de vantage_
from which to view the first phase of the fight. For it was obvious that
we were to be opposed.
The artillery stayed close by us, while two parties of Ghurkhas were
sent to scale the heights on either side, and the Fusiliers and some
more infantry sent along the valley to attack the formidable-looking
walls which the Tibetans had erected ahead of us.
It soon appeared that the enemy had decided at the last to leave the two
walls down in the valley, behind either of which they could have
assuredly made a useful stand, and had instead betaken themselves to the
top of an almost inaccessible ridge overlooking the walls and about two
thousand feet above them, on what was to us the right side of the
valley. From near the top of this ridge a jingal soon began firing, and
kept up an intermittent cannonade for several hours. Our artillery fired
a great many rounds in that direction, but it was difficult to ascertain
what effect they had. It was apparent that the brunt of the fighting
during this phase of the action would fall upon the right party of
Ghurkhas, who now in the distance, as they climbed steadily up the steep
cliffs to our right front, looked like a string of tiny ants. They must
have climbed two to three thousand feet before they reached the ridge,
and thus gone into action at a height bordering on 20,000 feet. Before
they could get near the enemy they had to cross a steep strip of snow.
Ploughing through that within range of the enemy must have been somewhat
trying. They got near them at last and accounted for a good many,
including, it was afterwards ascertained, two important leaders. The
ridge on which the Tibetans made their stand contained several caves, in
which the enemy proceeded to hide, so that what followed must have been
a species of ratting, which resulted in the capture of a good many
prisoners.
Meanwhile the rest of our forces moved onwards, and the 40th Pathans
were at length sent in pursuit of several of the enemy who were seen
escaping upwards in the direction of a glacier, while the artillery from
their new position kept the latter moving with a few rounds of
shrapnel. After a lot of ammunition, breath, and muscular tissue had
been expended in this uphill pursuit, there was no sign left anywhere of
the enemy on or below the skyline. They had apparently disappeared over
the glacier.
We were then ready to march to camp. After a very short distance we
passed Zara, a small village alongside of which is a Chinese rest-house.
Close to the village we came upon our enemy's camp standing as they had
left it in the morning. We got from it a good deal of tsampa and found
more in the village itself, where they had evidently stored their
reserve of this, their only article of food. We were in need of firewood
too, and found a lot of useful logs lying about the camping ground, not
to mention a large number of tent poles made of good seasoned wood,
which burnt well that night in our own camp.
We camped about five miles further on, and about a thousand feet lower
down. To descend into a somewhat more plentiful air was a relief after
a night and a day on the Karo-La.
Our great difficulty that night was the lack of fodder. The mules had
had a long day and no grazing, and there was not a blade of anything to
give them. We did the best we could by doling out an extra pound of
grain per animal, which was issued, after a long soaking, in small
quantities at frequent intervals. This helped to fill the gaps left by
the lack of fodder. A weed resembling vetch with a small purple flower
grew on the hillside. We also cut some of this and gave it to the mules,
who ate some of it, but on the whole preferred any loose ends of their
next-door neighbours' jules or blankets. There was a great deal of
woollen texture consumed that night, and some of the jules were a sorry
sight in the morning.
The noise made at night by hungry mules who have no fodder is very
distressing. That night they kept up a constant complaining.