THE MARCH TO LHASSA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 140, 17 June 1904, Page 3

THE MARCH TO LHASSA

THIBETAN CONVOY TAKEN. DALAI LAMA BECOMING ALAUMED. (Keceivwl June 17, 1.14 a.m.) •BOMBAY, Juno 16. A force of Ghurkas captured a Thibetan convoy, killing nine men. The Dalai Lama is prepared to flee into China. NEWS BY THE MAIL.

In a message of May Oth Ranter's correspondent said -.—Colonel Braivder, with the force which routed tho ThJ&etan army at the Karo Pass, returned to Gyang-tse to-<lay. Tim Shigatse army which attacked the Mission has taken possession of a ruined fort, which is about I,3ooyds from camp. The enemy apparently have a big jingal which carries the distance. They fired about 60 shots with It and killed one camp follower. This evening we turned a Maxim on all who exposed themselves, thus seriously interfering with the building operations. Meanwhile our rear remains perfectly open. The post comes up daily. TJie attack on the oth Inst, was not unexpected. A sortie was afterwards made, and it was then found that a further force of 800 Thibetans had occupied the old fort. We buried 140 bodies after the fight. Hundreds of the enemy must have got away wounded. It is now known that the Thibetans who attacked the Mission had marched 12 miles during the night. They were led by a Lhassa Lama.

In the fight at Karo Pass on the 6th inst. fully 3,000 men were behind the wall, from which we eventually drove them. They fled in a thick mass, and the mounted infantry pursued them for 12 miles, riding on their flanks anel shooting from the saddle. The total Thibetan casualties were hardly less than three or four hundred killed, possibly more. Jt ought to be understood that at one period of the action the situation wus somewhat critical. Our advance on both flanks had been checked. Captain Delhuno and his immediate followers, who had gallantly rushed up to the main wall, had been killed. The Maxims and small mountain guns could do nothing to subdue the fire either from the main wall or from the sangars which flanked the wall.

The tension was at last relieved by Major Row and his Ghoorkas, who climbed up the face of what was almost a sheer precipice. Once at the top they were able to command the left sangars, which contained about 10 riflemen. These were so busy firing on the troops below that they did not notice the Ghoorkas above them till six or seven had been killed. The remainder then bolted. They looked like veritable giants crossing the slope, ai»rt afforded an easy target. Their flight was checked by the precipice. Some threw themselves over, and "were dashed to pieces. Major How's Ghoorkas then advanced to the edge of the precipice, whence they commanded the Thibetan position along the main wail and also the enemy's camp on the plain «low. Meanwhile, the- right sangar hod been tnken by the Sikhs, who had climbed to the edge of the glacier, and were able from there to enfilade the position. When the sangars had been evacuated, the main Ihil/etan army holding the wall fled A message from iivung-ise on the Kith ran :-Thc Thibetans ~,-cupyng the fort, which is about six furlongs distant from the liriiish cump, have mounted several guns and have been bombarding us for some hours with cannon balls which carry the full distance

Yesterday at. sundown the Thibetans in the fort opened a persistent tire on the mission camp with a gun carrying a one-pound solid cannon ball. To-day they have six or seven such guns in position, have got Ihe range, and have been steuiihbring on us for several hours. A reconnoitring column went out four miles to-day to a monastery on the hill on the right, whence 'the exact location of the approaches to the fort could l>e plainly seen. Another large gathering of Thibetans is reported in the I long Valley. Captain Hector Hcthune was in his HSth yenr. He entered the armv as a second lieutenant in ihe Ens't Lancashire Regiment in 1889, joined the Indian Army in 18»1>, and was promoted captain in 1900. Captain Hethune served in the operations in Chitral in 1895 with the relief force from Gilgit. The medical arrangements of the Thibet Mission are under the charge of Lieut.-Colonel Waddell, who was selected for the post, says the liritish Medical Journal, on nccount of his knowledge of Thibet. The establishment consists of 10 executive medical officers and 81 assistant surg?ons and hospital assistants, with a large staff of orderlies and the usual equipage of field hospitals. There is a base hospital at Siliguri on the railway at the fool of the Himalayas, from which the Invalids are sent, back to their stations. At each chief stage of the road lwyond this a section of a hospital has been established right up to the front.