4th October.
'Tue carefully prepared report of a Journey to' the Eastern Frontier of Tibet by Mr. A. Hosie, H.M.'s Consul-General at Chengtu, which has just been published as a Foreign Office White Paper (China No. 1, 1905) makes a most valuable and complete record of a comparatively covered a distance of 5.280 li, or little known region, The journey
about 1,320 miles, and extended from Chengtu, Szechuen, to Ningching Shan, the frontier rid, between Szechuen and Tibet, and back again, and the whole journey occupied exactly three months, a remarkably good performance, it mush be admit~ ted, when one takes into consideration the difficulties of travel in tha part of the world. he ordinary reader may feel disposed to look upon information about the Eastern Frontier of Tibet as something that could only hope to awaken a languid interest in his mind, but to the ever-increasing number of travellers, students, and business men, who are awake to the possibilities afforded by the gradual development of these distant regions, the information afforded by such pioneers as Mr. Hosie will prove'both interesting and valuable, Others have gone over the same ground to some extent, bub few, we believe, can claim to have made more accurate observations, or to have more carefully noted everything of interest. It is the report ofa Government oficial, making a journey on Government business, with the greatest expedition possible, and a very definite purpose in view. It differs, therefore, from the note-book of a more leisurely traveller, journeying for pleasure as well as information, and able to pause, when so disposed, at points of special interest, or to digress both in person and with his pen, Here is a faithful. transcript, day by day, bya competent and. indefatigable observer, of many miles covered, so many bills climbed, so many feet to the tops of so many bills; rice crops seen here, a gold washer there; so many trees of so many species counted on this side or the other; names of villages and townships' carefully noted down and tabulated the local industries summarised; the state of the roads and bridges described—nothing apparently being too trivial or unimportant to notice, thus bringing together in convenient form much information which to the casual reader may appear dry and unate tractive, yet we doubt nob will be carefully conned over and considered cly all who are at present, or who may yet be, interested in these vast districts, almost wholly undeveloped for trade purposes, at least as far.as the outer world is concerned.
In this foolscap pamphlet of 87 pages there is, as we have already' intimated, much valuable information in detail of the articles of export and import. Especially useful is that referring to the trade of Tachienlu and Tibet, and it is important to bear in mind in this connection, for statistical purposes, that although the country extending from Tachienlu to the Tibetan frontier is part of the province of Szechuen, seeing that its inhabitants are Tibetans, the Chinese consider that all trade west of Tachienlu is trade with Tibet. Brick tea is the great export.
One of the most serious hindrances to trade here, as elsewhere, is the lack of good roads, The state of some of the highways traversed defied description. Mr. Hosie refers to one road which ran by very steep gradients up and down the mountain side, and sharp, pointed blocks of stone rose ab all angles from the thay through the forest.' The interstices between the stones were full of water, and the ponies slipped and steadied themselves in a most marvellous way, all the time, hanging, so to speak, over the stream below, and this might be said, and worse, of many of the roads allover China. It is true that, in some few places, attempts, feeble enough, in most cases, have been made to improve the highways and roads, and the coming of the iron horse will naturally help forward. the good work, but ib still remains true, as is evident to all who have any knowledge of travel in the interior of China, that the lack of proper roads has been and must continue' to be, until a remedy is found, very great obstacle to the increase of trade.
The opposition that is invariably encountered by all who seek to enter Tibet vid Western China. was in evidence on this occasion. On drawing near the frontier armed cavalry were observed on the Tibetan road, indicating that negotiations regard-
between the Tibetan and Chinese ing Mz. Hosie's visit wore proceeding authorities; and although the matter appeared to have been satisfactorily arranged, yet the Chinese officials were by no means easy in their minds as to the reception the traveller would receive from the Tibetan soldiery. On arrival at. Ningching Shan—the ridge of which forms the boundary line at this. point of Szechuen and Tibet—the Ohinese authorities begged the travellers not to cross the boundary line, which lay a few yards away. Armed soldiers guarded this line on the Tibetan side, and they showed that they were determined to resist any attempt to cross over into the forbidden territory. As Mr, Hosie had no intention to do so, he retired, and it. is pleasant reading to be assured by him that he was under the impression that they were satisfied that they had successfully resisted a British invasion from the east, Whether, at this time, these troops were aware of the fact that Lhassa had been occupied by the British troops is nob certain, but it is probable that they were, as we find by comparing dates thas this occupation had been of fected more than six weeks before.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.