Heiangcheng was invested by th structions of H. E. Chao, Warden of the Marches, in the 11th month of the]
31st year of the present reign, but the 4th Toterealary month of the next year was drawing tos close before the settlement was flying the Dragon flag of the Chinese Empire. The ivilatod position of Hsiangeheng, its nataral fortifications, and the reputation of lamas and people made the movements of the investing army slow and cautious. At the very beginning of hostilities the Chinese found the region devastated, the houses destroyed, the animals suitable for food and transport removed to the moantsins: and their owners turned nomads and every realy to harass the nervous and unsuspecting enemy. The morale of the Chinee army may be inferred from the fact that there wax no communication between the many camps scattered over an area of 1,000 acres! The Tiletans on the other hand seemed sure of success and as time went on they daily twitted their threadbare and half-starved enemies with their want success. "Say, you hungry beggars, when are you going home?" was the ssily inquiry of the jovial friars. The water supply, the vulnerable the defence, strange to say, never seems: to have troabld them. The investment on the whole, seemed a good joke and as the days went by they ate, drank, and sported with concubines as if time had no reckoning for Sampeiling. When at last the water failed and they were rodely awakened from their dreams of invulnerability a deep shaft cut through the natural cement shows how hard desperate men sought for water and failed! During the long siege the lamas und fighting Inymen committed many atrocities not likely to be forgot ten in this yeneratic The tortures practised on Chinese officials, spies; and traders during the decade of independence have been hinted at in the fate of th unfortunate Major Shi and Captain Li It seems that the object was to inflict the maximum of physical and mental agony while any iropainnent of the senses wax carefully guarded against. Apart from flaying alive, either by taking skin off intact or mote slowly in long strips, the following tortures have been mentioned. captive was bound securely to " post und deprived of food until almost. famished, then " portion lof his own flesh was cut off, grilled before his eyes, and finally offered as a repast. This would goon day after day a the wretch either went mad or died. The unhappy creatures seem to have lived incredible period and the suffering was s9 inhuman that Aaying alive was considered an act of mercy Ta other cases lips have first boon cut off, the tongue torn out, and the captive finally impaled vertically: and the fate of others was to be hooked up by the lips with only the thumbs to sap-port them and to have boiling wea or butter poured down their throats. The following story will illustrate the teanning vod cruelty of the lames and the stupidity of th Some time after the it of Sampeiliog seven benighted Chi-exe soldiers arrived at the lama-sory gate and mistaking it for their out " What place ix the gate is open. The answered a lama from Yuonan in their own tongue. In walked the unsuspecting mon and in a short six were flayed, and the seventh wax went out to find the cump and relate the fate of his companions. Sam-pelling fell towards the end of the 4th Intercalary month of the 32nd year of Kasng Hsu. The following account is by one Wei, interpreter to H. E. Chao, who was an eyewitness of the events given in the narrative.
Hon 22nd year no in Hsiangeheng. The chief lama, big headed bully, had by lange bribex gained the ear of the Dalai Lamu, resulting in his appoiotwent as Abbot and ex-officio ruler of the tribesmen in the region. The utmost precautious were taken t geard the district from the encroachments of China; the secrets of the roads had been carefully guarded the lamasery had been strongly fortified and stocked with provisions: and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.