'This year, the crops on the plains are reported' a failure, and the corn rope on the mountains are-not. a success, However, west of the ange, the barley tops have been tremendous success, and now are Being athared in, and the" Chinese and Tibetans from the city "go over the top" for two months to help with the harvest. Te lo a peeullarfestive time. The yak in. the autumn ives very sch mile and therefore" delicious butter, curds, and cream. An occasional goat or Sheep adds variety to" the. daily menu, and this, with fresh roasted Barley, makes the harvest feast of fut things, In thi the city of Tachlentu is peculiar? the rice fails the corn may be good, both the vice and. the corn the barley may be plentiful. Th actually has happened this year Taumba, that i, ground. roasted Barley, now is selling for eight or nine ealtee per, rupee. Many Chinese, like the "to sene" from Shenal and the Yonnanene from the south, who have lived for long years fon the frontier, make at Toast ore meal every ay from tampa. and Dutterten, andthe poorer people, Including the Chinese beggars, have hele tenmba bowl, The. Chinese army, especially the old border)
rare very fond of the no doubt experience ha: taught them the value of ths foo laff when travelling in a country Hike Tibet. H. E. Chao subjugated Bastern Tibet with "Shantung troops, and tsamba and butter-tea, and any Chinese general who wishes to re-subjugate Kham and reclaim this immense" territory forthe Republic will find his army impossible unless they can eat and enjoy tsamba' and yale butter.
Three Necessities Dhe whole trade of Eastern Tibet im the hands of "lao sans" from Shaasi. I first acquisition la a it young Tibetan wife, the second is a working knowledge of the! 'Tibetan language, especially in its relation to cash; and their third isan appreciation of Tibetan vitamins, Many of the Szechuan soldiers who long have been accas-tomed' to the "mer-teo" of the Chéngta plain, somehow acquire a taste for rancid yak butter. Rice cooked on a cow-manure fire is slow, unsatisfactory, and tastes peculiarly of smoke.' Then he has the altitude, the, ratified air, and the temperature—all baffling' propositions in the cooking of a simple pot of rice.
By the time a Chinese soldier has goto cow-manure fire red, Tibetan "flag" has finished his /tsamba and is enjoying his pipe and snuff, Temperamentally, the situation is not good and the altitude is inclined to aggravate it. A cup of nice Chinese tea and a bowl of tsamba, flavoured with some strong-the menu de luze toppes.
An Unpopular Expedition Another army is on its way (o the frontier, and an effort again is 1g made to re-subjugate the new province of Hsikang. The {days are getting very cold, China, still is in chaos, and the Republic has little time or thought for frontier problems, s0 there is very ttle interest and. less sympathy.
befans are well id well organized, carry on and maintain the internecine struggle in the province. of Szechuan, the frontier is being foreed to produce money that should be used to cloth, feed, and pay the border army, for an unpaid army menace to a peaceful population any part of the Republic. Here on the frontier a Chinese army may tify its existence, and until China and Tibet can peacefully adjust their border troubles, a Chinese army will be a necessity. China, during the present juncture of her troubled history, is unable to carry Jout any forward movement in the province of Haikong, and in the {present circumstances, therefore, Peace by negotiation or arbitration might be the best solution of the difficult situation.
To facilitate trade and commerce; to maintain law and order; to ensure peace and safety; to bring about a friendly and amicable relation, something should be done that will avoid war, disorder and distress. The border tion merely is biding its time, believing that, some time, somehow, and somewhere, China will regain its feot. In the meantime, however, the disease is getting worse, the rent is growing bigger, the breach ly getting larger and what programme the young Republic ultimately adopts. will involve considerable outlay in time, men, and money. This, no doubt, all could be avoided by peaceful and friendly negotiation.
An Ill-Conditioned Army The present Chinese army now slowly making its way from the plain up into thio cold region has. no, moral, is very poorly dud, is badly trained, ig perfectly lawless when occasion offers, and is heartily in agreement with any arbitration that would dispense with the savage and undignified use of bullets. The only people prepared for a scrap fare the Tibetans. They love the Jeold, and they sometimes sleep among the snow. They are all keen marksmen, and are all well mounted. 'They' are more than satisfied with roasted barley, Chinese tea yak butter, raw beef, native wine, and hot peppers. With a good supply of tobacco and snuff even Spitzbergen in winter would be a jolly place to them.
'Many of them are mere romancers and a crusade, holy or otherwise, finds them ready to risk the only thing they have, namely, their lives. What they appreciate are Just' those things the Chinese Jabominate. It would be difficult to find a more rollicking bunch than [a crowd of Tibetan mounted soldiers travelling over some wide, barren, wind-swept plateau. In many! ways, it seems unfair and unjust to send young Chinese fellows into the interior at the present time and:
cerely hoped that something will be done to avoid this,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.