The cause of China's military conquest. of Tibet, therefore, cannot be the propagation of Chinese learning. Perhaps China is groaning under the burden consequent on too dense a population. An outlet is needed for its vast ani teem. ing millions, and Tibet fortunately provider that outlet. Colonization with the enlargement of her borders may be the cause of China's conquest of Tibet.
A few facts regarding the object of this conquest may be of some interest. Tibet is largely a high, dry, barren country: fruitless and al: most treeless, lying for the greater part above the zone of vegetation. It produces chiefly wool and hides. A country composed entirely of precipitous rugged mountains, wide—_uncultivable plateaux and fierce rushing terron! Were Tibet a land rich in gold, immense tracks of cultivatable land and producing year by year rich harvests, one could somewhat understand a military campaign how: ever devastated the country through which it passed.
An Impossible Bargain, Asan asset Tibet is practically impossible, Its peculiar physical conditions make it absolutely hope-Jess for Chinese to colonize there its high altitudes, its biting winds, its absence of vegetables, its rude conditions, its utter loneliness, all combine to make Tibet impossible to the Chinese.
Ey genial lit village is not China to a Chinese. Rice is too exorbitant for words, and of his much loved vegetables he sees very little.
To the Chinese merchant Tibet is no happy hunting ground. The Tibetan's needs are so meagre, hi home so simple. his food so plain, his clothing so durable, that the poor discouraged Chinese merchant very often becomes. stranded some lonely part of Tibet. His tempting wares are no temptation to the Tibetans, his Chinese calico will not keep a Tibetan warm, his ly coloured prints are too fas 1s for sedate Tibetan ladies, No Place for the Farmer.
To the Chincre farmer Tibet an insoluble problem.—Enterpris ing to a degree, patient—beyond comparison, untiring in his skill and ingenuity as he is, Tibetan 0il will not produce his much—loved turnips and no amount of coaxing will give him his indispensable rice. Chinese farming in Tibet is most discouraging and after many vain attempts he returns disheartened. The country is not too high, he says: it has been cursed: and this satisfies him in his failure.
To the Chinese artisan Tibet offers no prospect of succeam: finds no employment on the "Roof of the World" and no outlet for his energies.
The builder, the carpenter and the blacksmith find no employment, from 0
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.