A few days ago the Border Commissioner sent the following wire to Tachienlu: "Entertain resident Europeans'. Of course it was simply a new year spread, but the rumour got round the city that the Europeans were being entertained for the avowed purpose of mediate ing between the turbulent Tibetans and the perplexed Szechuanese.
Quite "recently Chen Hsia-lin moved himself and his army from the frontier.* As soon as the Com missioner withdraws his soldiers from the Border a certain part of Eastern Tibet known as Hsiang-cheng feels it ought to be doing something. For the past 15 years Hsiangchen has been a_ sharp wicked thorn in the side of every Chinese military commander on the Tibetan frontier. By the Chinese they are known as the ''Hsiang-cheng-wa," or the inhabitants of Hsiangcheng. Who they are, and where they came from and what they want, no one seems to know. Whether their motives are political, religious, or commercial, is equally difficult to discover. They can torment, harass, disturb, or distress just as it pleases them. They are _well-mounted, well-armed, well-disciplined; in Minia to-day, they are across the Yalong to-morrow; with a thorough knowledge of Eastern Tibet, its mountains, rivers, fords and passes, the Chinese soldiers have great difficulty in locating these marauding bands. They sweep down on wealthy caravans, helpless villages, and nomadic encampments. Resistence is quite useless as their numbers may be from.700 to 1,000 mounted men. Minia, the country between Tachienlu and the -Yalong has suffered much inconvenience during the past 10 years.
Chen Hsia-lin, without financial assistance from Peking, or sympathy eric recognition from Chengtu, has been unable to deal thoroughly: with the Hsiangcheng-wa.
Chao in 1910 was supposed to have annihilated then: Yuin Chang-hen in 1913 presumably exterminated them: Chen Pu-san in 1916 made himself supreme in Hsiangcheng by killing his superior officer. Since then. lawlessness has ruled, controlled, and governed this turbulent, country south of Litang.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.