There was difficulty here in taining permission to go north from here to Chanhua and Kantzu. As a rule when a request is made that cannot be granted, the official will ko all manner of polite but quite irrelevant excuses that carry no weight at all, meaning thereby to indicate that the petitioner must recognize that permission cannot be given. But that will never bluntly be stated. Our Litang hsien chang started in this manner, and doubtless we worried him by our importunacy. But the cause of science was not to be put off so lightly.
Then came the amazing thing: doubtless thoroughly exacerbated by months of Litang's breathless altitude, fierce winds, dust and hail. the hsien-hang discarded his polite equivocal tion and told the truth, The Sze chuen troops were practically power-Between Litang and Kantzu ere the domains of two powerful Tu Se's; if he sent a Chinese guard with us these men would be shot vy the Tibetans, and probably our selves as well. Conditions as bad between Litan; Indeed there was a Chinese offic waiting to travel part of that road (one who had, curiously enough actually been convicted of fraudulent appropriation of funds, and who wa Leing given a second chance—in both to take up his new position. But negotiations had not been completed with the Tibetans, and wag unable to travel.
The only part a hsien chang could ridently take was '0 play p to the of the local T tan pearance.
A moment lai ad ing our way again through the past huge glimmering at hung in imme the wall. and of the mor eecompanying miling and indicating a stalwart guard of After two roll twittering marmots their-burrows them, only for all the world like bit, when the enemy was there, we at last reached being the local robbers ind tel e had paid our pas not to be molested ening town in the v
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.