No more costly furs will travel across China, not if Lao Yang-ren can help it. At the present juncture China's history {t would demand the service of every lama in Tibet to see the presents carefully laid at the feot of Tsao Kun; and then there would be-every brigand to bribe and every oficial to satiety. In 1905 the Imperial Ambassador was murdered near Batang and the Chinese subjected Eastern Tibet; in 1021 a lever American physician was murdered near Batang and nothing was done. And now Eastern Tibet is today, 1924, in one respect as it was in 1904, namely, free from Chinese military rule," TE someone in China fat the present moment wore only big enough and wise enough and kind enotigh to stand up and say, "Look here, this Chinese army of Would Lhasa Accept?
The reinstating of the native Princes is a big question and would de. mand very wise and careful hand. Ting. When we begin to consider the Jquestion, it simply bristles with problems and difficulties. Will Lhasa accept it? Will China consent to it? Will the native people submit to it? Lhasa is keenly interested in East-em Tibet, but whether she inclines towards "the reinstating of the native Princes remains to be seen, Lhasa has her rope-pullers in Peking pulling just as hard as the others.
The Kanze Prince was the only one not removed by Chao Chr-feng, during all these years this printy has remained loyal to China and by doing so we think has incurred the displeasure of the Lhasa government. Will Lhasa resist the Teinstating of the Princes in order that she may widen the borders of liber own governed territory and thus bring her direct rule to the horder of China? By doing so the border configuration will be greatly embarrassed and Ma-Chi, the Commission. for of Kansu, will find himself 30 days nearer Lhasa than the Szochuan border Commissioner.
Half Starved but Vigorous.
We are now minus an army and from what we can gather those half; starved, poorly clad, long-scase! border warriers are giving a very good account of themselves. Every soldier who could walk was hurried from the frontier to withstand the approach of Liu I-chin. For some days it looked as if Liu's well fed men were going to carry the day and that Chen would have to vacate the frontier, but somehow something happened and these ragged warriors made a fierce onslaught, captured 800 guna and the report says, killed 500 of Lin's men. There may be some truth in this as we now hear
two parties are arranging for peace. Uaat the fighting has conned ad the We passed hundreds of those poor fellows going out to take part in the present struggle in Szechuan. A more dilapidated body of men it would have been difficult to find. Their garments were black with dirt and smeared all over with hard smelling Tibetan butter. What a relief it must have been to them to get out from their prison and back once more into Chinese territory.
they were, were taking their young fame of them, half-starved though Tibetan wives "and families with them. We could not help wondering what the lot of those poor Tibetan girls will be following their unpaid husbands down on to the warm plains of China. Very few of them ever come back to their wild mpuntain grass lands.
Now would be a splendid opportunity for readjusting the whole China-Tibetan situation. Unfortunately, however, Lin is mar shalling'his Szechuan soldiers and Chen his border warriors for other purpose than to settle an old frontier quarrel.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.