PREFACE
My Indian career has extended to nearly thirty-two years
of active service, and of that more than twenty years were
spent on the North-East Frontier in the administration,
as well as the political charge, of the little-known State of
Sikhim, and latterly in political charge of the even
less-known State of Bhutan and certain portions, including
Chumbi and Gyantse, of South-East Tibet; and as I had
in addition spent over a year in Khatmandu, the capital of
Nepal, I may lay claim to an intimate knowledge of this
Frontier, which is my excuse for putting my experiences in
print.
When I first visited Darjeeling in 1881 I used to look across the valleys of the Rungeet and the Teesta rivers and long to penetrate into those stupendous mountains and valleys, with their magnificent forests and rivers, to explore the everlasting snows and glaciers, and to come in contact with their interesting people. An added fascination for me was the fact that beyond these mountains lay the mysterious, unknown land of Tibet, about which all manner of things were conjured up in my imagination, and which I fondly hoped I might some day reach.
The Fates were propitious, beyond my most sanguine expectations, for on the outbreak of the Sikhim-Tibet War in 1888 I was sent as Assistant Political Officer with the expeditionary force, and on the conclusion of peace the
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