ABSTRACT
The Emperor of China had grave reasons for anger. First the attempted invasion of his Empire by way of Sciling, without any provocation or reason as I have said above, and secondly the treacherous seizure of the Kingdom of Thibet and the murder of King Cinghes Khang, his friend and near relation. But wishing first to try peaceful means and if possible spare the lives of his own soldiers and of the unhappy Thibettans, he sent ambassadors to general Gě-ring-ton-drup to invite him to give up the throne he had so unjustly seized or to prepare for being ignominiously ousted. Made insolent by success, the general answered that by force he had seized Thibet and by force he meant not only to keep it, but eventually to conquer other Kingdoms. The Emperor of China at once [in 1719] sent a strong force from Sciling and the adjacent provinces against Thibet, composed entirely of Chinese, partly pagans, partly Muhammedans, but without any of his best troops, who are all Tartars. Two roads lead from China to Lhasá, capital of Third Thibet, or Butant. The shortest, which takes about three months, from Sciling across an arid desert to the west, debouches to the North of Lhasá. The other is longer and takes more than three months. From Sciling it turns to the South through the province of Tazento [Takienlu] in the kingdom of Kham, which is incorporated with Thibet; from thence, bearing to the West, it traverses other provinces of Thibet and finally reaches Lhasá. Although longer, this is by far the easiest route, as the country is inhabited. The officers in command of the Chinese army, nearly all Muhammedans, feared to be attacked on this road, and chose the first. Owing to the number of troops, the utter solitude, and the length of the journey, provisions had begun to run short before they arrived at Dam to the North of Lhasá, but there they were able to requisition supplies. Choosing a suitable place, they enclosed a considerable extent of land with a stone wall as a protection against the enemy, and this proved to be their undoing. The Giongars summoned soldiers from every part of Thibet and after several unimportant skirmishes drove the Chinese back into their enclosed camp and surrounded it on all sides, allowing no provisions to enter. After eating all the animals, the wretched Chinese were forced by hunger to feed upon the bodies of their companions who had died of starvation. Driven by such extreme misery they sent some Thibettan Lamàs to beg the Giongars to allow them to come out of their camp and return quietly to their own country. To this the Giongars consented on condition that the Chinese laid down their weapons. As the miserable creatures left the camp without arms and too weak to save themselves by flight, they were massacred by the treacherous enemy.
