ABSTRACT
On the third day, which was the third of December, 1717, the barbarians made a supreme effort and attacked the Palace of Potalà, the Grand Lamà’s magnificent residence. With machines and ladders they succeeded in climbing the walls on the southern side, but finding it would be extremely difficult to enter the palace and the fortress, they called fire to their aid. When the principal door was destroyed they rushed in, but King Cinghes-Khang, his second son, the Viceroy and the general had already escaped by a secret door on the northern side, where good horses awaited them, leaving the Queen with her small son in the care of the two Lamás of Lhasá and Jegaçé. Their flight was soon known and the enemy dashed furiously after them. The fugitives reached a deep ditch with a double palisade at which the King’s horse took fright, and in lieu of jumping the ditch fell with the unfortunate King. The inhuman Tartars came up and attacked Cinghes-Khang, who defended himself valiantly, wounding and killing several of his assailants; with a last stroke he cut off the right arm of the man nearest to him and fell dead. When the general Gě-ring-ton-drup heard the news he left the royal palace with sorrowful mien, and as soon as he saw the dead King threw himself on the body and bathed the wounds with his tears, loudly praising the many virtues and admirable qualities of the King he had so basely and treacherously betrayed.
