ABSTRACT
I was determined to keep to my promise no matter at what cost, and so had come back to India before starting on my new undertaking, but even during my long stay at Gyangtsé, every day I had been making special studies which would enable me to undertake the new journey in disguise. By this time I was so well known personally on the Yatung-Gyangtsé road that I definitely decided not to use this route again, so it was necessary to learn something of the other roads and passes leading from India into the interior of Tibet, and this knowledge had to be secured very delicately, as the Tibetan authorities were already suspicious of my movements. Consequently long hours were wasted in casual conversation, in order that I might slip in seemingly purposeless questions about other parts of the country. Gradually my cipher notebook was filled with a huge mass of miscellaneous information concerning towns, roads, snowfall in passes, and the severity and laxity of various officials in different parts of Tibet; but much was still lacking that in order to carry out my designs it was desirable to know.
