Jong Pen of Taklakot.

I append the list. The Jong Pen has been called upon to restore the
missing articles. He urges that the affair did not occur in his
district, and that he is in no way responsible for the loss of the
property.

He has, however, promised to try to recover them, alleging that the
affair has been reported to a superior authority at Gartok. From what I
could gather here, it seems probable that all the missing property, save
the money, will be restored. I tried to see the Jong Pen, but he pleaded
illness and the inutility of a meeting in which he had nothing new to
disclose. This personage is notorious in these parts for his implacable
hatred to English subjects.

The account of the affair as given by Mr. Savage Landor is fully borne
out by his two servants, and, moreover, the Tibetans who took part in it
did not try to hide it.

In the Rev. Harkua Wilson's tent at Taklakot, before _Peshkar_ Kharak
Sing, Pundit Gobaria, and a large number of Bhutias, several Tibetan
officials corroborated the whole account as related by Mr. Landor. The
man Nerba, who had held Mr. Lander's hair when about to be beheaded and
have his eyes burned out, admitted he had taken such part in the affair.
There can be no doubt that the above account is true and unexaggerated,
for the whole of Byans and Chaudans are ringing with it. The Jong Pen of
Taklakot was given ample opportunity to explain the affair, but he
declined to do so.

Mr. Savage Landor held Chinese passports, and his conduct during his
stay in that country did not warrant the officials to have treated him
in the barbarous, cruel way they did. I satisfied myself, by careful
inquiry from the people here, as to how Mr. Landor behaved.

He is said to have been most munificent in his dealings with all, and
invariably affable and courteous. I had seen Mr. Landor just before his
entry into Tibet, and when I met him I could scarcely recognize him,
though he had then fairly recovered from the terrible treatment he had
received. I saw the marks of the cords on his hands and feet, and they
are still visible after this lapse of time. He complains that he is
still suffering from the injury done to his spine, and fears that it may
be of a permanent nature.

_October 15, 1897._ J. LARKIN.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 16: Maium Pass.]

[Footnote 17: Galshio, or Gyatsho.]

[Footnote 18: Bhutias, or Shokas.]

[Sidenote: All comm