orks, Major
Murray forbade any return fire.

Such was the position of affairs when the Karo la column returned. One
of Colonel Brander's first acts, after his weary troops had rested for
an hour or two, was to turn the Maxim on the groups who could be seen
wandering about the jong. They quickly disappeared under cover, but only
to man their jingals. Then began the bombardment of the post, which we
had to endure for nearly seven weeks.

This is the place to speak of the bombardment generally, for it would be
tedious to recapitulate in the form of a diary incidents which, however
exciting at the time, now seem remarkable only for their monotony. It
may be said at once that the bombardment was singularly ineffective.
From first to last only fifteen men in the post were hit. Of these
twelve were either killed or died of the wound. Of course, I exclude the
casualties in the fighting, of which I will presently speak, outside the
post. But the futility of the bombardment must not be entirely put down
to bad marksmanship on the part of the Tibetans. That our losses were
not heavier is largely due to the fact that the garrison laboured
daily--and at first at night also--in erecting protecting walls and
traverses. Practically every tent had a traverse built in front of it.
It was found that the hornwork in which the mules were located came
particularly under fire of the jong. This was pulled down one dark
night, and the mules transferred to a fresh enclosure at the back of the
post. Strong parapets of sand-bags were built on the roofs of the
houses. Every window facing the jong was securely blocked with mud
bricks. It will be realized how considerable was the labour involved in
building the traverses when it is remembered that the jong looked down
into the post. The majority of the walls had to be considerably higher
than the tents themselves. They were mostly built of stakes cut from the
grove, with two feet of earth rammed in between. After the first week or
so the enemy brought to bear on the post several brass cannon, throwing
balls weighing four or five pounds, and travelling with a velocity which
enabled them to penetrate our traverses--when they struck them, for the
majority of shots from the cannon whistled harmlessly over our heads.

Practically, we did not return the fire from the jong. All that was done
in this direction was to place one of Lieutenant Hadow's Maxims on the
roof of the house occupied by the mission, a