The Ely Miner

Could Not Make Tibet.

Mr. Wilson relates an amusing story of an officer who determined to enter Chinese Tibet by stratagem. This officer managed to cross the frontier at night, and so escaped the frontier guard. Next day, however, while he was journeying deeper into Tibet the Tibetan soldiers overtook him and informed him that as the country was unsafe, because of robbers, they would go with him in order to protect him, to which arrangement the traveler was compelled to agree. In a few hours they came to a river, which was crossed by a rope bridge. The Tibetans passed over first, in order to show that the bridge was safe, and then the officer got into the basket and was pulled along by the Tibetans. Suddenly, however, they ceased pulling and left the Englishman hanging in midair above the rushing torrent. In vain the traveler shouted to the Tibetans to pull. They merely smoked and nodded their heads. The hours passed, and still the officer hung above the torrent. At last the Tibetans agreed to pull him back if he would promise to leave Tibet immediately. This of course he was compelled to do and took his departure from the forbidden land.