'Volume II. MEMORANDA REGARDING OTHER EXTERNAL AFFAIRS. 1905.' [‎74v] (153/228)

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men suspected of being Russians bad eventually
admitted to him that they bad come from
Urga. The suspicion that they were Russians
appeared to he shared by nine-tenths of the
people in Lhasa with whom he conversed on
this subject.
Prom the information gathered by Mr.
Teramoto in the course of . his. journey, it
appears that the Dalai Dama in his flight fioni
Dhasa arrived in the Kokonor district in
September 1904, and hearing the news of
Russian reverses paused undecided whether
to proceed to Russian territory or not. After
sending a letter to the Chinese Emperor, he
hastened to Urga and receiving confirmation
of the Japanese successes, decided to remain
there pending events. The Emperor of China
has now instructed the Dalai Lama to
proceed to Peking before returning to Lhasa.
(Vide paragraph 5 of the Memorandum for
July 1905.) Mr. Teramoto seemed to think
that the Dalai Lama was coming under
Chinese influence.
Mr. Teramoto stated that, during his stay
at Lhasa, he lived in the city and mixed with
the inhabitants as freely as he dared. Erom
the common folk he learned that they ex
pected and would welcome the Dalai Lama’s
return. He thought that they did not resent
the appearance last year of the Tibet
Mission and escort. He attended a service
at the Potala, and, with the aid of a little
money, ascertained from some of the former
personal attendants of the Dalai Lama that
the latter must have had some reason for
fleeing from Lhasa towards Russia, and that
there was something sinister underlying his
return; they also seemed to think that his
return, for which they did not appear eager,
would signify an outbreak of hostilities between
Tibet and India. Mr. Teramoto also visited
the two great monasteries, Sera and Depung.
He considers that the former monastery is
almost entirely favourable to Russia, and
that quite one-half of the latter are also
of the same mind. To this cause he ascribes
the absence of popular resentment at the
presence in Lhasa of the two strangers sus
pected to be Russians. He believes that the
monks of these two monasteries are antici
pating free entertainments and money presents
from Russian funds on a scale even more liberal
than before. A few in the Debung Monastery
were said to be not unfriendly towards the
British. Mr. Teramoto talked with some
Chinese shop-keepers and Yamen underlino-s,
and gathered that the Amban was now
giving out that China favoured the Dalai
Lama as against the Tashi who was pro-
British in his tendencies.
Mr. Teramoto heard it said at Lhasa that
the Chinese Envoy, Tang, was returning to