Page "Nain Singh Rawat" Paragraph 11

Messengers criss crossed the landscape with letters and messages.

These men mounted on horses covered the 800 miles between Lhasa and Gangtok and were forbidden to stop other than to eat or change horses.

They wore a long sleeved Chogas inside which were tucked letters, the breast fastening of their overcoats was sealed to ensure that they did not change clothes.

The officer to whom the letter was addressed would break the seal.

A message took just thirty days to travel from Lhasa to Gartok, a special message would reach even faster, in twenty two days.

The news traveled very fast due to this system and any foreigner who attempted to enter Tibet was reported and forced back to the border.

The explorers were thus required to tackle this local resistance, prior to attempting the hazardous travel in this most unfriendly terrain.

However, this reluctance on the part of the Tibetian native did not always exist.

Previously, the Nepalese Kumaon was the only resistance the explorers faced.

Once inside Tibet, they always reported of very friendly, warm and deeply religious people.

In Akbar ’ s time the first Jesuit mission left for the search of the origin of the river Ganges, their main concern though was the quest for the lost tribe of Prester John.

The Jesuits had heard from wandering sadhus and yogis, of people in Tibet who had rituals and practices similar to those of Christians.

To find out about this they were eager to reach Tibet.