MY FIRST MISSION TO BHUTAN
men, the Jongpen himself keeping well out of the way at Tashi-cho-jong; but the day went against the eastern party, and they were beginning to waver and fall back, whereupon Ugyen Wang-chuk himself rushed into the van, upbraiding and even striking his men, and made such an impression on his leaderless foes that they fled panic-stricken, and left the fort of Simtoka with its granaries an easy prize in his hands. After waiting a day or two to recruit, the Tongsa’s troops moved up the right bank of the Tchin-chhu, and there were more skirmishes, indecisive, but attended by much loss, principally the burning of houses, destruction of crops, &c. At this juncture the Paro Penlop appeared on the scene, and suggested to the Poonakha Jongpen, Aloo's chief supporter, that if they held a conference they might be able to settle the dispute and prevent further bloodshed; and Poonakha, suspecting nothing, came to the knoll we were looking at. The conference lasted some time without much result, when an adjournment was made for lunch; and while the soldiers belonging to the Jongpen were busy preparing their food on some level ground near the river to which they had been inveigled, the Paro's followers, taking advantage of their opponents being off their guard, rushed on the defenceless men. The Poonakha Jongpen was stabbed to death as he sat on the ground, and many of his men were massacred. The Tongsa’s army then marched unopposed to some villages on the west of the castle, and during the night Aloo Dorji, who seems to have been a cowardly braggart, in alarm for his own safety, abandoned Tashi-cho-jong and fled over the hills to Poonakha, and from thence, after gathering up such of his property as he could lay hands on, continued his flight via Ghassa-la into Tibet, when he appealed to China and Tibet for help. The Chinese and Tibetans despatched envoys with the object of mediation, but their overtures were rejected by the Bhutanese, and soon after the Sikhim Expedition of 1888-9 broke the power and influence of the Tibetans, and the cause of Aloo Dorji, who fought on their
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