Russian colonel N.P made five failed attempts even though he was escorted by heavily armed Cosakes. American diplomat and scholar William Rockhill disguised as a Chinese pilgrim also failed twice. Renowned Swedish explorer S.H he too disguised as a pilgrim was turned back just five days' march from Lhasa. British missionary Annie Taylor , made it too within three days' march of Lhasa before being betrayed by her Chinese guide and taken prisoner. Canadian S.H 's story is the most tragic physician and missionary. She watched her infant son perish from altitude sickness, then lost her Dutch husband to bandits after Tibetan officials forced them to turn back.

At the close of the 19th century, Tibet had managed to repel some 11 westerners' attempts to reach Lhasa in four decades, but its mediaeval weapons could not hold off the modern world forever.

The man who would win the Europeans' race for Tibet was born in India in 1863, the year NanXing arrived at the spy school in D. The son of a British army officer Francis Edward Young Husband would be sent off to England at 4 to be raised by two spinster aunts, a religious pair who beated him regularly."I lost my childhood happiness and became serious." Young Husband would later write.

At 12, he would be sent off to boarding school in Clifton, and an institution designed to mould young men of empire. Already oversensitive, repressed and shy, the small statured Young Husband found his more rambunctious schoolmates intimidating him and made few friends. It was not until he was 16 that he would find a soul mate, in his previously distant sister, Emmy. After he fainted in a chapel one night, she nursed him back to health, and the two exchanged strangely passionate letters from much of their adult lives.

After graduating from Clifton and then military academy, he left distraught Emmy behind and set off for India. Like his father before him, he would serve on the northern frontier in the King's Dragoons and take his place in the great game. Shy but fiercely ambitious, young Husband was a natural great gamer, a true believer in the righteousness of empire, and a vocal warrior about Russian designes on all of Asia. But regimental life proved stifling to the young man, and once again, his seriousness isolated him from his peers. Francis had always imagined himself living a life more alike that of his uncle and childhood hero, Robo Shaw, a flamboyant adventurer and tea planter short had travelled to many exotic lands beyond the Himalayas, he'd earned himself a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society as well as a penchant for dressing in native costumes.

At age 21, Yung Husband trekked into the Himalayas not far from his late uncle's house and was enchanted. From this moment forward, his urgent ambitions would take the shape of these mountains. And for the rest of his life, mountains would stir odd mystical longings that this strict religious upbringing had never satisfied.

"I had caught just a glimpse of the other side of the Himalayan range, but I thirsted for more mountian beauty. I determined to go to Tibet, and to come to know the curious people of that secluded country, make a great name for myself, and be known thereafter as a famous traveler."

It was China not Tibet that would give Francis Young Hasband his first taste of fame.

missionary n.

One who is sent on a mission, especially one sent to do religious or charitable work in a territory or foreign country.

传教士被派遣去传教，尤其是被派遣到一个地区或外国去做宗教或慈善工作的人

physician n.医师, 内科医师

mediaeval adj.

中世纪的; 中古时代的, 中古风的

mould vt. =mold

To guide or determine the growth or development of; influence:

影响引导或决定...的成长或发展；影响

soul mate n.

One of two persons compatible with each other in disposition, point of view, or sensitivity.

意气相投的人在气质性格、观点或者感情方面相互协调一致的两个人中的一个

distraught adj.

Deeply agitated, as from emotional conflict.

心烦意乱的极其烦恼的，如因感情纠葛

dragoon n.

A heavily armed trooper in some European armies of the 17th and 18th centuries.

龙骑兵17、18世纪欧洲军队中全副武装的步兵

flamboyant adj.

Marked by striking audacity or verve.

过人勇气的或精力旺盛的

penchant n.

A definite liking; a strong inclination.

偏爱强烈的倾向；嗜好
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