 Considerable pillaging took place at Palkor Chode, Dongtse and other monasteries after the fall of Gyantse Jong.Whatever General Orders and the Hague Convention of 1899 may have dictated, looting seemed acceptable if the army felt it had been opposed in any way.According to Major William Beynon, in a letter to his wife of 7 July, some of the looting was officially approved – claims by Dr Waddell, Brigadier-General Macdonald and his chief of staff, Major Iggulden that monastic sites were "most religiously respected" look hollow.