Part 15 - Diary entry at Haat: high-altitude collecting, weather, and Ludlow’s plans

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SUMMARY:
Notes on high-altitude collecting near Maruthang, including marked Primula uniflora, and concern over snow making work difficult. The writer reports that Ludlow has given up hopes of visiting Tibet and booked passage home, while at Haat heavy rain and snow are foretold by 'Lerwa' calls and a local drogpa’s warning.

CONTENT:
pretty well finished the high altitude stuff, but Pasang and Mundru will have to get some high altitude things beyond Maruthang, and an inch or two of snow makes that very difficult indeed. One of Mundru's primulas there is P. uniflora, which is only 2-2½" high when in flower. He has marked all these plants, but even so, it will not be easy. Ludlow will be having a very chilly time now. We are only at 13500' here, air is quite cold enough. His camps will often be higher than that. It will be a great blow to him not to be able to visit Tibet once more, but from what he said in his last letter, he has definitely given up all hope, and even ordered his passage home on the same ship as we go on. If we could both have managed one more trip to the Gorge country, it would have finished things off very nicely. I wonder if any of the other applicants for permission to visit Tibet next year will go. It seems most unlikely.

29th September Haat. Yesterday while we were out, and while it was merely raining, a couple of coveys of 'Lerwa' called a great deal, and the local drogpa who was with us said that was a bad sign. When they called like that there would be much rain and snow. Well, he and they were quite right. It has barely stopped raining for our 3 days up here, and yesterday and today have been as bad as we've had all year. Last