Part 29 - Halt day with Primula collecting; Betty crosses Dongala la

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SUMMARY:
Cold, clear halt day in camp plagued by ticks and foul water. Betty was to cross the Dongala la while the diarist and Pasang attempted collections, securing Primula listeri filipes and noting seven primula species so far. Wind scattered drying papers, later recovered by Bhutanese from the camp.

CONTENT:
bad place for ticks and fleas, both of which have given me considerable trouble today. There are cattle about, and we are camped in a regular cattle stand, so we are asking for it really. Perhaps this will be the last camp prepared for us. I certainly hope it will be.

24th April. Halt. Very cold night, but beautiful morning, without a cloud in the sky. But there was much mist down in the valleys, and this gradually came up and it took the sun till 7.30 to get through. Then it was lovely again. I'm very glad, as this was the day Betty was to cross the Dongala la. They may have had very fine views. We didn't go far. I tried the north face of the dense jungle with no result. Then I sent Pasang down the south face where there was a patch of forest. He got few things, but came up with P. listeri filipes (18749), which I had given up expecting any more. We now have seven different primulas in the bag, which isn't too bad for the first month. None are new, but one is new to Bhutan, and another new to us.

While we were drying the paper today at about 1.0, one or two puffs of wind came and lifted a few sheets 30 or 40 yards away. Then a bigger twirling puff came, and it took two sheets away — one 1/2 a mile and the other best part of a mile. The second must have gone 1000' in the air, as we could not see it at its highest point. Both were recovered by Bhutanese from our camp!

Prim. listeri filipes is a poor thing, but it is interesting that it has not by any means become common. It was plastered on a rock in moss, just as on P. Sherriffae cliff, except that here it was in dense forest.

The water here is foul. It makes black tea which tastes awful. I have sent over 1/2 mile for our tea water now. We are now bound to go