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SUMMARY:
Entry headed 18th June from Menoka Tea Estate notes heavy monsoon rain in Calcutta, arrival there on the 16th, breakfast at Collins’ chummery, intensive shopping including withdrawing silver rupees, and a hurried departure on the Assam Mail. The party changed trains at Parbatipur and reached Rangiya in rain, where Babu Pradhan met them.

CONTENT:
18th June MENOKA TEA ESTATE. 576' (temp 78°). It was pretty warm all the way in the train until the morning we reached Calcutta. The monsoon broke there on 15th evening, and they had very heavy rain. Cherrapunji I see had 18 inches. We arrived at 6.30 am on 16th, and found that Spencers had sent a lorry to Howrah to cart our kit and selves over to Sealdah. Having booked it on to Rangiya we went off to Collins chummery in Old Ballygunge Rd. He very kindly gave us breakfast and a bath, but we could only stay till shortly after 9.0 as there was lots to be done in the shopping line. We shopped hard all morning and among other things took a box of 2000 rupees in silver from the Bank. At Sealdah we only had ten minutes to spare, and Ramzana was warned of this, but went off and was not back by 1.00 pm when the Assam mail should have started. We held it up a minute or two, and he just managed to get in in time. It was quite decently cool in the train and we reached Parbatipur at 7.45 pm and changed to the metre gauge railway there. We reached Rangiya at 5.30 am, over ½ hour late, to find it raining hard. Babu Pradhan was on the station to meet

SUMMARY:
News from Trashigong reports daks were diverted via Neoli and handed to the wife of Babu Pradhan, who has kept them while Pradhan is away in Calcutta; a small mail is prepared to go next morning. The party moves camp to the west side of Dib La in heavy rain and mist, noting several primulas and Bryocarpum, and makes use of a log hut with prepared flats for tents.

CONTENT:
88
mail.

possible. News came from Trashigong that the daks or at least three of them had been found. They had had to go by Neoli, and there had been handed over to the wife of Babu Pradhan for some obscure reason. Pradhan himself was away in Calcutta so the bitch of a woman has kept them and refuses still to give them up. She must have had one of them for over 2 1/2 months. Packed up a small mail to go off tomorrow morning.

15th Sept. Camp below Dib La (west) 4 miles Ht 11527' (BP 191.6°)
Dib La.
Lil. nanum 959. Temp 52°. Heavy rain and thick mist all day
Prim. thibetica 960. long. Moved camp to the west side of the range
Prim. normanniana 961. which on the way up was better than the East.
One can't do anything in rain like this though.
There are quite a number of primulas on the
East side of the Dib La. I took plants today
of Winteri? (No. 1.) and another primula, both over
Bryocarpum. of course. Bryocarpum also grows in considerable
numbers there. I saw no signs of any other
primulas on the pass or below, though there
should be some, as the area must compare pretty
well with the Saden passes. There is a reasonably
good log hut here, and we have had small flats
prepared for our tents - not ideal but good enough for

SUMMARY:
Halted at Dabla amid persistent rain and mist, with brief outings yielding birds including Spelaeornis sherriffi and Pnoepygas. A small mail arrived; the postmaster reports holding the Mago and Shingbe bags while other bags are with Babu Pradhan’s wives, and notes that Tobgye and Pradhan have been writing for news. The jungle conditions were very wet during a short collecting excursion.

CONTENT:
a few days halt. Yesterday morning I had a good
collection of birds, including two of what seem to be
Spelaeornis s. sherriffi. They should be here too, as
this is about the same height & the vegetation is
similar. But they are not birds one sees much,
living in dense bamboo jungle.

16th Sept. Halted. Dabla. Rained & misted hard all day & all
night. Only went out in the evening & got a couple of
Pnoepygas. Yet another mail arrived - a very small
one naturally, with only newspapers & a note from the
postmaster. He says that he has now our Mago bag
& our Shingbe bag. The other two are still in
the possession of the wife, or wives, of Babu
Pradhan. The PM says that both Tobgye & Pradhan
have been writing to him for news of us. It is
amusing to think of Pradhan writing for news when
letters to him from us both are being held up
by his beastly wives. The PM of course could give
no news of us, as he also had had no
letters.

Dabla 17th Sept. Halted. The rain held off for a couple of
Streptopelia simplex 965 hours this morning & we went away down to
see what we could get. The jungle of course was
soaking. But we got 2 more Spelaeornis sherriffi &