Showing 4 results

SUMMARY:
Notes describe a hot, steamy descent and climb with collecting of butterflies and birds, a wire to Tobgye, and arrival at Kalimpong where ponies met the party below Pedong and lunch was taken with Chuni. Later entries mention three days in Kalimpong before traveling via Calcutta, Sialkot, Wazirabad, and Kud to reach Srinagar, while Tobgye went to Darjeeling.

CONTENT:
instead of staying in Ari. A fine day from morning to evening. Collected some beautiful, though probably common butterflies and some birds. It is rather beastly being down so low again. This road is awful the way it goes up and down. We dropped 4000', climbed 2000' and again dropped nearly 2000'. Wired to Tobgye today we would reach Kalimpong tomorrow. Pretty hot and steamy all day -

17th October. TO KALIMPONG. 4200' 19 miles. A fine day, rather steamy. Uninteresting road and few birds seen. Met by Tobgye's ponies below Pedong and they were very pleasant to ride. Tobgye off to Darjeeling, but lunched with Chuni.

16th October. SRINAGAR. Stayed three days in Kalimpong, then left for Calcutta and Kashmir. Stayed one night at Sialkot to wait for Tobgye. Motored to meet him at Wazirabad and reached Kud that night, next morning Srinagar.

SUMMARY:
Notes daily bathing at a pond with dug-out canoes and an inspection of Kuth plantations, healthy in places but grub-damaged elsewhere. Records travel from Sharithang to Chumpithang, Gangtok, and Kalimpong, with Mec. superba common on the Ha La and Kin La and seed ripening noted. Stayed with Odling (where Morris was also staying), then continued via Calcutta to Srinagar; specimens collected total 660.

CONTENT:
about 40 yards x 15 yards & 4 ft deep. On this he has 8 dug-out canoes which we found great fun. All of us bathed, including Chuni, & we bathed every day, wet or fine. I went up & saw all but one of the Kuth plantations. Kuth was looking quite healthy in some places, but rather eaten by grubs in others.

26th Aug. Sharithang. Tobgye came up to near the Ha La with us, & left us in a very heavy storm. Reached Sharithang at 6.45 pm. On the Ha La & Kin La, & particularly between the two, Mec. superba is very common. Seeds just brown: should be ripe about the end of September.

27th August. Chumpithang. Fine till about 12:00, then rain the rest of the day.

28th Aug. Gangtok. Walked the 32 miles in 11 hours exactly, & Tobgye's mule with my kit came in with me. Rained very hard all day.

29th Aug. Kalimpong. Motored in to Kalimpong & stayed with Odling, where Morris was also staying. Left Kalimpong on 31st, arrived Calcutta 2nd Sept, & went on the same night, reaching Srinagar on 5th Sept in time for lunch.

Specimens collected 660.

SUMMARY:
Travelled to Ha on 16 August via Chela La, noting apple trees from Kashmir and non-flowering saffron, and met Chuni and Mr. Williamson there. From 17–25 August halted in Ha with wet weather, spending days with Tobgye and companions in sports and archery; a small lake had been made above the rest house. An earlier encounter involved someone examining the diarist’s false teeth and inquiring about getting some made.

CONTENT:
false teeth to show him, but he insisted on my taking them out and showing them properly, then seized them and had a good look. Could I eat meat, fruit and so on? - could he have some made, as he had two loose teeth?

16th August. Ha. 16 miles. Fine for a few hours, then rained hard till the evening. Para did not get up very early, I was only able to be off by 9.15. On the way I saw the apple trees sent from Kashmir, and the saffron. The 'apples' are either the common wild ones, or they are not apples at all. The saffron is still alive, and looks healthy enough, but it never flowers according to the locals. But it was not in a very good place. Tobgye met me at the Chela La, where we had lunch. Then we slithered down a very wet path to Ha and met Chuni and Mr. Williamson.

17th - 25th August. Halt in Ha. I spent a very pleasant nine days with Tobgye and Co. in Ha. It was still pretty wet. We always had some rain, usually very heavy in the middle of the day, and fine in the mornings and evenings. Tobgye was determined to give us plenty of exercise, and we played hockey or football or had archery or something every day. He has made a very fine small lake just above the rest house, at Ha.

SUMMARY:
The author reports rapid wear of shoes, sends mail, and has Pasang and Mundra go to Shasjebang, expecting their return on 1 July; letters from Betty include Chuni’s quip about B.J.’s impending child. On 29 June a halt is kept with some rain; photos are developed, stores rearranged ahead of moving toward Bumthang, Lhakpa washes clothes, fleas are dealt with using DDT, and observations are made on late flowering and snow conditions near Me La.

CONTENT:
shoes, I calculated on a life of 6 weeks easy. Actually they are through in 3 weeks or even less, and better than the cheap Bata muck costing Rs 2/- each. Before the war Dunlop tennis shoes lasted 2 months or more on these trips. Mail went off early in the morning, Pasang & Mundra go down to Shasjebang to get what they can, return on 1st July. Among the letters Betty sent me was one from Chuni. She had heard that B.J.'s new wife was to have a baby, B.J. being I suppose 70 now. Chuni's remark was "Is there a Lost Horizon in the Isle of Wight?"

29th June Halt. A fine day right up till 2.0pm, after which a good deal of rain. Stayed in camp again, to the great showing up of our collection. In two days we have got 2 specimens only! Pasang & Mundra went off to Shasjebang. I developed photos, which are good, re-arranged stores, as we won't come back here till just before going to Bumthang, & Lhakpa washed some clothes. Since we've been away, other people have used our hut, so it seems to me it is full of fleas. At any rate I have collected a great many today, & have had to cover myself with DDT. I still cannot think why this place - indeed Bhutan generally - is so late flowering. The Lola Smith side was free of snow except for a very small bit at the top, in April. Betty talks of walking over 1 1/2 miles of snow to the Me La on June 10th. The Me La is higher, but not all that. One is 13500 & the other about 14500'. Here we have not come across much snow, but there is no doubt that flowers on