Showing 20 results

SUMMARY:
After a 10-mile march to Menjisi in windy weather, the writer receives letters from Betty via Trinley and notes serious delays to H.H.'s stores sent from Lhuntse, affecting travel plans to Bumthang. Kapo is treating many syphilis patients with limited drugs, while reports mention Tshering doing well, Hicks being tired, the finding of P. Normaniana, a planned route via Ungar and Pimi, concerns from Tobgye about the Treaty and the Maharaj Kumar, and news from Norman regarding a problematic sale to Mintri.

CONTENT:
15th May Menjisi. 10 miles. Wet in the night, but fine today locally and with a very strong wind. I had a long talk with Kapo yesterday, who came in the morning and again for dinner. He gave me a letter from Betty, brought by Wangmo's Trinley. Incidentally H.H.'s large box of stores, sent off from Lhuntse on 4th to Betty, had only got 1 day's march from Lhuntse by May 11th. I don't know what had happened. That has held up other things too, as H.H.'s man cannot return to Bumthang till he has an answer from Betty. Kapo seems to be busy with his syphilis patients, who are a great many. But he finds difficulty in keeping them in Lhuntse. Also he cannot get other drugs for H.H. for other diseases. I gave him what I could spare. It was grand to hear again from Betty, though her letter was written some time ago. They seem to have done fairly well, and have also found P. Normaniana. Tshering doing well, and Hicks seemingly tired. I hope he can stand it all. We left at 5:15 this morning and got in about 10:30. This is a much better division of the marches - Lhuntse, Menjisi - Ungar - Pimi, and I must tell Betty to do the same. We passed another dak today and took ours out on Betty's unopened. This was a bigger one and was sent from K'pong on 29th April. I had several letters from Tobgye, worried about the Treaty and also the Maharaj Kumar's behaviour to him. He has not been at all kind, and his behaviour towards Tobgye is disgusting and disgraceful. I hope now that he will not get Kaysang, who is far too good for him. Norman's letter says that he is off, and he also thinks there may be difficulty about selling Crocket to Mintri, who is a slimy individual. Among other things sent to me is a will which I witnessed many years ago. It is sent in original, and I have to

SUMMARY:
The diarist notes many migratory birds from Tibet and poor seed results except likely from Marlung or passes to the west. On 21 Sept., they remain in camp while Yundon and Pasang collect Primula caveana and a fine woolly Phandra from Tamagorra Nala, returning late and exhausted, with Yundon suffering a bad headache. On 22 Sept., amid cold wind and intermittent rain and sun, letters arrive from H.H. and mail from Hicks and Ludlow, but none from Betty.

CONTENT:
This, in the same way as I did with Mec. simplicifolia. Hope it turns out well. The whole scene is too big for a cine-camera. There are a good many birds now on migration from Tibet. I saw hundreds of wagtails and two Afghan redstarts today. And I must have seen 20 Ibisbills, but they aren't on migration though. We did not do well with seed again, and certainly most of our seed this year will come from Marlung or over the passes to the West.

21st Sept. Halt. Rain at night, but a lovely day of sun and cumulus clouds. I stayed in camp to deal with yesterday's seeds, while Yundon and Pasang went up Tamagorra Nala to the NE to get P. caveana and the 8 plants of white caveana marked by Yundon when we were here before. They have just returned at 6:00 pm when I was beginning to be a bit anxious about them. Boulder scree is dangerous: one can very easily make a false step and have a nasty fall. It was too late for me to examine any seed brought, but they have got all the white P. caveana, and another basket of the usual caveana as no seed is ripe. They also found the very fine Phandra which is woolly all over, and which we took twice at Marlung, but never saw in very good flower. Today they have brought both seed and fine flower. It is a beautiful thing. I have not been able to see if the seed is good or not. Otherwise just a Sax or a Saussurea, and a few odd very small primula roots - perhaps P. cervicina or P. walshii, which I may take too. As they have had such a long day, we will not go out tomorrow, but I will do the seed and get the roots properly packed. Yundon returned with a very bad head, which he said he had most of the day.

22nd Sept. Halt. Stayed in camp. Rain and sun very cold indeed, with a strong wind. Letters came in from H.H. with food etc and a mail from Hicks, Ludlow and Kalimpong, but in some strange way no letters from Betty. Hers must have

SUMMARY:
Clear, frosty day at Amelungnang with notes on Hicks needing to cross the Rudo La in Bhutan. The writer reflects that the Dhur Chu area would have yielded better flowers than Waitang, noting climatic differences after crossing the Tolegang La; Pasang and Yundru arrived later with a good haul of seed despite a foot of snow on boulder scree, and there was disappointment regarding Mec. bella near the Sin La.

CONTENT:
probably, after having a lonely duck swoosh up and down the Tumen Su in a temperature of about 10° F.

Hicks will be glad of the change in weather. He will have the Rudo La to cross, and he will be lucky to find a good day to get over that. It must be one of the wetter passes in Bhutan, on the east side.

3rd October. Amelungnang. Misty, with a hard frost in the early morning, but soon cleared up to a perfect day - the first with no rain at all. Clouds formed soon but never looked wet. It was an interesting march, too, and I now have much more of an idea of the country. I just wish that we had chosen the area of the Dhur Chu instead of Waitang. We would have got many more flowers and of much greater interest. Partly this is due to the area not being overrun by yaks, but there is something else climatic as well. As soon as we crossed the Tolegang La, this was evident. But it can't be helped now. Pasang and Yundru came on later than us with their haul of seed. They have done well, and got quite a good lot of things. They were unable to go the way we meant them to, owing to the snow being a foot thick. That on boulder scree, is really impossible. It made no real difference to the seed gathering, which way they went. One disappointment was Mec. bella. We saw so very much of it all along N of the Sin La, that I expected

SUMMARY:
Describes a frosty halt day, continued collection of Gentiana (lacunulata), and praise for the seed collector Tupden. Notes comparisons of the Dhu Chu area with the Bumthang Chu, reports a letter from HH about upcoming arrivals (Hicks, MK, Tasho Drunyer), tallies seed and plant collections, and mentions confirmations by Ludlow and Taylor regarding Mec. Sherriffii.

CONTENT:
with Mec. paniculata, simplicifolia & horridula, all of which are in cultivation at home. Tupden is one of the best seed collectors there could be. He takes great pains & always goes on till called away. I wished to have had him from the beginning. Now I know him, I find him very good indeed. He is a Khampa, probably a runaway murderer or something like that, from Markham. The area of the Dhu Chu is something like shown opposite.

4th October Halt. Another lovely day, & very cold hard frost last night. The tents each night now are covered with frost inside & out, & this makes them very heavy. Nothing special happened today. I went out to look for more of yesterday's Gentiana (lacunulata) 19789, & after a while we found a lot of it. It reminds me of G. amplicrata which we first found at Zimsati near Sangacholing in Takpo. I don't think it is G. depressa, & certainly isn't G. amoena. The more I see of this area, the better it looks. It holds much more than the Bumthang Chu valley, although this is a tributary of the Bumthang Chu. It must be more than just not so many yaks here, although there is no doubt that many yaks, & sheep too, in a valley, make a very great difference to the flora. A letter came in from HH to say Tasho Drunyer will arrive on 6th. So with Hicks on 5th, MK on 6th & us on 7th, there will be some activity in Bumthang this week. The main seed collection is now over, & I have about 130 gatherings of seed now, besides the 40-50 taken before & some 25 rooted plants & a number of bulbs & tubers & corms & so on. Ludlow tells me he has 5 lbs. of seed of Mec. Sherriffii! That shows how common it is when it does occur. Taylor has confirmed that it is Mec. Sherriffii, but a very fine form of it.

SUMMARY:
Arrived in Bumthang, met by Tasho at Kurji; Hicks arrived later due to Trinley’s septic foot. Plans set to leave on 13 October, with Gundra and Basang going on 9 October to Sephu, Omta Tso, Thampala, and Ritang; received news from home written 8 September and discussed Tasho’s behavior toward Raja Dorji. From 8–10 October at Haat, with heavy rain and a meal with HH on the 8th.

CONTENT:
7th October. Bumthang. Arrived here at 8:30, along a very wet path. There had been a thunderstorm and very heavy rain in the night, - but was worse down this way: Tasho met us in Kurji, where we again stay, and here there was no news of Hicks. But a letter came in from him at 10:00 saying he would be in today, and he arrived at 1:30. He was late because Trinley, Ashi Wangmo's man who has been with him, got a septic foot and couldn't walk any further. So now our plans are all made, we will leave on 13th October, and Gundra and Basang will go on 9th for their little trip to Sephu, Omta Tso, Thampala and Ritang. Tasho only arrived yesterday himself. Got a mail, and Betty is getting on well, written on 8th September from home. Tasho stayed for a long time till after Hicks arrived and I had a pretty good talk to him about various things, including his behaviour to Raja Dorji in Kalimpong, and the way he changed his mind and did just as he wanted to irrespective of anyone else. I hope all that did good, and Tasho took it really very well.

8th - 10th October. Haat. A good deal of rain, some very heavy indeed, but a good deal of sun too. We had a meal with HH on 8th and stayed there for some

SUMMARY:
After halts with photo work and rain, the party marched into Bumthang, where H.H. visited for hours and asked that T.K. return home with them. Betty arrived with Hicks via the Badr La; they met H.H. at the palace grounds, exchanged gifts, and arranged travel to Ha, the Me La, and Chanderi, with plans for seed work and a move to Brarich.

CONTENT:
24th Halt. Mostly developed photos. A good deal of rain.

25th July. Bumthang. A short march of about 4-5 miles into camp at the "football ground" of 1933, where now there are large and comfortable quarters made for P.O.s, but never yet used by them. H.H. called in the afternoon and stayed some hours and was in good form. He told me he definitely wanted T.K. to go home with us. This will all be very difficult for us, but it must be done. I have heard that we are likely to get Brarich, so we will have to move into an unfurnished new house on arrival. There will be very hard work there.

26th-30th Halt. Good weather each day, with bright sunshine most of the day, and very heavy rain at night. Betty arrived on 26th with Hicks, and we met her on the Badr La. She has great pain always, but the arm is getting on slowly, and she can manage now to do everything herself. We arranged to go together to Ha only, from where I will return here for seed. On our way in from the Badr La, H.H. met us in a tent in the palace grounds. Next day we all called on him and had lunch and tea and gave our presents. Then he came here on 28th with the children and Choden for lunch and tea. He is coming again today for lunch and to say goodbye to Betty and Ludlow. H.H. has been very kind indeed as usual and did not turn a hair at all the requests we made: Hicks back to the Me La; Ludlow to Chanderi and wants a special riding yak; B and I to Ha and then I come back here and to Waitang. For presents we gave steel bows and 12 steel arrows; saffron, pens, jumpers, and many other things, and to the Ashis velvet from Liberty's and four blue jumpers and gloves.

SUMMARY:
The party contoured the hillside from the fir forest up to Lussing La, then entered the Panggetangka valley toward the Rufo Zam, finding only three small plant specimens and considering a stay due to transport being requisitioned. The writer rode a yak cautiously. A letter from Betty reports two primulas that Tsangpo does not remember, and Ludlow mentions a curious Petiolarid.

CONTENT:
But it was a sad day in every way. We should have seen things, I expected, as our route lay up through the fir forest to the rhod. & open hillside above, & then from above. 6.30 am till 11.0 we contoured the hillside about 500' above the firs, keeping south, & finally up to the Lussing La, which is a pass over a ridge only. Beyond that we were in the valley called on the map Panggetangka, which runs down to the Rufo Zam. The whole day we got 3 plants, only small bits of these three, & saw nothing of interest. Now we may have to stay here 5 days, which seems a pity, but the Druk Locha needs all transport in tow, & there it is. I rode a yak today, & had to be very careful getting on & off, & in allowing anyone close behind. But we had no accidents.

This place doesn't really look good. It is too much scrub & too much yak-eaten for my liking. I don't think we will get much. A mail came in yesterday after all - but not for 4 hours after I had sent off my mail. With this one was a letter from Betty. She is not happy I fear, & it worries me that she should be there with Hicks, & not enjoying it. And there is still a good long while to go, before she will start coming my way - 2 months from now. Not much news in my mail, but Betty tells me she has two good primulas, which Tsangpo doesn't remember. I should think one might be P. tsariensis & one P. caveana, but how much earlier they must be than we are here. Ludlow also talks of a queer Petiolarid which I have no ideas about. It should be interesting.

SUMMARY:
The diarist halts in the Diruphuang valley amid heavy rain, notes a sense of the monsoon ending, and reaches a nearby pass without difficulty. Skimmia seed brought by Pasang is abundant and promising. Letters and plans are mentioned, including Tobgye writing from Kalimpong, Betty in Calcutta, and Hicks intending to be in Bumthang earlier than expected.

CONTENT:
146 19768 P. alboviana x brunosa

gone astray somewhere, as Tobgye's letter was dated 4 Sept from Kalimpong, she had heard twice from Betty in Calcutta by then. I think the Arts & Crafts must have made a mess of things. We have now all the plants we want from here, but will see if another is to be found tomorrow in the Diruphuang valley. The Skimmia seed which Pasang brought in yesterday is good and there is lots of it. I do hope it will be a success. The scent is one of the best things about it, and it is very strong and persistent long after flowering. Hicks tells me he will be in Bumthang on 5th Oct. which is very much earlier than I had expected. But he had not had my letter from Bumthang when he wrote, so may change.

23rd September Halt. Fine till about 2.0 and then very heavy rain on and off. Although there is still lots of rain, there is a feeling of the end of the monsoon, but no sparkling days yet. More snow falls at night on the hill tops now. We went up Diruphuang valley today, and I was surprised how easily I managed up to the pass which I had never been able to reach before. How unfit I must have been when I first came up. Now, that height - about 15000 - 15500 - does not seem to worry me at all. We looked over the pass and saw

SUMMARY:
At Dur Chutsen on the Mangde Chu, the diarist met Ludlow and identified his Meconopsis as Meconopsis sherriffii, noting abundant Androsace globifera. A letter reported Betty’s injury, requiring travel to Calcutta and forcing a return to Bumthang before proceeding to Ripong; the next day was a halt during which Dorong returned with a large haul, noted as more effective than Pasang and Gunden.

CONTENT:
so happy here, completely absent only a few miles away over the divide. The white Androsace globifera which grows in huge vertical clumps, which I've only seen once before, in the Chachhu Valley, was here in masses - for about 200-300'. But there's nothing else of much interest. An answer is in from Ludlow, so go down to meet him tomorrow at the hot springs, Dur Chutsen, which are right on the bank of the Mangde Chu, somewhere near where the map shows. Ludlow got a new Meconopsis, in masses, pink, one flowered very fine.

18th - Dur Chutsen 10800'. Got down at 9:00 am to meet Ludlow in a filthy camp, along a filthy path on a filthy day. But it was grand seeing him again, and his Meconopsis, which I see is Meconopsis sherriffii in a fine form. But then the blow fell. A letter came for Hicks and Betty, to say Betty had had a fall and was mildly concussed with a possible broken arm, must go to Calcutta. So all our plans, which we had just finished arranging in detail, have had to be altered. Now we must return to Bumthang at once, where Betty arrives on the 26th. We will reach there on the 25th and then go on with her to Ripong. I must return for the seed as soon as I can. And that is that. It is a big blow, but cannot be helped, and we must work out the best way of getting the most out of the country.

19th July Halt. Stayed in camp, except for short walks up muddy paths. It was interesting to see Dorong come in with his press full after 2 days out. He is worth 3 of Pasang and Gunden together of course. That is only natural. He has had years of training, and years on his own as well as with sahibs. He brought in a big haul of quite good

SUMMARY:
Notes discuss arranging a witnessed statement in Bhutan, with Ludlow as the other witness. Diary entries for 16 and 17 May describe heavy rain, mail passing through, letters for Betty, travel by mule from Ungar to Pimi, and plant observations including Rhododendron rhabdotum and a small Anemone noted by Hicks; Ngudup and Damdum are mentioned.

CONTENT:
sign a statement that it is all in order etc before a Notary Public. What a hope, in Bhutan. Ludlow is the other witness, so I don't know what the widow of the deceased will do.

16 May Ungar 5.15 to 11.15. Fine till 11.0 and then very heavy rain indeed all evening. Another mail from H.H. passed through. One letter to me and one to Betty. I added a bunch of letters for Betty, others have gone on. A nasty place and a nasty day. Nudup and Damdum very sad indeed.

17th May. Pimi. Rain heavy all night, and all today very heavy after an hour of just being fine in the morning. Off at 5.15, in at 9.30. Pimi in my memory will always be a fine place. I won't see it again, or don't want to. I was lucky to get a mule this morning, and found that it could manage up here really very easily. We came slowly, but took just over the four hours. The only thing of interest really was Rhod. rhabdotum, which was fairly common. It also is easy to seed, as Betty will be able to remember the Carmine Cherry tree. Above that about 4-500' is a staircase on the road, there, on the left is plenty of R. rhabdotum. It is a most beautiful thing, especially perhaps in freshly opened yellow rich cream coloured corolla with the red stripes. The little Anemone which Hicks took is also now common, within 1/2 mile of camp, and we should get seed of that too I hope. It is a delicate pretty little plant. No day could be much worse for rain than today. Perhaps it may rain itself dry by the morning. It would be nice if that were to happen. The Ungar people were rather difficult, so Ngudup said, this morning. I confess I would be difficult under similar