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SUMMARY:
The diarist notes failed banana trees in Dongkar, widespread illness, and persistent bad weather during a series of halts while collecting birds. They visit Denchan Gompa, hunt game birds with local shikaris, and criticize Elliot’s contribution. Bill visits Yigong Tso and learns from the Be Gyimpon of a summer route to Tongkyuk over the TRESUR LA; Ludlow departs for Suowa with companions.

CONTENT:
to collect bush birds. Yesterday I was very surprised indeed to see banana trees growing beside a house above camp, in Dongkar. There were about ten, but the owner said they gave no fruit here. Tseringpon, when he saw them, immediately said they were dead, because the leaves had all withered - a state he had not seen at home. Temperatures up there must drop to 10°F as a minimum. We have had 14°F here. Goitre is very prevalent here, syphilis very bad indeed - "very much worse than Bhutan" Elliot says. The whole place seems to be in decay generally.

20th Jan Halt. Again saw more banana trees, locally called 'tali loma'. Went to Denchan Gompa then into big side valley. Saw some crossbills & heard Crossoptilon.

21st Jan - 24th Jan. Halt. Weather very unpleasant indeed & every day the same. The tops of the hills are covered in clouds all day & night, & a very light snow falls, down to about 9000' or sometimes to 8000', all day long. We get glimpses of sun but never much. We have all tried to get game birds, & between us have seen or got monal, tragopan, blood pheasant & wood partridge. Tseringpon & Laku are the chief shikaris & most bloodthirsty. Elliot is a great disappointment. He won't turn his hand to anything; won't even carry a gun & have a crack at anything. His medical work is poor. He takes no interest in the illnesses of the locals, & just dishes out 2 pills to everyone. Our own people have little use for him. I don't know how he has the face to do as little as he does, after agreeing to come on this trip & turn his hand to anything.

25-26 Jan. Halt. On 25th it started to clear up & on 26 was beautiful, with hardly a cloud in the sky all day. This has been a very pleasant change, as except for the 19th we have had no bright sun, & snow every day all around us. Bill went up to the Yigong Tso to take photos, & had some very fine views. He saw the Be Gyimpon who confirmed that there is a summer road up from the valley behind Be, to Tongkyuk, over the TRESUR LA. The route is not fit for ponies. The name of the village 1 m W of Be is GYAGON.

27-28 Jan. Halt. Good weather finished very suddenly on 28th, the clouds coming up very fast after a clear morning. Ludlow went off to Suowa with Ramzana, Sandup & Tseringpon.

SUMMARY:
Notes describe the lake’s depth and local supplies, followed by entries for 14–18 Feb covering warming weather, fishing results, and moves between Sangyü, Chakzam, and Trulung. A shikari with Laku and Sandup searched for a large bird called 'tse' without success, Bob took the low river road, and a very hot spring was found among riverside boulders.

CONTENT:
53

The lake as it is at present is about 2 1/2 miles long in a straight line. Probably this is extended by another 4 to 5 miles in the summer. Supplies have been fairly easily obtainable here. Wheat flour is available in small quantities always, price about 1 sang per 'tre' (15 tres to a bo). There is no rice, but 'tse tse' (millet) is available in its place. Potatoes good but not plentiful. Turnips any amount. Barley rather scarce, considering the amount which seems to be grown round about. Peas not available. We have been very glad to be able to get as much honey as we want. We have been paying about 10 sangs for 2 lbs or so, and it is very good stuff. Every house has a bee hive or two, which are made from a section of a tree trunk. The lake, measured today, is 33 feet deep where the river goes out at the E. end. Further up, about 300x, it is 40 ft deep. About 500x W from the Eastern end, the depth is 76' in the middle.

14th-15th Feb. Halt. Weather getting warmer. Fish have begun to take - 5 were caught on 14th, but none took on 15th.

16th Feb. Sangyü. This camp is really about 4 miles beyond Sangyü, where a few houses are occupied. Here there are no inhabitants at all. It tried to rain all day, but held off, except for occasional spitting, till the evening. Saw nothing of any interest on the way, there appears to be little advance in anything as yet.

17th Feb. Chakzam. Rained a good deal last night. Fine most of today, but clouded again spitting off & on. Very warm. Nothing seen on the road, but there are signs that some things are moving, though the big Rhodo is not nearly in flower. A shikari with us said he thought he could find a bird he called 'tse' which was bigger than a monal. He, Laku & Sandup went off to look for it but found nothing. It is said to be so big that 7 form a man's load. Ludlow has heard before of this bird.

18th Feb. Trulung. Unsettled day. Took 6 1/2 hours on the march. Bob went by the river on the low road, which we had not been by before. We found, among the boulders beside the river (under water in summer) a hot spring, so hot that one could not touch the water. It was, in fact bubbling out with some force in two

SUMMARY:
Cold halts with little flowering observed; the party notes the first primula in flower and red Rhododendron irroratum, investigates the place-name Makandro near the Gyala Peri range, and sends Sandup and Ramzana to try to film and collect a takin without success. Villagers repay a loan in kind, and on March 13 they move to Tongkyuk, recording a yellow Litsea and plentiful “Winter” plants.

CONTENT:
were here. If they went, it would be fine. I saw 10 here today, the first we have seen.

7th March. Cloudy & cold. Disappointing day as we found nothing in the flower line at all, but luckier for a blackbird (maximus) & a thrush we have never seen before.

8-9-10th March. Halt. This place is very cold indeed, & shrubs are not nearly so far on here as a few miles down the valley. But we have found a few things, notably the first primula in flower to be seen. This appears to be P. chungensis (12279), but might perhaps be Bulleyana or Cockburniana. The same red Rhod. Irroratum Ser. (12280) is also in flower in a valley 2m below here. I have been trying to find the name Makandro which Ward gives to the peak on the Gyala Peri range. So far I have found no one who knew the name. Here, one shikari told me there were two Makandros, one a ridge almost due South of here, & one a ridge almost due North. The fine flat topped peak which lies at 150° from here is locally called Gelung Sokpo. I asked Sandup to enquire about the name Makandro. He asked the monks, who eventually told him there were such places, but that he should not mention the name or talk about the places. I have taught Sandup how to take cine pictures, & he will go off tomorrow to try to get a picture of & one shot at a female takin. We have found pretty good supplies here - some peas, wheat, a few eggs(!), tsampa.

11th-12th March. Halt. It is very cold here every day at midday. Sandup & Ramzana went off across the river for a drive up the nala to the South after takin. They have taken the cine camera & a small roll film camera to try to get pictures of live animals before shooting one female to make up the collection for the B.M. On our way through here in Jan we lent the headman 400 sangs to run their case against the ex Dzongpon in Lhasa. Now the whole village is repaying - in wheat, peas, tsampa, eggs, turnips, & any other commodity they can find. Headmen very helpful & a good type. Ramzana & Sandup back; saw no takin or marks.

13th March. Tongkyuk. Rain last night & a good deal, off now today. Dull & cold, & we saw nothing at all on the way barring the yellow shrub Litsea No. 12257. Yesterday Ramzana brought back lots of Winter No. 12291 which was plentiful up the valley.

SUMMARY:
The diarist describes sparse official presence across Tibetan towns, then records halts and short marches with bullocks en route toward Tsela Dzong. A pony carrying Ludlow and Elliot’s bedding goes missing and is later recovered; Sandup returns to Kyindong, and difficult road conditions near Risho require manhandling loads, with mention of skin ferries.

CONTENT:
There can be no other country which runs itself like Tibet. Since we left Gangtok we have not come across many officials in their place of business. The T.T.A. Yatung is hardly ever anywhere but in Kalimpong. There was a dzongpon in Phari. There was one in Gyantse. But there were none in Nangkarbe, Pede or Gongkar. The Nethong Dzongpon was in residence, and we have seen none since then.

3rd Dec. Halt. Very windy last evening, but clear and cold at night, with not a very low temp. No one appeared this morning early, but by 11.0 some 30 bullocks had come. The men are a pleasant friendly - several having been with us before both in 1933 and 1938 in Langong or beyond Kyindong Dzong. They remember us, apparently quite happily, and they even remember Jill. They are going to Tsela Dzong with us, and we should have no trouble when once away from here. The only troublesome people are the representatives of the Dzong. The village here is very poor, but they seem friendly enough.

4th Dec. Kamchang. Bullocks got off in good time, last party leaving at 8.0. We were in at 11.30 - it is a short march. But bullocks take a very long time. One pony with Ludlow and Elliot's bedding never arrived in. Kamchang is the lower of two villages, each only with a few houses. Pollarded walnut trees are much in evidence.

5th Dec. Halt. Again had to halt, this time owing to the lost pony. It strayed up a side valley 2 miles from here. Sandup has gone back to Kyindong. Pony came in late at night - or rather the bedding was brought in - the pony had fallen and hurt itself.

6th Dec. Camp 2 m. beyond Chongrong on S. bank, left at 7.30: in with bullocks at 4.30pm. Road very bad for bullocks in 3 places, the worst being 1 1/2 m beyond Risho, where all loads had to be manhandled for 100 yds over a cliff. There are 'skin' ferries at 1 1/2 m above Risho, -

SUMMARY:
Travel from Namdi to Trulung was exhausting with frequent ascents and descents, few rhododendrons observed, and views over the junction of the Po Tsangpo and Tanghyuk Chu towards Gompo Ne; takin were reported abundant, and kalij pheasants were shot en route. After halting at Trulung with rain and snow, Sandup found the first rhododendron; the party then moved to Chakzam opposite Tangme at the junction of the Po Tsangpo and Yigrong Chu.

CONTENT:
Jan
10th Jan. TRULUNG. Fine and clear. A very tiring day. The path leaves the valley bottom at once on leaving Namdi and does not come down again till Trulung is reached. It keeps going up and down in a most distressing way, and made us all very tired. Ponies must go this way. Coolies go by the valley road, but it also rises to a pass before the very steep descent to Trulung. However the road was interesting all along, and we got another 15 specimens or so. The most remarkable and disappointing thing about these hills, is the lack of Rhododendrons. We hardly saw any, or I should say we only saw in all 3 species. One was an interesting big flowered Maddenii Series one, near here, on the pass, of which we got seed (12117). From there the junction of the Po Tsangpo and Tanghyuk Chu is seen, and the valley down to Gompo Ne. The latter looks much drier than I ever imagined it could be, and has large areas of pine forest on the left bank. Here too there are curious areas of pine on the S. faces. There are many takin about, both down towards Gompo Ne, and also on this side of the river, up the Trulung Chu. The locals say that they keep high up the hillside, just below the snow. The head of one was brought in for us to see, and obviously a good many are shot, and they are described by the locals as being numerous hereabouts. On our way here, at a place where there is considerable deserted cultivation, we came across kalij pheasant, shot 3, having seen a dozen or more. I also put up one woodcock at the same place.

11th & 12th Jan. Halt Trulung. Clear fine morning, clouding up and starting to rain here by 5.30 pm on 11th. Snowed that night at 7000' and rained here till 11.0 am. All the lads went out to shoot something, but were not successful. We heard barking deer close to. Sandup found the first Rhododendron — a poor specimen of an arboreum series of trunk. Nothing else of interest.

13th Jan. Chakzam (Opposite Tangme at junction of Po Tsangpo and Yigrong Chu) Rain again at night and snow down to 7500'. Fine but cloudy and misty all day. Road better than to Trulung but still a great deal up and down. Nothing of interest in the