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SUMMARY:
Diary entries describe a difficult march through dense, muddy rhododendron jungle with steep ascents to Pang La (c. 14,000') and a descent to camp near SAWANG, followed by a steep drop to a bridge over the Khoma Chu and an easy ascent along the river to SAWANG. Plant collecting at Pang La yielded few notable finds, and the day was hampered by thick mist; leeches were bad near SAWANG.

CONTENT:
because of equally dense mist.

(4) 14th August. CAMP NEAR SAWANG. 12 miles. West of Pang La 9000'. Path continues through dense jungle, but ascent easy to m 1 1/2 where ridge is crossed. Thence level for a while through scrub jungle, gradually becoming steeper, with a ridge on the right hand side. At m 3 it becomes steep for a short distance, then easy to m 4 1/2 where there is a cairn. We ploughed our way through mud in dense rhodo jungle for 1500'. Beyond this path is partly over rocks & partly through rhododendron jungle, easy at first then very steep final ascent to Pang La (14000') at m 5 1/2. Descent for 1/2 m easy then pretty steep, with cliff running on right hand side. At m 7 dense jungle is reached, & thence path is very bad & exceedingly steep & muddy through jungle the whole way till it emerges at m 12, the first signs of cultivation are seen. Below is the Khoma Chu, and over it SAWANG. Small camp, water & fuel good & ample. //

Pang La. 14 Aug.
Aconitum fletcherianum 462
Cremanthodium thomsonii - 461
Primula 464
Begonia josephii 466
Flora disappointing

(5) 15th August. TO SAWANG. 4 miles. 7700'. Path drops very steeply indeed through dense jungle for 2 miles to bridge over Khoma Chu (6800'). Here the path joins the main road from Lhuentse over the Yeb La. This bridge is very old & not strong. Route then ascends easily along through hot steamy forest R. bank of river to first cultivation at SAWANG. Water & fuel ample: leeches bad. //

Yesterday was about the worst day we've had. We did not have rain till about 3.0 pm when our tents were in, but there was thick mist all day, so we saw no view at all. And there should have been wonderful views from that range. The map is so completely wrong as

SUMMARY:
The diarist camps west of Tsanang La amid continuous heavy rain, blocked by an unfordable river despite promising ground nearby. On 17 July, with Tsongpen and the coolies, they fell a fir to make a bridge, contend with sick porters and poor arrangements by Kusho (threatened with being sent back to Gyantse), note route timings between passes, and record several plant collections.

CONTENT:
Tsanang La

believe, others may explain their indifference to his face. There is nothing to be seen up here so far, but we are only at 11,000 ft. There is a small open space here, with two huts in it, one for people to stop in and one in which there is a chorten, with prayer wheels all round it. There are a lot of rhododendrons on the way here, but all over of course. A perfectly filthy day—

16th July. Camp W of Tsanang La. 4 1/2 miles. Very heavy rain all night and day without stop. The fates are much against us. Here I can see we are near an excellent place, but I can't reach it. Just ahead of us lies the main range, with a glacier coming down towards us, and within a mile I could be on excellent ground. But there is a river to cross. The rain has made it quite unfordable, and I can't get round any other way, owing to cliffs. It really is most annoying, and I think very bad luck after at last having got so near a good place. There is a lot of snow on the hills to the E of us, although they can't be very high, as we are only 11,800'.

17th July. Camp W of Tsanang La. 1 1/2 miles. Fine, with a little sun for an hour in the morning, then clouded and rain rest of day with a few fine intervals. There was still a lot of water in the river, though it was fordable. But I was a little afraid for coming back, so in the early morning Tsongpen and I felled a fir tree, and with all coolies pulling, we managed to get it across the river as a bridge. Whether it will be washed away or not remains to be seen. Four coolies were sick and did not turn up, the remainder all very against going on. I have given Kusho a severe lecture and threatened to send him back to Gyantse from Tsola. Since he has been with me, not a single coolie bundobast has been really thoroughly made. The Tsanang La was 2 days from Paha, Tsanang to Kucha La 1 day, Kucha La to Paha 2, so I ordered rations accordingly. Now I find on the third day, it will take another day to reach the La. Coolies now say four days from La to La and 5 from Paha to Kucha La. It is impossible to do good collecting under arrangements like this. We had to cut our way through forest up here today. The path is very bad indeed. Of course a lot of the day was wasted, but Tsongpen and I were out till 4.0 pm, and got a few good things. Rhod 5844 (trichocladum) is common. Rhod aff charitope 5848 local, and R. campylogynum 5847 (R. calostrotum 3855) common very small. A very nice yellow Pedicularis 5858 (Ped. megalochila La) is pretty common—the first I have noticed as being fragrant. Cremanthodium thomsonii 5809. Cremanthod. palmatum v. rhodocephalum 5852.

CONTENT:
Sh. Aug. Prim. tenuiloba 395. Prim. pygmaeana of rev. 397. Prim. macrophylla 400. Prim. dickieana 401.
Prim. calderiana 412. Gentiana tubiflora 398, Gent. infelix 399. Diapensia himalaica v. typica 403,
Draba stella-aurea var. polyadena 406. Cyananthus spathulifolius 408, Sax. hispidula 410
Notholirion bulbuliferum 411. Cremanthodium thomsonii 414.
Time for heavy rain vs thunderstorm.
at Shingbe

5th August. I went up myself to a spot close to the Meba & took the flower photographing app. with me, & there collected & photographed 12 species. Before leaving camp, took a further eight. Then home & spent till 6.0 pm developing - a good 12 hours work. Heavy rain in the evening. There are some Tibetans here, whose remarks about my flower photography are amusing. They told our men, that it had rained hard till we came here, but that I was like a lama, & with my box of tricks was putting off the rain. They also thought the reason we were collecting butterflies was to take home & make new dyes for our clothes. The present dirtiness of our clothes may have warranted this remark.

at Shingbe
6th Aug. Fine from 6.0 am till 12.0 noon. Went up towards the Meba, & wandered about the hillside. I climbed up a rocky hill & found snow cock, but failed to shoot any. The day was completely spoilt for me by my discovering that Damong has been very lazy & has not been changing the drying paper. He has made an awful mess of all the fine flowers collected here. I haven't had time to check him, & he has taken advantage of that. It is a great disappointment to me. I thought he was a better man than that. I photographed a little Tibetan girl who is up here with some yakherds from Tibet. She is a pretty little thing,

Prim. capitata subsp. crispata 451
Aconitum 452 (aff. leucanthum)