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SUMMARY:
The party halts in the Mara Chu valley amid heavy rain, severe damdim flies, and increasing leeches, taking hypsometer readings and collecting rhododendrons including R. rhabdotum and a Maddenii-series specimen (No. 3147). Pintso and the diarist visit the confluence with the Mara Chu; mail is to be sent via Chirang to Sarbhang, and plans are made to return to Phobjikha after one more day.

CONTENT:
extending down the valley for a considerable way. Tenduk has just turned up.

8000ft 29th May. Halt Mara Chu valley. Rained very heavily all last evening almost all the night. No sun today, but fine till 12.0 after which heavy rain onset. Pintso & I went down to the meeting of the path with the Mara Chu, probably rather more than 2 miles from here. Hypsometer readings here were: BP. 203.8°, Temp. 73°. Time 9.0 am. This would be a little lower, if anything than Adao on the L. bank, but there are some houses on the R. bank too. We saw plenty of R. rhabdotum, & I took one specimen of another rhod. under No 3147, which is a Maddenii series, but which I can't make out. It is scarce here, has a beautiful scent, & grows rather like R. rhabdotum. Otherwise the things we got were of no great interest. Trongpen & Tenduk were equally unlucky. As the damdim flies are so awful here, we are only going to stay one more day, & then return to Phobjikha. Leeches fairly numerous, & probably increasing every day now. Pintso will take a small mail to Adao tomorrow, & have it sent off next day via Chirang to Sarbhang.

30th May. Halt. Rained till about midnight heavily. Fine in the morning & most of the day. Damdim flies awful. They seem to get

SUMMARY:
The party forded rivers along the Gale Chu, noting shelters used by men tending H.H.'s cattle en route to Bumthang, and encountered their first rhododendrons (R. rhabdotum), with Tsungpen climbing a tall tree to reach blooms. They met Bhutanese with H.H.'s cattle and made camp on the Jirgang Chu between Korphu and Nabzi, with little else of interest noted in the dense forest and no knowledge of the Black Mountain from locals.

CONTENT:
fordable, but probably impossible in summer. The river is
forded several times, and where two valleys join, both
of equal size. Here a convenient camp can be made.
Water good. All down the Gale Chu are temporary
shelters, which are used by the men looking after H.H.'s
cattle, which come down here for the winter. They are
now on their way back to Bumthang. — Today we
came across the first rhododendrons, which I am pretty
certain are all R. rhabdotum, though the red marking is
not so marked as in those I have seen before. The first
was fully 70 feet up a very tall tree, & Tsungpen did very
well indeed to get there. The flowers were almost over.
Here they are in full bloom, also high up trees, & the
shrubs are very leggy, two to four flowers, very little
scent. Nothing else of much interest, & the forest is too
thick to wander about in. Met some Bhutanese with H.H.'s
cattle, going to Bumthang, but they know nothing of the
Black Mountain.

28th April. Camp on the Jirgang Chu, between Korphu & Nabzi. 10 miles.
B.P. 205.3° Temp. 76° Time - 4.30 p.m. From last camp keep to