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SUMMARY:
Listened to the Coronation broadcast by wireless with Puntso, Tenduk, and another Puntso from Ha, and prepared outgoing mail. Halted at Chendesi with heavy rain and collected rhododendrons, primulas, and conifers. Marched from Chendesi to Phobsikha with notes on weather, altitude, timing, route, and nearby cultivation.

CONTENT:
27

I don't know. The wireless behaved very well, and we have heard the whole Coronation show from 2.45 pm onwards – that is from the very beginning. We even heard the Oath taken by the King. Puntso and Tenduk were joined by the other Puntso from Ha, and all came into my tent and listened. I am sending off a mail on 14th, so have been writing a good deal this afternoon.

13th May. Halt Chendesi. 8000 ft. Fine till 2.0 pm, then very heavy rain and hail for a few hours. Overcast in the evening. Went up the forest to the south of Chendesi, and found Rhod. Thomsonii, Rhod. Keysii and a variation of Rhod. Falconeri (?). There are lots of Prim. erythrocarpa up that way in open fields and edges of forest. Took specimens of all the conifers seen. Packed up a mail, to be sent off tomorrow morning early.

14th May. Phobsikha 98 miles. BP. 193.8° Temp. 58° Time 4.30 pm. Ht. 10500 ft. Left Chendesi at 5.30 am, reached here at 2.0 pm. Very heavy rain yesterday evening and a good deal through the night. Clear this morning: rain began falling at 2.0 pm. Path leaves Chendesi and follows a rough bearing of 250° Magnetic. At first fairly steep, but on the whole easy, with a good deal of level going. It passed several cultivated areas on the hillside.

SUMMARY:
Notes on the death of the Thimbu penlop and Tobgye’s sending of English medicine, causing concern with the Maharaja. On 30th June Ludlow and the author travelled to Lomi-Tsa-wa via Do Kyong La in clearing weather, collecting flowers including Magnolia globosa and observing that vegetation in the Trashi-cho-dzong valley and at the pass resembled Sikkim.

CONTENT:
35

Thimbu penlop. He died of dropsy & a short while ago his
relations asked Tobgye for English medicine. Against his own
lamas advice, Tobgye sent some, but with strict instructions
that the lamas should first of all decide in their usual way
whether it would do good or not. After taking one of the two
medicines, the man felt weaker, & the whole thing was
immediately reported to the Maharaja, who is said to have been
angry with Tobgye. They said nothing of the fact that the
other medicine did a lot of good. I can't believe that the
Maharaja will put any blame down to Tobgye in the end.

30th June. TO LOMI-TSA-WA. 12 miles - 6700' (An. Ht. 7700'). Ludlow & I
Embelia oleracea 182
Anemone rivularis 183 were at last able to go on our own & were allowed to shoot
Rhod. Keysii 184
Symplocos ramosissima 186 as soon as we reached the DO KYONG LA, 10410'. So we
Pedicularis megalantha 187
left at 5.30 am, although it was raining pretty hard. By
Meconopsis villosa 189
Rhod. camelliaeflorum 190 7.30 however it cleared up & remained fine till 5.0 pm. On
Berberis celestina 191
the way up & at the top we found a number of flowers,
Mag. globosa 192
Pyrola rotundifolia 193 including the magnificent Magnolia Globosa in full bloom at
Streptopus simplex 194
10000'. We also got a strange rhododendron which Dawang
Geranium pratense 198
Didissandra lanuginosa 199 has never seen before. In the Trashi-cho-dzong valley
the vegetation is quite different to what we had seen before:
trees were quite scarce, & what there were, were mostly
small. The forest again became thick, but at the pass the
vegetation was much more like Sikkim - no pines or firs, a
good deal of bamboo undergrowth & numbers of rhododendrons.