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SUMMARY:
Notes on bright yellow primula, rhododendron and fir-covered hills near Charme, with willows, peach, and walnut in side valleys, and larches common on north faces from Kyimpu to near Charme. On 12 May the writer follows the valley to Sanga Chöling via the left bank, noting good paths, slower river, two monasteries, available stores, and villages with defensive towers against Lopa invasion.

CONTENT:
Suppose the primula (proliferanda) 1578 is the usual sikkimensis, but the colour is a much brighter, richer yellow than usual. The hills on the R. bank continue to be covered with rhododendron and fir till quite close to Charme, and the S face hills are bare except where a side valley comes in. Here there are willows, peach (Local peach bears fruit about as big as large beer marble) and walnut trees. Larches are common from Kyimpu to near Charme on N. faces.

12th May. Sanga Chöling. 11 m. B.P. 193.4 Temp. 68° Time 11.0 am. Ht. 10775'. Fine, a perfect day, and pretty hot once the sun was into the valley. Path up the R bank at first, crossing to L bank at about mile 3 and then through a good deal of cultivation. The path wanders about a lot, up and down side valleys, but good the whole way. The river is much slower running than usual all the way. Continue up a good path on L bank to Sanga Chöling. Here there are two monasteries, and a few houses, crammed together where the valley is narrow and steep-sided. Some stores of flour and butter etc. available. The villages on the way up were fascinating, each with its high tower, built to guard against Lopa invasion. High up on the

SUMMARY:
The diary notes arrival at Sanga Chöling after severe cold, the first fine day in some time, active seed collecting and drying of specimens, and a letter from Ludlow with specimen numbers. It records news of Tarka’s party (with Tendrup and Tsering), plans to proceed via Tsona toward Trashigang, kindness from Ashi Gyelmo, and missing photo enlargements likely held by the Kharpon Dzongpon. The party then marches to Charme with transport arranged, while men sent with rice by the HH of Bhutan fail to locate them.

CONTENT:
be glad to reach Sanga Chöling tomorrow. I purposely took no riding ponies today, as it was far too cold to ride, and would be dangerous, but Simba got on a spare pony till I spotted him, by which time he was almost too cold to walk. Everyone laughed at him, which certainly did him good.

29th October. Sanga Chöling. Fine at last. Our first day without rain or snow since leaving the Loka, we are all very glad to have it. It is reasonably warm down here too, though a strong wind blows all day. Got seed of Gentiana waltonii; Primula jaffreyana var. hyacinthina, & 2 Dracocephalums. Found a letter from Ludlow & R. vellereum 6645, Dracocephalum hemsleyanum 6646, Frac. 6647.
Tarka here: they left on 21st & seemed in good form, & have got a fine lot of seeds, more probably than I have since we last saw each other. But of course Tarka has both Tendrup & Tsering with him, & although rainy in Tsari, they had no snow. Tarka sent off Tendrup for seed & seedlings of Meconopsis sherriffii, to the Drichung La, so I will not have to go up there either. We will stop here two days & then go on without a halt to Tsona if possible, reaching there I hope on the 11th Nov. If Pemba is there, I hope I may then be able to send off Tarka's mail so as to catch him still in India. Ashi Gyelmo has been very kind, & provided a hot lunch of gyathuk on our arrival, & has sent potatoes & other things down already. She is a kind soul. The peach, Ludlow said, looked awful, covered in kutch. But she must have been taken unawares, as she has now a clean face & is as much a peach as ever. The enlargements I took of her have never turned up. The Kharpon Dzongpon must have them still.

30th & 31st October. Halt Sanga Chöling. Fine: clouded at night. Bright sun & strong wind during the day. Spent these days in camp, repacked roots of primulas, got out the dry specimens & got seeds all dried. The air is very dry indeed, & everything was soon dry.

1st Nov. To Charme. We got a letter sent on about transport, so had no difficulties with changes today, & got to Charme by noon. Dry & sunny with a very strong cold wind up the valley. Clouds over the main range, & a lot of snow on the hills south of Kaprang, but we don't see any up towards the La. I hope now to go through to Trashigang without a stop, eleven days to Tsona, & another 6 or 7 from there on to Trashigang. HH of Bhutan sent four men with rice to meet us, but did not know where we were, these poor people spent a long time wandering

SUMMARY:
Notes describe a distinctive blue flower and, at Sanga Chöling, a lovely day interrupted by a hailstorm while collecting seeds of several species. The party met Pemako people who encouraged a southern approach, camped in the same garden where an incarnation welcomed them with tea and peaches, and heard mail was in Tsona with plans to send a man. The following day was a halt for letter writing and drying seeds, with Gentiana specimens noted for specific passes.

CONTENT:
not seen before. The blue is not intense, but clear, & the plicae show up a more lilac blue, quite distinct from the lobes. It opens well out to a [T-shape] shape, & though stumpy, is very pretty. It grows more or less singly, but has up to 4 flowers on a scape.

21st Sept. Sanga Chöling. 10 m. 10900'. A lovely day, with a very bad hailstorm in between sun & clear sky. We all dawdled down here,
Gen. veitchiorum 2596 G. waltonii 2597 Cyananthus incanus 2593
only getting in at 4.0pm. spending the time collecting seed. A few expected things were not ripe, like Prim. pulchelloides, & the big androsace. But we got some of P. szechuanica, P. tibetica, the pretty, dry zone iris, & two salvias. Met the same Pemako people who were here with us last, & they again affirmed how ready they would be if we were to go to Pemako, from the South or North. They favored the South & said it was much easier that way, - they could come down much near the plains. They seem a very nice lot. Camped in the same garden, & were met by this incarnation with tea & peaches. No sign of a mail, but we hear it is in Tsona & intend sending a man off in a couple of days.
Sanga Chöling

22nd September Halt. A lovely day, no rain. Wrote letters & dried seeds etc.
Gentiana urnula for Traka La 2704, G. algida for Sokpo La 2705 2707
" waltonii for Shirap

SUMMARY:
A previously collected Sikkimensis form proved to be nivalis with only a few doubtful capsules, and Pinto obtained 150 sheets of paper to allow packing. At Sanga Choling on the 25th and 26th of September, the diarist visited a jovial head official who provided lunch, hosted lunch and tea gatherings with local officials and ladies (including an old lama), and noted Lumsden's sulking likely due to prolonged high altitude.

CONTENT:
165

Sikkimensis form which I had taken before seed were ripe near Shirab camp, turned out to be a nivalis, of which he got a few doubtful capsules. Pinto in some way of his own got 150 sheets of paper, so I can now pack everything up.

Sanga Choling
25th Sept. Halt. A good deal of rain at night & through the day. Called on the head official here, a jovial man who gave us a large enough excellent lunch. He ate little, but drank copious draughts of chang.

Sanga Choling
26th Sept. Halt. Fine most of the day, some thunder. Had a lunch party for three officials, followed by a tea party for three ladies. Both were quite successful I think, an old lama being the guest who enjoyed himself most. I produced some darts, they got quite excited throwing them. The old lady, mother of the two girls, was in good form, & although she ate little, she was thoroughly happy. She has been awfully kind to us, always sending along small things, providing a man for our mail & doing everything she could to make us comfortable. Her daughters too, especially this Incarnation, the unmarried one. In the evening Lumsden rather flew off the handle: he had hardly uttered a word all day & was obviously sulking, & at dinner let go. The cause was probably chiefly prolonged high altitude, mixed with

SUMMARY:
The diarists halt at Sanga Choling, receiving hospitality from a local mother and later sending mail via a young lama to Chague. The head lama visits and speaks of a recent scare in Lhasa involving Russians or Chinese Communists; Tsongpen returns with seeds from Karpo and the Trakan la, though the sought red Primula nivalis was not found.

CONTENT:
Sanga Choling
23rd Sept. Halt. Some rain, mostly fine and sunny. The old woman who is mother to the two girls we always see here, gave us lunch of guatu in camp, and came herself. She is a most delightful lady, full of life and talk, and her great desire was to be given some embroidery silk, a selection of which she went off with. We could get no man for the mail; all are off cutting grass and so on.

Sanga Choling
24th Sept. Halt. Got a man for the mail, through the mother's good offices, and sent him off this morning via Chague. He is a young lama and seems a nice youth. Rained in the night again. After lunch the head lama called, and was very pleasant. He has just returned from Lhasa, where he told us of scare of Russians, which may be real Soviet or Chinese Communists. However R.B. Norbu had gone to Lhasa, and the scare had quietened down. Nearly all S. Choling seems to be inter-related, and it is most complicated. We gave him some fruit salad and cake to eat, many cigarettes and four glasses of Cointreau, all of which he took with relish, a most un-lama like performance. It rained off and on all evening, and was overclouded all day. Tsongpen arrived back with a few seeds from Karpo and the Trakan la. He failed to find the red Primula nivalis, but got another one, and the P.

SUMMARY:
The diarist notes a slip into a river at camp without injury, records observations of Delphinium and gentians with altitude ranges, and recovers a previously lost fountain pen at Cyandro. A local couple visits, requests a photograph, and gives six eggs in return. The entry is set at Sanga Choling.

CONTENT:
for that by slipping on a rock and falling right into the
river at camp when starting off, but no damage done. A Delphinium gyalanum 7461
lot of a big Delphinium seen on the way down, but very Didissandra sericea 7462
little out yet. A great number of the fine big gentian grow near Ceratostigma minus 7463
Prims line the hillside above the path below Kyimpu, but I did
not see one. They grow much higher this side, from 11500' to
14000' or even 14500', whereas in the Changu Chu, I don't think I
saw them above 12000' at most. At Cyandro I lost a
fountain pen in May. I asked if it had been seen since,
and it was produced - a little bent, having been peered at by
many people no doubt, but otherwise all right. The sister
of the pretty S. Choling girl, and her husband, called here this afternoon.
Their first request was for a photograph: it seems to run in
the family. I got quite a good coloured one, which I gave
them, and they returned the compliment with 6 eggs, which I
suppose are taken from the villagers, and are almost certainly
all bad.

29th July. Sanga Choling. 10700'. 1

SUMMARY:
The diarist travels over the Cha La to Sanga Chöling and finds Sherriff already there. They note that splitting their collecting efforts during peak flowering was very successful, especially with Primulas, yielding about 50 species between them. The last six weeks were strenuous, and a week’s rest at Sanga Chöling was beneficial.

CONTENT:
July 30. to Sanga Chöling - L. 164.
Over the Cha La - I found Sherriff already there.

L. 165 "The splitting up of forces during the height of the flowering season has been a great success. S. has a number of flowers I did not meet with: & vice versa. S. has done extremely well with Primulas. We prob. have 50 different sp. between us."

L. July 31. Sanga Chöling 165.
"The last 6 weeks have been strenuous"

Aug. 1-5. Sanga Chöling
L. p. 165 "This week's rest has done us all a lot of good"

NB
Sherriff records
remains of last
6 weeks

SUMMARY:
Three halt days at Sana with rain, mist, and leeches are described. Ludlow shot a Kalij pheasant; later they saw a tragopan but had no food birds, and meat supplies fluctuated with two hens, two pheasants, and a sheep. A sick Tibetan companion with an abscess was treated with hot compresses, some pus discharged, and they planned to cut it with a razor.

CONTENT:
100

3rd October. Halt Sana. A poor day, rain or mist most of the day, therefore leeches rather in evidence. Found nothing new. Ludlow shot a very fine cock Kalij pheasant. The Tibetan is no better today: in fact the poison has gone down to his right arm and hand, and left leg too it seems. We have put on four large hot compresses today, but there is still no sign of the abscess coming to a head. A Mohammedan is a rotten man when it comes to helping a fellow creature. Our people get all food and ample practically free. They said of course they would feed him. When we looked to see what he was getting, it was dry rice alone. Ma, the sheep has been found and is now no more. The Tibetan will get a piece of him, or her. Meat comes in rushes. We had none for some time; now we have two hens, two pheasant and a sheep.

4th Oct. Halted Sana. Reasonably fine, but cloudy. No food birds: saw a tragopan.

5th Oct. Halted Sana. Rain off and on all day. Mist very low. The Tibetan is rather better today, and some pus came out of the abscess this morning. We intend to cut it this evening, with a razor blade. There seems

SUMMARY:
The diarist reports a serious epidemic to the south in Shinga Dzong, thought by Puibo to be influenza though possibly typhoid. While halted at Sana, Ludlow treated a Tibetan man's abscess and ongoing dressings improved his condition amid rainy weather and delays awaiting mail.

CONTENT:
101

to be a serious outbreak of some epidemic to
the south in Shinga Dzong. Two hundred or
more are said to have died already. Puibo
says it is influenza, though typhoid is more
likely.

6th October. Halted Sana. Fair morning, rain the rest
of the day. Yesterday Ludlow cut the Tibetan's
abscess with a razor blade. Pus just poured out
and the man was obviously greatly relieved. We
dress it four times a day, and still any amount
of stuff pours out. The hand is a little less
swollen, but still big and very painful. I wonder
if he will be able to walk down with us in
two days' time. We cannot leave him here, or
the whole thing will just start off again. I
wish the next mail would arrive. With all this
rain, one feels the need of reading matter. It is
little or no use going out in misty dull weather,
as birds are not on the move then. We should
know definitely next mail whether all our mails
have been delivered or not.

7th Oct. Halted Sana. The first good day since we
have been here. Cloudy, but sun bright in the
valleys. The Tibetan is much better, able to

Phylloscopus affinis wallichiana 10000