Part 79 - Langong travel and halt; logistics and meeting with gyimpu (18–19 June 1933)

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SUMMARY:
Travelled to Langong with yaks, purchased and slaughtered a sheep en route, and planned transport towards Molo and the Shothang La. The following day was a rain-bound halt, during which the gyimpu visited with a peace offering to discuss recent coolie troubles and a broken bridge, and coolies were paid a tip; only a few flowers were collected.

CONTENT:
18th June Langong. 13 miles. Rain at night, but fine nearly all day, with quite a lot of sun. It is a pity we did not have a day like this round Tsari Sama, but very likely it was not fine on the South of the Range. Instead of going down to the lower bridge a path takes off directly to the upper one. Yaks and some nice men arrived at 8 am, we were off by 9.45. Reached here at 4.0 and yaks at 5.30 pm. No change in the flowers here. Kusho has gone off to try find out what all the coolie trouble is about, but I doubt if he will get much information. Bought quite a good sheep for 3 (local) rupees on the way up, Tulia had to halal it on the spot, while the Tibetans stood back a bit. Then the old man leading the yaks said quietly "Put the tarpaulin right over it, so that it is not seen, otherwise the sahib's men better not to have stolen it." I intend to sit here tomorrow and arrange for transport to go to Molo, then to go a last time to the Shothang La, see what difference there is up there.

19th June. Halt. Langong. Rain all day, till the evening. The gyimpu came at 4.30 this morning with a peace offering. I saw him later and had a talk about things. He told some story about the Pachakshiri people having broken the bridge, which was not very clear. About the other troubles he was very sorry about that, and professed it was not his fault - that the coolies had behaved very badly, and that he would do his best to see that nothing like that happened again. He is hard up for men, having been ordered as usual to send men to the place where the paper for making Tibetan notes is - near Kyimdong Dz. And he finished up by warning me of the Cemini or Clerk who gives orders under him. He was a bad man he said or gathered that he thought a good deal of the trouble was due to him - which is what I thought. So I eventually said I had no grudge against him and we parted friends. When he brought the coolies for pay, he begged on their behalf for a tip, which I must say I was not anxious to give. But as it would probably make things easier for him, I gave out 2 tangas each. His clerk is certainly a nasty bit of work, as is often the case, and he seems to have a good deal of power. Went out in the evening and got a few flowers, but there is not very much to be had yet. A good deal coming on now, on the South faces.