Part 43 - Lo La and Nyugda La to Karchung La: plant collections, weather, and travel notes

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SUMMARY:
Notes at Lo La include plant collections and a notable new Primula, with complaints about a soaked camp; David remarks on heavy rain. The following day details a march from Nyugda La to Karchung La through dense forest with rhododendrons and primulas, a hazardous descent on notched logs, late and unhappy coolies, a hut taken by Molo people, and unsuccessful attempts to obtain monal and tragopan despite sightings.

CONTENT:
Lo La. April 25. R. hookeri 3652 & 3655, ciliatum 3654, Phaeodopum 3656, megeratum 3657, Stachyurus himalaicus 3661. Daphne bholua 3658.

Chenogone wretched. The best find was a new petiolarid primula, No. 3648. But P. Normaniana is, when seen at this time, a most beautiful thing. Both are however easily beaten by P. cortusoides Sech, No. 3649 (P. laciniata), which is really a most beautiful one; other flowers, though like P. Normaniana, are much bigger.

Camping ground awful, everything soaking wet too. David is having his eyes opened. Today (27th) he was saying "what an awful place for rain". I agreed, but had to tell him that the rain would not start till after another month or a half.

Nyugda La to Karchung La
26th April. Camp near Karchung La. 8 miles. Fine morning, clouded by 10 am. Rain at 2.0 pm & most of the evening. After crossing the Chudi Chu, the ascent is steep. The hills are covered with dense forest the whole way. Tsuga (Brunoniana?) is a common tree here, & grows to a great size. Rhododendrons abound, but are yet not in full bloom mostly. Two primulas found, P. Boothii, No. 3671 (P. gracilipes), a really magnificent one, 3673 (Primula porecta?). The latter is a grand sight when growing in close clumps as we saw it about 1000 ft below the Nyugda. Over the La the descent is at first easy, then worse than ever, very steep indeed, & down notched logs the whole way. A good deal of repairing to the road had been done to these, but even so they were awful, the path is most tiring. The coolies however are very sad, many were not in camp till after 5.0 pm. We went on further than the coolies expected & they did not like having to come on. They are a very independent lot, more than once muttering of dropping the loads & refusing to go further, as they did yesterday. A Maddenii rhododendron, R. lindleyi 3667 (R. Nuttallii?) was the finest we saw. It really is a most magnificent sight when in full bloom, & like many others of the section, it has a wonderful scent. Ludlow saw some tragopan but failed to get one. Ramzana shot one yesterday, but it was never found. We have had very bad luck with monal & tragopan, having seen quite a number now, but not having got one of either yet. We had a late evening & a perfectly awful camp. My tent was in a bog, Ludlow's on a most uneven bit of ground, with just room for his bed to be put up more or less evenly. A hut had been built here on the only even good bit of ground, but this was pinched by some Molo people, & our own servants used the half we kept clean for them. A tiring day. We could have been in by 2.0 pm, & so saved the coolies, but they were almost pushed up the last mile of 1000 ft ascent, & came in very late.

Nyugda. Ludlow 44. "We are unlucky with monal & tragopan; the net result of 2 years pursuit of them so far is one monal & one tragopan."