Part 58 - Page 58

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26th May. Halt. Again mostly fine, but not clear, and showers through the day. I had a rotten night again; Omnopon made no difference at all to me. But this morning I had no fever at all and felt much better, so went out to the nearest cliffs into Ngudup. There we found a small Daphne shrub with reddish flowers (Daphne retusa 18973), an Androsace nearly out and of a very rich tone (Androsace strigillosa 18974), a fine cushion Saxifraga 18972 (Saxifraga stenophylla sp. nov.?), a small Berberis (Berberis parisepala 18975), and one or two other little things. But what pleased me most was that I saw a lot of another Primula, completely dry and not started in any way to start growth. This was on cliff ledges, or under jutting out rocks. There is a great deal of it and it is certainly a Soldanelloidae Section Primula. I guess it to be P. eburnea. It will not be in flower for 2 months, I'm sure.

Pasang and Mundrin were also out and got a few things; Pasang getting P. sikkimensis in full flower. That makes one think this bit where we are in camp must be very late for some reason: dryness, wind, or something else. I took the .410 out today and got a couple of snow pigeons. They are very tame, but would not line up to let me get several with one shot, so I enjoyed myself and took them flying. We have prepared our loads to go on with locals when we want to. The Sokpon will look after the rest for us here.

27th May. Halt. Rain and sun mixed, but never very heavy rain, nor for very long. We all went out together today up the valley to the West, I on pony back, the rest on foot. We left at 5:30 and were back at 3:30, with, on the whole, a very poor bag of flowers. But I certainly enjoyed it, and may have done so more than I should in consequence. We found no more Primulas, although we covered quite an area at the top limit of the firs. Up there, there should certainly by now have been P. glabra and P. pusilla, but I saw no sign of either, nor of any other than Calderiana (common), P. atrodentata (very common), and P. sikkimensis (just).