Part 21 - Tsetang halts, meeting with Ata Ulla, and march to Rong (Rongchaka) Dzong

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SUMMARY:
While halted at Tsetang, the party sent Pimbo back to Gonkar to recover 11 boxes of kit, which he found near Chora. They met the Ladakhi trader Ata Ulla, who spoke about Bailey, showed bird eggs from near Lhagyari, and helped procure a sheep. On 26 March they marched to Rong (Rongchaka) Dzong with poor bullock transport, and the writer suffered a minor fall from a pony.

CONTENT:
Atta Ulla Khan, a Ladakhi merchant trading in Tsetang

Kongka reluctantly to send Pimbo back to Gonkar to find out what has happened. That may mean a four or more days stay in this filthy place. This has made us vow not to stay in any more houses now. They really are too dirty for words. On arrival here we saw Ata Ulla, an old Ladakhi trader who has been here for 30 years or more. He lives here with a few other Mohammedans—all of whom dress as Tibetans, and all of whom are despised by our own servants. However I am sending Culla and Daud to see them today. Tsetang is quite a picturesque place from a distance, with two red and brown gompas and all the rest of the houses whitewashed. The village lies under a hillside, faces north. There are more trees than we have seen elsewhere—all willows and poplars, the poplars being in many cases very old and fine trees. The river narrows a great deal here. We are told kowas can go down another day's march, but are not advised to use them further.

24th March. Halt Tsetang. We had to halt here to allow the 11 boxes of kit left behind to be found.

25th March. Halt Tsetang. Pimbo went back yesterday 24th to look for it, and luckily found it before reaching Chora. He returned at 6:00 pm with the kit. These two days have been beastly. The wind and dust are perfectly awful and everything gets full of sandy dust. We have seen a good deal of Ata Ulla who begs us to come and talk each day. It is really a question of listening to him talk about Bailey. He showed us two eggs, properly blown, of what he said were crossoptilon from near Lhagyari, 5 others of which he gave to Bailey. And he told us all about Bailey giving him a gun for which he had a few cartridges. With great difficulty we have got a sheep for Rs 2/12. They don't like killing them this month they say, but seem to do it themselves all the same. Ata Ulla has been a great help in this way.

26th March. Rong (Rongchaka) Dzong. 14 miles. A lovely day, but spoilt by the awful transport. With some difficulty we got the transport to turn up early and were off by 7:45. But it was nearly all bullocks, and our boxes suffered very badly. Although a good path and only 14 miles, the last dozen loads only got in at 7:45 pm—12 hours for 14 miles. I only rode a short way, but when I did mount, the pony went off splitarse, fell on its head and threw me over its neck. I was lucky in being on a good bit of path and only skinned my finger badly, and dislocated the...