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THE TIBET EMBASSY AND THE RISHI-LA, 1886
107

himself along them through the water to the other side, and then we piled up stones to support a handrail. The whole structure was so shaky that I should not have ventured to cross it if Coolman had not already done so, and even with bare feet I found it very difficult. One of the coolies also got over with his load, but the others refused to do so seeing how danger¬ ous the crossing was. Coolman stripped again and went back. I waded out as far as I could to support the bridge on the lower side and he carried the loads over successfully, one by one, much to my admiration. It is im¬ possible to live and work with men like these Nepalese without feeling for them a respect which one never has for Hindus.

After we were all safely over the stream, I rested a couple of hours in the shade by the river before beginning the long hot ascent to Mongpo. I watched the flight of the great gorgeous butterflies which came up and down the stream, sailing in and out of the foliage as if searching for suitable roosting-places for the night. I have never been able to under¬ stand how these large insects manage to protect themselves during the torrential rains which so frequently occur. When there is no wind, the undersides of large leaves no doubt give shelter, but when every leaf is in a state of violent agitation, many of the butterflies must be almost drowned; in fact, they soon lose their freshness, so that, of a dozen which one catches, not more than one or two are absolutely perfect. The road up to Mongpo, a constant ascent of 3,000 feet, was very fatiguing, and the stifling air of the lower half of the road made me think it longer than ever. When after two or three miles I reached the lower groves of cinchona, the sweet scent of the flowers filled the damp hot air, and attracted many butterflies, Pienda ornithoptera and Papilios, which I was too tired to pursue. Half an hour before dark, a pony, kindly sent down to meet me by Gammie, was welcomed as I had never welcomed a pony before, and the cool of the evening and a good dinner soon made me forget the ex¬ hausting labour of the day.

At the Bath meeting of the British Association in 1887 I read a paper on this survey, and when I went down to Calcutta after the dispersal of the embassy I discussed the matter with Sir Richard Temple. But he had already another plan in his head, and I did not succeed in convincing him that the Rishi-la might be made at a comparatively small outlay into the easiest and most direct route between the plains of Bengal and Tibet. As I have not been over the cart road which was subsequently made in order to facilitate the military expedition to Chumbi which was the sequel to our embassy, I cannot compare the two routes.

On reaching Darjeeling I got the news that the Mission was abandoned. The Indian Government had made a bargain with the Chinese, that if the Mission was given up the Chinese Government would at once appoint a commission to delimit the frontier of Northern Burmah which had been a burning question for some time. # Though we were all very much disappointed at the time, yet I am now sure that the Government were right in this action, as by this time the Tibetans had practically declared war by occupying and fortifying a place called Lingtu in Sikkim, which they had never even claimed as their own. This led to the military


1 This was the Anglo-Chinese Convention, of July 24th, 1886.