birds I hardly collected any, as most of them were now in bad plumage, and we had already worked this range pretty thoroughly.
When I returned to Darjeeling I found that it was still, uncertain whether or when the expedition would start. Rumours of the invasion of Sikkim by the Tibetans were rife. Even if we had not been opposed on the frontier, the condition of our transport .mules, which had now been for two months exposed on a bare ridge without shelter and with little exercise in the height of the rains, was very unsatisfactory; and I feel certain that if orders had come to start, we should have lost a great many of the mules before getting into Tibet.* Telegraphing between Simla and England continued daily. I fear that if any inquisitive Member of Parliament had asked questions as to the cost of the Mission, the replies would have been extremely unpleasant both to the Indian Govern¬ ment and to Macaulay. But so far as I ever heard the only question asked was why an embassy which was intended to negotiate a Treaty of Commerce included no commercial member; to which it was replied that I was supposed to have the necessary knowledge—a compliment which I neither anticipated nor deserved.
At this time (July, 1886) a change of Government had taken place in England, and I was rather surprised to notice the immediate. change of attitude on the part of Macaulay towards myself. Ever since he arrived I had observed a decided coolness, which I could only account for by supposing that he did not want a member of the expedition who, though under his orders for the time being, had nothing to gain or to lose by subservience to his ideas; his dictatorial methods, I thought, characterised the Indian Civil Service at that period and were distinctly prejudicial to independence of thought or action. These methods were said to have been to some extent made fashionable by Sir Richard Temple, who was a Governor of extraordinary ability and energy but masterful to a degree. Macaulay was one of his men and had been inspired with the same ideas, but when he learnt that my brother-in-law, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, was a member of the new Conservative Government, as Chief Secretary for Ireland, it seemed as though he looked on me as a person whose influence might possibly be useful, Anyhow, for the rest of the time he allowed me to go about as I liked.
I wished to explore a new route to the Tibetan frontier which, from the little information we could get, seemed likely to be a shorter and less difficult route to Chumbi than the roads over the Jelep-la, Yak-la, or Cho-ia passes, all of which at that time were in much the same bad or impassable condition for pack animals as they had been when I first visited the frontier in 1870. I obtained the assistance of a qualified surveyor, Mr. Prestage, who was an engineer on the Darjeeling railway, and we started together to examine this route known as the Rishi-la.
I started on August 12th, after arranging to meet Mr, Prestage, who was not able to leave till two days later, on the other side of the Tista. Mr. Paul, who was going to settle up accounts and send away the elephants which had been awaiting the start of the Mission near Rhenok,
- Exactly the same trouble with the mule transport supplied by Government
occurred with the Everest expedition in 1921.
