SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
was placed in his way and every discourtesy shown him. I had more than once received the most hospitable and pressing invitations from the Tongsa to visit him on the first possible opportunity, and was only too glad now to be able to accept his hospitality.
I had in the first instance to make a selection of the route by which it would be best to travel, making due allowance for the season and state of the roads. There were at least four known routes:
1. The Buxa-Poonakha route, used by Bogle in 1774 and Turner in 1783, when they entered Bhutan, and by the Bhutanese officials when they came for the annual subsidy paid to Bhutan by the Indian Government; but on a previous visit to Buxa I had ascertained that the first few marches were extremely bad, and also that the Bhutanese themselves did not recommend it.
2. That via Dewangiri, which leads directly to Tongsa, and was traversed by Pemberton in 1837-38; but this I found would be hot and difficult, and, as the most easterly one, too far removed from headquarters.
3. The road via Sipchu to Hah and Paro, along which Eden travelled in 1864. The first portion of this was reported to be in very bad order and impracticable for laden animals, added to which the crossing of the Tegon-la would probably be more difficult than crossing the higher pass, the Natu-la.
4. I therefore decided on the route which, on leaving Gangtak, crosses the Natu-la into the Am-mo-chhu Valley, thence over the Massong-chung-dong range into the Hah Valley, and thence to follow Eden’s route.
I originally proposed starting in February, to avoid the heavy storms usual in March, and to arrive at Poonakha before the summer heat and consequent migration of the Court to Tashi-cho-jong. But unforeseen circumstances delayed me till the very end of March. All the previous week there had been heavy storms, and the snow and wind were so bad that Colonel Burn, of the 40th Pathans,
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