As we turned our backs upon the country we left winter behind us, and descending the Chumbi Valley once more found ourselves in autumnal surroundings. The Himalayan larch were all of a beautiful golden colour; the birch were all turning brown, and the berberis were a brilliant scarlet. Red currants and the scarlet haws of the rose were still on the bushes. The currants were no longer sour to eat raw, and we picked many of them on the way down. Our pockets, too, were filled with seeds of rhododendrons and other flowers. On the way I was met by the native officer commanding the garrison at Yatung, which was now found by the 90th Punjabis. As I passed their quarters, the guard turned out, presenting arms very smartly, and all the detachment came out and saluted. They were certainly a very well-trained detachment. Once more the Macdonald family most kindly sent over a generous meal, besides presents of every sort and kind of European vegetable. From Yatung we obtained forty-five mules for our transport. These came along very much faster than the yaks and the donkeys that we had been using. Here Gyalzen Kazi, one of our interpreters, left us to return to his home at Gangtok. I was very sorry to lose him. He had been a pleasant companion and had been of great assistance to the Expedition. He was always most willing to undertake any difficult or unpleasant job there might be, and I never heard a murmur or grumble from him of any kind during the whole time that he was with us. Our march was only a short one of 11 miles to Langra, where there was a Tibetan rest-house built in the Chinese style and rather reminding me of our rest-house at Tingri. It was a most perfect autumnal day, with scarcely a cloud in the sky. The woods everywhere were very beautiful, the dark silver fir trees showing up the scarlet and yellow of the bushes and the gold of the larch. Our cook, Acchu, was drunk again, but Poo prepared us a good meal instead. The next morning, to our surprise, on looking out we found a couple of inches of fresh snow on the ground and the snow was still falling steadily. The mules, nevertheless, were all loaded up in good time, and I followed on foot to the top of the Jelep Pass, snow falling steadily all the way—a fine granular snow. At the top of the pass the wind was blowing keenly, driving the snow into our faces. Besides the 6 inches of fresh snow here, there was a good deal of the old snow that had fallen a week or more ago, and in some places formed drifts several feet deep. It is seldom that a clear view is ever obtained on the Jelep Pass. It rained when we came over in May and it snowed now, and twice before, when I have crossed it, it rained all the time. Snow fell all the way down to Gnatong, where there were already a couple of inches of slush. The next morning was luckily fine, as we were to do a long march to Rongli—a distance of only 18 miles, but with a descent of 9,500 feet. The first few miles we walked through the fresh snow, but in the afternoon we were wandering among the sweet scents of a tropical jungle with orchids still flowering on the trees and ripe oranges in the garden of our bungalow. We had jumped from winter to summer in a few hours. The Tibetan mules came along excellently, doing the march in just over eight hours, a very different proceeding to our Government mules on the way up, which we were compelled to discard at Sedongchen. We reached Darjeeling on October 25. Lord Ronaldshay was unfortunately away on tour on his way to Bhutan, and as he had travelled via Gangtok, we had missed seeing him on the way. The next few days we spent in getting rid of the remainder of our stores, selling anything perishable that we could, getting tents dried and mended, and storing everything else in view of a second Expedition. We here said good-bye to our other interpreter, Chheten Wangdi, who had served us most faithfully throughout the Expedition, and it was with the greatest regret that we took leave of him on the railway station at Darjeeling.
Members of the Expedition.
Standing: WOLLASTON. HOWARD-BURY. HERON. RAEBURN.
Sitting: MALLORY. WHEELER. BULLOCK. MORSHEAD.
Our Expedition had accomplished all that it had set out to do. All the approaches to Mount Everest from the North-west, North, North-east and East had been carefully reconnoitred and a possible route to the top had been found up the North-east ridge. Climatic conditions alone had prevented a much greater height being attained. Friendly relations had been established with the Tibetan officials and people wherever we went. Our travels had taken us through much unexplored and new country wherein we had discovered some magnificent and undreamt-of valleys where primeval forests existed such as we had never imagined to find in Tibet and where deep filled glens with the richest semi-tropical vegetation descended as low as 7,000 feet. Many beautiful flowers were discovered in these Alpine valleys, and we were able to collect a quantity of seeds from these which I hope may help to enrich and to beautify our gardens at home. A new part of the country has been opened up to human knowledge. It has been photographed and described. The surveyors have made an original survey at a scale of 4 miles to the inch of an area of some 12,000 square miles; a detailed photographic survey of 600 square miles of the environs of Mount Everest has been worked out, and, besides this, the maps of another 4,000 square miles of country have been revised. Dr. Heron, our indefatigable geologist, himself travelled over the greater part of this area, and has carefully investigated the geology of the whole region. That the Expedition was able to accomplish so much in such a short time was due to the hearty co-operation and keenness of all the members of the party. We were a happy family and, to use a rowing expression, we all “pulled together.” Such success as we attained is entirely due to their strenuous and ceaseless efforts, and I can only express my gratitude to them for the unselfish way in which they helped and assisted me on every occasion.
The Expedition of 1921 is over; many problems have been solved, much new country has been brought within our ken, and many new beauties have been revealed, but the soul of man is never content with what has been attained. The solution of one problem only brings forward fresh problems to be solved, so this Expedition into unknown country brings within the realms of possibility further travels and further problems to be solved. There is much that yet remains to be done, much that remains to be discovered; and though we may not be privileged to discover a new race of hairy snow men, yet there is a wild and uncharted country full of beauty and interest that awaits those who dare face the discomfort and hardships of travelling in Tibet—discomforts which are soon forgotten and leave behind them only the memories of very wonderful scenes and places which the passing of time can never efface.
Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us,
Let us journey to a lonely land I know;
There's a whisper in the night wind, there's a star, a gleam to guide us,
And the wild is calling, calling, let us go.
R. W. S.