Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 198 (Color Image)

0198	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

150 PEKING TO LHASA

from the Drepon to say that if he was determined

to go to Lhasa he could not stop him and would

provide " ula ". Pereira replied that he would

go. And on September 3 the Drepon • paid him

a visit, and besides a welcome present of three

tins of salmon brought with him a letter from the

Kalon at Lhasa saying that he would be glad to

see him at Lhasa. He brought also a belated

letter of June from Major Bailey giving the result

of the Derby.

" Many obstacles have blocked me ", writes

Pereira in his diary on September 3, " but I was

determined to win through at all fair costs. And

at last it looks like coming off. I would rather

have died in attempting it than have chucked it

up from funk. If the Government of India had

said ` No ', I would out of duty have chucked it.

But I gather from their refusal to help me that

they do not mind or will be glad if I get through

on my own with the consent of the Tibetans.

. . . I shall always remember that Père Schram

stood out to help me at Sining-fu. He was as

keen as myself for my success. How he will rub

his hands if he hears I have got through."

So Pereira set about his final preparations.

He enlarged the Indian map of the road from

Chamdo to Lhasa, put in a lot of new detail,

correcting the names of places and giving all the

stages in green. But Huc's places and passes he

entered in red because, though he was fairly

accurate, he exaggerated the perils ! Also he got

both Chinese and Tibetan names of the stages.

His following now consisted of his old boy Liu,

the half-caste muleteer he took on at Tangar, a

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