Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 199 (Color Image)

0199	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

CHAMDO TO LHASA 151

Chinese who spoke Tibetan well whom he took

on at Chamdo, and a Tibetan named En Ju

whom the Drepon sent with him to Lhasa.

At last, on September 6, in great spirits he

started for Lhasa. But he had 670 miles of very

up-and-down mountainous country to cross before

Lhasa could be reached. And even Lhasa would

not be the end of his journeyings. He would

still have to cross the Himalaya before India was

reached—no mean undertaking for a man of his age

and state of health to have to contemplate.

However, on this first day's march he had a

real encouragement. He met a messenger bearing

a letter to him, with an excellent English transla-

tion, from the Tsarong Shapé, the Commander-

in-Chief of the Tibetan Army, welcoming him to

Lhasa and saying he would give him every assist-

ance. He also said that the telegraph line had

been opened to Lhasa.

For the first eight stages he would follow the

main road to Nagchuka, and the first day he

retraced as far as Lamda the route he had followed

on his way to Chamdo. The Ngom Chu was now

much sunken. Though still swift it was no longer

the mad, swollen, red-coloured river of July, and

the side torrents were now quiet streams. He

found many wild apricots, small but quite eatable.

The sun was still hot enough for him to need a

helmet.

At Lamda he left the Ngom Chu and ascended

the small La Chu valley. It was well wooded.

At 8 miles there was a steeper rise and more

trees, mostly spruce, and he saw here a musk

deer. Then followed some stiff zigzags, and at

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