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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

Ladāk, had provided, I could never have got myself carried over the difficult ground ahead and
across the troublesome Sasser glacier.

It was a great relief when after nine trying days of travel I was met at the highest Ladāk
village on the Nubra River by the Rev. S. Schmitt, in charge of the Moravian Mission Hospital at
Leh. Suffering himself from the after-effects of a severe illness, he had with kindest self-sacrifice
hurried up across the high Khardong Pass to bring help. Owing to my exhausted condition, due
largely to the exertions and hardships which had preceded the accident and, no doubt, predisposed
me for it, he was obliged to postpone the operation needed by my right foot until after we reached
Leh on October 12. There all its toes had to be amputated. His kindness and that of his fellow
missionaries provided me with much-needed comforts. But nearly three weeks passed before I was
considered strong enough to face the fatigues of the fortnight's continuous travel down to Kashmir.
The wounds left after the amputation were very painful, and healed only with extreme slowness. So
another long halt was imposed at Srinagar by the advice of my old friend, Dr. A. Neve, the distin-
guished surgeon and mountaineer; but this was made quite refreshing by the hospitality and
attention I enjoyed on the part of the Assistant Residents, Captains D. G. Oliver and A. D.
Macpherson. Help received in the ever-cherished surroundings of Kashmir facilitated my multi-
farious labours.

At last I could begin my first attempts at walking with crutches, and by December 1 start on
my way down to India. My wounds were still giving trouble. So the rest and care enjoyed
at Lahore under the hospitable roof of my old Punjab friend Sir Edward Maclagan was a great
boon, easing much work that final settlement of official accounts and the like still called for.
On my way to Calcutta, where the need of various official interviews and a kind invitation from
another old friend, Colonel Sir James Dunlop Smith, Private Secretary to H. E. the Viceroy, called
me, I paid a flying visit to Dehra Dun. There the friendly help of Colonel (now Sir Sidney) Burrard,
then Superintendent of the Trigonometrical Survey of India, enabled me to make adequate arrange-
ments for the publication of our topographical surveys. During my few days' stay at Calcutta
Lord Minto gave fresh proof of the encouraging personal interest with which he had followed
my travels, and of his benevolent thought for my Indian assistants. It was due to Lord Minto's
personal interposition that poor Naik Rām Singh's claims were promptly met by the award of
the special pension already referred to. Rai Lāl Singh, who under exceptional hardships had dis-
played devoted zeal and energy such as I had never seen equalled by any Indian, received richly
earned official recognition by the award of the title of Rai Bahādur in the Honours List of the New
Year, 1909, as well as departmental promotion. To Surveyor Rai Rām Singh the Royal
Geographical Society had before awarded a valuable prize in acknowledgement of his services
on successive expeditions. Through the kind attention of the Hon. Sir Harcourt Butler, then
at the head of the Indian Foreign Office, Chiang Ssŭ-yeh, my excellent Chinese Secretary, was
presented with a valuable gold watch as a special mark of the Indian Government's gratitude.

On the day after Christmas, 1908, I was at last able to take ship at Bombay for Europe.
Under the influence of the much-needed rest assured by the voyage the last of the wounds
healed, and when I set foot for a brief halt in the city of Marco Polo, a short walk had just become
possible without pain. On January 20, 1909, I reached London, and there had the great
satisfaction of learning that all my cases with antiques had a few days before safely arrived at the
British Museum.

I knew well that the return from a long journey like mine could not mean rest, but only
the prelude to labours in some respects more arduous and important than the work in the field.
But fortunately encouragement from different sides enabled me to face them with good hope. On