ABSTRACT
We continued our descent next day (January 13) down to the water’s edge, and then definitely departed from the road, turning to our left in order to follow the river-bed up to its source. The road itself crosses the river and goes on to Gantok, many miles beyond. From Gantok there is another road which returns to the Tista some twenty-five miles farther on, and then follows the river in its northerly course to the passes, so that ordinarily we should have gone on to Gantok and then come back to the Tista. But Gantok being the capital was inhabited by spies of the Tibetan Government. A visit there, consequently, was to be avoided at all costs, or Lhasa, my objective, could never be attained. Being compelled to leave the road we had now the problem of making a direct pathway for ourselves from our present point to the village of Drikchu, farther up the stream, where the road from Gantok rejoins the Tista. For the most part there was not even the pretence of a path, and for the rest there was a trail fit only for coolies passing in single file. It was quite impossible to use this trail for animals, especially when loaded; that is, impossible to use it in the condition in which we found it, as the pathway on either side was hemmed in by thick jungle growth. The journey of only some twenty-five miles was destined to occupy us for several days, as it was necessary for us to go ahead of the caravan, and with our huge knives of Nepalese and Bhutanese make, the only ones used in Tibet, cut away enough of the ferns, bamboo sprouts, and other wild vegetation to afford passage for our pack-animals.
