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Jean Kingdon-Ward F HILL SO STRONG JEAN KINGDON-WARD F. R. G. S. And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be removed: thou, Lord, of Thy goodness hast made my hill so strong. Psalm 30, v 6 JONATHAN CAPE THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON FIRST PUBLISHED I952 PRINTED IN OREAT BRITAIN IN THE cInOF OXFORD AT THE ALDEN PRESS BOUND BY A. W. BAIN & CO. LTD., LONDON ILLUSTRATIONS THE RIMA ROPE BRIDGE Frontispiece A ZACKRING PEASANT facing P* 44 TIBETAN PORTER (note goitre) 44 AKKEY AND PHAG TSERING 44 A MIJU MISHMI 44 THE RIMA BASIN (before the earthquake) 76 THE V-SIDED VALLEY OF THE DI CHU I I4 THE PEAKS OF DONG, NEAR WALONG "4 TIBETANS CARRYING 100 LB. LOADS IN THE DI CHU GORGE 142 THE DIPHU LA PATROL PASSING THE WRECKAGE OF CAPTAIN SAILO'S CAMP I 76 HAV. INDRA BAHADUR LIMBU 208 HAV. PAHAL SING RANA 208 JEM. BIR BAHADUR GURUNG 208 RFM. TAKEM ABOR 208 NOT SNOW BUT BARE ROCK (photo: N. E. B. Warner) 232 10,000 FT. PEAK IN THE LOHIT VALLEY * 32 All of these illustrations are reproduced from photographs taken by Mr. and Mrs. Kingdon-Ward with the one exception noted above. MAP THE LOHIT VALLEY facing fi. 13 PREFACE As this book is not a scientific one, it may be of interest to readers to know where they can find a more technical descrip- tion of matters discussed in it. Plant Hunting in the Lohit Valley by F. Kingdon-Ward discusses the botanical and horticultural aspects of the expedition (it is to be found in the Jounzal of the Royal Horticultural Society, June 1952); while an account of the Great Assam Earthquake of 1950, from the seismologist's point of view, appeared in Nature on January 27th, 1951, together with an eye-witness account of the earthquake and its after effects by F. Kingdon- Ward. J. K-W. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thanks to all who have helped in the preparation of this book and the journey it records. Especial thanks are due to Messrs. Cadbury-Fry (India) Ltd., who supplied all our choco- late at a generous discount; to Mr. and Mrs. John Selander, Beth and Pete Vining, and Dr. 0. W. Hasselblad (all of the American Baptist Mission) for hospitality, and for a gift of drugs and dressings; to Nick Warner, for permission to use an air photograph; and to my mother, who found the title to this book. Finally to Frank, my husband, for everything - more especially for his unfailing patience and encouragement which brought us safely through. J. K.-W. To the OFFICERS, .hf.C.O.s, AND MEN of the especiall_y those of 2nd BATTALION, No. 3 PLATOON this book is Dedicated IN ADMIRATION AND AFFECTION CHAPTER ONE E I T H E R I nor my husband are economists, but we both believe firmly that good memories are the soundest N investment. That belief was our justification for setting out in 1950 on a major plant hunting expedition to the borders of Assam and Tibet, on a wicket that financially was none too sound. At the time we started there was a considerable gap between our estimated expenses and the funds we had raised to cover them. When we returned, after ten eventful months, the gap was wider. Some would say we were improvident. Perhaps we were, but we have no cause to regret our im- providence, which so long as life lasts will go on pa9ng us rewarding, tax-free dividends. We returned from a plant hunt in the Naga Hills at the end of November 1949. Seven weeks later we were away on another, more ambitious. It can be a tiresome journey to Sadiya, the last town in India, and we had to thank the Chief Scientific Officer of Tocklai Experimental Station, in the heart of the tea-growing districts of Assam, for lending us a lorry, thus saving us a journey by train with a change in the small hours. We packed the truck the night before, and left Tocklai at seven in the morning with nearly a ton of kit in the back. It was January agrd, 1950. In Assam all travel schedules are qualified by 'unforeseen delays', and one soon learns to allow for them on a generous scale. Such annoyances as changing a wheel on a long journey by road, or waiting half an hour at a level crossing while trains are shunted aimlessly to and fro, do not fall into this category. One allows for them automatically, as they occur so frequently in Upper Assam where hardly any roads are tarmacked, and road and rail cross one another repeatedly. At Panitola, however, we were so far ahead of schedule that we stopped for half an hour to have coffee with a friend. 13 Shortly after she had seen us on our way again, a mechanic in dungarees stood in the middle of the road beside his lorry, waving to us to stop. We drew up and asked what was wrong. 'Petrol,' he said (rather sheepishly, we thought). 'I've run dry and it's seven miles to the next pump. Could you let me have enough to get me there? I'll pay it back in Tinsukia.' Petrol at that time was harshly rationed, and we had had difficulty in getting a police permit for the road trip to Sadiya at all. It was therefore essential that we recover the loan in kind, not in cash, or the Tocklai truck would not get home. We were not without misgivings, but we could hardly leave the wretched man on the road for ever; so Frank told our driver to empty a jerry-can into the tank of the stranded truck, and on we went, closely tailing it all the way to the next pump. Fresh white paint proclaimed unabashed, in letters a foot high, the ownership of the truck: 'A.O.C. - ASSAM OIL COM- PANY'! We got our petrol. The long drive went without a hitch, and when we reached the Lohit river at Saikhoaghat, we drove across the loose sand straight on board a waiting ferry-boat. Before three o'clock we were in Sadiya. With vivid memories of the previous year, when we had reached Manipur Road from Imphal (134miles) after twenty-two hours on the road, it took me a little while to adjust myself to the fact that we had really arrived, with no delays of any kind foreseen or unforeseen. We had covered 160 miles in six hours! I half suspected there must be a catch somewhere. Still wondering, I wrote in my diary that evening: 'If everything goes as well as this first day, I should think the "excursion", as the Assam Government calls it, will be about as dull and trouble-free as a Cook's tour.' I need not have worried. We stayed ten days in Sadiya and were busy most of the time, collecting rations from the bazaar and seeing people. On January 28th our two servants arrived. One was tall - in fact, very tall; the other short - in fact, very short. Both were from Sikkim and both were multi-lingual. They made a good impression from the start. Phag Tsering was twenty-five, short and stocky, bandy- legged, and walked with a nautical roll. He was not particular about his dress, except that he had a weakness for bright- coloured scarves, which he generally wore bound tightly round his middle, matador fashion, or in a rakish turban that made him look even smaller than he was. His other weakness was for hats of any and every description. For some reason hard to explain the expedition started out with fourteen hats, a dozen of which were ours, and to these was added one more on the way up the valley! 1n the course of time Phag Tsering acquired, on loan or for keeps, quite half of them, but unfortunately not the one that I should have been happiest to give him - a battered old black trilby of Frank's. Phag Tsering was an excellent cook, and it was a pity he had so little opportunity in the Lohit Valley to show what he could do. He was also a good plant collector, and in that capacity he had rather more scope. Like many border hillmen, he was an exceptionally good linguist and spoke Tibetan, Bhutanese, Nepali, Sikkimese and Hindustani fluently; but in spite of such ability Akkey exceeded him, for besides all Phag Tsering's languages he could speak quite a lot of English as well - especially when not too sober - and some German. Akkey was altogether a different type, in appearance at least. He was very tall for a hillman, well built, rather too good-looking, and a bit of a dandy. In Sadiya he shamed his employers with the magnificent horsey clothes he wore, which were so much smarter and newer than anything we could boast ourselves. Akkey was thirty-seven, a man of the world with wide interests, and far more sophisticated than Phag Tsering. It was time that we moved up the valley while the weather was still good, and Frank went to the Political Officer to see whether we could have forty Mishmi porters on February 1st. '5 The answer was not promising: all were engaged in portering rations for the Assam Rifles outposts, and would not be free before the middle of the month. There was nothing for it then but to cut out the Mishmis and pick up Tibetans in the bazaar, who were a good deal more expensive to employ.
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