1936 - 1937 Mission Diary

The official diary of the Gould mission to Lhasa sent by the British government. Read more about the mission diary.

November 12th, Thursday.

Meet of Mr. Gould's Hounds. 'Nepean laid a cunning trail; on one occasion it led us through a herd of camels the property of the late Dalai Lama. Our ponies refuse to become accustomed to these grotesque animals.

Richardson has been in bed today with a slight chill. The other younger members of the Mission dined with Pangda Leans, the chief Tibetan carrier and something of a character.

A few years ago his younger brother a rupon (corresponding to a R. S. M.) rebelled against his general in Eastern Tibet. As Pangda Tsang was suspected of complicity the Government ordered his house to be surrounded by the Tibetan Army. Pangda Tsang armed himself and a dozen servants and said that the first soldier to cross his threshold would be a dead man. The army laid siege. After a few days one of the defenders accidentally let off his gun. The Tibetan army fled. But Pangda Tsang didn't have it all his own way; rumour has it that it cost him a lac and a half to make peace with the Kashag.

Tsarong came to dinner with Gould; in the absence of 'the crowd' much important business was discussed.

Author: Frederick Spencer Chapman [see handwritten annotations in Diary by Hugh Richardson in MS. Or. Richardson 2, Bodleian Libary, Department of Oriental Collections, University of Oxford]

Page Reference: Pt IX p.1

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