John Claude White

“ Old snow will also cause blindness when it has the full force of a tropical sun shining on it, but is not nearly so quick in its action.
From this somewhat dreary camp it did not take us long to descend into the pine forests, and we camped at a place called Sebu in the midst of silver firs. I had been for six or seven weeks high up above all vegetation except grass, and the change to the forest was welcome, especially as the weather was again fine. This continued as I marched down the valley, a lovely one with some of the finest trees there are in Sikhim growing in it. ”

“ Should one man kill another by mistake, he must pay the funeral expenses. Should several combine and kill another, they must pay twice the fine laid down by law. For any disputed loot lots must be drawn by the contending parties.
The general should appoint sentries, who must look to the water-supply and see they do not easily become alarmed. They should allow no armed stranger to enter the camp, and should be careful not to kill any messenger. If a sentry kills a messenger coming with terms of peace, he shall be sent to his home in disgrace, on some old, useless horse with broken harness. ”

“ As the autumn advanced, the colouring became more subdued, though not less lovely, the wild ferns and the foliage taking on exquisite tints and each stump and tree trunk a mass of flowering cymbidiums with their long, handsome racemes of lovely brown and yellow flowers. From one year's end to the other there were always flowers, and in the winter I have seen roses, heliotrope and mignonette flowering under the eaves of the verandah while the lawns were covered with snow. ”

“ In the village of Gya-tsa itself there was a fine substantial rest-house for travellers, but more especially for the Tongsa monks, who journey to Bya-gha for two months every year. On a low spur, to the north-west, a prettily built house surrounded by trees was pointed out to me as the home of a powerful family who had plotted to murder the Tongsa. The plot was discovered in time, but Sir Ugyen, although he had narrowly escaped the fate of his uncle, was merciful, and merely banished the ringleaders to a more distant valley. ”

“ It must be admitted, however, that the educated Bhutanese whom one meets outside their country, though rough in manners, are pleasant and agreeable, and that they were, as a people, never so black as they were painted by Eden, who had very good reasons for only seeing the worst side of their character. A brief account of Bogle’s impressions will be interesting, as they coincide very much with the opinion formed by me during my Mission of 1906, and serve to show that the very unfavourable judgment passed upon them by Eden was hardly a true one, and was caused very much by his own treatment. ”

“ In climate every variation was to be found, from arctic to subtropical, with scenery unparalleled anywhere in the world for magnificence and grandeur and the brightness and softness of its colouring, the bold, snow-clad and desolate expanses contrasting sharply with the rich and luxuriant vegetation of the deep-cut valleys close at hand. ”

“ Bogle found the government of Bhutan to be based on a theocracy which, while retaining a nominal, and to some extent a real, supremacy in the affairs of the country, had entrusted the administration of all temporal matters to a body of laymen. This body retained the election of the Deb Raja, the head of the temporal power, and his deposition in its own hands, made him accountable to itself for the conduct of affairs, and without its consent the Deb Raja could undertake no measure of importance in the management of the State. ”

“ One of the annual migrations down the valley is a curious sight to witness. In order to insure that no individual shall have the advantage of his neighbour in the matter of grazing, the whole population moves into Lamteng on the same day, bringing with them their entire families, all their yaks, ponies, cattle, goats, fowls, dogs and household goods, and on such a day it is safer to camp some little way off the road, as yaks are no respectors of persons and would soon have all the tents trampled on the ground. ”

“ I have also given very full accounts of my missions and explorations in this beautiful and interesting country, in the hope of removing the stigma under which it has for so long lain—a country about which so little is known, and of which as recently as 1894 Risley wrote in his introduction to the “Sikhim Gazetteer”: “No one wishes to explore that tangle of jungle-clad and fever-stricken hills, infested with leeches and the pipsa fly, and offering no compensating advantage to the most enterprising pioneer. Adventure looks beyond Bhutan. ”

“ He who has to take the oath must first wash his hands in water, in milk, and in widow’s urine. His hand is then bound in a cloth and sealed. This is done a day or two before the ordeal, in order to give him a chance of confessing. The vessel with the boiling oil is then placed so that the stones cannot be seen, and he has to take one out. If he takes out the white one without any burn he wins his case. He who gets the black stone is sure to be burnt, and loses his case. Should he who gets the white stone be slightly burnt, it means he has partially spoken the truth, and wins half his case. ”

“ If this should be allowed to continue, there would be no discrimination between right and wrongdoing, no justice, and without justice human beings cannot have happiness and peace. If there were no peace or happiness for human beings, the Dukpa Hierarchy would have failed in its errand upon this earth, and it would be useless for it to exist longer. Therefore, bearing the interest of the Hierarchy at heart, every one is exhorted to leave all partiality aside and to act up to a true sense of justice, emulating the great Saint-King Srongtsan Gompo of Tibet. ”

“ It is obvious that in the case of Bhutan, Government should utilise this unique opportunity of a new régime in that country to enter into a new Treaty and to increase the inadequate subsidy that we now dole out as compensation for the annexation of the Duars, the most valuable tea district in India. If this is not done soon China will acquire complete control in Bhutan, and demand from us, as she did in the parallel case of Sikhim, the retrocession of the Bhutanese plains. ”

“ The results of this war had a most unfortunate effect on our relations with Tibet. The Chinese suspected that the Indian Government had supported the Nepalese, and, in consequence, closed all the passes of Tibet to natives of India, and they have remained closed ever since. While this was the end of Hastings’ policy in Tibet, our friendly relations with Bhutan began about the same time to wane, and after the year 1825, when the first Burmese War broke out, to seriously suffer from the constant aggressions committed by the Bhutanese on our frontier. ”

“ The history of the building of Poonakha I heard from the Thimbu Jongpen, who, when a boy, heard it from a very old woman. According to him, the old palace and fort stood on the ridge where the Dechen-phodang stands. The greater part of it having been burnt down, the Deb Zimpon, who had usurped all the power, determined to rebuild it on its present site, which was much more convenient for the supply of water. ”

“ From the Lungna-la to Thangu was an easy march, and on reaching Thangu I left all my heavy camp equipage and went down light to the village of Lamteng, the headquarters of the migratory inhabitants of the Lachen Valley, comprising about seventy-five houses. The people are herdsmen as well as traders, and move with their cattle up or down the valley according to the season, and as the summer months are the only ones during which the passes to Tibet are open for their merchandise, they are only to be found in Lamteng during the winter. ”

“ In my jungle wanderings round Gangtak, I came across a charming site in the midst of primeval forest which seemed suitable in every way, so I determined to build on it, felling only the trees which might possibly endanger the safety of the house, a necessary precaution, as many of them were quite 140 feet high, and in the spring the thunderstorms, accompanied by violent winds, were something terrible and wrought havoc everywhere. ”

“ Should any one find a horse, any cattle, yaks, or sheep, and keep them for a year without discovering the owner, he receives one-fourth the value, provided he has not in the meantime used the animals for his own benefit.
Should any one wound a thief he is not fined.
If a thief whilst running away be killed by an arrow or stone, a small fine only is taken.
Should any one, having caught a thief, kill him, he is fined according to the law of murder. The reward for catching a thief is from 1 to 5 oz. of gold, according to the amount of the property stolen. ”

“ The people of these valleys are a particularly nice lot, jolly and bright and of splendid physique. I have travelled with them often and never had the least trouble. They are of Tibetan origin, but came into Sikhim from Hah in Bhutan. Lachung itself is a beautifully situated village of about eighty houses, with enormous cliffs overhanging it on the opposite side of the valley, and it is not very wet—probably about fifty inches of rain in the year—and with an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet, it has a delightful summer climate. ”

“ As soon as we had settled down Sir Ugyen’s sister, his two daughters, and a daughter of the Thimbu Jongpen came to add their welcome. The younger ones were rather pretty, unaffected and merry girls, while the sister, although a grandmother, was full of good-nature and showed traces of good looks. They all wore the pretty and distinctive dress, which consists of a long piece of Bhutanese cloth, woven in coloured stripes, draped round the figure, and fastened on the shoulders and confined at the waist by a band of brighter Bhutanese cloth. ”

“ But it is unfortunately the general custom now for those who are in authority to give way to their own selfish and immeasurable greed of gain, to satisfy which they resort to extortion by oppressive means—e.g., binding, beating, and imprisoning—thus rendering the subjects as miserable as tantalised ghosts in this very lifetime. And the elders of the village—i.e., mandals and pipons—in their turn act the part of spies and inform those above them as to who amongst the raiyats have some articles of value or riches. Thus they render the clear fountain of justice muddy and foul. ”

“ Turner considers the Bhutanese to be expert swordsmen, in which he differs widely from Macgregor’s account of his experience in the Bhutan war nearly a hundred years later. Before leaving Bhutan, Turner visited Wandipore, or Angdu-phodang, and Poonakha, and ultimately entered Tibet by the Paro and Phari routes. Turner does not add much to the knowledge of the country acquired by Bogle, and says little or nothing about its political institutions. He describes the Deb Raja as a popular and prudent administrator, and seems to have experienced great kindness and hospitality at his hands. ”

“ The neighbouring State of Nepal is in a measure subject to China under the treaty of 1780, and in all these years we have made but little progress in knowledge of that country, and have allowed our Resident to be a kind of political détenu in the Residency at Khatmandu. It is earnestly to be hoped that we may not drift into a similar position with Bhutan, and in order to avoid doing so constant and continued intercourse with our frontier officers should be encouraged, and a policy closely followed by which no efforts to further and advance friendly and intimate relations are spared. ”

“ After this annexation of the Assam Duars comparative tranquillity reigned in this part of the frontier. Outrages, however, continued in the Bengal Duars, and Eden writes regarding them: “The aggressions committed from the Bengal Duars on our territory and on Cooch Behar, and patiently borne by us, have been unparalleled in the history of nations. For thirty years scarcely a year has passed without the occurrence of several outrages, any one of which would have fully justified the adoption of a policy of reprisal or retaliation.” ”

“ The great obstacle which Bogle found in inducing the Deb Raja to allow open trade through Bhutan into Tibet was the monopoly of it which the Raja enjoyed along with his ministers, and the profits of which, he was afraid, the admission of foreign merchants would lessen. This disinclination to admit foreign traders was not confined to traders from Bengal only; even the merchants of Tibet were not allowed to purchase goods in Bhutan beyond exchanging salt and wool for rice. ”