Mount Everest, the Reconnaissance, 1921Howard-Bury, Charles
History
Mount Everest, the Reconnaissance, 1921
Howard-Bury, Charles
Everest, Mount (China and Nepal); Mount Everest Expedition (1921)
During our time of enforced waiting at Darjeeling, we came in for the
Lebong races--a unique and very amusing entertainment. The course is a
small circular one, where the top of the Lebong spur has been levelled,
and only genuine Tibetan and Bhotia ponies are allowed to race there.
There were always large entries for these races, as they were very
popular among the hill-folk, who flocked into Darjeeling from great
distances, dressed in their finest clothes and with their women covered
with jewellery and wearing clothing of brilliant shades of green and
red. There was very heavy betting on each race, and the amount of money
that the coolies, sirdars or servants were able to put up was
astonishing. In most of the races there was at least a field of ten,
which made the start a very amusing affair. The jockeys were all
hill-boys, and as they and the ponies were up to every dodge and trick,
and were equally anxious to get off first, and as most of the ponies had
mouths of iron, it was always a long time before a start could be made,
and in nearly every race one or more of the ponies would run out of the
course at the point nearest its own home.
On May 13 Major Morshead with his assistant surveyors and fifty coolies
left Darjeeling for Khamba Dzong. They went the direct road up the
Teesta Valley correcting the Sikkim map as they went along. Their object
in going this way was to connect the Indian Survey with the new survey
that it was proposed to carry out in Tibet. This would occupy all Major
Morshead's time until we should be able to join him at Khamba Dzong in
June.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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