Mount Everest, the Reconnaissance, 1921 — John Shaqi
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)
Phari is an extremely dirty village dominated by a stone fort and lying
under the shadow of the great mountain Chomolhari, 23,930 feet high. It
is 14,300 feet above sea level, and the climate there is always cold, as
it is never without a strong wind. In the afternoon the Jongpen, or
Governor of the district, came to call on me. He was a young man with an
intelligent and pleasant face, and came from the country between Khamba
Dzong and Shekar Dzong, so that he was able to give us much useful
information about the road; he promised that he would write to his
brother, who was acting as agent for him at his home, telling him to
entertain us and give us all facilities in the matters of transport and
supplies. He told us that he had received written instructions from the
Lhasa Government to arrange for supplies and transport for us, and he
promised that he would do his best. I gave him photographs that I had
taken last year of his fort, and also of Chomolhari; these pleased him
very much, and in return he presented us with a dried sheep which looked
mummified and smelt very strongly, but which proved very acceptable to
our coolies. It was necessary to stop here for several days as the
second party had to catch up, and they too needed a day's rest. Also the
transport that was to carry us along to Khamba Dzong would not be ready
for several days, so the following morning I went to call on the
Jongpen in his fort, where I found him living in some very dark rooms. I
presented him with one of the new lever electric torches, which he much
appreciated, though at first he and his servants were rather frightened
by it. He gave us tea and sweetmeats, and soon afterwards the head-men
of all the villages came in, and were given orders about our transport.
Their quaint attitudes of respect and their darkly bronzed faces, that
just showed up in the light, reminded me forcibly of an old Dutch
picture. Some men, too, had been sent from Khamba Dzong for orders and
to know when we should be likely to arrive there. In the course of the
afternoon Dr. Heron and I rode over to a monastery about 3 miles away
where I had been last year, and where I had taken some photographs. Some
prints of these I brought back to the monastery, and the monks were very
pleased with them. They were in the middle of a service when we arrived,
as it was some kind of festival, and the dark temple was illuminated by
hundreds of little butter lamps. The monks were all chanting their
scriptures, and this they continued to do all the afternoon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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