312 CAPTIVITY AND RELEASE 



all hazards, and sent word to the Dingpun that we would 

 condescend to receive him if he would visit us ! next morning. 

 This he did promptly, and we explained to him that it might 

 be all very right and proper for him to obey the orders 

 of the Lhassa Govt. and prevent (or try to) Englishmen 

 passing from one Sikkim Pass round through Cheen to 

 another, but that it was all stuff and we did not feel our- 

 selves bound to respect their prejudices. Also we added 

 that . . . 



(Here the letter ends abruptly, the only addition is) 

 Singtam, Nov. 1, Eipe Abies Webbiana, 3 packets sent. 



The return to Choongtam prefaced the long planned 

 treachery of the Sikkim Dewan. 



Meepo, the guide, met them here, with orders to take them 

 to the Chola and Yak-la passes in East Sikkim, a way leading 

 over the same ridge (the Chola range) as the Tunkra pass already 

 explored, across Chumbi, a wedge of Tibet running between 

 Sikkim and Bhutan. 



The road passed the Eajah's residence at Tumloong, and 

 here Campbell desired an official audience of the prince. But 

 although they were welcomed by the principal people and the 

 Lamas as well as the populace, the meeting was prevented by 

 the Amlah or Council, one and all relations or adherents of the 

 Dewan, who directed them from Chumbi, where he was trying 

 to stir up strife in Tibet. 



On November 4 they left Tumloong for the Chola pass. This 

 they ascended on the 7th, but were turned back by a Tibetan 

 frontier guard on the plea of ' no road.' This guard was not only 

 polite, but protected the travellers from the sudden insolence 

 of a number of Sikkim sepoys who unexpectedly came up. 

 No less unexpected was the re- appearance, lower down the 

 road, of the troublesome Singtam Soubah, who had quitted 

 them three weeks before, short of the Kongra Lama pass, 

 obviously ill at ease, and demanding a conference with Campbell, 

 a conference naturally deferred till the evening's camp. Here 

 was waiting a great party of Bhoteas, the rough, intractable 

 element of Sikkim. They did not wait long. The night was 

 very cold ; the people crowded into the hut where Hooker and 



