Sl'2 CAPTIVITY AND KELEASE 
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) Enghshmen 
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, Ripe 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 Rajah'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 
