CHAPTER IV.
THE CHUMBI V ALLEY.
B e f o r e the coming of this Mission, no white man
had ever known the Chumbi Valley. It is true that
in 1888 the British force penetrated as far as the palace
of the Maharajah of Sikkim, about two and a half miles
from Rinchengong, where the old Jelep highway comes
down from India into the valley. But beyond that
point, up to Phari itself at the mouth of the valley,
no European had ever penetrated through this most
exquisite little enclave. Bogle and Turner made their
way, indeed, over the Tang la, but they went up by
Buxar, Paro, and the Phari Pass through Bhutan. This
was one of the roads suggested for the use of the
expedition ; but it necessitated the early abandonment
of the railway and the crossing of difficult rivers before
the Bhutan frontier was reached; and finally the
Susceptibilities of the good people of Bhutan had to
to be lulled to rest.
Bhutan, in its way, is almost as much shut up
as Tibet, and in this seclusion the Government of India
most cordially acquiesces. The incoming of a bodv
of armed men into their territory would necessarily
have been regarded by the authorities of the Bhutanese
as an act to be regarded with suspicion, perhaps even
to be prevented, if possible, by armed force. Nothing
of course was further from our intention than to