Mr. Kingdon Ward's Expedition Mr. F, Kingdon ' Ward, ra.cs, the naturalist and explorer, who has Just returned to England after year's travelling in Eastern Tibet, brought back with him the seeds of a number of fascinating new hardy Plants collected during his journey. Mr, Ward was accompanied on_the expedition by Lord Cawdor. They) had three permanent Bhutan servants and a number of porters. Ex. citing adventures were avoided, but the travellers broke new ground by traversing the full length of the: tremendous gorge through which the Yeanpo river pierces the Himalayas.
Permission to make the journey, was obtained at the beginning of Jast year from the Indian and Tibetan Governments, and the ex. edition was in part financed by, the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society and by the Perey Sladen Memorial Fund. jade in March, and Tibet from Darjeeling by the ordinary Lhasa route. When the 'Tannpo was reached the party fol-Trwed the river for 200 miles and then began their botanical work in Eastern Tibet. May, June and July' were spent in searching for new planta, Some unknown country afterwards explored, und in October and November the seeds of the plants which had been specially ated were collected, The return was then made by the gorge sanpo, the Tibetan plateau, and Assam to Calcutta, Speaking of the results of the expedition, Mr, Kingdon Ward said] that he and: all those interested in the venture were perfectly satisfied 'The large collection of seeds brough* home was now being gone through. Kew and Edinburgh had received share, and. others had been distributed' privately throughout the eountry. Some. of the seeds had gone to Now Zealand and Africa. The! scientific results would, he thought, be interesting. It had long been recognized that Tibet might provide the key to many problems of the distribution of ford: The difficulty. was to got to the country and to carry out exploration in a very' mountainous region. Much of the: work high al party climbed to 17,000ft. and 18,000. ft, When the seeds were collected there was a good deal of snow.
Among the discoveries was a rmagnificont hardy rhododendron with full orange flowers. The bushes grew to a height of about toft. They were beautiful not only for their bloom, but also for their bril-Hiant bluey-green foliage, which could be seen miles away in the snow. Dwarf rhodendrons with scarlet blossoms were another feature. Whole mountain slopes were covered ankle deep with An ivory-coloured: Himalayan poppy was rather startling, and they had found some wonderful primulas, One specimen grew to a height of Att, while 3ft, was common. The flowers wore remarkable not only for their! size and colour, but for their! fragrance. A. golden yellow variety. carried 100 Mowers on one stem, and it grew 50 profusely as to clog.
streams. A sulphur yellow: bloom was extraordinarily fragrant, and: filled, the. air with perfume, Astonishing gentians 18in. to 2 high had each five or sea blue trumpet-shape They also had some plants described they. had: brought tack bulbs of a pink lily, of the delightfully fragrant. were germinating wil now that they wore here, and this was very satisfactory, as they had: been three or: four months on the journey and had passed through extremes of cold. and heat. The -seeds were kept al ive on the. way to Calcutta by' la ug them in thermos flasks and carbondioxi Speaking of the exploration of the Tsanpo Gorge, Mr. Kingdon Ward said that two Indian officers penetrate ed. part of the gorge 13 years ago but did not go right through. and Lord Cawdor were the first Europeans to make the passage. With its windings the gorge would be nearly 100 miles in length. The! river. contracted from anormal breadth of 600 to 800 yanis to a tumultuous. torrent 50 to 100 yards wide. Cliffs height varying from 1,000 to 2,0008t above the water, and the full depth of the gorge would be about 10,000ft. where it'eut through the Himalayas. Tt was only occasionally that the party could get down to the river, Jand mostly they were climbing up and down the cliffs. 'The scenery' was superb, and at one point a Jglacier came right down to the twater. Rumours had been heard of a great fall of the river somewhere in the gorge, but they discovered only two moderate waterfalls of ubout 40ft. to S0ft. The foliage was very dense, and progress had accordingly to be slow., Nineteen days were occupied from entry Mr. Kingdon Ward said that from the natives they received nothing but kindness and courtesy. The population was very sparse, and in the main agricultural or pastoral. The pastoralists tended herds of
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