New British Exploration in Nepal

Abstract

This strange kingdom of Nepal is a magnet to draw any traveller. It is a country with a violent and dramatic history, the last century dominated by the epic figure of Jang Bahadur who, having taken power from weaker hands, survived the many plots of his adversaries and ruled the country so firmly and so wisely that the office of prime minister became hereditary to his family. It is a country closely linked to our own by ancient alliance and by the long association of the Gurkha regiments, but yet aloof, holding the western influence at bay and retaining a simple, even a medieval, character. Like the rest of Asia, it has now to face a new test, the impact of Communism on a poor and illiterate peasantry. Nepal is the birthplace of the Buddha, but is ruled by a Hindu dynasty, influenced by both China and India, yet independent of both. And Katmandu the capital has its own contrasts. It is set in a lovely and fertile valley at some 4,000 feet, but from any viewpoint a fine day will show to the north and north-east the clear line of the Himalayan peaks. The pagoda-like temples, both Buddhist and Hindu, are set beside the palaces and barracks of a later and western style. In the bazaars of the old town with houses decorated by the traditional Newar wood carving, the factory products of Calcutta and the surplus stores of the American army lie beside the grains and fruits of the Nepalese cultivators. But of these things, fascinating though they are, I have but little to say, for it was as mountaineers and naturalists that we went to Nepal in 1949, drawn to a sight of this four hundred mile stretch of the Himalayan chain which includes so many of the giants: Everest with its satellites, Makalu, Kanchenjunga, Daulagiri and Anapurna, the great mountains of the world; and drawn especially by the lure of new country. It was a century since Hooker's classical journey to Eastern Nepal and since then no western traveller had seen much beyond the capital and the bordering foothills of the country. We counted it a rare privilege and opportunity to be able to go. The area which the Nepal Durbar had given us leave to explore was that of the Langtang and Ganesh Himal, ranges on the Tibetan frontier eight days' journey to the northward of Katmandu, and I remember the faint regret that I felt on first realizing that this was, by Himalayan standards, a region of lesser peaks rising to not more than 24,000 feet. But I need not have concerned myself, for in the event we came much closer to one of the giants? Gosaintham?than the map had suggested, and in any case the smaller peaks were more than a match for us.