Chumbi October 20th 1904

My dear Delia,

Well at last we have got back safely to Chumbi. We were fortunately the first column so did not meet with the snow blizzard between Phari and Tuna which the second column experienced however we received the snow in camp here. The night we arrived it began to rain and at 11pm when all were asleep turned in to snow. We slept unconsciously until the weight of the snow brought down our tents and there was everyone of us suffocated by the weight of the snow on our chests and then there was the dreadful ordeal of having to crawl out in to the blizzard and try to erect our tents again - as the poles were mostly broken this was an impossibility and several men had to walk about all night.

Of course everything in the tent became wet and it was impossible to dry anything as it continued to pour all next day and the camp was running in slush and water - one got soaked every time one left the tent and could not even reach the Battery for one's meals. However with a tin of biscuits and soup made out of a Soup Tablet I managed to survive the day. All of us agreed that it was the worst day that all of us had ever spent. This was how Chumbi greeted us. It finished off an Enteric case who had been lingering here for the last four months, a Fusilier whom I left behind when we advanced. Poor fellow we buried him yesterday

We march again the day after tomorrow on our last march to Silingor where we arrive on the 30th. I tried to write to you yesterday 'Sailing December 15th' as this would also mean that I have arrived here safely but the snow has brought down the telegraph wires and we are cut off from India. The march from Gyantsee was fairly comfortable except for the early mornings when we occasionally had 25 degrees frost. I am much looking forward to my leave until I am back - if I get it. There is much to do after arriving at Calcutta, demobilising the hospital, handing in my equipment and squaring up the business but after a few days I should be able to get off. I am wondering what my kit stored for the last year at Kings my agent in Calcutta will look like - I hope they have not all been eaten up by white ants.

I received another English mail yesterday, letters from Lady Hapwood. Bertie, I am sorry to hear that you have received so few letters from me while at Lhassa - it is quite possible they have been stolen for the stamps because I wrote dozens of letters while I was there. It is bad news to hear that things on the Stock Exchange are as bad as ever. B tells me that he has already sent you £20 - as his share of the rent for the next year - and I will send you my £20 directly I have arrived in India and have time to look about and unpack. You might like to tell Grandma that her cheque for £10 will arrive the end of the month. A week before I left Lhassa I sent you £2 for a certain purpose. I hope this letter has not been stolen - It was a cheque an 19th September. Your letter received yesterday spoke of your good time at Waybridge on Holt where you were staying. You mustn't worry too much about the illnesses of the youngsters - babies are often ailing but pick up again rapidly.

Well no more I am very fit. Much love to all

Your affectionate brother

Cecil Wilmot Mainprise.

Phari Fort 26-03-1904

My dear Delia,

Just a line, We left Chumbi on the 24th and though the night before we left we had a snowstorm since them we have had splendid weather. The three-day march has been accomplished very quickly though in the early mornings it was bitterly cold and the ice in the paths made the riding sometimes very dangerous. However "Ping-tang" the pony carried me along very well and I have not been overtaken by any mountain sickness which generally seizes first coming in to Phari as we are 3,000 foot higher than Chumbi Valley.

We arrived yesterday about 1pm and I had a good lunch with the Battery who arrived before the hospital. In the afternoon all Officers commanding Units had to go and see the General - to learn what they had to do and what Transport would be allotted them. He has given my hospital three more mules so I shall travel more comfortably now. This morning at 9.30 am the General held a review of the whole advancing party - and put us through certain movements in case of attack at night. We of course the hospital are in the Centre and our place is between the Battery and the Guns under Lieutenant Luke RA - we are just behind the General and the Staff and in front of the Native Field Hospital so that if we are attacked and the General falls he will be popped in to our hospital before he can say "knife".

The order "form Square" was given and I gave the order to unload our Medicine Panniers from the mules - and we got everything ready to treat Wounded. On the "advance being given we all loaded up and went on again. I told the OC Battery to send me a man to cut up - but unfortunately he forgot all about it. We receive our final orders this afternoon and we start for Tuna tomorrow morning. We shall wait at Tuna for a few days and then start straight for Gyantsee and it is after Tuna we expect fighting as the Tibetans have assembled at Guru 16 miles from Tuna. Goodbye no time to write more as I have a lot of work to do, hoping you are all well.

Your affectionate brother C Wilmot Mainprise.

Editors Note: Photograph The Tibet Album. "Phari Dzong" 05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum. Accessed 26 Mar. 2009 . For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The British Museum.

Chumbi 15-1-1904

My dear Bertie,

I received your letter this morning and I was glad to hear that you had had such a splendid Christmas. There is a Drake Brackman in this show. I expect it must be a brother of your friend. My last letter I wrote direct to Delia as I wanted it to catch the mail. I continued from Kapaap from which place I despatched my last letter to you and which you tell me you forwarded on. Except for the cold and the hard going over huge boulders very slippery from the ice, the Talap Pass presented no difficulties and we arrived here on the 7th, finding the General and the Mission had gone of to Phari, twenty miles from here. There has been no fighting except that one officer of the Gurkhas 4th had a brickbat thrown at him when at Phari which knocked him silly for a time during which his rifle and ammunition were run off with. It has been kept very quiet and I don't know the full particulars. He had some Sepoys with him but they had been given instruction not to fire so the fellow, a Lama, got away all right.

Half the troops are here and half at Phari but I understand that we are all shortly moving up to Phari where about 2000 Tibetan are expected to be threatening about. It is intensely cold here but my Tibetan Doolie bearers have built me a house of stones where I have a fire all day long and I hence am fairly comfortable at night. I crawl in to heaps of bedding sown together to form a "bag" which is the only way to keep warm. Stores are now off and I have come down to the Tummy's ration of bread, meat, potatoes, sugar, Tea, etc. Luckily I have an 'A' cook who makes these things into a splendid dinner. At present I am messing in the hospital as the tents are so small and everyone is moving about daily so much so that everyone makes their own arrangements for messing and there is no general mess. However when I do dine out I find that I get a much finer dinner at home.

I have very few sick so I am not overworking. I tried my hand at my rifle yesterday and hit a handkerchief rolled in to a knot at one hundred yards twice following - my only shots - so I think it is fairly accurate. I then had a turn with my revolver where I went all round a tin - could not hit it for "nuts" so before I fire at a Tibetan I shall run up to him and fire. I am actually keeping a diary so I shall be able to write a book on my return.

I went to see the only English woman in Tibet, a missionary at Yatang. She has been here since 96 -although the Indian Government have tried hard to turn her out. She keeps a "store" otherwise the Tibetans themselves would turn her out. I bought some stores and she gave me the most delicious lunch ending up with some Mince Pies so I did very well. Her name is Miss Anna Taylor and her Sister describes in the Illustrated London News Supplement of December 5th 1903, a visit to her and this part of the World. There is also a lot about her and Tibet in the Guardian, which number I do not know (this information for Delia).

My dog Pincher is doing wonderfully well and I do hope he will live. I have never seen him fitter with an appetite like a wolf. I received Delia's mail letter yesterday, written on Christmas day. I'm afraid my money for toys for the Children arrived too late. Still it would do for New Year's day. Everyone seems to have been exceptionally kind to the youngsters who had any amount of toys. Goodbye, I am very fit and actually managed to have a bath today at 12 o'clock when the sun was up.

Your affectionate brother

Cecil

PS: The two Sappers here are Capt. Elliott CRE and Garstin - Sappers & Miners (Madras) - but don't think they have met you. Cecil.