✔ Written by an English officer who stayed in the Kingdom of Sikkim 1887-1908 ✔ Politics and lives of the local people in Sikkim and Bhutan ✔ His adventures, observations, humanity, and photographs, all in this one rare book
★★★★☆
🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
A journal written by an English officer who stayed in the Kingdom of Sikkim between 1887 and 1908. He was born in the Indian Empire and was sent to Sikkim as a Political Officer, and once the border was open to the British he also visited Bhutan to witness the birth of the Kingdom of Bhutan.
He was a high class officer, yes, but if you are in the Himalaya 120 years ago, you will have to be an adventurer to perform your duties, namely, walk in the snowy mountains for weeks to get to the other places. The book does talk about politics, as well as anthropologist or folklorist aspects of the area as it was largely unknown to the West, but it also talks a lot about the nature. He was very conscious of the fact that he was walking on the land where no European had ever walked on, or even any intellectual local, so he mde record of what he saw, how he went across a river, or altitude of places, flowers and plants grown.
What's pleasantly surprising is that he is not a typical White Supremist, though back then we must to understand it being rather normal. He describes the dances and costumes of the local people in details but in an objective way, if anything with admiration. Of course some local people living in the mountain had limited access to water, meaning they were unclean and covered in flea, but he just depicts the fact with little or no personal views (though he does complain that he couldn't sleep in the night sometimes, but that's understandable! And he complains about the flea, not the way the people lived.) He depicts the kindness of the people and he denies some of the earlier English visitors to the Bhutan who had commented on their rudeness, saying Bhutanese were only annoyed by the Britain back then (naturally!) He also talks well of some of the local officers, notably he highly respects Ugyen Wangchuck, the first king of Bhutan that the people of Bhutan elected.
Claude White published the book soon after his retirement. He went to Bhutan in his final years when the king was inaugurated, so he was worried about the new country; they did elect a superb leader, but realistically, how can they develop the impoverished country? You can sense his sentiments, he set up industries and thought Sikkim and Bhutan were making a progress, but was worried that it might fall apart after his departure.
He was in an important position in these tiny kingdoms, located among the giant India, China, and Tibet. His adventures, his observations, his humanity, and photographs, all in this one rare book.
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