SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
his way to Poonakha. He had received quite enough opposition before crossing the Cho-la Pass, certainly by the time he had reached Paro, to justify his doing so. The Government of India would have had sufficient cause to annex the Duars, as they eventually did, and the indignities to the Mission would have been spared. At the same time, one cannot help admiring the courage with which Eden faced the difficulties in his way, his determination to leave the Bhutan Government no loophole by which they could evade the responsibility of the Mission not reaching them, and the patience with which he endeavoured to gain from the Durbar the terms he had been sent to obtain.
The Mission left Poonakha on March 29, and returned to Darjeeling through Paro, where it stayed one day on April 2. The same day the insurrection broke out again.
On the termination of the Tibet Mission, and to mark the approval of the British Government of the friendly attitude of the Bhutanese and the assistance rendered by the Tongsa Penlop in bringing about a friendly settlement, the King-Emperor, in 1905, was pleased to confer on Ugyen Wang-chuk a Knight Commandership of the Indian Empire. I was in consequence deputed by the Government of India to present the insignia of the order to the Tongsa at Poonakha.
The Mission was accompanied by Major Rennick and Mr. Paul, and an escort of the 40th Pathans. The route followed was from Gangtak viâ Chumbi, Hah, Paro, and Tashi-cho-jong to Poonakha.
This Mission was accorded a warm, even enthusiastic, welcome, and succeeded in establishing relations of the most friendly character with the Bhutanese, who not many years before were bitterly hostile towards the British Government. After the ceremony at Poonakha, the Mission, at the invitation of Sir Ugyen, visited Tongsa and Bya-gha, where they were most hospitably entertained by the Tongsa Penlop. The Mission returned from Tashi-cho-jong viâ Lingshi and Tibet.
262
