| caption: |
Chapter Seventeen. Pangsha Burns |
| caption: |
decision to burn Pangsha's colony village |
| text: |
We sit down again to our interrupted meal with light hearts, and enjoy the so far disdained tins with relish. But we cannot rest long, for Pangsha's colony on the shoulder of the mountain is four miles away, and it must also be burnt to the ground. Mills (144) thinks that it will be an easy march along the bed of the valley, and that we will be able to climb up to the colony before evening, returning to Noklak by the light of the full moon. |
| text: |
Quite frankly, I am horrified by this programme; I feel we have already had quite enough trouble and excitement for one day. However, Mills is determined, and we start at about three o'clock down the valley, though not for long on the comfortable march Mills has promised us. Soon the broad valley narrows and, to our great disappointment, the river changes from a gentle stream to a swift-running torrent. In some places it rushes between steep cliffs, and to make any progress we must wade downstream in the icy water or scramble over the precipitous banks through a tangle of jungle. |
