Key Information

Photographer

Arthur Hopkinson

Collection

A. J. Hopkinson

Date of Photo

March 31st 1927

Region

Chumbi Valley Region > Phari plain

Accession number

BMH.D.12.1

Image Dimensions

85 x 103

A. J. Hopkinson wrote in his journal for March 31st 1927 that on this day he left Tuna and marched across the plain and the Tang La to Phari. En route he came across a group of traders who originated from near Mount Everest, who were trading a herb called pangling which they intended to export to China via Calcutta. He also comments on their reluctance to be photographed [see Notes]. Hopkinson took this photograph when they halted at a Tibetan house for a drink of chang. He is wearing a woollen hat and ski goggles

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative film nitrate

Expedition

A. J. Hopkinson's Tour of Duty as British Trade Agent, Gyantse, 1927-28

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - [Caption in A. J. Hopkinson's negative album 'Tibet D']: 'Tsogos on TUNA PLAIN' [MS 28/04/2006]

Other Information - Dates

Other Information - Dates: For dating of image, see A. J. Hopkinson Archive, OIOC British Library, Mss Eur D998/54, Journal Letters from Gyantse and Various Camps, 1927-28, commencing March 30th 1927, Camp Tuna, pages 4-5]. [MS 14/07/2006]

Other Information - Setting

Other Information - Setting: Hopkinson commented in his journal for this day on the demeanour of the Tsogo traders depicted in this image: “They were very jungly and didn’t want to be photographed, when they stopped at the Tibetan house, to get a drink of chang, as they said it would shorten their lives to be photoed on a sunny day like that” [ibid., p.5] [MS 14/07/2006]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Tsogo trader on Phari plain" 05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMH.D.12.1.html>.

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The Pitt Rivers Museum

The British Museum

Tsogo trader on Phari plain