How a tailor found himself in years of captivity while seeking the origin of the Brahmaputra river

Kinthup had shown himself to be a reliable companion and helper. He was already familiar with the Tsangpo’s route from Lhasa to Chetang, and as far as Gyala Sindong. Kinthup could easily have been an explorer in his own right, but he had neither been schooled nor trained to record field observations methodically. As things turned out, it was Kinthup’s phenomenal memory and his accurate description of places that helped early surveyors pin down quite a bit of the Brahmaputra mystery.

Harman teamed him up with a Chinese lama – whose name, for some reason, was never recorded – for whom he was to act as assistant. Kinthup had already worked as a guide for travellers to upper Sikkim. For his daily bread, though, he ran a tailoring shop in Darjeeling.

In 1880, disguised as pilgrims, Kinthup and the lama headed north from Sikkim towards Gyala Sindong. Their instructions were to move beyond this outpost, tracing the Tsangpo’s flow.

To make sure things went right, Harman devised an ingenious plan. The two were to prepare a large number of logs, and place them into niches carved into these logs, the especially marked “tubes” they were carrying. After sending a message to Harman, the logs were to...

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