Monday, July 1, 1929
The boss and his brother customs officer have had their heads together worrying over our good ship Clairton. Though they have bought six newspapers, they have been unable to find our ship registered at the Kidderpore Docks or any other docks at Calcutta. He asked Mort about it and the latter said that maybe it wasn’t there.
We left Darjeeling in a light rain at 9:35 AM and wound down the mountain toward the plains, in the clouds or rain most of the way. The tea pickers have amused us with their umbrellas. They may wear only a sarong and be standing in six inches of mud and water, yet they hold an umbrella over them while working in the fields. These Tibetan women smoke plenty of cigarettes and yet the men seemingly smoke none.
The plains seemed to be mostly under water—all the fields well flooded. We got a nice compartment on the broad-gauge and were not bothered all night, though the bouncing train permitted but little sleep.