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THE PIONEER MAIL AND INDIAN WEEKLY NEWS Allahabad, India 25 September 1905 [?]
[EXTRACT]
[written by Alcesti de Righi]
To give you a final example of the individual we had to deal with, I will add a few extracts from letters by him to the doctor [Jules Jacot Guillarmod] long before the expedition started, these in face of my agreement with him and after paying him the equivalent of £100. As I could not afford the sum in cash I paid him Rs.350 in cash, and after much haggling he took from me a fine Tibetan banner, a large piece of carved lapis lazuli and a necklace of green jade as an equivalent for the rest. "My dear J.G.—All goes well here and I hope to have with us the manager of this hotel, a young Italian who speaks Tibetan and is in the habit of doing business and travelling with the natives . . . He will save us a lot of money as he knows the right price of everything which we need to buy here, and how to cut very low the natives' rate of pay. His name is Rigo de Righi. You must realize that he will be very useful to us, although he is not quite a "gentleman". He can get angry and uselessly complain. We must, then, I think, keep him at arm's length. But all will go well without doubt. After he has done his job, the removal of our heavy baggage to the main camp, we can, if he becomes difficult, send him back without ceremony, but I hope he will behave himself."
This is the sort of man who was the leader of the 1905 Kangchenjunga Expedition. Need I say more why we decided to ask him to give up his position? I leave your readers to form their own opinion.
Not content with all the charges he brought against me during the expedition, he lays further charges because I upheld Nangar in his demand for two pieces per man commission as sardar, which was promised him by Mr Crowley before leaving, if he got the coolies to come for Rs.20 per month and himself came for Rs.30. He states that on everything that was bought on the road I peculated a commission, and that I was well known in Darjeeling for doing so. I told him that it was a lie and a liar who said so. To this he answered that an officer friend of his had told him this. I told him I could not believe an English officer could be capable of making such a charge, and wish to hide his name. When I asked for the name of the officer, it was refused. This comes from what, I suppose, would be considered a "gentleman" educated at Cambridge University. In his opinion I am not quite a gentleman; if so, and if gentlemen are of his stamp, I am glad I am not one.
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