Peruse her biography:

East of Etonne

Part I
Part II

East of Etonne:
Emily's Pilgrimage to "Bagrot" and Beyond

1919

1919 - Disease, death, pestilence, and the flotsam of war. Otherwise, a splendid time to travel and see the world.

The world was tired in 1919. The War to end all Wars had wrought carnage that the world had never seen. As the smoke cleared from the battlefields of Europe, the limping survivors of shattered armies began the slow retreat to their homelands. Yet, home was not the womb of safety that many had hoped. The scourge of war was followed by a great pestilence as a global flu epidemic claimed the lives of more than 30 million human beings. From the trenches of France to the hospitals of the new world, the Angel of death walked the Earth.

There were still individuals out in the world, however, who stood as shining examples to life and hope and passion- people who through shear lustiness drove men to new heights of awareness and expression. Such a person was Emily Chesley. In one incredible year this remarkable woman would:

1. Sample the sensual pleasures of the far East,
2. Participate in a pivotal episode of Canadian history
3. Write a novel that would perfectly capture the spirit of her times,
4. Circle the globe, and
5. Have a formative influence on a young academic who would shape the imagination of the 20^th century.

After two weeks in the valley of Bagrot, Emily began to wonder what the devil she was doing there.

"Bagrot"
December 1918. As London prepared for its first season of Peace on Earth since the end of the Great War, Emily found herself deep in ennui. The war, for all of its horror, had provided an excitement that only those who have lived on the razor's edge can know. Now, the war and with it Emily's many aerial adventures, had come to an end. In London Emily found herself questioning her purpose. It was not for lack of things to do. The city was teaming with soldiery and Emily was able to recapture quite handily a bit of her London Ontario youth, those heady days when she had befriended the 7^th Regiment. (1)

In a lengthy letter to a literary acquaintance Throgmorton Spendawad, better known as Banger McReady, Emily expressed her depression. "What is a woman to do!" beseeched Chesley. "Is there no truth, no beauty, no stimulation left in life. I am spent." A few days later a messenger knocked at Chesley's door. He carried a brief and cryptic note from Spendawad. It contained but one word.

The word was "Bagrot".

With a rush of excitement Emily ran for the nearest atlas book. After some searching, there it was! Bagrot, a valley in the Hindu Kush, and part of what we today refer to as northern Pakistan. It would be a perilous journey but one that she immediately resolved to take. After a few days of hasty packing, she was off.

Emily had to deal with many dangers on the perilous journey to the Hindu Kush, such as the notorious Khoman brothers, Rhiff and Raff. These vile bandits terrorized caravans all along the ancient spice routes - murdering, thieving and pleasuring themselves with impunity.

The journey was indeed a perilous one. Europe was still re-discovering the ways of peace. Rail travel was sporadic at best and only parts of the famed Paris/Venice/Istanbul Orient Express line were running. Chesley made do in the gaps traveling by lorry and horse-drawn cart. Sometime, even on foot. From Turkey Chesely followed the ancient spice route to the land of the Afghan princes, not the safest place for an English-speaking woman. Gaining the favor of the head of a camel train she traveled mostly under disguise as a Kurdish shepherd boy named Abdallah. The disguise was a roaring success and Emily traversed the Afghan plateau without leaving a trace (though by campfires throughout the region to this day there are tales of the "naughty Kurdish camel boy".)

From Kabul to Peshawar Chesley made her way by horseback, traveling only by night through the Khyber Pass. Tensions were running high in the region. In mid February Chesley was challenge by a British sentry. The sentry -- in fact his whole company -- turned out to be not to be much of a challenge at all. Chesley was provided with a horse, and several other charming parting gifts, and granted safe passage to Gilgit in the Valley of Bagrot.

After two weeks in the valley, communing with nature and searching for her spiritual inner light, Emily grew curious. What was it about this, of all places, that had so impressed Spendawad? What particular secret was it that had justified the difficult journey to this enchanted land? Little did Emily know that Spendawad had no intention of sending her to the Far East. Emily was the victim of an unfortunate delivery error by the Royal Mail. The pages of Spendawad's missive had somehow been separated with only the last page being delivered. It was learned much later that Spendawad was not referring to Bagrot (which is actually pronounced "bag roat") but rather an unfortunate condition, distantly related to trench foot, that he had contracted in the final days of the war. (2) Spendawad died soon after he wrote the letter incidentally finding that Michael Flannigan's Digital-Vacuum Device should not be used to treat this condition, particularly at the higher of its two settings.

Emily knew only that she was terribly bored in Bagrot and had not shaken her persistent ennui. Increasingly her thoughts were turning to her Canadian home. It was time to return to Ontario. Returning by the route she had come was out of the question as hostilities, which would be the Third Anglo Afghan War, were on the verge of breaking out. Instead she headed east out of the mountains and into the Indus Valley to cross the jewel in the British crown.

Next page: Part Two . . .>

Notes:

1) In spite of her advancing age, Chesley was incredibly well preserved. Many mistook her for a woman 20 years younger. One Canadian officer described Chesley as "a strapping fine woman of statuesque build and, shall we say, a wealth of experience. I believe she is in her early 40s, though her passions are those of a much younger, and bolder, woman." Chesley was 62 years old at the time. [back]

2) The rest of Spendawad's letter was delivered the by Royal Mail to one Margaret Havisham of 3 Bently Drive, Nottingham, on April 20, 1967. The letter describes the several nice spots in Italy that Emily might have a go at and ends with the unfinished passage "Must go now. Have a nasty case of . . ." [back]

Throgmorton Spendawad meets the Angel of Death after improperly using Flannigan's Digital-Vacuum Device to treat a delicate condition.