Himalayan Journals Part 26

The Lachen valley being p.r.o.nounced impracticable in the height of the rains, a month later, it behoved me to attempt it first, and it possessed the attraction of leading to a frontier described as far to the northward of the snowy Himalaya, on a lofty plateau, whose plants and animals were different from anything I had previously seen.

After a week the coolies arrived with supplies: they had been delayed by the state of the paths, and had consequently consumed a great part of my stock, reducing it to eight days' allowance. I therefore divided my party, leaving the greater number at Choongtam, with a small tent, and instructions to forward all food to me as it arrived.

I started with about fifteen attendants, on the 25th of May, for Lamteng, three marches up the Lachen.

Descending the step-formed terraces, I crossed the Lachen by a good cane bridge. The river is a headstrong torrent, and turbid from the vast amount of earthy matter which it bears along; and this character of extreme impetuosity, unbroken by any still bend, or even swirling pool, it maintains uninterruptedly at this season from 4000 to 10,000 feet. It is crossed three times, always by cane bridges, and I cannot conceive any valley of its nature to be more impracticable at such a season. On both sides the mountains rose, densely forest-clad, at an average angle of 35 degrees to 40 degrees, to 10,000 and 15,000 feet.

Its extreme narrowness, and the grandeur of its scenery, were alike recalled to my mind, on visiting the Sachs valley in the Valais of Switzerland; from which, however, it differs in its luxuriant forest, and in the slopes being more uniform and less broken up into those imposing precipices so frequent in Switzerland, but which are wanting in the temperate regions of the Sikkim Himalaya.

At times we scrambled over rocks 1000 feet above the river, or descended into gorges, through whose tributary torrents we waded, or crossed swampy terraced flats of unstratified s.h.i.+ngle above the stream; whilst it was sometimes necessary to round rocky promontories in the river, stemming the foaming torrent that pressed heavily against the chest as, one by one, we were dragged along by powerful Lepchas. Our halting-places were on flats close to the river, covered with large trees, and carpeted with a most luxuriant herbage, amongst which a wild buckwheat (_Polygonum_*) [_Polygonum cymosum,_ Wall.

This is a common Himalayan plant, and is also found in the Khasia mountains.] was abundant, which formed an excellent spinach: it is called "Pullop-bi"; a name I shall hereafter have occasion to mention with grat.i.tude.

A few miles above Choongtam, we pa.s.sed a few cottages on a very extensive terrace at Tumlong; but between this and Lamteng, the country is uninhabited, nor is it frequented during the rains.

We consequently found that the roads had suffered, the little bridges and aids to climb precipices and cross landslips had been carried away, and at one place we were all but turned back. This was at the Taktoong river, a tributary on the east bank, which rushes down at an angle of 15 degrees, in a sheet of silvery foam, eighteen yards broad. It does not, where I crossed it, flow in a deep gulley, having apparently raised its bed by an acc.u.mulation of enormous boulders; and a plank bridge was thrown across it, against whose slippery and narrow foot-boards the water dashed, loosening the supports on either bank, and rus.h.i.+ng between their foundation stones.

My unwilling guide had gone ahead with some of the coolies: I had suspected him all along (perhaps unjustly) of avoiding the most practicable routes; but when I found him waiting for me at this bridge, to which he sarcastically pointed with his bow, I felt that had he known of it, to have made difficulties before would have been a work of supererogation. He seemed to think I should certainly turn back, and a.s.sured me there was no other crossing (a statement I afterwards found to be untrue); so, comforting myself with the hope that if the danger were imminent, Meepo would forcibly stop me, I took off my shoes, and walked steadily over: the tremor of the planks was like that felt when standing on the paddle-box of a steamer, and I was jerked up and down, as my weight pressed them into the boiling flood, which shrouded me with spray. I looked neither to the right nor to the left, lest the motion of the swift waters should turn my head, but kept my eye on the white jets d'eau springing up between the woodwork, and felt thankful when fairly on the opposite bank: my loaded coolies followed, crossing one by one without fear or hesitation. The bridge was swept into the Lachen very shortly afterwards.

Towards Lamteng, the path left the river, and pa.s.sed through a wood of _Abies Smithiana._* [Also called _A. Khutrow_ and _Morinda._ I had not before seen this tree in the Himalaya: it is a spruce fir, much resembling the Norway spruce in general appearance, but with longer pendulous branches. The wood is white, and considered indifferent, though readily cleft into planks; it is called "Seh."] Larch appears at 9000 feet, with _Abies Brunoniana._ An austere crab-apple, walnut, and the willow of Babylon (the two latter perhaps cultivated), yellow jessamine and ash, all scarce trees in Sikkim, are more or less abundant in the valley, from 7000 to 8000 feet; as is an ivy, very like the English, but with fewer and smaller yellow or reddish berries; and many other plants,* [Wood-sorrel, a white-stemmed bramble, birch, some maples, nut gigantic lily (_Lilium giganteum_), _Euphorbia, Pedicularis, Spiraea, Philadelphus, Deutzia, Indigofera,_ and various other South Europe and North American genera.] not found at equal elevations on the outer ranges of the Himalaya.

Chateng, a spur from the lofty peak of Tukcham,* ["Tuk" signifies head in Lepcha, and "cheam" or "chaum," I believe, has reference to the snow. The height of Tukcham has been re-calculated by Capt. R.

Strachey, with angles taken by myself, at Dorjiling and Jillapahar, and is approximate only.] 19,472 feet high, rises 1000 feet above the west bank of the river; and where crossed, commands one of the finest alpine views in Sikkim. It was gra.s.sy, strewed with huge boulders of gneiss, and adorned with clumps of park-like pines: on the summit was a small pool, beautifully fringed with bushy trees of white rose, a white-blossomed apple, a _Pyrus_ like _Aria,_ another like mountain-ash, scarlet rhododendrons (_arboreum_ and _barbatum_), holly, maples, and _Goughia,_* [This fine plant was named (Wight, "Ic. Plant.") in honour of Capt. Gough, son of the late commander-in-chief, and an officer to whom the botany of the peninsula of India is greatly indebted. It is a large and handsome evergreen, very similar in foliage to a fine rhododendron, and would prove an invaluable ornament on our lawns, if its hardier varieties were introduced into this country.] a curious evergreen laurel-like tree: there were also Daphnes, purple magnolia, and a pink sweet-blossomed _Sphaerostema._ Many English water-plants*

[_Sparganium, Typha, Potamogeton, Callitriche, Utricularia,_ sedges and rushes.] grew in the water, but I found no sh.e.l.ls; tadpoles, however, swarmed, which later in the season become large frogs.

The "painted-lady" b.u.t.terfly (_Cynthia Cardui_), and a pretty "blue"

were flitting over the flowers, together with some great tropical kinds, that wander so far up these valleys, accompanying _Marlea,_ the only subtropical tree that ascends to 8,500 feet in the interior of Sikkim.

The river runs close tinder the eastern side of the valley, which slopes so steeply as to appear for many miles almost a continuous landslip, 2000 feet high.

Lamteng village, where I arrived on the 27th of May, is quite concealed by a moraine to the south, which, with a parallel ridge on the north, forms a beautiful bay in the mountains, 8,900 feet above the sea, and 1000 above the Lachen. The village stands on a gra.s.sy and bushy flat, around which the pine-clad mountains rise steeply to the snowy peaks and black cliffs which tower above. It contains about forty houses, forming the winter-quarters of the inhabitants of the valley, who, in summer, move with their flocks and herds to the alpine pastures of the Tibet frontier. The dwellings are like those described at Wallanchoon, but the elevation being lower, and the situation more sheltered, they are more scattered; whilst on account of the dampness of the climate, they are raised higher from the ground, and the s.h.i.+ngles with which they are tiled (made of _Abies Webbiana_) decay in two or three years. Many are painted lilac, with the gables in diamonds of red, black, and white: the roofs are either of wood, or of the bark of _Abies Brunoniana,_ held down by large stones: within they are airy and comfortable. They are surrounded by a little cultivation of buck-wheat, radishes, turnips, and mustard.

The inhabitants, though paying rent to the Sikkim Rajah, consider themselves as Tibetans, and are so in language, dress, features, and origin: they seldom descend to Choongtam, but yearly travel to the Tibetan towns of Jigatzi, Kambajong, Giantchi, and even to Lha.s.sa, having always commercial and pastoral transactions with the Tibetans, whose flocks are pastured on the Sikkim mountains during summer, and who trade with the plains of India through the medium of these villagers.

Ill.u.s.tration--LAMTENG VILLAGE.

The snow having disappeared from elevations below 11,000 feet, the yaks, sheep, and ponies had just been driven 2000 feet up the valley, and the inhabitants were preparing to follow, with their tents and goats, to summer quarters at Tallum and Tungu. Many had goitres and rheumatism, for the cure of which they flocked to my tent; dry-rubbing for the latter, and tincture of iodine for the former, gained me some credit as a doctor: I could, however, procure no food beyond trifling presents of eggs, meal, and more rarely, fowls.

On arriving, I saw a troop of large monkeys* [_Macacus Pelops?_ Hodgson. This is a very different species from the tropical kind seen in Nepal, and mentioned at vol. i, Chapter XII.] gambolling in a wood of _Abies Brunoniana_: this surprised me, as I was not prepared to find so tropical an animal a.s.sociated with a vegetation typical of a boreal climate. The only other quadrupeds seen here were some small earless rats, and musk-deer; the young female of which latter sometimes afforded me a dish of excellent venison; being, though dark-coloured and lean, tender, sweet, and short-fibred. Birds were scarce, with the exception of alpine pigeons (_Columba leuconota_), red-legged crows (_Corvus graculus,_ L.), and the horned pheasant (_Meleagris Satyra,_ L.). In this month insects are scarce, _Elater_ and a black earwig being the most frequent: two species of _Serica_ also flew into my tent, and at night moths, closely resembling European ones, came from the fir-woods. The vegetation in the, neighbourhood of Lamteng is European and North American; that is to say, it unites the boreal and temperate floras of the east and west hemispheres; presenting also a few features peculiar to Asia. This is a subject of very great importance in physical geography; as a country combining the botanical characters of several others, affords materials for tracing the direction in which genera and species have migrated, the causes that favour their migrations, and the laws that determine the types or forms of one region, which represent those of another. A glance at the map will show that Sikkim is, geographically, peculiarly well situated for investigations of this kind, being centrically placed, whether as regards south-eastern Asia or the Himalayan chain. Again, the Lachen valley at this spot is nearly equi-distant from the tropical forests of the Terai and the sterile mountains of Tibet, for which reason representatives both of the dry central Asiatic and Siberian, and of the humid Malayan floras meet there.

The mean temperature of Lamteng (about 50 degrees) is that of the isothermal which pa.s.ses through Britain in lat. 52 degrees, and east Europe in lat. 48 degrees, cutting the parallel of 45 degrees in Siberia (due north of Lamteng itself), descending to lat. 42 degrees on the east coast of Asia, ascending to lat. 48 degrees on the west of America, and descending to that of New York in the United States.

This mean temperature is considerably increased by descending to the bed of the Lachen at 8000 feet, and diminished by ascending Tukcham to 14,000 feet, which gives a range of 6000 feet of elevation, and 20 degrees of mean temperature. But as the climate and vegetation become arctic at 12,000 feet, it will be as well to confine my observations to the flora of 7000 to 10,000 feet; of the mean temperature, namely, between 53 degrees and 43 degrees, the isothermal lines corresponding to which embrace, on the surface of the globe, at the level of the sea, a s.p.a.ce varying in different meridians from three to twelve degrees of lat.i.tude.* [On the west coast of Europe, where the distance between these isothermal lines is greatest, this belt extends almost from Stockholm and the Shetlands to Paris.] At first sight it appears incredible that such a limited area, buried in the depths of the Himalaya, should present nearly all the types of the flora of the north temperate zone; not only, however, is this the case, but s.p.a.ce is also found at Lamteng for the intercalation of types of a Malayan flora, otherwise wholly foreign to the north temperate region.

A few examples will show this. Amongst trees the Conifers are conspicuous at Lamteng, and all are of genera typical both of Europe and North America: namely, silver fir, spruce, larch, and juniper, besides the yew: there are also species of birch, alder, ash, apple, oak, willow, cherry, bird-cherry, mountain-ash, thorn, walnut, hazel, maple, poplar, ivy, holly, Andromeda, _Rhamnus._ Of bushes; rose, berberry, bramble, rhododendron, elder, cornel, willow, honeysuckle, currant, _Spiraea, Viburnum, Cotoneaster, Hippophae._ Herbaceous plants* [As an example, the ground about my tent was covered with gra.s.ses and sedges, amongst which grew primroses, thistles, speedwell, wild leeks, _Arum, Convallaria, Callitriche, Oxalis, Ranunculus, Potentilla, Orchis, Chaerophyllum, Galium, Paris,_ and _Anagallis_; besides cultivated weeds of shepherd's-purse, dock, mustard, Mithridate cress, radish, turnip, _Thlaspi arvense,_ and _Poa annua._] are far too numerous to be enumerated, as a list would include most of the common genera of European and North American plants.

Of North American genera, not found in Europe, were _Buddleia, Podophyllum, Magnolia, Sa.s.safras? Tetranthera, Hydrangea, Diclytra, Aralia, Panax, Symplocos, Trillium,_ and _Clintonia._ The absence of heaths is also equally a feature in the flora of North America.

Of European genera, not found in North America, the Lachen valley has _Coriaria, Hypecoum,_ and various _Cruciferae._ The j.a.panese and Chinese floras are represented in Sikkim by _Camellia, Deutzia, Stachyurus, Aucuba, Helwingia, Stauntonia, Hydrangea, Skimmia, Eurya, Anthogonium,_ and _Enkianthus._ The Malayan by Magnolias, _Talauma,_ many vacciniums and rhododendrons, _Kadsura, Goughia, Marlea,_ both coriaceous and deciduous-leaved _Caelogyne, Oberonia, Cyrtosia, Calanthe,_ and other orchids; _Ceropegia, Parochetus, Balanophora,_ and many _Scitamineae_; and amongst trees, by _Engelhardtia, Goughia,_ and various laurels.

Shortly after my arrival at Lamteng, the villagers sent to request that I would not shoot, as they said it brought on excessive rain,*

[In Griffith's narrative of "Pemberton's Mission to Bhotan"

("Posthumous Papers, Journal," p. 283), it is mentioned that the Gylongs (Lamas) attributed a violent storm to the members of the mission shooting birds.] and consequent damage to the crops.

My necessities did not admit of my complying with their wish unless I could procure food by other means; and I at first paid no attention to their request. The people, however, became urgent, and the Choongtam Lama giving his high authority to the superst.i.tion, it appeared impolitic to resist their earnest supplication; though I was well aware that the story was trumped up by the Lama for the purpose of forcing me to return. I yielded on the promise of provisions being supplied from the village, which was done to a limited extent; and I was enabled to hold out till more arrived from Dorjiling, now, owing to the state of the roads, at the distance of twenty days' march.

The people were always civil and kind: there was no concealing the fact that the orders were stringent, prohibiting my party being supplied with food, but many of the villagers sought opportunities by night of replenis.h.i.+ng my stores. Superst.i.tious and timorous, they regard a doctor with great veneration; and when to that is added his power of writing, drawing, and painting, their admiration knows no bounds: they flocked round my tent all day, scratching their ears, lolling out their tongues, making a clucking noise, smiling, and timidly peeping over my shoulder, but flying in alarm when my little dog resented their familiarity by snapping at their legs. The men spend the whole day in loitering about, smoking and spinning wool: the women in active duties; a few were engaged in drying the leaves of a shrub (_Symplocos_) for the Tibet market, which are used as a yellow dye; whilst, occasionally, a man might be seen cutting a spoon or a yak-saddle out of rhododendron wood.

During my stay at Lamteng, the weather was all but uniformly cloudy and misty, with drizzling rain, and a southerly, or up-valley wind, during the day, which changed to an easterly one at night: occasionally distant thunder was heard. My rain-gauges showed very little rain compared with what fell at Dorjiling during the same period; the clouds were thin, both sun and moon s.h.i.+ning through them, without, however, the former warming the soil: hence my tent was constantly wet, nor did I once sleep in a dry bed till the 1st of June, which ushered in the month with a brilliant sunny day. At night it generally rained in torrents, and the roar of landslips and avalanches was then all but uninterrupted for hour after hour: sometimes it was a rumble, at others a harsh grating sound, and often accompanied with the cras.h.i.+ng of immense timber-trees, or the murmur of the distant snowy avalanches. The amount of denudation by atmospheric causes is here quite incalculable; and I feel satisfied that the violence of the river at this particular part of its course (where it traverses those parts of the valleys which are most snowy and rainy), is proximately due to impediments thus acc.u.mulated in its bed.

It was sometimes clear at sunrise, and I made many ascents of Tukcham, hoping for a view of the mountains towards the pa.s.ses; but I was only successful on one occasion, when I saw the table top of Kinchinjhow, the most remarkable, and one of the most distant peaks of dazzling snow which is seen from Dorjiling, and which, I was told, is far beyond Sikkim, in Tibet.* [Such, however, is not the case; Kinchinjhow is on the frontier of Sikkim, though a considerable distance behind the most snowy of the Sikkim mountains.] I kept up a constant intercourse with Choongtam, sending my plants thither to be dried, and gradually reducing my party as our necessities urged my so doing; lastly, I sent back the shooters, who had procured very little, and whose occupation was now gone.

On the 2nd of June, I received the bad news that a large party of coolies had been sent from Dorjiling with rice, but that being unable or afraid to pa.s.s the landslips, they had returned: we had now no food except a kid, a few handfuls of flour, and some potatos, which had been sent up from Choongtam. All my endeavours to gain information respecting the distance and position of the frontier were unavailing; probably, indeed, the Lama and Phipun (or chief man of the village), were the only persons who knew; the villagers calling all the lofty pastures a few marches beyond Lamteng "Bhote" or "Cheen" (Tibet). Dr. Campbell had procured for me information by which I might recognise the frontier were I once on it; but no description could enable me to find my way in a country so rugged and forest-clad, through tortuous and perpetually forking valleys, along often obliterated paths, and under cloud and rain. To these difficulties must be added the deception of the rulers, and the fact (of which I was not then aware), that the Tibet frontier was formerly at Choongtam; but from the Lepchas constantly hara.s.sing the Tibetans, the latter, after the establishment of the Chinese rule over their country, retreated first to Zemu Samdong, a few hours walk above Lamteng, then to Tallum Samdong, 2000 feet higher; and, lastly, to Kongra Lama, 16,000 feet up the west flank of Kinchinjhow.

On the third of June I took a small party, with my tent, and such provisions as I had, to explore up the river. On hearing of my intention, the Phipun volunteered to take me to the frontier, which he said was only two hours distant, at Zemu Samdong, where the Lachen receives the Zemu river from the westward: this I knew must be false, but I accepted his services, and we started, accompanied by a large body of villagers, who eagerly gathered plants for me along the road.

The scenery is very pretty; the path crosses extensive and dangerous landslips, or runs through fine woods of spruce and _Abies Brunoniana,_ and afterwards along the river-banks, which are fringed with willow (called "Lama"), and _Hippophae._ The great red rose (_Rosa macrophylla_), one of the most beautiful Himalayan plants, whose single flowers are as large as the palm of the hand, was blossoming, while golden _Potentillas_ and purple primroses flowered by the stream, and _Pyrola_ in the fir-woods.

Just above the fork of the valley, a wooden bridge (Samdong) crosses the Zemu, which was pointed out to me as the frontier, and I was entreated to respect two sticks and a piece of worsted stretched across it; this I thought too ridiculous, so as my followers halted on one side, I went on the bridge, threw the sticks into the stream, crossed, and asked the Phipun to follow; the people laughed, and came over: he then told me that he had authority to permit of my botanising there, but that I was in Cheen, and that he would show me the guard-house to prove the truth of his statement. He accordingly led me up a steep bank to an extensive broad flat, several hundred feet above the river, and forming a triangular base to the great spur which, rising steeply behind, divides the valley. This flat was marshy and covered with gra.s.s; and buried in the jungle were several ruined stone houses, with thick walls pierced with loopholes: these had no doubt been occupied by Tibetans at the time when this was the frontier.

The elevation which I had attained (that of the river being 8,970 feet) being excellent for botanising, I camped; and the villagers, contented with the supposed success of their strategy, returned to Lamteng.

My guide from the Durbar had staid behind at Lainteng, and though Meepo and all my men well knew that this was not the frontier, they were ignorant as to its true position, nor could we even ascertain which of the rivers was the Lachen.* [The eastern afterwards proved to be the Lachen.] The only routes I possessed indicated two paths northwards from Lamteng, neither crossing a river: and I therefore thought it best to remain at Zemu Samdong till provisions should arrive. I accordingly halted for three days, collecting many new and beautiful plants, and exploring the roads, of which five (paths or yak-tracks) diverged from this point, one on either bank of each river, and one leading up the fork.

On one occasion I ascended the steep hill at the fork; it was dry and rocky, and crowned with stunted pines. Stacks of different sorts of pine-wood were stored on the flat at its base, for export to Tibet, all thatched with the bark of _Abies Brunoniana._ Of these the larch (_Larix Griffithii,_ "Sah"), splits well, and is the most durable of any; but the planks are small, soft, and white.* [I never saw this wood to be red, close-grained, and hard, like that of the old Swiss larch; nor does it ever reach so great a size.] The silver fir (_Abies Webbiana,_ "Duns.h.i.+ng") also splits well; it is white, soft, and highly prized for durability. The wood of _Abies Brunoniana_ ("Semadoong") is like the others in appearance, but is not durable; its bark is however very useful. The spruce (_Abies Smithiana,_ "Seh") has also white wood, which is employed for posts and beams.*

[These woods are all soft and loose in grain, compared with their European allies.] These are the only pines whose woods are considered very useful; and it is a curious circ.u.mstance that none produce any quant.i.ty of resin, turpentine, or pitch; which may perhaps be accounted for by the humidity of the climate.

_Pinus longifolia_ (called by the Lepchas "Gniet-koong," and by the Bhoteeas "Teadong") only grows in low valleys, where better timber is abundant. The weeping blue juniper (_Juniperus recurva,_ "Deschoo"), and the arboreous black one (called "Tchokpo")* [This I have, vol. i.

Chapter XI, referred to the _J. excelsa_ of the north-west Himalaya, a plant which under various names is found in many parts of Europe and many parts of Europe and North America; but since then Dr.

Thomson and I have had occasion to compare my Sikkim conifers with the north-west Himalayan ones and we have found that this Sikkim species is probably new, and that _J. excelsa_ is not found east of Nepal.] yield beautiful wood, like that of the pencil cedar,* [Also a juniper, from Bermuda (_J. Bermudiana_).] but are comparatively scarce, as is the yew (_Taxus baccata,_ "Tingschi"), whose timber is red. The "Tchenden," or funereal cypress, again, is valued only for the odour of its wood: _Pinus excelsa,_ "Tongschi," though common in Bhotan, is, as I have elsewhere remarked, not found in east Nepal or Sikkim; the wood is admirable, being durable, close-grained, and so resinous as to be used for flambeaux and candles.

On the flat were flowering a beautiful magnolia with globular sweet-scented flowers like snow-b.a.l.l.s, several balsams, with species of _Convallaria, Cotoneaster, Gentian, Spiraea, Euphorbia, Pedicularis,_ and honeysuckle. On the hill-side were creeping brambles, lovely yellow, purple, pink, and white primroses, white-flowered _Thalictrum_ and _Anemone,_ berberry, _Podophyllum,_ white rose, fritillary, _Lloydia,_ etc. On the flanks of Tukcham, in the bed of a torrent, I gathered many very alpine plants, at the comparatively low elevation of 10,000 feet, as dwarf willows, _Pinguicula,_ (a genus not previously found in the Himalaya), _Oxyria, Adrosace, Tofieldia, Arenaria,_ saxifrages, and two dwarf heath-like _Andromedas._* [Besides these, a month later, the following flowered in profusion: scarlet _Buddleia?_ gigantic lily, yellow jasmine, _Aster, Potentilla,_ several kinds of orchids, willow-herb (_Epilobium_), purple _Roscoea, Neillia, Morina,_ many gra.s.ses and _Umbelliferae._ These formed a rank and dense herbaceous, mostly annual vegetation, six feet high, bound together with _Cuscuta,_ climbing _Leguminosae,_ and _Ceropegia._ The great summer heat and moisture here favour the ascent of various tropical genera, of which I found in August several _Orchideae_ (_Calanthe, Microstylis,_ and _Coelogyne_), also _Begonia, Bryonia, Cynanchum, Aristolochia, Eurya, Procris, Acanthaceae,_ and _Cyrtandraseae._]

The rocks were all of gneiss, with granite veins, tourmaline, and occasionally pieces of pure plumbago.

Our guide had remained at Lamteng, on the plea of a sore on his leg from leech-bites: his real object, however, was to stop a party on their way to Tibet with madder and canes, who, had they continued their journey, would inevitably have pointed out the road to me.

The villagers themselves now wanted to proceed to the pasturing-grounds on the frontier; so the Phipun sent me word that I might proceed as far as I liked up the east bank of the Zemu. I had explored the path, and finding it practicable, and likely to intersect a less frequented route to the frontier (that crossing the Tekonglah pa.s.s from Bah, see chapter XVIII), I determined to follow it. A supply of food arrived from Dorjiling on the 5th of June, reduced, however, to one bag of rice, but with encouraging letters, and the a.s.surance that more would follow at once. My men, of whom I bad eight, behaved admirably, although our diet had for five days chiefly consisted of _Polygonum_ ("Pullop-bi"), wild leeks ("Lagook"), nettles and _Procris_ (an allied, and more succulent herb), eked out by eight pounds of Tibet meal ("Tsamba"), which I had bought for ten s.h.i.+llings by stealth from the villagers.

What concerned me most was the destruction of my plants by constant damp, and the want of sun to dry the papers; which reduced my collections to a t.i.the of what they would otherwise have been.

From Zemu Samdong the valley runs north-west, for two marches, to the junction of the Zemu with the Thlonok, which rises on the north-east flank of Kinchinjunga: at this place I halted for several days, while building a bridge over the Thlonok. The path runs first through a small forest of birch, alder, and maple, on the latter of which I found _Balanophora_* [A curious leafless parasite, mentioned at vol.

i, chapter v.] growing abundantly: this species produces the great knots on the maple roots, from which the Tibetans form the cups mentioned by MM. Huc and Gabet. I was so fortunate as to find a small store of these knots, cleaned, and cut ready for the turner, and hidden behind a stone by some poor Tibetan, who had never retained to the spot: they had evidently been there a very long time.

In the ravines there were enormous acc.u.mulations of ice, the result of avalanches; one of them crossed the river, forming a bridge thirty feet thick, at an elevation of only 9,800 feet above the sea.

This ice-bridge was 100 yards broad, and flanked by heaps of boulders, the effects of combined land and snowslips. These stony places were covered with a rich herbage of rhubarb, primroses, _Euphorbia, Sedum, Polygonum, Convallaria,_ and a purple _Dentaria_ ("Kenroop-bi") a cruciferous plant much eaten as a pot-herb. In the pinewoods a large mushroom ("Onglau,"* [_Cortinarius Emodensis_ of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who has named and described it from my specimens and drawings. It is also called "Yungla tchamo" by the Tibetans, the latter word signifying a toadstool. Mr. Berkeley informs me that the whole vast genus _Cortinarius_ scarcely possesses a single other edible species; he adds that _C. violaceus_ and _violaceo-cinereus_ are eaten in Austria and Italy, but not always with safety.] Tibet.) was abundant, which also forms a favourite article of food. Another pot-herb (to which I was afterwards more indebted than any) was a beautiful _Smilacina,_ which grows from two to five feet high, and has plaited leaves and crowded panicles of white bell-shaped flowers, like those of its ally the lily of the valley, which it also resembles in its mucilaginous properties. It is called "Chokli-bi,"* [It is also found on the top of Sinchul, near Dorjiling.] and its young flower-heads, sheathed in tender green leaves, form an excellent vegetable. Nor must I forget to include amongst the eatable plants of this hungry country, young shoots of the mountain-bamboo, which are good either raw or boiled, and may be obtained up to 12,000 feet in this valley. A species of _Asarum_ (Asarabacca) grows in the pine-woods; a genus not previously known to be Himalayan. The root, like its English medicinal congener, has a strong and peculiar smell. At 10,000 feet _Abies Webbiana_ commences, with a close undergrowth of a small twiggy holly. This, and the dense thicket of rhododendron* [Of which I had already gathered thirteen kinds in this valley.] on the banks of the river and edges of the wood, rendered the march very fatiguing, and swarms of midges kept up a tormenting irritation.

The Zemu continued an impetuous muddy torrent, whose hoa.r.s.e voice, mingled with the deep grumbling noise* [The dull rumbling noise thus produced is one of the most singular phenomena in these mountains, and cannot fail to strike the observer. At night, especially, the sound seems increased, the reason of which is not apparent, for in these regions, so wanting in animal life, the night is no stiller than the day, and the melting of snow being less, the volume of waters must be somewhat, though not conspicuously, diminished.

The interference of sound by heated currents of different density is the most obvious cause of the diminished reverberation during the day, to which Humboldt adds the increased tension of vapour, and possibly an echo from its particles.] of the boulders rolling along its bed, was my lullaby for many nights. Its temperature at Zemu Samdong was 45 degrees to 46 degrees in June. At its junction with the Thlonok, it comes down a steep gulley from the north, foreshortened into a cataract 1000 feet high, and appearing the smaller stream of the two; whilst the Thlonok winds down from the snowy face of Kinchinjunga, which is seen up the valley, bearing W.S.W., about twenty miles distant. All around are lofty and rocky mountains, sparingly wooded with pines and larch, chiefly on their south flanks, which receive the warm, moist, up-valley winds; the faces exposed to the north being colder and more barren: exactly the reverse of what is the case at Choongtam, where the rocky and sunny south-exposed flanks are the driest.

My tent was pitched on a broad terrace, opposite the junction of the Zemu and Thlonok, and 10,850 feet above the sea. It was sheltered by some enormous transported blocks of gneiss, fifteen feet high, and surrounded by a luxuriant vegetation of most beautiful rhododendrons in full flower, willow, white rose, white flowered cherry, thorn, maple and birch. Some great tuberous-rooted _Arums_* [Two species of _Arisaema,_ called "Tong" by the Tibetans, and "Sinkree" by the Lepchas.] were very abundant; and the ground was covered with small pits, in which were large wooden pestles: these are used in the preparation of food from the arums, to which the miserable inhabitants of the valley have recourse in spring, when their yaks are calving. The roots are bruised with the pestles, and thrown into these holes with water. Acetous fermentation commences in seven or eight days, which is a sign that the acrid poisonous principle is dissipated: the pulpy, sour, and fibrous ma.s.s is then boiled and eaten; its nutriment being the starch, which exists in small quant.i.ties, and which they have not the skill to separate by grating and was.h.i.+ng. This preparation only keeps a few days, and produces bowel complaints, and loss of the skin and hair, especially when insufficiently fermented. Besides this, the "chokli-bi," and many other esculents, abounded here; and we had great need of them before leaving this wild uninhabited region.

I repeatedly ascended the north flank of Tukcham along a watercourse, by the side of which were immense slips of rocks and snow-beds; the mountain-side being excessively steep. Some of the ma.s.ses of gneiss thus brought down were dangerously poised on slopes of soft s.h.i.+ngle, and daily moved a little downwards. All the rocks were gneiss and granite, with radiating crystals of tourmaline as thick as the thumb.

Below 12,000 to 13,000 feet the mountain-sides were covered with a dense scrub of rhododendron bushes, except where broken by rocks, landslips, and torrents: above this the winter's snow lay deep, and black rocks and small glaciers, over which avalanches were constantly falling with a sullen roar, forbade all attempts to proceed.

My object in ascending was chiefly to obtain views and compa.s.s- bearings, in which I was generally disappointed: once only I had a magnificent prospect of Kinchinjunga, sweeping down in one unbroken ma.s.s of glacier and ice, fully 14,000 feet high, to the head of the Thlonok river, whose upper valley appeared a broad bay of ice; doubtless forming one of the largest glaciers in the Himalaya, and increased by lateral feeders that flow into it from either flank of the valley. The south side of this (the Thlonok) valley is formed by a range from Kinchinjunga, running east to Tukcham, where it terminates: from it rises the beautiful mountain Liklo,* [D2 of the peaks laid down in Colonel Waugh's "Trigonometrical Survey from Dorjiling," I believe to be the "Liklo" of Dr. Campbell's itineraries from Dorjiling to Lha.s.sa, compiled from the information of the traders (See "Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal" for 1848); the routes in which proved of the utmost value to me.] 22,582 feet high, which, from Dorjiling, appears as a sharp peak, but is here seen to be a jagged crest running north and south. On the north flank of the valley the mountains are more sloping and black, with patches of snow above 15,000 feet, but little anywhere else, except on another beautiful peak (alt. 19,240 feet) marked D3 on the map. This flank is also continuous from Kinchin; it divides Sikkim from Tibet, and runs north-east to the great mountain Chomiomo (which was not visible), the streams from its north flank flowing into the Arun river (in Tibet). A beautiful blue arch of sky spanned all this range, indicating the dry Tibetan climate beyond.

I made two futile attempts to ascend the Thlonok river to the great glaciers at the foot of Kinchinjunga, following the south bank, and hoping to find a crossing-place, and so to proceed north to Tibet.

The fall of the river is not great at this part of its course, nor up to 12,000 feet, which was the greatest height I could attain, and about eight miles beyond my tents; above that point, at the base of Liklo, the bed of the valley widens, and the rhododendron shrubbery was quite impervious, while the sides of the mountain were inaccessible. We crossed extensive snow-beds, by cutting holes in their steep faces, and rounded rocks in the bed of the torrent, dragging one another through the violent current, whose temperature was below 40 degrees.

On these occasions, the energy of Meepo, Nimbo (the chief of the coolies) and the Lepcha boys, was quite remarkable, and they were as keenly anxious to reach the holy country of Tibet as I could possibly be. It was sometimes dark before we got back to our tents, tired, with torn clothes and cut feet and hands, returning to a miserable dinner of boiled herbs; but never did any of them complain, or express a wish to leave me. In the evenings and mornings they were always busy, changing my plants, and drying the papers over a sulky fire at my tent-door; and at night they slept, each wrapt in his own blanket, huddled together under a rock, with another blanket thrown over them all. Provisions reached us so seldom, and so reduced in quant.i.ty, that I could never allow more than one pound of rice to each man in a day, and frequently during this trying month they had not even that; and I eked out our meagre supply with a few ounces of preserved meats, occasionally "splicing the main brace" with weak rum and water.

At the highest point of the valley which I reached, water boiled at 191.3, indicating an elevation of 11,903 feet. The temperature at 1 p.m. was nearly 70 degrees, and of the wet bulb 55 degrees, indicating a dryness of 0.462, and dew point 47.0. Such phenomena of heat and dryness are rare and transient in the wet valleys of Sikkim, and show the influence here of the Tibetan climate.* [I gathered here, amongst an abundance of alpine species, all of European and arctic type, a curious trefoil, the _Parochetus communis,_ which ranges through 9000 feet of elevation on the Himalaya, and is also found in Java and Ceylon.]