Himalayan Journals, vol 2, J. D. Hooker [small books to read txt] 📗

debouche, is no doubt the proximate cause of the

absence of Salmonidae. Sir John Richardson (Fishes of China Seas, etc., "in Brit. Ass. Rep. etc."), says that no species of the order has been found in the Chinese or eastern Asiatic seas.]

We staid two days at Lachoong, two of my lads being again laid up

with fever; one of them had been similarly attacked at the same place nearly two months before: the other lad had been repeatedly ill since June, and at all elevations. Both cases were returns of a fever

caught in the low unhealthy valleys some months previously, and

excited by exposure and hardship.

The vegetation at Lachoong was still beautiful, and the weather mild, though snow had descended to 14,000 feet on Tunkra. Compositae were abundantly in flower, apples in young fruit, bushes of Cotoneaster

covered with scarlet berries, and the brushwood silvery with the

feathery heads of Clematis.

I here found that I had lost a thermometer for high temperatures,

owing to a hole in the bag in which Cheytoong carried those of my

instruments which were in constant use. It had been last used at the hot springs of the Kinchinjhow glacier; and the poor lad was so

concerned at his mishap, that he came to me soon afterwards, with his blanket on his back, and a few handfuls of rice in a bag, to make his salaam before setting out to search for it. There was not now a

single inhabitant between Lachoong and that dreary spot, and strongly against my wish he started, without a companion. Three days

afterwards he overtook us at Keadom, radiant with joy at having found the instrument: he had gone up to the hot springs, and vainly sought around them that evening; then rather than lose the chance of a

day-light search on his way back, he had spent the cold October night in the hot water, without fire or shelter, at 16,000 feet above the sea. Next morning his search was again fruitless; and he was

returning disconsolate, when he descried the brass case glistening

between two planks of the bridge crossing the river at Momay, over

which torrent the instrument was suspended. The Lepchas have

generally been considered timorous of evil spirits, and especially

averse to travelling at night, even in company. However little this gallant lad may have been given to superstition, he was nevertheless a Lepcha, born in a warm region, and had never faced the cold till he became my servant; and it required a stout heart and an honest one, to spend a night in so awful a solitude as that which reigns around the foot of the Kinchinjhow glacier.* [The fondness of natives for

hot springs wherever they occur is very natural and has been noticed by Humboldt, "Pers. Narr." iv. 195, who states that on Christianity being introduced into Iceland, the natives refused to be baptised in any but the water of the Geysers. I have mentioned at chapter xxii

the uses to which the Yeumtong hot springs are put; and the custom of using artificial hot baths is noticed at vol. i., chapter xiii.]

The villagers at Keadom, where we slept on the 26th, were busy

cutting the crops of millet, maize, and Amaranthus. A girl who, on my way down the previous month, had observed my curiosity about a

singular variety of the maize, had preserved the heads on their

ripening, and now brought them to me. The peaches were all gathered, and though only half ripe, were better than Dorjiling produce.

A magnificent tree of Bucklandia, one of the most beautiful

evergreens in Sikkim, grew near this village; it had a trunk

twenty-one feet seven inches in girth, at five feet from the ground, and was unbranched for forty feet.* [This superb tree is a great

desideratum in our gardens; I believe it would thrive in the warm

west of England. Its wood is brown, and not valuable as timber, but the thick, bright, glossy, evergreen foliage is particularly

handsome, and so is the form of the crown. It is also interesting in a physiological point of view, from the woody fibre being studded

with those curious microscopic discs so characteristic of pines, and which when occurring on fossil wood are considered conclusive as to the natural family to which such woods belong. Geologists should bear in mind that not only does the whole natural order to which

Bucklandia belongs, possess this character, but also various

species of Magnoliaceae found in India, Australia, Borneo, and

South America.] Ferns and the beautiful air-plant _Coelogyne

Wallichii_ grew on its branches, with other orchids, while Clematis

and Stauntonia climbed the trunk. Such great names (Buckland,

Staunton, and Wallich) thus brought before the traveller's notice,

never failed to excite lively and pleasing emotions: it is the

ignorant and unfeeling alone who can ridicule the association of the names of travellers and naturalists with those of animals and plants.

We arrived at Choongtam (for the fourth time) at noon, and took up

our quarters in a good house near the temple. The autumn and winter flowering plants now prevailed here, such as Labiatae, which are

generally late at this elevation; and grasses, which, though rare in the damp forest regions, are so common on these slopes that I here

gathered twenty-six kinds. I spent a day here in order to collect

seeds of the superb rhododendrons* [These Rhododendrons are now all flourishing at Kew and elsewhere: they are R. Dalhousiae, arboreum, Maddeni, Edgeworthii, Aucklandii and virgatum.] which I had

discovered in May, growing on the hills behind. The ascent was now

difficult, from the length of the wiry grass, which rendered the

slopes so slippery that it was impossible to ascend without holding on by the tussocks.

A ragged Tibetan mendicant (Phud) was amusing the people: he put on a black mask with cowrie shells for eyes, and danced uncouth figures

with a kind of heel and toe shuffle, in excellent time, to rude

Tibetan songs of his own: for this he received ample alms, which a

little boy collected in a wallet. These vagrants live well upon

charity; they bless, curse, and transact little affairs of all kinds up and down the valleys of Sikkim and Tibet; this one dealt in red

clay teapots, sheep and puppies.

We found Meepo at Choongtam: I had given him leave (when here last) to go back to the Rajah, and to visit his wife; and he had returned with instructions to conduct me to the Chola and Yakla passes, in

Eastern Sikkim. These passes, like that of Tunkra (chapter xxii),

lead over the Chola range to that part of Tibet which is interposed between Sikkim and Bhotan. My road lay past the Rajah's residence,

which we considered very fortunate, as apparently affording Campbell an opportunity of a conference with his highness, for which both he and the Tchebu Lama were most anxious.

On the way down the Lachen-Lachoong, we found the valley still

flooded (as described at chapters xviii and xxx), and the alders

standing with their trunks twelve feet under water; but the shingle dam was now dry and hard: it would probably soften, and be carried

away by the first rains of the following year. I left here the

temperate flora of northern Sikkim, tropical forms commencing to

appear: of these the nettle tribe were most numerous in the woods.

A large grape, with beautiful clusters of round purple berries, was very fair eating; it is not the common vine of Europe, which

nevertheless is probably an Himalayan plant, the Vitis Indica.*

[The origin of the common grape being unknown, it becomes a curious question to decide whether the Himalayan Vitis Indica is the wild state of that plant: an hypothesis strengthened by the fact of

Bacchus, etc., having come from the East.]

Illustration--TIETAN PHUD.

At Chakoong the temperature of the river, which in May was 54

degrees, was now 51.5 degrees at 3 p.m. We did not halt here, but

proceeded to Namgah, a very long and fatiguing march. Thence a short march took us to Singtam, which we reached on the 30th of October.

The road by which I had come up was for half the distance obliterated in most parts by landslips,* [I took a number of dips and strikes of the micaceous rocks: the strike of these was as often north-east as north-west; it was ever varying, and the strata were so disturbed, as materially to increase the number and vast dimensions of the

landslips.] but they were hard and dry, and the leeches were gone.

Bad weather, and Campbell's correspondence with the Durbar, who

prevented all communication with the Rajah, detained us here two

days, after which we crossed to the Teesta valley, and continued

along its east bank to Tucheam, 2000 feet above the river.

We obtained a magnificent view of the east face of Kinchinjunga, its tops bearing respectively N. 62 degrees W., and N. 63 degrees W.: the south slope of the snowed portion in profile was 34 degrees, and of the north 40 degrees; but both appeared much steeper to the eye, when unaided by an instrument.

The great shrubby nettle (Urtica crenulata) is common here: this

plant, called "Mealum-ma," attains fifteen feet in height; it has

broad glossy leaves, and though apparently without stings, is held in so great dread,* [The stinging hairs are microscopic, and confined to the young shoots, leaf and flower-stalks. Leschenault de la Tour

describes being stung by this nettle on three fingers of his hand

only at the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, and the subsequent sneezing and running at the nose, followed by tetanic symptoms and two days'

suffering, nor did the effects disappear for nine days. It is a

remarkable fact that the plant stings violently only at this season.

I frequently gathered it with impunity on subsequent occasions, and suspected some inaccuracy in my observations; but in Silhet both Dr.

Thomson and I experienced the same effects in autumn. Endlicher

("Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom") attributes the causticity of

nettle-juice to bicarbonate of ammonia, which Dr. Thomson and I

ascertained was certainly not present in this species.] that I had

difficulty in getting help to cut it down. I gathered many specimens without allowing any part to touch my skin; still the scentless

effluvium was so powerful, that mucous matter poured from my eyes and nose all the rest of the afternoon, in such abundance, that I had to hold my head over a basin for an hour. The sting is very virulent,

producing inflammation; and to punish a child with "Mealum-ma" is the severest Lepcha threat. Violent fevers and death have been said to

ensue from its sting; but this I very much doubt.

Illustration--TIBETAN IMPLEMENTS.

Tea-pot, cup, and brick of tea; knife, tobacco-pipe (across

chop-sticks, pouch, and flint-and-steel.

CHAPTER XXV.

Journey to the Rajah's residence at Tumloong -- Ryott valley --

Rajah's house -- Tupgain Lama -- Lagong nunnery -- Phadong Goompa --

Phenzong ditto -- Lepcha Sepoys -- Proceedings at Tumloong -- Refused admittance to Rajah -- Women's dresses -- Meepo's and Tchebu Lama's families -- Chapel -- Leave for Chola pass -- Ryott river -- Rungpo, view from -- Deputation of Kajees, etc. -- Conference -- Laghep --

Eatable fruit of Decaisnia -- Cathcartia -- Rhododendrons --

Phieung-goong -- Pines -- Rutto river -- Barfonchen -- Curling of

rhododendron leaf -- Woodcock -- Chola pass -- -- Small lakes --

Tibet guard and sepoys -- Dingpun -- Arrival of Sikkim sepoys --

Their conduct -- Meet Singtam Soubah -- Chumanako -- We are seized by the Soubah's party -- Soubah's conduct -- Dingpun Tinli -- Treatment of Dr. Campbell -- Bound and guarded -- Separated from Campbell --

Marched to Tumloong -- Motives for such conduct -- Arrive at Rungpo -- At Phadong --