CHAPTER XIY.
PAGE
Tassiding, -view of and from—Funereal cypress—Camp at Sunnook
—Hot vapours—Lama’s house—Temples, decorations, altars,
idols, general effect—Chaits—Date of erection—Plundered by
Ghorkas—Cross Ratong—Ascend to Pemiongchi—Pemiongchi,
view from—Vegetation — Temple, decorations, &c.—Former
capital of Sikkim—History of Sikkim—Nightingales—Campbell
departs—Tchonpong—Edgeworthia—Cross Rungbee and Ratong
—Yoksun — Walnuts —View — Funereal cypresses —■ Doobdi—
Gigantic cypresses—Temples—Snowfall—Sikkim, &c.—Toys . 297
CHAPTER XY.
Leave Yoksun for Kinchinjunga—Ascend Ratong valley—Salt-
smuggling over Ratong—Plants—Buckeem—Blocks of gneiss—
Mon Lepcha—View—Weather—View from Gubroo—Kinchinjunga,
tops of—Pundim cliff—Nursing—Vegetation of Himalaya
—Coup d’oeil of Jongri—Route to Yalloong—Arduous route of
salt-traders from Tibet—Kinchin, ascentfof—Lichens—Surfaces
sculptured by snow and ice—Weather at Jongri—Snow—Shades
for eyes . . . . . . . . . . 318
CHAPTER XVI.
Ratong river below Mon Lepcha—Ferns—Vegetation of Yoksun,
tropical—A raliacece, fodder for cattle—Rice-paper plant—Lake
—Old temples—Funereal cypresses—Gigantic chait—Altars—
Songboom—Catsuperri—Worship at Catsuperri lake—Scenery
—Willow—Lamas and ecclesiastical establishments of Sikkim—
Tengling—Changachelling temples and monks—Portrait of myself
on walls—Lingcham Kajee asks for spectacles—Arrive at Little
Rungeet—At Doijiling—Its deserted and wintry appearance . 335
HIMALAYAN JOURNALS.
CHAPTER I.
Sunderbunds vegetation—Calcutta Botanic Garden—Leave for Burdwan
—Rajah’s gardens and menagerie—Coal-beds, geology, and plants of
—Lac insect and plant—Kunker—Cowage—Effloresced soda on soil—
Glass, manufacture of-—Atmospheric vapours—Temperature, &c.—
Mahowa oil and spirits—Maddaobund—Jains—Ascent of Parasnath
—Vegetation of that mountain.
I l e f t England on the 11th of November, 1847, and
performed the voyage to India under circumstances
which have been detailed in the Introduction. On the
12th of January, 1848, the “ Moozuffer” was steaming
amongst the low swampy islands of the Sunderbunds.
These exhibit no tropical luxuriance, and are, in this
respect, exceedingly disappointing. A low vegetation
covers them; growing in brackish swamps, chiefly
made up of a dwarf-palm and small mangroves, with a
few scattered trees on the higher hank that runs along
the water’s edge, consisting of fan and toddy-palms.
Every now and then, the paddles of the steamer tossed
up the large fruits of Nipa fruticans, a low stemless
palm that grows in the tidal waters of the Indian ocean,
TOL. I , g