My route hence was to be along the south flank of
Kinchinjunga, north to Jongri, which lay about four or
five marches oif, on the road to the long deserted pass
of Kanglanamo, by which I had intended entering
Sikkim from Nepal, when I found the route up the
Yalloong valley impracticable. The village and ruined
convents of Yoksun lay near my route, and the temples
of Doobdi, Catsuperri and Molli, on the Ratong river.
I descended to the village of Tchonpong, where I
was detained a day to obtain rice, of which I required
ten days’ supply for twenty-five people. On the way
I passed groves of the paper-yielding Edgeworthia
Gardneri: it bears round heads of fragrant, beautiful,
yellow flowers, and would be a valuable acquisition to
an English conservatory.
From Tchonpong we descended to the bed of the
Itungbee (alt. 3,160 feet), an affluent of the Ratong,
flowing in a deep gulley with precipitous sides : it was
spanned by a bridge of two loose bamboo culms, about
fifteen yards long, laid across without hand-rails ; after
wet sand had been thrown on it the bare-footed coolies
crossed easily enough, but I, having shoes on, required
a hand to steady me. From this point we crossed a lofty
spur to the Ratong, where we encamped, the coolies being
unable to proceed further along such very bad roads.
We encamped on a gravelly flat, fifty feet above the
river, strewn with water-worn boulders, and so densely
covered with tall Artemisia bushes, gigantic grasses,
bamboos, plantains, ferns, and acacias, that we had to
clear a space in the jungle, which exhaled a rank
heavy smell.
Hence I ascended to Yoksun, one of the most
.curious and picturesque spots in Sikkim, and the last
inhabited place towards Kinchinjunga. The path
was excessively steep and rocky for the first mile or
two, and then alternately steep and flat. Mixed with
many tropical trees, were walnuts of the common
English variety; a tree, which, though planted here, is
wild near Dorjiling, where it bears a small-sized fruit, as
hard as a hickory-nut: those I gathered in this place
were similar, whereas in Bhotan the cultivated nut is
larger, thin-shelled, and the kernel is easily removed.
We ascended one slope, which was covered with light
black mould, and had been recently cleared by fire;
on it we found millet cultivated. From the top the
view was very fine : to the north lay Yoksun, appearing
from this height to occupy a flat, girdled by steep
mountains to the north and east, and dipping very
suddenly to the Ratong, the gorge of which opened
as a gloomy defile, above which rose partially
snowed mountains, which shut out Kinchinjunga.
To the right was a lofty hill, crowned with the
large temple and convents of Doobdi, shaded by beautiful
weeping cypresses, and backed by lofty fir-clad
mountains. To the west, massive fir-clad mountains
.rose steeply; while the little hamlet of Lathiang
occupied a remarkable shelf overhanging the Tiver,
appearing inaccessible except by ropes from above.
South-west, the long spurs of Molli and Catsuperri,
each crowned with its convents or temples, descended
from Singalelah ; and parallel to them on
the south, but much longer and more lofty, was the
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