ninety feet h ig h : it was not pyramidal, the top
branches being dead and broken, and the lower limbs
spreading; they were loaded with masses of white-*
flowered Orchids. The younger trees tvere pyramidal.
I was received by a monk of low degree, who made
many apologies for the absence of his superior, who
had been ordered an eight years’ penance and seclusion
from the world, of which only three had passed. On
inquiry, I learnt the reason for th is ; the holy father
having found himself surrounded by a family, to
which there would have been no objection, had he
previously obtained a dispensation. As, however, he
had omitted this preliminary, and was able to atone
by prayer and payment, he had been condemned to
do penance; probably at .his own suggestion, as the
seclusion will give him sanctity, and eventually lead
to his promotion, when his error shall have been
forgotten.
Both temples are remarkable for their heavily
ornamented, two-storied porticos, which occupy nearly
the whole of one end. The interior decorations are in
a ruinous condition, and evidently very old; they have
no Hindoo emblems.
The head Lama sent me a present of dried peaches,
with a bag of walnuts, called “ Koal-kun ” by the
Lepchas, and “ Taga-sching ” by the Bhoteas; the
two terminations alike signifying “ tree.”
Although the elevation is so low, snow falls abundantly
at Doobdi in winter; I was assured that it has
been known of the depth of five feet, a statement I
consider doubtful; the quantity is, however, certainly
greater than at equal heights about Dorjiling, no doubt
owing to its proximity to Kinchinjunga.
I was amused here by watching a child playing with
a popgun, made of bamboo, similar to that of quill,
with which most English children are familiar, which
propels pellets by means of a spring-trigger made of
the upper part of the quill. I t is easy to conclude such
resemblances between the familiar toys of different
countries to be accidental, but I question their being
really so. On the plains of India, men may often be
seen for hours together, flying what with us are
children’s kites; and I procured a jew’s harp from
Tibet. These are not the toys of savages, but the
amusements of people more than half-civilised, and
with whom we have had indirect communication from
the earliest ages. The Lepchas play at quoits, using
slate for the purpose, and at the Highland games of
“ putting the stone ” and “ drawing the stone.” Chess,
dice, draughts, Punch, hockey, and battledore and
shuttlecock, are all Indo-Chinese or Tartarian; and
no one familiar with the wonderful instances of
similarity between the monasteries, ritual ceremonies,
attributes, vestments, and other paraphernalia of the
Eastern and Western churches, can fail to acknowledge
the importance of recording even the most trifling
analogies or similarities between the manners and
customs of the young as well as of the old.