such genera is extended in proportion to the extremely
damp and equable climate. Tree-ferns are however
absent, and neither plantains, epiphytical orchids, nor
palms, are so abundant, or ascend so high as on the
outer ranges. About Yoksun itself, which occupies a
very warm sheltered flat, many tropical genera occur,
such as tall bamboos of two kinds, grasses allied to the
sugar-cane, and various Araliacece, amongst which was
one species whose pith was of so curious a structure,
that I had no hesitation in considering the then unknown
Chinese substance called rice-paper, to belong
to a closely allied plant.*
The natives collect the leaves of many Aralias as
fodder, for which purpose they are of the greatest
service in a country where grass for pasture is so
scarce, this is the more remarkable, since they belong
to the natural family of ivy, which is usually poisonous;
the use of this food, however, gives a peculiar taste to
the butter. In other parts of Sikkim, fig-leaves are
used for the same purpose, and branches of a bird-
cherry , a plant also of a very poisonous family,
abounding in prussic acid.
We were received with great kindness by the
villagers of Yoksun, who had awaited our return with
some anxiety, and on hearing of our approach had
collected large supplies of food; amongst other things
* I t is only within the last few months that my supposition has been
confirmed, by my father’s receiving from China, after many years of correspondence,
specimens of the rice-paper plant itself, which very closely
resemble, in botanical characters, as well as in outward appearance of size
and habit, the Sikkim plant.
were tares, yams, and bread made by bruising together
damp maize and rice into tough thin cakes. The
Lamas of Doobdi were especially civil, having a favour
to ask, which was that I would intercede with Dr:
Campbell to procure the permission of the Nepalese
to re-open the Kanglanamo pass, and thus give some
occupation to their herds of yaks, which were now
wandering idly about.
The Yoksun flat abounds in depressions that must
formerly have been lake-beds, and are now marshes in
the rainy season; but there is only one existing pool,
and this has no permanent - affluent or outlet, its
drainage being either subterranean, or more probably
by evaporation. I t is eighty to a hundred yards across,
and nearly circular; its depth three or four feet, in-,
creased to fifteen or sixteen in the rain s; like all
similar pools in Sikkim, it contains little or no animal
life at this season, and I searched in vain for shells,
insects, or frogs. Around it lay many great blocks,
some fully twelve feet square.
The situation of this lake is very romantic, buried
in a tall forest of oaks and laurels, and fringed by wild
camellia shrubs; the latter are not the leafy, large--
blossomed plants of our greenhouses, but twiggy bushes
with small scattered leaves, and little yellowish flowers,
like those of the tea-plant. The massive walls of a ruined
temple rise close to the water, which looks like the
still moat of a castle : beside the ruins are some grand
old funereal cypresses, with ragged scattered branches
below, where they struggle for light in the dense forest,
but raising their heads aloft as bright green pyramids.