of children about the Lamaseries, who were invariably
called nephews and nieces.
Descending from the Catsuperri temples, I encamped
at the village of Tengling, where I was waited upon by
a bevy of forty women, Lepchas and Sikkim Bhoteas,
accompanied by their children, and bringing presents
of fowls, rice and vegetables, and apologising for the
absence of their male relatives, who were gone to carry
tribute to the Rajah.
I did not visit the Molli temples, but crossed the
spur of that name, and ascended to the Changachelling
temples. The ridge on which both Pemiongchi and
Changachelling are built, is excessively narrow at top ;
it is traversed by a “ via sacra,” connecting these two
establishments ; this is a pretty wooded walk, passing
mendongs and chaits hoary with lichens and mosses ;
to the north the snows of Kinchinjunga are seen
glimmering between the trunks of oaks, laurels, and
rhododendrons, while to the south the Sinchul and
Dorjiling ranges shut out the view of the plains of
India.
Changachelling temples and chaits crown a beautiful
rocky eminence, the ascent to which is by broad flights
of steps cut in the rocks, up which shaven and girdled
monks, with rosaries and long red gowns, were dragging
loads of bamboo stems, that produced a curious rattling
noise. The monks were repairing the principal temple,
which consisted of a large chamber and vestibule : the
outside walls were daubed red, with a pigment of burnt
clay, which is dug hard by. Some were painting the
vestibule with colours brought from Lhassa, where
they had been trained to the art. Amongst other
figures was one playing on a guitar, a very common
symbol in Sikkim temples : I also saw an angel playing
on a flute, and a snake-king offering fruit to a figure
in the water, who was grasping a serpent. Amongst
thé figures I was struck by that of an Englishman,
whom, to my amusement, and the limner’s great delight,
I recognised as myself. I was depicted in a
flowered silk coat instead of a tartan shooting jacket,
my shoes were turned up at the toes, and I had on
spectacles and a tartar cap, and was writing notes in
a book. On one side a snake-king was politely handing
me fruit, and on the other a horrible demon was
writhing.
A crowd had collectèd to see whether I should
recognise myself, and when I did so, the merriment
was extreme. They begged me to send them a supply
of vermilion, gold-leaf, and brushes ; our so-called
camel’s-hair pencils being much superior to theirs,
which are made of marmot’s hair.
I was then conducted to a house, where I found
salted and buttered tea and Murwa beer smoking in
hospitable preparation. As usual, the house was of
wood, and the inhabited apartments above the low basement
story were approached by an outside ladder, like
a Swiss cottage : within were two rooms floored with
earth ; the innermost of which was small, and opened
pn a verandah that faced Kinchinjunga, whence the
keen wind whistled through the apartment.
The head Lama, my jolly fat friend of the 20th of
December, came to breakfast with me, followed by