of the Great Rungeet river, up whose course the eye is
carried to the base of the great snowy mountains. The
ridge itself is very narrow at the top, along which most
of the houses are perched, while others occupy positions
on its flanks, where narrow locations on the east,
and broader ones on the west, are cleared from wood.
The valleys on either side are at least 6000 feet deep,
forest-clad to the bottom, with very few and small level
spots, and no absolute precipice; from their flanks
project innumerable little spurs, occupied by native
clearings.
My route lay along the east flank, overhanging the
valley of the Rungmo river. To my right the amphitheatre
of hills was very fine: it enclosed an area some
four miles across and 4000 feet deep, clothed throughout
with an impenetrable, dark forest: there was not one
clear patch except near the very bottom, where were
some scattered hamlets, each consisting of two or three
huts. A wooded slope descends suddenly from the
edge of the road, while, on the other hand, a bank rises
abruptly to the top of the ridge, alternately mossy,
rocky, and clayey.
I arrived at Dorjiling on the 16th of April; a showery,
cold month at this elevation. I was so fortunate as to
find Mr. Charles Barnes (brother of my friend at
Colgong), the sole tenant of a long, cottage-like
building, divided off into pairs of apartments, which
are hired by visitors. I t is usual for Europeans to
bring a fulljestablishment of servants (with bedding,
&c.) to such stations, but I had not done so, having
been told that there was a furnished hotel in Dorjiling ;
and I was, therefore, not a little indebted to Mr. Barnes
for his kind invitation to join his mess. As he was
an active mountaineer, we enjoyed many excursions
together, in the two months and a half during which
we were companions.
Dr. Campbell procured me several active native
(Lepcha) lads as collectors, at wages varying from
eight to twenty shillings a month; these either accompanied
me on my excursions, or went by themselves
into the jungles to collect plants, which I occupied
myself in drawing, dissecting, and ticketing, while the
preserving of the specimens fell to the Lepchas, who,*
after a little training, became, with constant superintendence,
good plant-driers. Even at this season (four
weeks before the setting in of the rains) the weather
was very uncertain, so that the papers had generally to
be dried by the fire.
The hill-station or Sanatarium of Doxjiling owes its
origin (like Simla, Mussooree, &c.) to the necessity that
exists in India, of providing places where the health of
Europeans may be recruited by a temperate climate.
Sikkim proved an eligible position for such an establishment,
owing to its proximity to Calcutta, which lies but
370 miles to the southward; whereas the north-west
stations mentioned above are upwards of a thousand
miles from that city. Dorjiling ridge varies in height
from 6,500 to 7,500 feet above the level of the sea; 8000
feet being the elevation at which the mean temperature
most nearly coincides with that of London, viz., 50°.
Sikkim was, further, the only available spot for
a Sanatarium throughout the whole range of the
p 3