in diamonds of red, black, and white : the roofs are
either of wood or bark, held down by large stones i
within they are airy and comfortable. They are
surrounded by a little cultivation of buck-wheat,
radishes, turnips, and mustard. The inhabitants,
though paying rent to the Sikkim Kajah, consider
themselves as Tibetans, and are so in language, dress,
features, and origin : they seldom descend to Choong-
tam, but yearly travel to the Tibetan towns of Jigatzi,
Kambajong, Giantchi, and even to Lhassa, having
commercial and pastoral transactions with the Tibetans,
whose flocks are pastured on the Sikkim mountains
during summer, and who trade with the plains of India
through the medium of these villagers.
The snow having disappeared from elevations below
11,000 feet, the yaks, sheep, and ponies had just been
driven 2000 feet up the valley, and the inhabitants
were preparing to follow, with their tents and goats, to
summer quarters at Tallum and Tungu. Many had
goitres and rheumatism, for the cure of which they
flocked to my te n t; dry-rubbing for the latter, and
tincture of iodine for the former, gained me some credit
as a doctor : I could, however, procure no food beyond
trifling presents of eggs, meal, and more rarely, fowls.
On arriving I saw a troop of large monkeys gambolling
in a wood of Abies Brunoniana; this surprised me,
as I was not prepared to find so tropical an animal
associated with a vegetation typical of a boreal climate.
The only other quadrupeds seen here were some small
earless rats, and musk-deer; the young female of which
latter sometimes afforded me a dish of excellent venison;