Shortly after my arrival at Lamteng, the villagers
sent to request that I would not shoot, as they said it
brought on excessive rain, and consequent damage to
the crops. My necessities did not admit of my complying
with their wish unless I could procure food by
other means; and I at first paid no attention to their
request. The people, however, became urgent, and
the Choongtam Lama giving his high authority to the
superstition, it appeared impolitic to resist their earnest
supplication; though I was well aware that the story
was trumped up by the Lama for the purpose of
forcing me to return. I yielded on the promise of
provisions being supplied from the village, which was
done to a limited ex ten t; and I was enabled to hold
out till more arrived from Dorjiling, now, owing to
the state of the roads, at the distance of twenty
days’ march. The people were always civil and kind :
there was no concealing the fact that the orders were
stringent, which prohibited my party being supplied with
food, but many of the villagers sought opportunities by
night of replenishing my stores. Superstitious and
timorous, they regard a doctor with great veneration;
and when to that is added his power of writing,
drawing, and painting, their admiration knows no
bounds: they flocked round my tent all day, scratching
their ears, lolling out their tongues, making a clucking
noise, smiling, and timidly peeping over my shoulder,
but flying in alarm when my little dog resented their
familiarity by snapping at their legs. The men spend
the whole day in loitering about, smoking, and spinning
wool, while the women take the active duties; a few
were engaged in drying the leaves of a shrub (Sym-
plocos) for the Tibet market, which are used as a yellow
dye; whilst, occasionally, a man might be seen cutting
a spoon or a yak-saddle out of rhododendron wood.
During my stay at Lamteng, the weather was all but
uniformly cloudy and misty, with drizzling rain, and
a southerly, or up-valley wind, during the day, which
changed to an easterly one at n ig h t: occasionally
distant thunder was heard. My tent was constantly
wet, nor did I once sleep in a dry bed till the 1st of
June, which ushered in the month with a brilliant
sunny day. At night it generally rained in torrents,
and the roar of landslips and avalanches was then all
but uninterrupted: sometimes it was a rumble, at others
a harsh grating sound, and often accompanied with the
crashing of immense timber-trees.
I t was sometimes clear at sunrise, and I made many
ascents of Tukcham, hoping for a view of the mountains
towards the passes; but I was only successful on one
occasion, when I saw the table top of Kinchinjhow, the
most remarkable and one of the most distant peaks of
dazzling snow which is seen from Dorjiling. I kept
up a constant intercourse with Choongtam, sending my
plants thither to be dried, and gradually reducing my
party as our necessities urged my so doing; lastly, I
sent back the shooters, who had procured very little,
and whose occupation was now gone.
On the 2nd of June, I received the bad news that a
large party of coolies had been sent from Dorjiling
with rice, but that being unable or afraid to pass the
landslips, they had returned: we had now no food