Books: Himalayan Journals (Complete)

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In diet, they are gross feeders;* [Dr. Campbell's definition of the
Lepcha's _Flora cibaria,_ is, that he eats, or must have eaten,
everything soft enough to chew; for, as he knows whatever is
poisonous, he must have tried all; his knowledge being wholly
empirical.] rice, however, forming their chief sustenance; it is
grown without irrigation, and produces a large, flat, coarse grain,
which becomes gelatinous, and often pink, when cooked. Pork is a
staple dish: and they also eat elephant, and all kinds of animal
food. When travelling, they live on whatever they can find, whether
animal or vegetable. Fern-tops, roots of _Scitamineae,_ and their
flower-buds, various leaves (it is difficult to say what not), and
fungi, are chopped up, fried with a little oil, and eaten.
Their cooking is coarse and dirty. Salt is costly, but prized; pawn
(Betel pepper) is never eaten. Tobacco they are too poor to buy, and
too indolent to grow and cure. Spices, oil, etc. are relished.

They drink out of little wooden cups, turned from knots of maple, or
other woods; these are very curious on several accounts; they are
very pretty, often polished, and mounted with silver. Some are
supposed to be antidotes against poison, and hence fetch an enormous
price; they are of a peculiar wood, rarer and paler-coloured. I have
paid a guinea for one such, hardly different from the common sort,
which cost but 4d. or 6d. MM. Huc and Gabet graphically allude to
this circumstance, when wishing to purchase cups at Lhassa, where
their price is higher, as they are all imported from the Himalaya.
The knots from which they are formed, are produced on the roots of
oaks, maples, and other mountain forest trees, by a parasitical
plant, known to botanists, as _Balanophora_.

Their intoxicating drink, which seems more to excite than to debauch
the mind, is partially fermented. Murwa grain (_Eleusine Coracana_).
Spirits are rather too strong to be relished raw, and when a glass of
wine is given to one of a party, he sips it, and hands it round to
all the rest. A long bamboo flute, with four or six burnt holes far
below the month-hole, is the only musical instrument I have seen in
use among them. When travelling, and the fatigues of the day are
over, the Lepchas will sit for hours chatting, telling stories,
singing in a monotonous tone, or blowing this flute. I have often
listened with real pleasure to the simple music of this rude
instrument; its low and sweet tones are singularly Aeolian, as are
the airs usually played, which fall by octaves: it seems to harmonize
with the solitude of their primaeval forests, and he must have a dull
ear who cannot draw from it the indication of a contented mind,
whether he may relish its soft musical notes or not. Though always
equipped for the chase, I fancy the Lepcha is no great sportsman;
there is little to be pursued in this region, and he is not driven by
necessity to follow what there is.

Their marriages are contracted in childhood, and the wife purchased
by money, or by service rendered to the future father-in-law, the
parties being often united before the woman leaves her parents' roof,
in cases where the payment is not forthcoming, and the bridegroom
prefers giving his and his wife's labour to the father for a stated
period in lieu. On the time of service expiring, or the money being
paid up, the marriage is publicly celebrated by feasting and riot.
The females are generally chaste, and the marriage-tie is strictly
kept, its violation being heavily punished by divorce, beating,
slavery, etc. In cases of intermarriage with foreigners, the children
belong to the father's country. All the labours of the house, the
field, and march, devolve on the women and children, or slaves if
they have them.

Small-pox is dreaded, and infected persons often cruelly shunned: a
suspicion of this or of cholera frequently emptying a village or town
in a night. Vaccination has been introduced by Dr. Pearson, and it is
much practised by Dr. Campbell; it being eagerly sought. Cholera is
scarcely known at Dorjiling, and when it has been imported thither
has never spread. Disease is very rare amongst the Lepchas; and
ophthalmic, elephantiasis, and leprosy, the scourges of hot climates,
are rarely known. Goitre prevails,* [May not the use of the head
instead of the shoulder-strap in carrying loads be a predisposing
cause of goitre, by inducing congestion of the laryngeal vessels?
The Lepcha is certainly far more free from this disease than any of
the tribes of E. Nepal I have mixed with, and he is both more idle
and less addicted to the head-strap as a porter. I have seen it to be
almost universal in some villages of Bhoteeas, where the head-strap
alone is used in carrying in both summer and winter crops; as also
amongst the salt-traders, or rather those families who carry the salt
from the passes to the Nepalese villages, and who very frequently
have no shoulder-straps, but invariably head-bands. I am far from
attributing all goitre, even in the mountains, to this practice, but
I think it is proved, that the disease is most prevalent in the
mountainous regions of both the old and new world, and that in these
the practice of supporting enormous loads by the cervical muscles is
frequent. It is also found in the Himalayan sheep and goats which
accompany the salt-traders, and whose loads are supported in
ascending, by a band passing under the throat.] though not so
conspicuously as amongst. Bhoteeas, Bhotanese, and others. Rheumatism
is frequent, and intermittent fevers, with ague; also violent and
often fatal remittents, almost invariably induced by sleeping in the
hot valleys, especially at the beginning and end of the rains.
The European complaints of liver and bowel disease are all but
unknown. Death is regarded with horror. The dead are burnt or buried,
sometimes both; much depending on custom and position. Omens are
sought in the entrails of fowls, etc., and other vestiges of their
savage origin are still preserved, though now gradually disappearing.

The Lepchas profess no religion, though acknowledging the existence
of good and bad spirits. To the good they pay no heed; "Why should
we?" they say, "the good spirits do us no harm; the evil spirits, who
dwell in every rock, grove, and mountain, are constantly at mischief,
and to them we must pray, for they hurt us." Every tribe has a
priest-doctor; he neither knows nor attempts to practise the healing
art, but is a pure exorcist; all bodily ailments being deemed the
operations of devils, who are cast out by prayers and invocations.
Still they acknowledge the Lamas to be very holy men, and were the
latter only moderately active, they would soon convert all the
Lepchas. Their priests are called "Bijooas": they profess mendicancy,
and seem intermediate between the begging friars of Tibet, whose
dress and attributes they assume, and the exorcists of the aboriginal
Lepchas: they sing, dance (masked and draped like harlequins), beg,
bless, curse, and are merry mountebanks; those that affect more of
the Lama Boodhist carry the "Mani," or revolving praying machine, and
wear rosaries and amulets; others again are all tatters and rags.
They are often employed to carry messages, and to transact little
knaveries. The natives stand in some awe of them, and being besides
of a generous disposition, keep the wallet of the Bijooa always full.

Such are some of the prominent features of this people, who inhabit
the sub-Himalayas, between the Nepalese and Bhotan frontiers, at
elevations of 3000 to 6000 feet. In their relations with us, they are
conspicuous for their honesty, their power as carriers and
mountaineers, and their skill as woodsmen; for they build a
waterproof house with a thatch of banana leaves in the lower, or of
bamboo in the elevated regions, and equip it with a table and
bedsteads for three persons, in an hour, using no implement but their
heavy knife. Kindness and good humour soon attach them to your person
and service. A gloomy-tempered or morose master they avoid, an unkind
one they flee. If they serve a good hills-man like themselves, they
will follow him with alacrity, sleep on the cold, bleak mountain
exposed to the pitiless rain, without a murmur, lay down the heavy
burden to carry their master over a stream, or give him a helping
hand up a rock or precipice--do anything, in short, but encounter a
foe, for I believe the Lepcha to be a veritable coward.* [Yet, during
the Ghorka war, they displayed many instances of courage: when so
hard pressed, however, that there was little choice of evils.] It is
well, perhaps, he is so: for if a race, numerically so weak, were to
embroil itself by resenting the injuries of the warlike Ghorkas, or
dark Bhotanese, the folly would soon lead to destruction.

Before leaving the Lepchas, it may be worth mentioning that the
northern parts of the country, towards the Tibet frontier, are
inhabited by Sikkim Bhoteeas* [Bhote is the general name for Tibet
(not Bhotan), and Kumpa is a large province, or district, in that
country. The Bhotanese, natives of Bhotan, or of the Dhurma country,
are called Dhurma people, in allusion to their spiritual chief, the
Dhurma Rajah. They are a darker and more powerful race, rude,
turbulent, and Tibetan in language and religion, with the worst
features of those people exaggerated. The various races of Nepal are
too numerous to be alluded to here: they are all described in various
papers by Mr. Hodgson, in the "Journal of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal." The Dhurma people are numerous at Dorjiling; they are often
runaways, but invariably prove more industrious settlers than the
Lepchas. In the Himalaya the name Bhotan is unknown amongst the
Tibetans; it signifies literally (according to Mr. Hodgson) the end
of Bhote, or Tibet, being the eastern extreme of that country.
The Lepchas designate Bhotan as Ayeu, or Aieu, as do often the
Bhotanese themselves. Sikkim, again, is called Lhop, or Lho', by the
Lepchas and Bhotanese.] (or Kumpas), a mixed race calling themselves
Kumpa Rong, or Kumpa Lepchas; but they are emigrants from Tibet,
having come with the first rajah of Sikkim. These people are more
turbulent and bolder than the Lepchas, and retain much of their
Tibetan character, and even of that of the very province from which
they came; which is north-east of Lhassa, and inhabited by robbers.
All the accounts I have received of it agree with those given by
MM. Huc and Gabet.

Next to the Lepchas, the most numerous tribe in Sikkim is that of the
Limboos (called "Chung" by the Lepchas); they abound also in East
Nepal, which they once ruled, inhabiting elevations from 2000 feet to
5000 feet. They are Boodhists, and though not divided into castes,
belong to several tribes. All consider themselves as the earliest
inhabitants of the Tambur Valley, though they have a tradition of
having originally emigrated from Tibet, which their Tartar
countenance confirms. They are more slender and sinewy than the
Lepchas, and neither plait their hair nor wear ornaments; instead of
the ban they use the Nepal curved knife, called "cookree," while for
the striped kirtle of the Lepcha are substituted loose cotton
trousers and a tight jacket; a sash is worn round the middle, and on
the head a small cotton cap. When they ruled over East Nepal, their
system was feudal; and on their uniting against the Nepalese, they
were with difficulty dislodged from their strongholds. They are said
to be equally brave and cruel in battle, putting the old and weak to
the sword, carrying the younger to slavery, and killing on the march
such captives as are unable to proceed. Many enlist at Dorjiling,
which the Lepchas never do; and the rajah of Nepal employs them in
his army, where, however, they seldom obtain promotion, this being
reserved for soldiers of Hindoo tribes. Latterly Jung Bahadur levied
a force of 6000 of them, who were cantoned at Katmandoo, where the
cholera breaking out, carried off some hundreds, causing many
families who dreaded conscription to flock to Dorjiling. Their habits
are so similar to those of the Lepchas, that they constantly
intermarry. They mourn, burn, and bury their dead, raising a mound
over the corpse, erecting a headstone, and surrounding the grave with
a little paling of sticks; they then scatter eggs and pebbles over
the ground. In these offices the Bijooa of the Lepchas is employed,
but the Limboo has also priests of his own, called "Phedangbos," who
belong to rather a higher order than the Bijooas. They officiate at
marriages, when a cock is put into the bridegroom's hands, and a hen
into those of the bride; the Phedangbo then cuts off the birds'
heads, when the blood is caught on a plantain leaf, and runs into
pools from which omens are drawn. At death, guns are fired, to
announce to the gods the departure of the spirit; of these there are
many, having one supreme head, and to them offerings and sacrifices
are made. They do not believe in metempsychosis.

The Limboo language is totally different from the Lepcha; with less
of the _z_ in it, and more labials and palatals, hence more pleasing.
Its affinities I do not know; it has no peculiar written character,
the Lepcha or Nagri being used. Dr. Campbell, from whom I have,
derived most of my information respecting these people, was
informed,* [See "Dorjiling Guide," p. 89. Calcutta, 1845.] on good
authority, that they had once a written language, now lost; and that
it was compounded from many others by a sage of antiquity. The same
authority stated that their Lepcha name "Chung" is a corruption of
that of their place of residence; possibly the "Tsang" province
of Tibet.

The Moormis are the only other native tribe remaining in any numbers
in Sikkim, except the Tibetans of the loftier mountains (whom I shall
mention at a future period), and the Mechis of the pestilential
Terai, the forests of which they never leave. The Moormis are a
scattered people, respecting whom I have no information, except from
the authority quoted above. They are of Tibetan origin, and called
"Nishung," from being composed of two branches, respectively from the
districts of Nimo and Shung, both on the road between Sikkim and
Lhassa. They are now most frequent in central and eastern Nepal, and
are a pastoral and agricultural people, inhabiting elevations of 4000
to 6000 feet, and living in stone houses, thatched with grass.
They are a large, powerful, and active race, grave, very plain in
features, with little hair on the face. Both their language and
religion are purely Tibetan.

The Magras, a tribe now confined to Nepal west of the Arun, are
aborigines of Sikkim, whence they were driven by the Lepchas westward
into the country of the Limboos, and by these latter further west
still. They are said to have been savages, and not of Tibetan origin,
and are now converted to Hindooism. A somewhat mythical account of a
wild people still inhabiting the Sikkim mountains, will be alluded
to elsewhere.

It is curious to observe that these mountains do not appear to have
afforded refuge to the Tamulian* [The Tamulians are the Coles,
Dangas, etc., of the mountains of Central India and the peninsula,
who retired to mountain fastnesses, on the invasion of their country
by the Indo-Germanic conquerors, who are now represented by the
Hindoos.] aborigines of India proper; all the Himalayan tribes of
Sikkim being markedly Mongolian in origin. It does not, however,
follow that they are all of Tibetan extraction; perhaps, indeed, none
but the Moormis are so. The Mechi of the Terai is decidedly
Indo-Chinese, and of the same stock as the savage races of Assam, the
north-east and east frontier of Bengal, Arracan, Burmah, etc. Both
Lepchas and Limboos had, before the introduction of Lama Boodhism
from Tibet, many features in common with the natives of Arracan,
especially in their creed, sacrifices, faith in omens, worship of
many spirits, absence of idols, and of the doctrine of
metempsychosis. Some of their customs, too, are the same; the form of
their houses and of some of their implements, their striped garments,
their constant and, dexterous use of the bamboo for all utensils,
their practice of night-attacks in war, of using poisoned arrows only
in the chase, and that of planting "crow-feet" of sharp bamboo stakes
along the paths an enemy is expected to follow. Such are but a few
out of many points of resemblance, most of which struck me when
reading Lieutenant Phayre's account of Arracan,* ["Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal."] and when travelling in the districts of
Khasia and Cachar.

The laws affecting the distribution of plants, and the lower animals,
materially influence the migrations of man also; and as the botany,
zoology, and climate of the Malayan and Siamese peninsula advance far
westwards into India, along the foot of the Himalaya, so do also the
varieties of the human race. These features are most conspicuously
displayed in the natives of Assam, on both sides of the Burrampooter,
as far as the great bend of that river, beyond which they gradually
disappear; and none of the Himalayan tribes east of that point
practise the bloody and brutal rites in war that prevail amongst the
Cookies, Khasias, Garrows, and other Indo-Chinese tribes of the
mountain forests of Assam, Eastern Bengal, and the Malay peninsula.

I have not alluded to that evidence of the extraction of the Sikkim
races, which is to be derived from their languages, and from which we
may hope for a clue to their origin; the subject is at present under
discussion, and involved in much obscurity.

That six or seven different tribes, without any feudal system or
coercive head, with different languages and customs, should dwell in
close proximity and in peace and unity, within the confined territory
of Sikkim, even for a limited period, is an anomaly; the more
especially when it is considered that except for a tincture of the
Boodhist religion among some few of the people, they are all but
savages, as low in the scale of intellect as the New Zealander or the
Tahitian, and beneath those races in ingenuity and skill as
craftsmen. Wars have been waged amongst them, but they were neither
sanguinary nor destructive, and the fact remains no less remarkable,
that at the period of our occupying Dorjiling, friendship and
unanimity existed amongst all these tribes; from the Tibetan at
14,000 feet, to the Mechi of the plains; under a sovereign whose
temporal power was wholly unsupported by even the semblance of arms,
and whose spiritual supremacy was acknowledged by very few.

CHAPTER VI.

Excursion from Dorjiling to Great Rungeet -- Zones of vegetation --
Tree-ferns -- Palms, upper limit of -- Leebong, tea plantations --
Ging -- Boodhist remains -- Tropical vegetation -- Pines -- Lepcha
clearances -- Forest fires -- Boodhist monuments -- Fig -- Cane
bridge and raft over Rungeet -- Sago-palm -- India-rubber -- Yel Pote
-- Butterflies and other insects -- Snakes -- Camp -- Temperature and
humidity of atmosphere -- Junction of Teesta and Rungeet -- Return to
Dorjiling -- Tonglo, excursion to -- Bamboo flowering -- Oaks --
Gordonia -- Maize, hermaphrodite flowered -- Figs -- Nettles --
Peepsa -- Simonbong, cultivation at -- European fruits at Dorjiling
-- Plains of India.

A very favourite and interesting excursion from Dorjiling is to the
cane bridge over the Great Rungeet river, 6000 feet below the
station. To this an excellent road has been cut, by which the whole
descent of six miles, as the crow flies, is easily performed on
pony-back; the road distance being only eleven miles. The scenery is,
of course, of a totally different description from that of Sinchul,
or even of the foot of the hills, being that of a deep
mountain-valley. I several times made this trip; on the excursion
about to be described, and in which I was accompanied by Mr. Barnes,
I followed the Great Rungeet to the Teesta, into which it flows.

In descending from Dorjiling, the zones of vegetation are well marked
between 6000 and 7000 feet by--1. The oak, chesnut, and Magnolias,
the main features from 7000 to 10,000 feet.--2. Immediately below
6,500 feet, the tree-fern appears (_Alsophila gigantea,_ Wall.), a
widely-distributed plant, common to the Himalaya, from Nepal eastward
to the Malayan peninsula, Java, and Ceylon.--3. Of palms, a species
of _Calamus,_ and _Plectocomia,_ the "Rhenoul" of the Lepchas. The
latter, though not a very large plant, climbs lofty trees, and
extends about 40 yards through the forest; 6,500 feet is the upper
limit of palms in the Sikkim Himalaya, the Rhenoul alone attaining
this elevation.*--4. [Four other _Calami_ range between 1000 and 6000
feet on the outer hills, some of them being found forty miles distant
from the plains of India. The other palms of Sikkim are, "Simong"
(_Caryota urens_); it is rare, and ascends to nearly 5000 feet.
_Phoenix_ (probably _P. acaulis,_ Buch.), a small, stemless species,
which grows on the driest soil in the deep valleys; it is the
"Schaap" of the Lepchas, who eat the young seeds, and use the
feathery fronds as screens in hunting. _Wallichia oblongifolia,_ the
"Ooh" of the Lepchas, who make no use of it; Dr. Campbell and myself,
however, found that it is an admirable fodder for horses, who prefer
it to any other green food to be had in these mountains. _Areca
gracilis_ and _Licuala peltata_ are the only other palms in Sikkim;
but _Cycas pectinata,_ with the India-rubber fig, occurs in the
deepest and hottest valleys--the western limit of both these
interesting plants. Of _Pandanus_ there is a graceful species at
elevations of 1000 to 4000 feet ("Borr," Lepcha).] The fourth
striking feature is a wild plantain, which ascends to nearly the same
elevation ("Lukhlo," Lepcha). This is replaced by another, and rather
larger species, at lower elevations; both ripen austere and small
fruits, which are full of seeds, and quite uneatable; that commonly
grown in Sikkim is an introduced stock (nor have the wild species
ever been cultivated); it is very large, but poor in flavour, and
does not bear seeds. The zones of these conspicuous plants are very
clearly defined, and especially if the traveller, standing on one of
the innumerable spurs which project from the Dorjiling ridge, cast
his eyes up the gorges of green on either hand.

At 1000 feet below Dorjiling a fine wooded spur projects, called
Leebong. This beautiful spot is fully ten degrees warmer than Mr.
Hodgson's house, and enjoys considerably more sunshine; peaches and
English fruit-trees flourish extremely well, but do not ripen fruit.
The tea-plant succeeds here admirably, and might be cultivated to
great profit, and be of advantage in furthering a trade with Tibet.
It has been tried on a large scale by Dr. Campbell at his residence
(alt. 7000 feet), but the frosts and snow of that height injure it,
as do the hailstorms in spring.

Below Leebong is the village of Ging, surrounded by steeps,
cultivated with maize, rice, and millet. It is rendered very
picturesque by a long row of tall poles, each bearing a narrow,
vertically elongated banner, covered with Boodhist inscriptions, and
surmounted by coronet-like ornaments, or spear-heads, rudely cut out
of wood, or formed of basket-work, and adorned with cotton fringe.
Ging is peopled by Bhotan emigrants, and when one dies, if his
relations can afford to pay for them, two additional poles and flags
are set up by the Lamas in honour of his memory, and that of Sunga,
the third member of the Boodhist Trinity.

Below this the _Gordonia_ commences, with _Cedrela toona,_ and
various tropical genera, such as abound near Punkabaree. The heat and
hardness of the rocks cause the streams to dry up on these abrupt
hills, especially on the eastern slope, and the water is therefore
conveyed along the sides of the path, in conduits ingeniously made of
bamboo, either split in half, or, what is better, whole, except at
the septum, which is removed through a lateral hole. The oak and
chesnut of this level (3000 feet), are both different from those
which grow above, as are the brambles. The _Arums_ are replaced by
_Caladiums. Tree-ferns cease below 4000 feet, and the large bamboo
abounds.

At about 2000 feet, and ten miles distant from Dorjiling, we arrived
at a low, long spur, dipping down to the bed of the Rungeet, at its
junction with the Rungmo. This is close to the boundary of the
British ground, and there is a guard-house, and a sepoy or two at it;
here we halted. It took the Lepchas about twenty minutes to construct
a table and two bedsteads within our tent; each was made of four
forked sticks, stuck in the ground, supporting as many side-pieces,
across which were laid flat split pieces of bamboo, bound tightly
together by strips of rattan palm-stem. The beds were afterwards
softened by many layers of bamboo-leaf, and if not very downy, they
were dry, and as firm as if put together with screws and joints.

This spur rises out of a deep valley, quite surrounded by lofty
mountains; it is narrow, and covered with red clay, which the natives
chew as a cure for goitre. North, it looks down into a gully, at the
bottom of which the Rungeet's foamy stream winds through a dense
forest. In the opposite direction, the Rungmo comes tearing down from
the top of Sinchul, 7000 feet above; and though its roar is heard,
and its course is visible throughout its length, the stream itself is
nowhere seen, so deep does it cut its channel. Except on this, and a
few similarly hard rocky hills around, the vegetation is a mass of
wood and jungle. At this spot it is rather scanty and dry, with
abundance of the _Pinus longifolia_ and Sal. The dwarf date-palm
(_Phoenix acaulis_) also, was very abundant.