Books: Himalayan Journals (Complete)

J >> J. D. Hooker >> Himalayan Journals (Complete)

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After a good many conferences with the Guobah, some bullying, douce
violence, persuasions, and the prescribing of pills, prayers, and
charms in the shape of warm water, for the sick of the village,
whereby I gained some favour, I was, on the 25th Nov., grudgingly
prepared for the trip to Wallanchoon, with a guide, and some
snow-boots for those of my party whom I took with me.

The path lay north-west up the valley, which became thickly wooded
with silver-fir and juniper; we gradually ascended, crossing many
streams from lateral gulleys, and huge masses of boulders. Evergreen
rhododendrons soon replaced the firs, growing in inconceivable
profusion, especially on the slopes facing the south: east, and with
no other shrubs or tree-vegetation, but scattered bushes of rose,
_Spiraea,_ dwarf juniper, stunted birch, willow, honey-suckle,
berberry, and a mountain-ash (_Pyrus_). What surprised me more than
the prevalence of rhododendron bushes, was the number of species of
this genus, easily recognised by the shape of their capsules, the
form and woolly covering of the leaves; none were in flower, but I
reaped a rich harvest of seed. At 12,000 feet the valley was wild,
open, and broad, with sloping mountains clothed for 1000 feet with
dark-green rhododendron bushes; the river ran rapidly, and was broken
into falls here and there. Huge angular and detached masses of rock
were scattered about, and to the right and left snowy peaks towered
over the surrounding mountains, while amongst the latter narrow
gulleys led up to blue patches of glacial ice, with trickling streams
and shoots of stones. Dwarf rhododendrons with strongly-scented
leaves (_R. anthopogon_ and _setosum_), and abundance of a little
_Andromeda,_ exactly like ling, with woody stems and tufted branches,
gave a heathery appearance to the hill-sides. The prevalence of
lichens, common to this country and to Scotland (especially L.
geographicus_), which coloured the rocks, added an additional feature
to the resemblance to Scotch Highland scenery. Along the narrow path
I found the two commonest of all British weeds, a grass (_Poa
annua_), and the shepherd's purse! They had evidently been imported
by man and yaks, and as they do not occur in India, I could not but
regard these little wanderers from the north with the deepest
interest.

Such incidents as these give rise to trains of reflection in the mind
of the naturalist traveller; and the farther he may be from home and
friends, the more wild and desolate the country he is exploring, the
greater the difficulties and dangers under which he encounters these
subjects of his earliest studies in science; so much keener is the
delight with which he recognises them, and the more lasting is the
impression which they leave. At this moment these common weeds more
vividly recall to me that wild scene than does all my journal, and
remind me how I went on my way, taxing my memory for all it ever knew
of the geographical distribution of the shepherd's purse, and musing
on the probability of the plant having found its way thither over all
Central Asia, and the ages that may have been occupied in its march.

On reaching 13,000 feet, the ground was everywhere hard and frozen,
and I experienced the first symptoms of lassitude, headache, and
giddiness; which however, were but slight, and only came on with
severe exertion.

We encountered a group of Tibetans, encamped to leeward of an immense
boulder of gneiss, against which they had raised a shelter with their
salt-bags, removed from their herd of yaks, which were grazing close
by. They looked miserably cold and haggard, and their little upturned
eyes, much inflamed and bloodshot, testified to the hardships they
had endured in their march from the salt regions: they were crouched
round a small fire of juniper wood, smoking iron pipes with agate
mouthpieces. A resting-house was in sight across the stream--a loose
stone hut, to which we repaired. I wondered why these Tibetans had
not taken possession of it, not being aware of the value they attach
to a rock, on account of the great warmth which it imbibes from the
sun's rays during the day, and retains at night. This invaluable
property of otherwise inhospitable gneiss and granite I had
afterwards many opportunities of proving; and when driven for a
night's shelter to such as rude nature might afford on the bleak
mountain, I have had my blankets laid beneath "the shadow of a great
rock in a weary land."

The name of Dhamersala is applied, in the mountains as in the plains
of India, to a house provided for the accommodation of travellers,
whether it be one of the beautiful caravanserais built to gratify the
piety, ostentation, or benevolence of a rajah, or such a miserable
shieling of rough stone and plank as that of Tuquoroma, in which we
took up our quarters, at 13,000 feet elevation. A cheerful fire soon
blazed on the earthen floor, filling the room with the pungent odour
of juniper, which made our eyes smart and water. The Ghorkas withdrew
to one corner, and my Lepchas to a second, while one end was screened
off for my couch; unluckily, the wall faced the north-east, and in
that direction there was a gulley in the snowy mountains, down which
the wind swept with violence, penetrating to my bed. I had calculated
upon a good night's rest here, which I much needed, having been
worried and unwell at Wallanchoon, owing to the Guobah's obstinacy. I
had not then learnt how to treat such conduct, and just before
retiring to rest had further been informed by the Havildar that the
Guobah declared we should find no food on our return. To remain in
these mountains without a supply was impossible, and the delay, of
sending to Mywa Guola would not have answered; so I long lay awake,
occupied in arranging measures. The night was clear and very cold;
the thermometer falling to 19 degrees at 9 p.m., and to 12 degrees in
the night, and that by my bedside to 20 degrees.

On the following morning (Nov. 26th) I started with a small party to
visit the pass, continuing up the broad, grassy valley; much snow lay
on the ground at 13,500 feet, which had fallen the previous month;
and several glaciers were seen in lateral ravines at about the same
elevation. After a couple of miles, we left the broad valley, which
continued north-west, and struck northward up a narrow, stony, and
steep gorge, crossing an immense ancient moraine at its mouth. This
path, which we followed for seven or eight miles, led up to the pass,
winding considerably, and keeping along the south-east exposures,
which, being the most sunny, are the freest from snow. The morning
was splendid, the atmosphere over the dry rocks and earth, at 14,000
feet, vibrating from the power of the sun's rays, whilst vast masses
of blue glacier and fields of snow choked every galley, and were
spread over all shady places. Although, owing to the steepness and
narrowness of the gorge, no view was obtained, the scenery was wild
and very grand. Just below where perpetual snow descends to the path,
an ugly carved head of a demon, with blood-stained cheeks and
goggle-eyes, was placed in a niche of rock, and protected by a glass.

At 15,000 feet, the snow closed in on the path from all sides,
whether perpetual, glacial, or only the October fall, I could not
tell; the guide declared it to be perpetual henceforward, though now
deepened by the very heavy October fall; the path was cut some three
feet through it. Enormous boulders of gneiss cumbered the bottom of
the gorge, which gradually widened as we approached its summit; and
rugged masses of black and red gneiss and mica schist pierced the
snow, and stood out in dismal relief. For four miles continuously we
proceeded over snow; which was much honey-combed on the surface, and
treacherous from the icy streams it covered, into which we every now
and then stumbled; there was scarcely a trace of vegetation, and the
cold was excessive, except in the sun.

Towards the summit of the pass the snow lay very deep, and we
followed the course of a small stream which cut through it, the walls
of snow being breast-high on each side; the path was still frequented
by yaks, of which we overtook a small party going to Tibet, laden
with planks. All the party appeared alike overcome by lassitude,
shortness and difficulty of breathing, a sense of weight on the
stomach, giddiness and headache, with tightness across the temples.

Just below the summit was a complete bay of snow, girdled with two
sharp peaks of red baked schists and gneiss, strangely contorted, and
thrown up at all angles with no prevalent dip or strike, and
permeated with veins of granite. The top itself, or boundary between
Nepal and Tibet, is a low saddle between two rugged ridges of rock,
with a cairn built on it, adorned with bits of stick and rag covered
with Tibetan inscriptions. The view into Tibet was not at all
distant, and was entirely of snowy mountains, piled ridge over ridge;
three of these spurs must, it is said, be crossed before any descent
can be made to the Chomachoo river (as the Arun is called in Tibet),
on which is the frontier fort of the Tibetans, and which is reached
in two or three days. There is no plain or level ground of any kind
before reaching that river, of which the valley is said to be wide
and flat.

Starting at 10 a.m., we did not reach the top till 3.30 p.m.; we had
halted nowhere, but the last few miles had been most laborious, and
the three of us who gained the summit were utterly knocked up.
Fortunately I carried my own barometer; it indicated 16.206 inches,
giving by comparative observations with Calcutta 16,764 feet, and
with Dorjiling, 16,748 feet, as the height of the pass.
The thermometer stood at 18 degrees, and the sun being now hidden
behind rocks, the south-east wind was bitterly cold. Hitherto the sun
had appeared as a clearly defined sparkling globe, against a dark-
blue sky; but the depth of the azure blue was not so striking as I
had been led to suppose, by the accounts of previous travellers, in
very lofty regions. The plants gathered near the top of the pass were
species of _Compositae,_ grass, and _Arenaria_; the most curious was
_Saussurea gossypina,_ which forms great clubs of the softest white
wool, six inches to a foot high, its flowers and leaves seeming
uniformly clothed with the warmest fur that nature can devise.
Generally speaking, the alpine plants of the Himalaya are quite
unprovided with any special protection of this kind; it is the
prevalence and conspicuous nature of the exceptions that mislead, and
induce the careless observer to generalise hastily from solitary
instances; for the prevailing alpine genera of the Himalaya,
_Arenarias,_ primroses, saxifrages, fumitories, _Ranunculi,_
gentians, grasses, sedges, etc., have almost uniformly naked foliage.

We descended to the foot of the pass in about two hours, darkness
overtaking us by the way; the twilight, however, being prolonged by
the glare of the snow. Fearing the distance to Tuquoroma might be too
great to permit of our returning thither the same night; I had had a
few things brought hither during the day, and finding they had
arrived, we encamped under the shelter of some enormous boulders (at
13,500 feet), part of an ancient moraine, which extended some
distance along the bed of the narrow valley. Except an excruciating
headache, I felt no ill effects from my ascent; and after a supper of
tea and biscuit, I slept soundly.

On the following morning the temperature was 28 degrees at 6.30 a.m.,
and rose to 30 degrees when the sun appeared over the mountains at
8.15, at which time the black bulb thermometer suddenly mounted to
112 degrees, upwards of 80 degrees above the temperature of the air.
The sky was brilliantly clear, with a very dry, cold, north wind
blowing down the snowy valley of the pass.

CHAPTER X.

Return from Wallanchoon pass -- Procure a bazaar at village -- Dance
of Lamas -- Blacking face, Tibetan custom of -- Temple and convent --
Leave for Kanglachem pass -- Send part of party back to Dorjiling --
Yangma Guola -- Drunken Tibetans -- Guobah of Wallanchoon -- Camp at
foot of Great Moraine -- View from top -- Geological speculations --
Height of moraines -- Cross dry lake-bed -- Glaciers -- More moraines
-- Terraces -- Yangma temples -- Jos, books and furniture -- Peak of
Nango -- Lake -- Arrive at village -- Cultivation -- Scenery --
Potatos -- State of my provisions -- Pass through village -- Gigantic
boulders Terraces -- Wild sheep -- Lake-beds -- Sun's power -- Piles
of gravel and detritus -- Glaciers and moraines -- Pabuk, elevation
of -- Moonlight scene -- Return to Yangma -- Temperature, etc. --
Geological causes of phenomena in valley -- Scenery of valley
on descent.

I returned to the village of Wallanchoon, after collecting all the
plants I could around my camp; amongst them a common-looking dock
abounded in the spots which the yaks had frequented.

The ground was covered, as with heather, with abundance of creeping
dwarf juniper, _Andromeda,_ and dwarf rhododendron. On arriving at
the village, I refused to receive the Guobah, unless he opened a
bazaar at daylight on the following morning, where my people might
purchase food; and threatened to bring charges against him before his
Rajah. At the same time I arranged for sending the main body of my
party down the Tambur, and so back to Sikkim, whilst I should, with
as few as possible, visit the Kanglachem (Tibetan) pass in the
adjacent valley to the eastward, and then, crossing the Nango,
Kambachen and Kanglanamo passes, reach Jongri in Sikkim, on the south
flank of Kinchinjunga.

Strolling out in the afternoon I saw a dance of Lamas; they were
disfigured with black paint* [I shall elsewhere have to refer to the
Tibetan custom of daubing the face with black pigment to protect the
skin from the excessive cold and dryness of these lofty regions; and
to the ludicrous imposition that was passed on the credulity of MM.
Huc and Gabet.] and covered with rags, feathers, and scarlet cloth,
and they carried long poles with bells and banners attached; thus
equipped, they marched through the village, every now and then
halting, when they danced and gesticulated to the rude music of
cymbals and horns, the bystanders applauding with shouts, crackers,
and alms.

I walked up to the convents, which were long ugly buildings, several
stories high, built of wood, and daubed with red and grey paint.
The priests were nowhere to be found, and an old withered nun, whom
I disturbed husking millet in a large wooden mortar, fled at my
approach. The temple stood close by the convent, and had a broad low
architrave: the walls sloped inwards, as did the lintels: the doors
were black, and almost covered with a gigantic and disproportioned
painting of a head, with bloody cheeks and huge teeth; it was
surrounded by myriads of goggle eyes, which seemed to follow one
about everywhere; and though in every respect rude, the effect was
somewhat imposing. The similarly proportioned gloomy portals of
Egyptian fanes naturally invite comparison; but the Tibetan temples
lack the sublimity of these; and the uncomfortable creeping sensation
produced by the many sleepless eyes of Boodh's numerous incarnations
is very different from the awe with which we contemplate the
outspread wings of the Egyptian symbol, and feel as in the presence
of the God who says, "I am Osiris the Great: no man hath dared to
lift my veil."

I had ascended behind the village, but returned down the "via sacra,"
a steep paved path flanked by mendongs or low stone dykes, into which
were let rows of stone slabs, inscribed with the sacred "Om Mani
Padmi om."--"Hail to him of the lotus and jewel"; an invocation of
Sakkya, who is usually represented holding a lotus flower with a
jewel in it.

On the following morning, a scanty supply of vcry dirty rice was
produced, at a very high price. I had, however, so divided my party
as not to require a great amount of food, intending to send most of
the people back by the Tambur to Dorjiling. I kept nineteen persons
in all, selecting the most willing, as it was evident the journey at
this season would be one of great hardship: we took seven days' food,
which was as much as they could carry. At noon, I left Wallanchoon,
and mustered my party at the junction of the Tambur and Yangma,
whence I dismissed the party for Dorjiling, with my collections of
plants, minerals, etc., and proceeded with the chosen ones to ascend
the Yangma river. The scenery was wild and very grand, our path lying
through a narrow gorge, choked with pine trees, down which the river
roared in a furious torrent; while the mountains on each side were
crested with castellated masses of rock, and sprinkled with snow.
The road was very bad, often up ladders, and along planks lashed to
the faces of precipices, and over-hanging the torrent, which it
crossed several times by plank bridges. By dark we arrived at Yangma
Guola, a collection of empty wood huts buried in the rocky
forest-clad valley, and took possession of a couple. They were well
built, raised on posts, with a stage and ladder at the gable end, and
consisted of one good-sized apartment. Around was abundance of dock,
together with three common English plants.* [_Cardamine hirsuta,
Limosella aquatica,_ and _Juncus bufonius._]

The night was calm, misty, and warm (Max. 41.5 degrees, Min. 29
degrees) for the elevation (9,300 feet). During the night, I was
startled out of my sleep by a blaze of light, and jumping up, found
myself in presence of a party of most sinister-looking, black, ragged
Tibetans, armed with huge torches of pine, that filled the room with
flame and pitchy smoke. I remembered their arriving just before dark,
and their weapons dispelled my fears, for they came armed with bamboo
jugs of Murwa beer, and were very drunk and very amiable: they
grinned, nodded, kotowed, lolled out their tongues, and scratched
their ears in the most seductive manner, then held out their jugs,
and besought me by words and gestures to drink and be happy too.
I awoke my servant (always a work of difficulty), and with some
trouble ejected the visitors, happily without setting the house on
fire. I heard them toppling head over heels down the stair, which I
afterwards had drawn up to prevent further intrusion, and in spite of
their drunken orgies, was soon lulled to sleep again by the music of
the roaring river.

On the 29th November, I continued my course north up the Yangma
valley, which after five miles opened considerably, the trees
disappearing, and the river flowing more tranquilly, and through a
broader valley, when above 11,000 feet elevation. The Guobah of
Wallanchoon overtook us on the road; on his way, he said, to collect
the revenues at Yangma village, but in reality to see what I was
about. He owns five considerable villages, and is said to pay a tax
of 6000 rupees (600 pounds) to the Rajah of Nepal: this is no doubt a
great exaggeration, but the revenues of such a position, near a pass
frequented almost throughout the year, must be considerable.
Every yak going and coming is said to pay 1s., and every horse 4s.;
cattle, sheep, ponies, land, and wool are all taxed; he exports also
quantities of timber to Tibet, and various articles from the plains
of India. He joined my party and halted where I did, had his little
Chinese rug spread, and squatted cross-legged on it, whilst his
servant prepared his brick tea with salt, butter, and soda, of which
he partook, snuffed, smoked, rose up, had all his traps repacked, and
was off again.

We encamped at a most remarkable place: the valley was broad, with
little vegetation but stunted tree-junipers: rocky snow-topped
mountains rose on either side, bleak, bare, and rugged; and in front,
close above my tent, was a gigantic wall of rocks, piled--as if by
the Titans--completely across the valley, for about three-quarters of
a mile. This striking phenomenon had excited all my curiosity on
first obtaining a view of it. The path, I found, led over it, close
under its west end, and wound amongst the enormous detached fragments
of which it was formed, and which were often eighty feet square: all
were of gneiss and schist, with abundance of granite in blocks and
veins. A superb view opened from the top, revealing its nature to be
a vast moraine, far below the influence of any existing glaciers, but
which at some antecedent period had been thrown across by a glacier
descending to 10,000 feet, from a lateral valley on the east flank.
Standing on the top, and looking south, was the Yangma valley (up
which I had come), gradually contracting to a defile, girdled by
snow-tipped mountains, whose rocky flanks mingled with the black pine
forest below. Eastward the moraine stretched south of the lateral
valley, above which towered the snowy peak of Nango, tinged rosy red,
and sparkling in the rays of the setting sun: blue glaciers peeped
from every gulley on its side, but these were 2000 to 3000 feet above
this moraine; they were small too, and their moraines were mere
gravel, compared with this. Many smaller consecutive moraines, also,
were evident along the bottom of that lateral valley, from this great
one up to the existing glaciers. Looking up the Yangma was a flat
grassy plain, hemmed in by mountains, and covered with other
stupendous moraines, which rose ridge behind ridge, and cut off the
view of all but the mountain tops to the north. The river meandered
through the grassy plain (which appeared a mile and a half broad at
the utmost, and perhaps as long), and cut through the great moraine
on its eastern side, just below the junction of the stream from the
glacial valley, which, at the lower part of its course, flowed over
a broad steep shingle bed.

Illustration--ANCIENT MORAINE THROWN ACROSS THE YANGMA VALLEY, EAST
NEPAL (Elevn. 11,000 ft.)

I descended to my camp, full of anxious anticipations for the morrow;
while the novelty of the scene, and its striking character, the
complexity of the phenomena, the lake-bed, the stupendous
ice-deposited moraine, and its remoteness from any existing ice, the
broad valley and open character of the country, were all marked out
as so many problems suddenly conjured up for my unaided solution, and
kept me awake for many hours. I had never seen a glacier or moraine
on land before, but being familiar with sea ice and berg transport,
from voyaging in the South Polar regions, I was strongly inclined to
attribute the formation of this moraine to a period when a glacial
ocean stood high on the Himalaya, made fiords of the valleys, and
floated bergs laden with blocks from the lateral gulleys, which the
winds and currents would deposit along certain lines. On the
following morning I carried a barometer to the top of the moraine,
which proved to be upwards of 700 feet above the floor of the valley,
and 400 above the dry lake-bed which it bounded, and to which we
descended on our route up the valley. The latter was grassy and
pebbly, perfectly level, and quite barren, except a very few pines at
the bases of the encircling mountains, and abundance of
rhododendrons, _Andromeda_ and juniper on the moraines. Isolated
moraines occurred along both flanks of the valley, some higher than
that I have described, and a very long one was thrown nearly across
from the upper end of another lateral gulley on the east side, also
leading up to the glaciers of Nango. This second moraine commenced a
mile and a half above the first, and abutting on the east flank of
the valley, stretched nearly across, and then curving round, ran down
it, parallel to and near the west flank, from which it was separated
by the Yangma river: it was abruptly terminated by a conical hill of
boulders, round whose base the river flowed, entering the dry
lake-bed from the west, and crossing it in a south-easterly direction
to the western extremity of the great moraine.

The road, on its ascent to the second moraine, passed over an immense
accumulation of glacial detritus at the mouth of the second lateral
valley, entirely formed of angular fragments of gneiss and granite,
loosely bound together by felspathic sand. The whole was disposed in
concentric ridges radiating from the mouth of the valley, and
descending to the flat; these were moraines _in petto,_ formed by the
action of winter snow and ice upon the loose debris. A stream flowed
over this debris, dividing into branches before reaching the
lake-bed, where its waters were collected, and whence it meandered
southward to fall into the Yangma.

From the top of the second moraine, a very curious scene opened up
the valley, of another but more stony and desolate level lake-bed,
through which the Yangma (here very rapid) rushed, cutting a channel
about sixty feet deep; the flanks of this second lake-bed were cut
most distinctly into two principal terraces, which were again
subdivided into others, so that the general appearance was that of
many raised beaches, but each so broken up, that, with the exception
of one on the banks of the river, none were continuous for any
distance. We descended 200 feet, and crossed the valley and river
obliquely in a north-west direction, to a small temple and convent
which stood on a broad flat terrace under the black, precipitous,
west flank: this gave me a good opportunity of examining the
structure of this part of the valley, which was filled with an
accumulation, probably 200 feet thick at the deepest part, of angular
gravel and enormous boulders, both imbedded in the gravel, and
strewed on the flat surfaces of the terraces. The latter were always
broadest opposite to the lateral valleys, perfectly horizontal for
the short distance that they were continuous; and very barren; there
were no traces of fossils, nor could I assure myself of
stratification. The accumulation was wholly glacial; and probably a
lake had supervened on the melting of the great glacier and its
recedence, which lake, confined by a frozen moraine, would
periodically lose its waters by sudden accessions of heat melting the
ice of the latter. Stratified silt, no doubt, once covered the lake
bottom, and the terraces have, in succession, been denuded of it by
rain and snow. These causes are now in operation amongst the
stupendous glaciers of north-east Sikkim, where valleys, dammed up by
moraines, exhibit lakes hemmed in between these, the base of the
glacier, and the flanks of the valleys.