Books: Himalayan Journals (Complete)

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Of North American genera, not found in Europe, were _Buddleia,
Podophyllum, Magnolia, Sassafras? Tetranthera, Hydrangea, Diclytra,
Aralia, Panax, Symplocos, Trillium,_ and _Clintonia._ The absence of
heaths is also equally a feature in the flora of North America.
Of European genera, not found in North America, the Lachen valley has
_Coriaria, Hypecoum,_ and various _Cruciferae._ The Japanese and
Chinese floras are represented in Sikkim by _Camellia, Deutzia,
Stachyurus, Aucuba, Helwingia, Stauntonia, Hydrangea, Skimmia, Eurya,
Anthogonium,_ and _Enkianthus._ The Malayan by Magnolias, _Talauma,_
many vacciniums and rhododendrons, _Kadsura, Goughia, Marlea,_ both
coriaceous and deciduous-leaved _Caelogyne, Oberonia, Cyrtosia,
Calanthe,_ and other orchids; _Ceropegia, Parochetus, Balanophora,_
and many _Scitamineae_; and amongst trees, by _Engelhardtia,
Goughia,_ and various laurels.

Shortly after my arrival at Lamteng, the villagers sent to request
that I would not shoot, as they said it brought on excessive rain,*
[In Griffith's narrative of "Pemberton's Mission to Bhotan"
("Posthumous Papers, Journal," p. 283), it is mentioned that the
Gylongs (Lamas) attributed a violent storm to the members of the
mission shooting birds.] 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 extent; 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, prohibiting 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:
the women in active duties; a few were engaged in drying the leaves
of a shrub (_Symplocos_) 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 night:
occasionally distant thunder was heard. My rain-gauges showed very
little rain compared with what fell at Dorjiling during the same
period; the clouds were thin, both sun and moon shining through them,
without, however, the former warming the soil: hence 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 for hour after hour:
sometimes it was a rumble, at others a harsh grating sound, and often
accompanied with the crashing of immense timber-trees, or the murmur
of the distant snowy avalanches. The amount of denudation by
atmospheric causes is here quite incalculable; and I feel satisfied
that the violence of the river at this particular part of its course
(where it traverses those parts of the valleys which are most snowy
and rainy), is proximately due to impediments thus accumulated in
its bed.

It 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, and which, I was told,
is far beyond Sikkim, in Tibet.* [Such, however, is not the case;
Kinchinjhow is on the frontier of Sikkim, though a considerable
distance behind the most snowy of the Sikkim mountains.] 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 except a kid, a few handfuls of flour, and some potatos, which
had been sent up from Choongtam. All my endeavours to gain
information respecting the distance and position of the frontier were
unavailing; probably, indeed, the Lama and Phipun (or chief man of
the village), were the only persons who knew; the villagers calling
all the lofty pastures a few marches beyond Lamteng "Bhote" or
"Cheen" (Tibet). Dr. Campbell had procured for me information by
which I might recognise the frontier were I once on it; but no
description could enable me to find my way in a country so rugged and
forest-clad, through tortuous and perpetually forking valleys, along
often obliterated paths, and under cloud and rain. To these
difficulties must be added the deception of the rulers, and the fact
(of which I was not then aware), that the Tibet frontier was formerly
at Choongtam; but from the Lepchas constantly harassing the Tibetans,
the latter, after the establishment of the Chinese rule over their
country, retreated first to Zemu Samdong, a few hours walk above
Lamteng, then to Tallum Samdong, 2000 feet higher; and, lastly, to
Kongra Lama, 16,000 feet up the west flank of Kinchinjhow.

On the third of June I took a small party, with my tent, and such
provisions as I had, to explore up the river. On hearing of my
intention, the Phipun volunteered to take me to the frontier, which
he said was only two hours distant, at Zemu Samdong, where the Lachen
receives the Zemu river from the westward: this I knew must be false,
but I accepted his services, and we started, accompanied by a large
body of villagers, who eagerly gathered plants for me along the road.

The scenery is very pretty; the path crosses extensive and dangerous
landslips, or runs through fine woods of spruce and _Abies
Brunoniana,_ and afterwards along the river-banks, which are fringed
with willow (called "Lama"), and _Hippophae._ The great red rose
(_Rosa macrophylla_), one of the most beautiful Himalayan plants,
whose single flowers are as large as the palm of the hand, was
blossoming, while golden _Potentillas_ and purple primroses flowered
by the stream, and _Pyrola_ in the fir-woods.

Just above the fork of the valley, a wooden bridge (Samdong) crosses
the Zemu, which was pointed out to me as the frontier, and I was
entreated to respect two sticks and a piece of worsted stretched
across it; this I thought too ridiculous, so as my followers halted
on one side, I went on the bridge, threw the sticks into the stream,
crossed, and asked the Phipun to follow; the people laughed, and came
over: he then told me that he had authority to permit of my
botanising there, but that I was in Cheen, and that he would show me
the guard-house to prove the truth of his statement. He accordingly
led me up a steep bank to an extensive broad flat, several hundred
feet above the river, and forming a triangular base to the great spur
which, rising steeply behind, divides the valley. This flat was
marshy and covered with grass; and buried in the jungle were several
ruined stone houses, with thick walls pierced with loopholes: these
had no doubt been occupied by Tibetans at the time when this was
the frontier.

The elevation which I had attained (that of the river being 8,970
feet) being excellent for botanising, I camped; and the villagers,
contented with the supposed success of their strategy, returned to
Lamteng.

My guide from the Durbar had staid behind at Lainteng, and though
Meepo and all my men well knew that this was not the frontier, they
were ignorant as to its true position, nor could we even ascertain
which of the rivers was the Lachen.* [The eastern afterwards proved
to be the Lachen.] The only routes I possessed indicated two paths
northwards from Lamteng, neither crossing a river: and I therefore
thought it best to remain at Zemu Samdong till provisions should
arrive. I accordingly halted for three days, collecting many new and
beautiful plants, and exploring the roads, of which five (paths or
yak-tracks) diverged from this point, one on either bank of each
river, and one leading up the fork.

On one occasion I ascended the steep hill at the fork; it was dry and
rocky, and crowned with stunted pines. Stacks of different sorts of
pine-wood were stored on the flat at its base, for export to Tibet,
all thatched with the bark of _Abies Brunoniana._ Of these the larch
(_Larix Griffithii,_ "Sah"), splits well, and is the most durable of
any; but the planks are small, soft, and white.* [I never saw this
wood to be red, close-grained, and hard, like that of the old Swiss
larch; nor does it ever reach so great a size.] The silver fir
(_Abies Webbiana,_ "Dunshing") also splits well; it is white, soft,
and highly prized for durability. The wood of _Abies Brunoniana_
("Semadoong") is like the others in appearance, but is not durable;
its bark is however very useful. The spruce (_Abies Smithiana,_
"Seh") has also white wood, which is employed for posts and beams.*
[These woods are all soft and loose in grain, compared with their
European allies.] These are the only pines whose woods are considered
very useful; and it is a curious circumstance that none produce any
quantity of resin, turpentine, or pitch; which may perhaps be
accounted for by the humidity of the climate.

_Pinus longifolia_ (called by the Lepchas "Gniet-koong," and by the
Bhoteeas "Teadong") only grows in low valleys, where better timber is
abundant. The weeping blue juniper (_Juniperus recurva,_ "Deschoo"),
and the arboreous black one (called "Tchokpo")* [This I have, vol. i.
Chapter XI, referred to the _J. excelsa_ of the north-west Himalaya,
a plant which under various names is found in many parts of Europe
and many parts of Europe and North America; but since then Dr.
Thomson and I have had occasion to compare my Sikkim conifers with
the north-west Himalayan ones and we have found that this Sikkim
species is probably new, and that _J. excelsa_ is not found east of
Nepal.] yield beautiful wood, like that of the pencil cedar,* [Also a
juniper, from Bermuda (_J. Bermudiana_).] but are comparatively
scarce, as is the yew (_Taxus baccata,_ "Tingschi"), whose timber is
red. The "Tchenden," or funereal cypress, again, is valued only for
the odour of its wood: _Pinus excelsa,_ "Tongschi," though common in
Bhotan, is, as I have elsewhere remarked, not found in east Nepal or
Sikkim; the wood is admirable, being durable, close-grained, and so
resinous as to be used for flambeaux and candles.

On the flat were flowering a beautiful magnolia with globular
sweet-scented flowers like snow-balls, several balsams, with species
of _Convallaria, Cotoneaster, Gentian, Spiraea, Euphorbia,
Pedicularis,_ and honeysuckle. On the hill-side were creeping
brambles, lovely yellow, purple, pink, and white primroses,
white-flowered _Thalictrum_ and _Anemone,_ berberry, _Podophyllum,_
white rose, fritillary, _Lloydia,_ etc. On the flanks of Tukcham, in
the bed of a torrent, I gathered many very alpine plants, at the
comparatively low elevation of 10,000 feet, as dwarf willows,
_Pinguicula,_ (a genus not previously found in the Himalaya),
_Oxyria, Adrosace, Tofieldia, Arenaria,_ saxifrages, and two dwarf
heath-like _Andromedas._* [Besides these, a month later, the
following flowered in profusion: scarlet _Buddleia?_ gigantic lily,
yellow jasmine, _Aster, Potentilla,_ several kinds of orchids,
willow-herb (_Epilobium_), purple _Roscoea, Neillia, Morina,_ many
grasses and _Umbelliferae._ These formed a rank and dense herbaceous,
mostly annual vegetation, six feet high, bound together with
_Cuscuta,_ climbing _Leguminosae,_ and _Ceropegia._ The great summer
heat and moisture here favour the ascent of various tropical genera,
of which I found in August several _Orchideae_ (_Calanthe,
Microstylis,_ and _Coelogyne_), also _Begonia, Bryonia, Cynanchum,
Aristolochia, Eurya, Procris, Acanthaceae,_ and _Cyrtandraseae._]
The rocks were all of gneiss, with granite veins, tourmaline, and
occasionally pieces of pure plumbago.

Our guide had remained at Lamteng, on the plea of a sore on his leg
from leech-bites: his real object, however, was to stop a party on
their way to Tibet with madder and canes, who, had they continued
their journey, would inevitably have pointed out the road to me.
The villagers themselves now wanted to proceed to the
pasturing-grounds on the frontier; so the Phipun sent me word that I
might proceed as far as I liked up the east bank of the Zemu. I had
explored the path, and finding it practicable, and likely to
intersect a less frequented route to the frontier (that crossing the
Tekonglah pass from Bah, see chapter XVIII), I determined to follow
it. A supply of food arrived from Dorjiling on the 5th of June,
reduced, however, to one bag of rice, but with encouraging letters,
and the assurance that more would follow at once. My men, of whom I
bad eight, behaved admirably, although our diet had for five days
chiefly consisted of _Polygonum_ ("Pullop-bi"), wild leeks
("Lagook"), nettles and _Procris_ (an allied, and more succulent
herb), eked out by eight pounds of Tibet meal ("Tsamba"), which I had
bought for ten shillings by stealth from the villagers.
What concerned me most was the destruction of my plants by constant
damp, and the want of sun to dry the papers; which reduced my
collections to a tithe of what they would otherwise have been.

From Zemu Samdong the valley runs north-west, for two marches, to the
junction of the Zemu with the Thlonok, which rises on the north-east
flank of Kinchinjunga: at this place I halted for several days, while
building a bridge over the Thlonok. The path runs first through a
small forest of birch, alder, and maple, on the latter of which I
found _Balanophora_* [A curious leafless parasite, mentioned at vol.
i, chapter v.] growing abundantly: this species produces the great
knots on the maple roots, from which the Tibetans form the cups
mentioned by MM. Huc and Gabet. I was so fortunate as to find a small
store of these knots, cleaned, and cut ready for the turner, and
hidden behind a stone by some poor Tibetan, who had never retained to
the spot: they had evidently been there a very long time.

In the ravines there were enormous accumulations of ice, the result
of avalanches; one of them crossed the river, forming a bridge thirty
feet thick, at an elevation of only 9,800 feet above the sea.
This ice-bridge was 100 yards broad, and flanked by heaps of
boulders, the effects of combined land and snowslips. These stony
places were covered with a rich herbage of rhubarb, primroses,
_Euphorbia, Sedum, Polygonum, Convallaria,_ and a purple _Dentaria_
("Kenroop-bi") a cruciferous plant much eaten as a pot-herb. In the
pinewoods a large mushroom ("Onglau,"* [_Cortinarius Emodensis_ of
the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who has named and described it from my
specimens and drawings. It is also called "Yungla tchamo" by the
Tibetans, the latter word signifying a toadstool. Mr. Berkeley
informs me that the whole vast genus _Cortinarius_ scarcely possesses
a single other edible species; he adds that _C. violaceus_ and
_violaceo-cinereus_ are eaten in Austria and Italy, but not always
with safety.] Tibet.) was abundant, which also forms a favourite
article of food. Another pot-herb (to which I was afterwards more
indebted than any) was a beautiful _Smilacina,_ which grows from two
to five feet high, and has plaited leaves and crowded panicles of
white bell-shaped flowers, like those of its ally the lily of the
valley, which it also resembles in its mucilaginous properties. It is
called "Chokli-bi,"* [It is also found on the top of Sinchul, near
Dorjiling.] and its young flower-heads, sheathed in tender green
leaves, form an excellent vegetable. Nor must I forget to include
amongst the eatable plants of this hungry country, young shoots of
the mountain-bamboo, which are good either raw or boiled, and may be
obtained up to 12,000 feet in this valley. A species of _Asarum_
(Asarabacca) grows in the pine-woods; a genus not previously known to
be Himalayan. The root, like its English medicinal congener, has a
strong and peculiar smell. At 10,000 feet _Abies Webbiana_ commences,
with a close undergrowth of a small twiggy holly. This, and the dense
thicket of rhododendron* [Of which I had already gathered thirteen
kinds in this valley.] on the banks of the river and edges of the
wood, rendered the march very fatiguing, and swarms of midges kept up
a tormenting irritation.

The Zemu continued an impetuous muddy torrent, whose hoarse voice,
mingled with the deep grumbling noise* [The dull rumbling noise thus
produced is one of the most singular phenomena in these mountains,
and cannot fail to strike the observer. At night, especially, the
sound seems increased, the reason of which is not apparent, for in
these regions, so wanting in animal life, the night is no stiller
than the day, and the melting of snow being less, the volume of
waters must be somewhat, though not conspicuously, diminished.
The interference of sound by heated currents of different density is
the most obvious cause of the diminished reverberation during the
day, to which Humboldt adds the increased tension of vapour, and
possibly an echo from its particles.] of the boulders rolling along
its bed, was my lullaby for many nights. Its temperature at Zemu
Samdong was 45 degrees to 46 degrees in June. At its junction with
the Thlonok, it comes down a steep gulley from the north,
foreshortened into a cataract 1000 feet high, and appearing the
smaller stream of the two; whilst the Thlonok winds down from the
snowy face of Kinchinjunga, which is seen up the valley, bearing
W.S.W., about twenty miles distant. All around are lofty and rocky
mountains, sparingly wooded with pines and larch, chiefly on their
south flanks, which receive the warm, moist, up-valley winds; the
faces exposed to the north being colder and more barren: exactly the
reverse of what is the case at Choongtam, where the rocky and sunny
south-exposed flanks are the driest.

My tent was pitched on a broad terrace, opposite the junction of the
Zemu and Thlonok, and 10,850 feet above the sea. It was sheltered by
some enormous transported blocks of gneiss, fifteen feet high, and
surrounded by a luxuriant vegetation of most beautiful rhododendrons
in full flower, willow, white rose, white flowered cherry, thorn,
maple and birch. Some great tuberous-rooted _Arums_* [Two species of
_Arisaema,_ called "Tong" by the Tibetans, and "Sinkree" by the
Lepchas.] were very abundant; and the ground was covered with small
pits, in which were large wooden pestles: these are used in the
preparation of food from the arums, to which the miserable
inhabitants of the valley have recourse in spring, when their yaks
are calving. The roots are bruised with the pestles, and thrown into
these holes with water. Acetous fermentation commences in seven or
eight days, which is a sign that the acrid poisonous principle is
dissipated: the pulpy, sour, and fibrous mass is then boiled and
eaten; its nutriment being the starch, which exists in small
quantities, and which they have not the skill to separate by grating
and washing. This preparation only keeps a few days, and produces
bowel complaints, and loss of the skin and hair, especially when
insufficiently fermented. Besides this, the "chokli-bi," and many
other esculents, abounded here; and we had great need of them before
leaving this wild uninhabited region.

I repeatedly ascended the north flank of Tukcham along a watercourse,
by the side of which were immense slips of rocks and snow-beds; the
mountain-side being excessively steep. Some of the masses of gneiss
thus brought down were dangerously poised on slopes of soft shingle,
and daily moved a little downwards. All the rocks were gneiss and
granite, with radiating crystals of tourmaline as thick as the thumb.
Below 12,000 to 13,000 feet the mountain-sides were covered with a
dense scrub of rhododendron bushes, except where broken by rocks,
landslips, and torrents: above this the winter's snow lay deep, and
black rocks and small glaciers, over which avalanches were constantly
falling with a sullen roar, forbade all attempts to proceed.
My object in ascending was chiefly to obtain views and compass-
bearings, in which I was generally disappointed: once only I had a
magnificent prospect of Kinchinjunga, sweeping down in one unbroken
mass of glacier and ice, fully 14,000 feet high, to the head of the
Thlonok river, whose upper valley appeared a broad bay of ice;
doubtless forming one of the largest glaciers in the Himalaya, and
increased by lateral feeders that flow into it from either flank of
the valley. The south side of this (the Thlonok) valley is formed by
a range from Kinchinjunga, running east to Tukcham, where it
terminates: from it rises the beautiful mountain Liklo,* [D2 of the
peaks laid down in Colonel Waugh's "Trigonometrical Survey from
Dorjiling," I believe to be the "Liklo" of Dr. Campbell's itineraries
from Dorjiling to Lhassa, compiled from the information of the
traders (See "Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal" for 1848); the routes
in which proved of the utmost value to me.] 22,582 feet high, which,
from Dorjiling, appears as a sharp peak, but is here seen to be a
jagged crest running north and south. On the north flank of the
valley the mountains are more sloping and black, with patches of snow
above 15,000 feet, but little anywhere else, except on another
beautiful peak (alt. 19,240 feet) marked D3 on the map. This flank is
also continuous from Kinchin; it divides Sikkim from Tibet, and runs
north-east to the great mountain Chomiomo (which was not visible),
the streams from its north flank flowing into the Arun river (in
Tibet). A beautiful blue arch of sky spanned all this range,
indicating the dry Tibetan climate beyond.

I made two futile attempts to ascend the Thlonok river to the great
glaciers at the foot of Kinchinjunga, following the south bank, and
hoping to find a crossing-place, and so to proceed north to Tibet.
The fall of the river is not great at this part of its course, nor up
to 12,000 feet, which was the greatest height I could attain, and
about eight miles beyond my tents; above that point, at the base of
Liklo, the bed of the valley widens, and the rhododendron shrubbery
was quite impervious, while the sides of the mountain were
inaccessible. We crossed extensive snow-beds, by cutting holes in
their steep faces, and rounded rocks in the bed of the torrent,
dragging one another through the violent current, whose temperature
was below 40 degrees.

On these occasions, the energy of Meepo, Nimbo (the chief of the
coolies) and the Lepcha boys, was quite remarkable, and they were as
keenly anxious to reach the holy country of Tibet as I could possibly
be. It was sometimes dark before we got back to our tents, tired,
with torn clothes and cut feet and hands, returning to a miserable
dinner of boiled herbs; but never did any of them complain, or
express a wish to leave me. In the evenings and mornings they were
always busy, changing my plants, and drying the papers over a sulky
fire at my tent-door; and at night they slept, each wrapt in his own
blanket, huddled together under a rock, with another blanket thrown
over them all. Provisions reached us so seldom, and so reduced in
quantity, that I could never allow more than one pound of rice to
each man in a day, and frequently during this trying month they had
not even that; and I eked out our meagre supply with a few ounces of
preserved meats, occasionally "splicing the main brace" with weak rum
and water.

At the highest point of the valley which I reached, water boiled at
191.3, indicating an elevation of 11,903 feet. The temperature at 1
p.m. was nearly 70 degrees, and of the wet bulb 55 degrees,
indicating a dryness of 0.462, and dew point 47.0. Such phenomena of
heat and dryness are rare and transient in the wet valleys of Sikkim,
and show the influence here of the Tibetan climate.* [I gathered
here, amongst an abundance of alpine species, all of European and
arctic type, a curious trefoil, the _Parochetus communis,_ which
ranges through 9000 feet of elevation on the Himalaya, and is also
found in Java and Ceylon.]