Books: Himalayan Journals (Complete)

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

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Above 11,000 feet the valley expands remarkably, the mountains
recede, become less wooded, and more grassy, while the stream is
suddenly less rapid, meandering in a broader bed, and bordered by
marshes, covered with _Carex, Blysmus,_ dwarf Tamarisk, and many
kinds of yellow and red _Pedicularis,_ both tall and beautiful.
There are far fewer rhododendrons here than in the damper Zemu valley
at equal elevations, and more Siberian, or dry country types of
vegetation, as _Astragali_ of several kinds, _Habenaria, Epipactis,_
dandelion, and a caraway, whose stems (called in Tibet "Gzira") are
much sought for as a condiment.* [_Umbelliferae abound here; with
sage, _Ranunculus, Anemone,_ Aconites, _Halenia,_ Gentians, _Panax,
Euphrasia,_ speedwell, _Prunella vulgaris,_ thistles, bistort,
_Parnassia,_ purple orchis, _Prenanthes,_ and _Lactuca._ The woody
plants of this region are willows, birch, _Cotoneaster,_ maple, three
species of _Viburnum,_ three of _Spiraea, Vaccinium, Aralia, Deutzia,
Philadelphus,_ rhododendrons, two junipers, silver fir, larch, three
honeysuckles, _Neillia,_ and a _Pieris,_ whose white blossoms are so
full of honey as to be sweet and palatable.] The Singtam Soubah and
Lachen Phipun received me at the bridge (Samdong), at Tallum, and led
me across the river (into Cheen they affirmed) to a pretty green
sward, near some gigantic gneiss boulders, where I camped, close by
the river, and 11,480 feet above the sea.

The village of Tallum consists of a few wretched stone huts, placed
in a broad part of the valley, which is swampy, and crossed by
several ancient moraines, which descend from the gulleys on the east
flank.* [I have elsewhere noticed that in Sikkim, the ancient
moraines above 9000 feet are almost invariably deposited from valleys
opening to the westward.] The cottages are from four to six feet
high, without windows, and consist of a single apartment, containing
neither table, chair, stool, nor bed; the inmates huddle together
amid smoke, filth, and darkness, and sleep on a plank; and their only
utensils are a bamboo churn, copper, bamboo, and earthenware vessels,
for milk, butter, etc.

Grassy or stony mountains slope upwards, at an angle of 20 degrees,*
[At Lamteng and up the Zemu the slopes are 40 degrees and 50 degrees,
giving a widely different aspect to the valleys.] from these flats to
15,000 feet, but no snow is visible, except on Kinchinjhow and
Chomiomo, about fifteen miles up the valley. Both these are
flat-topped, and dazzlingly white, rising into small peaks, and
precipitous on all sides; they are grand, bold, isolated masses,
quite unlike the ordinary snowy mountains in form, and far more
imposing even than Kinchinjunga, though not above 22,000 feet
in elevation.

Herbaceous plants are much more numerous here than in any other part
of Sikkim; and sitting at my tent-door, I could, without rising from
the ground, gather forty-three plants,* [In England thirty is, on the
average, the equivalent number of plants, which in favourable
localities I have gathered in an equal space. In both cases many are
seedlings of short-lived annuals, and in neither is the number a test
of the luxuriance of the vegetation; it but shows the power which the
different species exert in their struggle to obtain a place.] of
which all but two belonged to English genera. In the rich soil about
the cottages were crops of dock, shepherd's-purse, _Thlaspi arvense,
Cynoglossum_ of two kinds (one used as a pot-herb), balsams, nettle,
_Galeopsis,_ mustard, radish, and turnip. On the neighbouring hills,
which I explored up to 15,000 feet, I found many fine plants,
partaking more or less of the Siberian type, of which _Corydalis,
Leguminosae, Artemisia,_ and _Pedicularis,_ are familiar instances.
I gathered upwards of 200 species, nearly all belonging to north
European genera. Twenty-five were woody shrubs above three feet high,
and six were ferns; [_Cryptogramma crispa, Davallia,_ two _Aspidia,_
and two _Polypodia._ I gathered ten at the same elevation, in the
damper Zemu valley (see chapter xix, note). I gathered in this valley
a new species of the remarkable European genus _Struthiopteris,_
which has not been found elsewhere in the Himalaya.] sedges were in
great profusion, amongst them three of British kinds: seven or eight
were _Orchideae,_ including a fine _Cypripedium._

The entomology of Tallum, like its botany, was Siberian, Arctic types
occurring at lower elevations than in the wetter parts of Sikkim.
Of beetles the honey-feeding ones prevailed, with European forms of
others that inhabit yak-droppings.* [As _Aphodius_ and _Geotrupes._
Predaceous genera were very rare, as _Carabus_ and _Staphylinus,_ so
typical of boreal regions. _Coccinella_ (lady-bird), which swarms at
Dorjiling, does not ascend so high, and a _Clytus_ was the only
longicorn. _Bupretis, Elater,_ and _Blaps_ were found but rarely.
Of butterflies, the _Machaon_ seldom reaches this elevation, but the
painted-lady, _Pontia, Colias, Hipparchia, Argynnis,_ and
_Polyommatus,_ are all found.] Bees were common, both _Bombus_ and
_Andraena,_ but there were no wasps, and but few ants. Grasshoppers
and other _Orthoptera_ were rare, as were _Hemiptera_; _Tipula_ was
the common dipterous insect, with a small sand-fly: there were
neither leeches, mosquitos, ticks, nor midges. Pigeons, red-legged
crows, and hawks were the common birds; with a few waders in
the marshes.

Being now fairly behind most of the great snow and rain-collecting
mountains, I experienced a considerable change in the climate, which
characterises all these rearward lofty valleys, where very little
rain falls, and that chiefly drizzle; but this is so constant that
the weather feels chilly, raw, and comfortless, and I never returned
dry from botanising. The early mornings were bright with views
northwards of blue sky and Kinchinjhow, while to the south the lofty
peak of Tukcham, though much nearer, was seldom seen, and black
cumuli and nimbi rolled up the steep valley of the Lachen to be
dissipated in mist over Tallum. The sun's rays were, however,
powerful at intervals during the forenoon, whence the mean maximum
temperature of July occurred at about 10 a.m. The temperature of the
river was always high, varying with the heat of the day from 47
degrees to 52 degrees; the mean being 50 degrees.

These streams do not partake of the diurnal rise and fall, so
characteristic of the Swiss rivers and those of the western Himalaya,
where a powerful sun melts the glaciers by day, and their
head-streams are frozen by night. Here the clouds alike prevent solar
and nocturnal radiation, the temperature is more uniform, and the
corroding power of the damp southerly wind that blows strongly
throughout the day is the great melting agent. One morning I saw a
vivid and very beautiful halo 20 degrees distant from the sun's disc;
it was no doubt caused by snow in the higher regions of the
atmosphere, as a sharp shower of rain fell immediately afterwards:
these are rare phenomena in mountainous countries.

The Singtam Soubah visited me daily, and we enjoyed long friendly
conversations: he still insisted that the Yangchoo (the name he gave
to the Lachen at this place) was the boundary, and that I must not go
any further. His first question was always "How long do you intend to
remain here? have you not got all the plants and stones you want? you
can see the sun much better with those brasses and glasses* [Alluding
to the sextant, etc.] lower down; it is very cold here, and there is
no food:"--to all which I had but one reply, that I should not return
till I had visited Kongra Lama. He was a portly man, and, I think, at
heart good-natured: I had no difficulty in drawing him on to talk
about Tibet, and the holy city of Teshoo Loombo, with its thousands
of gilt temples, nunneries, and convents, its holiest of all the holy
grand Lamas of Tibet, and all the wide Boodhist world besides. Had it
even been politic, I felt it would be unfair to be angry with a man
who was evidently in a false position between myself and his two
rulers, the Rajah and Dewan; who had a wife and family on the smiling
flanks of Singtam, and who longed to be soaking in the warm rain of
Sikkim, drinking Murwa beer (a luxury unknown amongst these Tibetans)
and gathering in his crops of rice, millet, and buckwheat. Though I
may owe him a grudge for his subsequent violence, I still recall with
pleasure the hours we spent together on the banks of the Lachen.
In all matters respecting the frontier, his lies were circumstantial;
and he further took the trouble of bringing country people to swear
that this was Cheen, and that there was no such place as Kongra Lama.
I had written to ask Dr. Campbell for a definite letter from Tchebu
Lama on this point, but unfortunately my despatches were lost; the
messenger who conveyed them missed his footing in crossing the
Lachen, and escaped narrowly with life, while the turban in which the
letters were placed was carried down the current.

Finally the Soubah tried to persuade my people that one so
incorrigibly obstinate must be mad, and that they had better leave
me. One day, after we had had a long discussion about the geography
of the frontier, he inflamed my curiosity by telling me that
Kinchinjhow was a very holy mountain; more so than its sister-peaks
of Chumulari and Kinchinjunga; and that both the Sikkim and Tibetan
Lamas, and Chinese soldiers, were ready to oppose my approach to it.
This led to my asking him for a sketch of the mountains; he called
for a large sheet of paper, and some charcoal, and wanted to form his
mountains of sand; I however ordered rice to be brought, and though
we had but little, scattered it about wastefully. This had its
effect: he stared at my wealth, for he had all along calculated on
starving me out, and retired, looking perplexed and crestfallen.
Nothing puzzled him so much as my being always occupied with such, to
him, unintelligible pursuits; a Tibetan "cui bono?" was always in his
mouth: "What good will it do _you_?" "Why should you spend weeks on
the coldest, hungriest, windiest, loftiest place on the earth,
without even inhabitants?" Drugs and idle curiosity he believed were
my motives, and possibly a reverence for the religion of Boodh,
Sakya, and Tsongkaba. Latterly he had made up his mind to starve me
out, and was dismayed when he found I could hold out better than
himself, and when I assured him that I should not retrace my steps
until his statements should be verified by a letter from Tchebu; that
I had written to him, and that it would be at least thirty days
before I could receive an answer.

On the 19th of July he proposed to take me to Tungu, at the foot of
Kinchinjhow, and back, upon ponies, provided I would leave my people
and tent, which I refused to do. After this I saw little of him for
several days, and began to fear he was offended, when one morning his
attendant came to me for medicine with a dismal countenance, and in
great alarm: he twisted his fingers together over his stomach to
symbolise the nature of the malady which produced a commotion in his
master's bowels, and which was simply the colic. I was aware that he
had been reduced to feed upon "Tong" (the arum-root) and herbs, and
had always given him half the pigeons I shot, which was almost the
only animal food I had myself. Now I sent him a powerful dose of
medicine; adding a few spoonfuls of China tea and sugar
for friendship.

On the 22nd, being convalescent, he visited me, looking wofully
yellow. After a long pause, during which he tried to ease himself of
some weighty matter, he offered to take me to Tungu with my tent and
people, and, thence to Kongra Lama, if I would promise to stay but
two nights. I asked whether Tungu was in Cheen or Sikkim; he replied
that after great enquiry he had heard that it was really in Sikkim;
"Then," said I, "we will both go to-morrow morning to Tungu, and I
will stay there as long as I please:" he laughed, and gave in with
apparent good grace.

After leaving Tallum, the valley contracts, passing over great
ancient moraines, and again expanding wider than before into broad
grassy flats. The vegetation rapidly diminishes in stature and
abundance, and though the ascent to Tungu is trifling, the change in
species is very great. The _Spiraea,_ maple, _Pieris,_ cherry, and
larch disappear, leaving only willow, juniper, stunted birch, silver
fir, white rose, _Aralia,_ berberry, currant, and more rhododendrons
than all these put together;* [_Cyananthus,_ a little blue flower
allied to _Campanula,_ and one of the most beautiful alpines I know,
covered the turfy ground, with _Orchis, Pedicularis, Gentian,
Potentilla, Geranium,_ purple and yellow _Meconopsis,_ and the
_Artemisia_ of Dorjiling, which ascends to 12,000 feet, and descends
to the plains, having a range of 11,500 feet in elevation. Of ferns,
_Hymenophyllum, Cistopteris,_ and _Cryptogramma crispa_ ascend thus
high.] while mushrooms and other English fungi* [One of great size,
growing in large clumps, is the English _Agaricus comans,_ Fr., and I
found it here at 12,500 feet, as also the beautiful genus
_Crucibulum,_ which is familiar to us in England, growing on rotten
sticks, and resembling a diminutive bird's nest with eggs in it.]
grew amongst the grass.

Illustration--TUNGU VILLAGE.

Tungu occupies a very broad valley, at the junction of the Tungu-choo
from the east, and the Lachen from the north. The hills slope gently
upwards to 16,000 feet, at an average angle of 15 degrees; they are
flat and grassy at the base, and no snow is anywhere to be seen.* [In
the wood-cut the summit of Chomiomo is introduced, as it appears from
a few hundred feet above the point of view.] A stupendous rock, about
fifty feet high, lay in the middle of the valley, broken in two: it
may have been detached from a cliff, or have been transported thither
as part of an ancient moraine which extends from the mouth of the
Tungu-choo valley across that of the Lachen. The appearance and
position of this great block, and of the smaller piece lying beside
it, rather suggest the idea of the whole mass having fallen
perpendicularly from a great height through a crevasse in a glacier,
than of its having been hurled from so considerable a distance as
from the cliffs on the flanks of the valley: it is faithfully
represented in the accompanying woodcut. A few wooden houses were
collected near this rock, and several black tents were scattered
about. I encamped at an elevation of 12,750 feet, and was waited on
by the Lachen Phipun with presents of milk, butter, yak-flesh, and
curds; and we were not long before we drowned old enmity in buttered
and salted tea.

On my arrival I found the villagers in a meadow, all squatted
cross-legged in a circle, smoking their brass and iron pipes,
drinking tea, and listening to a letter from the Rajah, concerning
their treatment of me. Whilst my men were pitching my tent, I
gathered forty plants new to me, all of Tartarian types.* [More
Siberian plants appeared, as _Astragali, Chenopodium, Artemisia,_
some grasses, new kinds of _Pedicularis, Delphinium,_ and some small
Orchids. Three species of _Parnassia_ and six primroses made the turf
gay, mixed with saxifrages, _Androsace_ and _Campanula._ By the
cottages was abundance of shepherd's-purse, _Lepidium,_ and balsams,
with dock, _Galeopsis,_ and _Cuscuta._ Several low dwarf species of
honeysuckle formed stunted bushes like heather; and _Anisodus,_ a
curious plant allied to _Hyoscyamus,_ whose leaves are greedily eaten
by yaks, was very common.] Wheat or barley I was assured had been
cultivated at Tungu when it was possessed by Tibetans, and inhabited
by a frontier guard, but I saw no appearance of any cultivation.
The fact is an important one, as barley requires a mean summer
temperature of 48 degrees to come to maturity. According to my
observations, the mean temperature of Tungu in July is upwards of 50
degrees, and, by calculation, that of the three summer months, June,
July, and August, should be about 46.5 degrees. As, however, I do not
know whether these cerealia were grown as productive crops, much
stress cannot be laid upon the fact of their having been cultivated,
for in a great many parts of Tibet the barley is annually cut green
for fodder.

In the evening the sick came to me: their complaints, as usual, being
rheumatism, ophthalmia, goitres, cuts, bruises, and poisoning by Tong
(_Arum_), fungi, and other deleterious vegetables. At Tallum I
attended an old woman who dressed her ulcers with _Plantago_
(plantain) leaves, a very common Scotch remedy; the ribs being drawn
out from the leaf, which is applied fresh: it is rather a
strong application.

On the following morning I was awakened by the shrill cries of the
Tibetan maidens, calling the yaks to be milked, "Toosh--toosh--
toooosh," in a gradually higher key; to which Toosh seemed supremely
indifferent, till quickened in her movements by a stone or stick,
levelled with unerring aim at her ribs; these animals were changing
their long winter's wool for sleek hair, and the former hung about
them in ragged masses, like tow. Their calves gambolled by their
sides, the drollest of animals, like ass-colts in their antics,
kicking up their short hind-legs, whisking their bushy tails in the
air, rushing up and down the grassy slopes, and climbing like cats to
the top of the rocks.

The Soubah and Phipun came early to take me to Kongra Lama, bringing
ponies, genuine Tartars in bone and breed. Remembering the Dewan's
impracticable saddle at Bhomsong, I stipulated for a horse-cloth or
pad, upon which I had no sooner jumped than the beast threw back his
ears, seated himself on his haunches, and, to my consternation, slid
backwards down a turfy slope, pawing the earth with his fore-feet as
he went, and leaving me on the ground, amid shrieks of laughter from
my Lepchas. My steed being caught, I again mounted, and was being led
forward, when he took to shaking himself like a dog till the pad
slipped under his belly, and I was again unhorsed. Other ponies
displayed equal prejudices against my mode of riding, or having my
weight anywhere but well on their shoulders, being all-powerful in
their fore-quarters; and so I was compelled to adopt the high
demi-pique saddle with short stirrups, which forced me to sit with my
knees up to my nose, and to grip with the calves of my legs and
heels. All the gear was of yak or horse-hair, and the bit was a curb
and ring, or a powerful twisted snaffle..

The path ran N.N.W. for two miles, and then crossed the Lachen above
its junction with the Nunee* [I suspect there is a pass by the Nunee
to the sheds I saw up the Zemu valley on the 2nd of July, as I
observed yaks grazing high up the mountains: the distance cannot be
great, and there is little or no snow to interfere.] from the west:
the stream was rapid, and twelve yards in breadth; its temperature
was 48 degrees. About six miles above Tungu, the Lachen is joined by
the Chomio-choo, a large affluent from Chomiomo mountain. Above this
the Lachen meanders along a broad stony bed; and the path rises over
a great ancient moraine, whose level top is covered with pools, but
both that and its south face are bare, from exposure to the south
wind, which blows with fury through this contracted part of the
valley to the rarified atmosphere of the lofty, open, and dry country
beyond. Its north slope, on the contrary, is covered with small trees
and brushwood, rhododendron, birch, honeysuckle, and mountain-ash.
These are the most northern shrubs in Sikkim, and I regarded them
with deep interest, as being possibly the last of their kind to be
met with in this meridian, for many degrees further north: perhaps
even no similar shrubs occur between this and the Siberian Altai, a
distance of 1,500 miles. The magnificent yellow cowslip (_Primula
Sikkimensis_) gilded the marshes, and _Caltha,_* [This is the
_C. scaposa,_ n. sp. The common _Caltha palustris,_ or "marsh
marigold" of England, which is not found in Sikkim, is very abundant
in the north-west Himalaya.] _Trollius,_ Anemone, _Arenaria, Draba,_
Saxifrages, Potentillas, Ranunculus, and other very alpine
plants abounded.

At the foot of the moraine was a Tibetan camp of broad, black,
yak-hair tents, stretched out with a complicated system of ropes, and
looking at a distance--(to borrow M. Huc's graphic simile)--like
fat-bodied, long-legged spiders! Their general shape is hexagonal,
about twelve feet either way, and they are stretched over six short
posts, and encircled with a low stone wall, except in front. In one
of them I found a buxom girl, the image of good humour, making butter
and curd from yak-milk. The churns were of two kinds; one being an
oblong box of birch-bark, or close bamboo wicker-work, full of
branched rhododendron twigs, in which the cream is shaken: she
good-naturedly showed me the inside, which was frosted with
snow-white butter, and alive with maggots. The other churn was a
goat-skin, which was rolled about, and shaken by the four legs.
The butter is made into great squares, and packed in yak-hair cloths;
the curd is eaten either fresh, or dried and pulverised (when it is
called "Ts'cheuzip").

Except bamboo and copper milk-vessels, wooden ladles, tea-churn, and
pots, these tents contained no furniture but goat-skins and blankets,
to spread on the ground as a bed. The fire was made of sheep and
goats'-droppings, lighted with juniper-wood; above it hung tufts of
yaks'-hair, one for every animal lost during the season,* [The
Siberians hang tufts of horse-hair inside their houses from
superstitious motives (Ermann's "Siberia," i., 281).] by which means
a reckoning is kept. Although this girl had never before seen a
European, she seemed in no way discomposed at my visit, and gave me a
large slice of fresh curd.

Beyond this place (alt. 14,500 feet), the valley runs up north-east,
becoming very stony and desolate, with green patches only by the
watercourses: at this place, however, thick fogs came on, and
obscured all view. At 15,000 feet, I passed a small glacier on the
west side of the valley, the first I had met with that descended
nearly to the river, during the whole course of the Teesta.

Five miles further on we arrived at the tents of the Phipun, whose
wife was prepared to entertain us with Tartar hospitality:
magnificent tawny Tibet mastiffs were baying at the tent-door, and
some yaks and ponies were grazing close by. We mustered twelve in
number, and squatted cross-legged in a circle inside the tent, the
Soubah and myself being placed on a pretty Chinese rug. Salted and
buttered tea was immediately prepared in a tea-pot for us on the mat,
and in a great caldron for the rest of the party; parched rice and
wheat-flour, curd, and roasted maize* [Called "pop-corn" in America,
and prepared by roasting the maize in an iron vessel, when it splits
and turns partly inside out, exposing a snow-white spongy mass of
farina. It looks very handsome, and would make a beautiful dish for
dessert.] were offered us, and we each produced our wooden cup, which
was kept constantly full of scalding tea-soup, which, being made with
fresh butter, was very good. The flour was the favourite food, of
which each person dexterously formed little dough-balls in his cup,
an operation I could not well manage, and only succeeded in making a
nauseous paste, that stuck to my jaws and in my throat. Our hostess'
hospitality was too _exigeant_ for me, but the others seemed as if
they could not drink enough of the scalding tea.

We were suddenly startled from our repast by a noise like loud
thunder, crash following crash, and echoing through the valley.
The Phipun got up, and coolly said, "The rocks are falling, it is
time we were off, it will rain soon." The moist vapours had by this
time so accumulated, as to be condensed in rain on the cliffs of
Chomiomo and Kinchinjhow; which, being loosened, precipitated
avalanches of rocks and snow. We proceeded amidst dense fog, soon
followed by hard rain; the roar of falling rocks on either hand
increasing as these invisible giants spoke to one another in voices
of thunder through the clouds. The effect was indescribably grand:
and as the weather cleared, and I obtained transient peeps of their
precipices of blue ice and black rock towering 5000 feet above me on
either hand, the feeling of awe produced was almost overpowering.
Heavy banks of vapour still veiled the mountains, but the rising mist
exposed a broad stony track, along which the Lachen wandered, split
into innumerable channels, and enclosing little oases of green
vegetation, lighted up by occasional gleams of sunshine. Though all
around was enveloped in gloom, there was in front a high blue arc of
cloudless sky, between the beetling cliffs that formed the stern
portals of the Kongra Lama pass.

CHAPTER XXI.

Top of Kongra Lama -- Tibet frontier -- Elevation -- View --
Vegetation -- Descent to Tungu -- Tungu-choo -- Ponies -- Kinchinjhow
and Changokhang mountains -- Palung plains -- Tibetans -- Dogs --
Dingcbam province of Tibet -- Inhabitants -- Dresses -- Women's
ornaments -- Blackening faces -- Coral -- Tents -- Elevation of
Palung -- Lama -- Shawl-wool goats -- Shearing -- Siberian plants --
Height of glaciers, and perpetual snow -- Geology -- Plants, and wild
animals -- Marmots -- Insects -- Birds -- Choongtam Lama -- Religious
exercises -- Tibetan hospitality -- _Delphinium_ -- Perpetual snow --
Temperature at Tungu -- Return to Tallum Samdong -- To Lamteng --
Houses -- Fall of Barometer -- Cicadas -- Lime deposit -- Landslips
-- Arrival at Choongtam -- Cobra -- Rageu -- Heat of Climate --
Velocity and volume of rivers measured -- Leave for Lachoong valley
-- Keadom -- General features of valley -- Lachoong village -- Tunkra
mountain -- Moraines -- Cultivation -- Lachoong Phipun -- Lama
ceremonies beside a sick-bed.