Books: Himalayan Journals (Complete)

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

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We reached the boundary between Sikkim and Tibet early in the
afternoon; it is drawn along Kongra Lama, which is a low flat spur
running east from Kinchinjhow towards Chomiomo, at a point where
these mountains are a few miles apart, thus crossing the Lachen
river:* [The upper valley of the Lachen in Tibet, which I ascended in
the following October, is very open, flat, barren, and stony; it is
bounded on the north by rounded spurs from Chomiomo, which are
continued east to Donkia, forming a watershed to the Lachen on the
south, and to the Arun on the north.] it is marked by cairns of
stone, some rudely fashioned into chaits, covered with votive rags on
wands of bamboo. I made the altitude by barometer 15,745 feet above
the sea, and by boiling water, 15,694 feet, the water boiling at
184.1 degrees; the temperature of the air between 2.40 and 4 p.m.
varied from 41.3 degrees to 42.5 degrees, the dew-point 39.8 degrees;
that of the Lachen was 47 degrees, which was remarkably high. We were
bitterly cold; as the previous rain had wetted us through, and a keen
wind was blowing up the valley. The continued mist and fog
intercepted all view, except of the flanks of the great mountains on
either hand, of the rugged snowy ones to the south, and of those
bounding the Lachen to the north. The latter were unsnowed, and
appeared lower than Kongra Lama, the ground apparently sloping away
in that direction; but when I ascended them, three months afterwards,
I found they were 3000 feet higher! a proof how utterly fallacious
are estimates of height, when formed by the eye alone. My informants
called them Peuka-t'hlo; "peu" signifies north in Tibetan, and
"t'hlo" a hill in Lepcha.

Isolated patches of vegetation appeared on the top of the pass, where
I gathered forty kinds of plants, most of them being of a tufted
habit characteristic of an extreme climate; some (as species of
_Caryophylleae_) forming hemi-spherical balls on the naked soil;
others* [The other plants found on the pass were; of smooth hairless
ones, _Ranunculus,_ Fumitory, several species of _Stellaria,
Arenaria, Cruciferae, Parnassia, Morina,_ saxifrages, _Sedum,_
primrose, _Herminium, Polygonum, Campanula, Umbelliferae,_ grasses
and _Carices_: of woolly or hairy once, _Anemone, Artemisia,
Myosotis, Draba, Potentilla,_ and several _Compositae,_ etc.] growing
in matted tufts level with the ground. The greater portion had no
woolly covering; nor did I find any of the cottony species of
_Saussurea,_ which are so common on the wetter mountains to the
southward. Some most delicate-flowered plants even defy the biting
winds of these exposed regions; such are a prickly _Meconopsis_ with
slender flower-stalks and four large blue poppy-like petals, a
_Cyananthus_ with a membranous bell-shaped corolla, and a fritillary.
Other curious plants were a little yellow saxifrage with long runners
(very like the arctic _S. flagellaris,_ of Spitzbergen and Melville
Island), and the strong-scented spikenard (_Nardostachys_).

The rocks were chiefly of reddish quartz, and so was the base of
Chomiomo. Kinchinjhow on the contrary was of gneiss, with granite
veins: the strike of both was north-west, and the dip north-east 20
degrees to 30 degrees.

We made a fire at the top with sheep's droppings, of which the Phipun
had brought up a bagfull, and with it a pair of goat-skin bellows,
which worked by a slit that was opened by the hand in the act of
raising; when inflated, the hole was closed, and the skin pressed
down, thus forcing the air through the bamboo nozzle: this is the
common form of bellows throughout Tibet and the Himalaya.

After two hours I was very stiff and cold, and suffering from
headache and giddiness, owing to the elevation; and having walked
about thirteen miles botanizing, I was glad to ride down. We reached
the Phipun's tents about 6 p.m., and had more tea before proceeding
to Tungu. The night was fortunately fine and calm, with a few stars
and a bright young moon, which, with the glare from the snows,
lighted up the valley, and revealed magnificent glimpses of the
majestic mountains. As the moon sank, and we descended the narrowing
valley, darkness came on, and with a boy to lead my sure-footed pony,
I was at liberty uninterruptedly to reflect on the events of a day,
on which I had attained the object of so many years' ambition.
Now that all obstacles were surmounted, and I was returning laden
with materials for extending the knowledge of a science which had
formed the pursuit of my life, will it be wondered at that I felt
proud, not less for my own sake, than for that of the many friends,
both in India and at home, who were interested in my success?

We arrived at Tungu at 9 p.m., my pony not having stumbled once,
though the path was rugged, and crossed by many rapid streams.
The Soubah's little shaggy steed had carried his portly frame (fully
fifteen stone weight) the whole way out and back, and when he
dismounted, it shook itself, snorted, and seemed quite ready
for supper.

On the following morning I was occupied in noting and arranging my
collections, which consisted of upwards of 200 plants; all gathered
above 14,000 feet elevation.* [Amongst them the most numerous Natural
orders and genera were, _Cruciferae_ 10; _Compositae_ 20;
_Ranunculaceae_ 10; _Alsineae_ 9; _Astragali_ 10; _Potentillae_ 8;
grasses 12; _Carices_ 15; _Pedicularis_ 7; _Boragineae_ 7.] Letters
arrived from Dorjiling with unusual speed, having been only seventeen
days on the road: they were full of valuable suggestions and
encouragement from my friends Hodgson, Campbell, and Tchebu Lama.

On the 26th of July the Phipun, who waited on me every morning with
milk and butter, and whose civility and attentions were now
unremitting, proposed that I should accompany him to an encampment of
Tibetans, at the foot of Kinchinjhow. We mounted ponies, and ascended
the Tunguchoo eastwards: it was a rapid river for the first thousand
feet, flowing in a narrow gorge, between sloping, grassy, and rocky
hills, on which large herds of yaks were feeding, tended by women and
children, whose black tents were scattered about. The yak-calves left
their mothers to run beside our ponies, which became unmanageable,
being almost callous to the bit; and the whole party was sometimes
careering over the slopes, chased by the grunting herds: in other
places, the path was narrow and dangerous, when the sagacious animals
proceeded with the utmost gravity and caution. Rounding one rocky
spur, my pony stumbled, and pitched me forward: fortunately I lighted
on the path.

The rocks were gneiss, with granite veins (strike north-east, dip
south-east): they were covered with _Ephedra,_* [A curious genus of
small shrubs allied to pines, that grows in the south of Europe.
This species is the European _E. vulgaris_; it inhabits the driest
parts of north-west India, and ascends to 17,000 feet in Tibet, but
is not found in the moist intervening countries.] an _Onosma_ which
yields a purple dye, _Orchis,_ and species of _Androsace_; while the
slopes were clothed with the spikenard and purple _Pedicularis,_ and
the moist grounds with yellow cowslip and long grass. A sudden bend
in the valley opened a superb view to the north, of the full front of
Kinchinjhow, extending for four or five miles east and west; its
perpendicular sides studded with the immense icicles, which are said
to have obtained for it the name of "jhow,"--the "bearded" Kinchin.
Eastward a jagged spur stretches south, rising into another splendid
mountain, called Chango-khang (the Eagle's crag), from whose flanks
descend great glaciers, the sources of the Tunguchoo.

We followed the course of an affluent, called the Chachoo, along
whose bed ancient moraines rose in successive ridges: on these I
found several other species of European genera.* [_Delphinium,
Hypecoum, Sagina, Gymnandra, Artemisia, Caltha, Dracocephalum,
Leontopodium._] Over one of these moraines, 500 feet high, the path
ascends to the plains of Palung, an elevated grassy expanse, two
miles long and four broad, extending southward from the base of
Kinchinjhow. Its surface, though very level for so mountainous a
country, is yet varied with open valleys and sloping hills, 500 to
700 feet high: it is bounded on the west by low rounded spurs from
Kinchinjhow, that form the flank of the Lachen valley; while on the
east it is separated from Chango-khang by the Chachoo, which cuts a
deep east and west trench along the base of Kinchinjhow, and then
turns south to the Tunguchoo. The course of the Chachoo, where it
turns south, is most curious: it meanders in sickle-shaped curves
along the marshy bottom of an old lake-bed, with steep shelving
sides, 500 to 600 feet deep, and covered with juniper bushes.*
[These, which grow on an eastern exposure, exist at a higher
elevation than any other bushes I have met with.] It is fed by the
glaciers of Kinchinjhow, and some little lakes to the east.

The mean height of Palung plains is 16,000 feet: they are covered
with transported blocks, and I have no doubt their surface has been
much modified by glacial action. I was forcibly reminded of them by
the slopes of the Wengern Alp, but those of Palung are far more
level. Kinchinjhow rises before the spectator, just as the Jungfrau,
Monch, and Eigher Alps do from that magnificent point of view.

On ascending a low hill, we came in sight of the Tibet camp at the
distance of a mile, when the great mastiffs that guarded it
immediately bayed; and our ponies starting off at full gallop, we
soon reached an enclosure of stone dykes, within which the black
tents were pitched. The dogs were of immense size, and ragged, like
the yaks, from their winter coat hanging to their flanks in great
masses; each was chained near a large stone, on and off which he
leapt as he gave tongue; they are very savage, but great cowards, and
not remarkable for intelligence.

Illustration--LEPCHA GIRLS (THE OUTER FIGURES), AND TIBETAN WOMEN.

The people were natives of Gearee and Kambajong, in the adjacent
province of Dingcham, which is the loftiest, coldest, most windy and
arid in Eastern Tibet; and in which are the sources of all the
streams that flow to Nepal; Sikkim, and Bhotan on the one side, and
into the Yaru-tsampu on the other. These families repair yearly to
Palung, with their flocks, herds, and tents, paying tribute to the
Sikkim Rajah for the privilege: they arrive in June and leave in
September. Both men and women were indescribably filthy; as they
never wash, their faces were perfectly black with smoke and exposure,
and the women's with a pigment of grease as a protection from the
wind. The men were dressed as usual, in the blanket-cloak, with brass
pipes, long knives, flint, steel, and amulets; the women wore
similar, but shorter cloaks, with silver and copper girdles,
trowsers, and flannel boots. Their head-dresses were very remarkable.
A circular band of plaited yak's hair was attached to the back hair,
and encircled the head like a saint's glory,* [I find in Ermann's
"Siberia" (i., p. 210), that the married women of Yekaterinberg wear
a head-dress like an ancient glory covered with jewels, whilst the
unmarried ones plait their tresses. The same distinguished traveller
mentions having seen a lad of six years old suckled, amongst the
Tungooze of East Siberia.] at some distance round it. A band crossed
the forehead, from which coins, corals, and turquoises, hung down to
the eyebrows, while lappets of these ornaments fell over the ears.
Their own hair was plaited in two tails, brought over the shoulders,
and fastened together in front; and a little yellow felt cap,
traversely elongated, so as not to interfere with the shape of the
glory, was perched on the head. Their countenances were pleasing, and
their manners timid.

The children crawled half-naked about the tent, or burrowed like
moles in an immense heap of goats' and sheep-droppings, piled up for
fuel, upon which the family lounged. An infant in arms was playing
with a "coral," ornamented much like ours, and was covered with
jewels and coins. This custom of decorating children is very common
amongst half-civilised people; and the coral is, perhaps, one of the
last relics of a barbarous age that is retained amongst ourselves.
One mother was nursing her baby, and churning at the same time, by
rolling the goat-skin of yak-milk about on the ground. Extreme
poverty induces the practice of nursing the children for years; and
in one tent I saw a lad upwards of four years of age unconcernedly
taking food from his aunt, and immediately afterwards chewing hard
dry grains of maize.

The tents were pitched in holes about two feet and a half deep; and
within them a wall of similar height was built all round: in the
middle was a long clay arched fire-place, with holes above, over
which the cauldrons were placed, the fire being underneath. Saddles,
horse-cloths, and the usual accoutrements and implements of a nomade
people, all of the rudest description, hung about: there was no bed
or stool, but Chinese rugs for sleeping on. I boiled water on the
fire-place; its temperature (184.5 degrees) with that of the air
(45.5 degrees) gave an elevation of 15,867 feet. Barometric
observations, taken in October, at a point considerably lower down
the stream, made the elevation 15,620 feet, or a few feet lower than
Kongra Lama pass.

A Lama accompanied this colony of Tibetans, a festival in honour of
Kinchinjhow being annually held at a large chait hard by, which is
painted red, ornamented with banners, and surmounted by an enormous
yak's skull, that faces the mountain. The Lama invited me into his
tent, where I found a wife and family. An extempore altar was at one
end, covered with wafers and other pretty ornaments, made of butter,
stamped or moulded with the fingers.* [The extensive use of these
ornaments throughout Tibet, on the occasion of religious festivals,
is alluded to by MM. Huc and Gabet.] The tents being insupportably
noisome, I preferred partaking of the buttered brick-tea in the open
air; after which, I went to see the shawl-wool goats sheared in a pen
close by. There are two varieties: one is a large animal, with great
horns, called "Rappoo;"* [This is the "Changra;" and the smaller the
"Chyapu" of Mr. Hodgson's catalogue. (See "British Museum
Catalogue.")] the other smaller, and with slender horns, is called
"Tsilloo." The latter yields the finest wool, but they are mixed for
ordinary purposes. I was assured that the sheep (of which large
flocks were grazing near) afford the finest wool of any. The animals
were caught by the tail, their legs tied, the long winter's hair
pulled out, and the remainder cut away with a broad flat knife, which
was sharpened with a scythe-stone. The operation was clumsily
performed, and the skin much cut.

Turnips are grown at Palung during the short stay of the people, and
this is the most alpine cultivation in Sikkim: the seed is sown early
in July, and the tubers are fit to be eaten in October, if the season
is favourable. They did not come to maturity this year, as I found on
again visiting this spot in October; but their tops had afforded the
poor Tibetans some good vegetables. The mean temperature of the three
summer months at Palung is probably about 40 degrees, an element of
comparatively little importance in regulating the growth and ripening
of vegetables at great elevations in Tibetan climates; where a warm
exposure, the amount of sunshine, and of radiated heat, have a much
greater influence.

During the winter, when these families repair to Kambajong, in Tibet,
the flocks and herds are all stall-fed, with long grass, cut on the
marshy banks of the Yaru. Snow is said to fall five feet deep at that
place, chiefly after January; and it melts in April.

After tea, I ascended the hills overhanging the Lachen valley, which
are very bare and stony; large flocks of sheep were feeding on them,
chiefly upon small tufted sedges, allied to the English _Carex
pilularis,_ which here forms the greatest part of the pasture: the
grass grows mixed with it in small tufts, and is the common Scotch
mountain pasture-grass (_Festuca ovina_).

On the top of these hills, which, for barrenness, reminded me of the
descriptions given of the Siberian steppes, I found, at 17,000 feet
elevation, several minute arctic plants, with _Rhododendron nivale,_
the most alpine of woody plants. On their sterile slopes grew a
curious plant allied to the _Cherleria_ of the Scotch Alps, forming
great hemispherical balls on the ground, eight to ten inches across,
altogether resembling in habit the curious Balsambog (_Bolax
glebaria_) of the Falkland Islands, which grows in very similar
scenes.* [_Arenaria rupifraga,_ Fenzl. This plant is mentioned by Dr.
Thomson ("Travels in Tibet," p. 426) as common in Tibet, as far north
as the Karakoram, at an elevation between 16,000 and 18,000 feet. In
Sikkim it is found at the same level. Specimens of it are exhibited
in the Kew Museum. As one instance illustrative of the chaotic state
of Indian botany, I may here mention that this little plant, a
denizen of such remote and inaccessible parts of the globe, and which
has only been known to science a dozen years, bears the burthen of no
less than six names in botanical works. This is the _Bryomorpha
rupifraga_ of Karelin and Kireloff (enumeration of Soongarian
plants), who first described it from specimens gathered in 1841, on
the Alatau mountains (east of Lake Aral). In Ledebour's "Flora
Rossica" (i. p. 780) it appears as _Arenaria_ (sub-genus
_Dicranilla_) _rupifraga,_ Fenzl, MS. In Decaisne and Cambessede's
Plants of Jacquemont's "Voyage aus Indes Orientales," it is described
as _Flourensia caespitosa,_ and in the plates of that work it appears
as _Periandra caespitosa_; and lastly, in Endlicher's "Genera
Plantarum," Fenzl proposes the long new generic name of
_Thylacospermum_ for it. I have carefully compared the Himalayan and
Alatau plants, and find no difference between them, except that the
flower of the Himalayan one has 4 petals and sepals, 8 stamens, and 2
styles, and that of the Alatau 5 petals and sepals, 10 stamens, and
2-3 styles, characters which are very variable in allied plants.
The flowers appear polygamous, as in the Scotch alpine _Cherleria,_
which it much resembles in babit, and to which it is very nearly
related in botanical characters.]

A few days afterwards, I again visited Palung, with the view of
ascertaining the height of perpetual snow on the south face of
Kinchinjhow; unfortunately, bad weather came on before I reached the
Tibetans, from whom I obtained a guide in consequence. From this
place a ride of about four miles brought me to the source of the
Chachoo, in a deep ravine, containing the terminations of several
short, abrupt glaciers,* [De Saussure's glaciers of the second order:
see "Forbes' Travels in the Alps," p. 79.] and into which were
precipitated avalanches of snow and ice. I found it impossible to
distinguish the glacial ice from perpetual snow; the larger beds of
snow where presenting a flat surface, being generally drifts
collected in hollows, or accumulations that have fallen from above:
when these accumulations rest on slopes they become converted into
ice, and obeying the laws of fluidity, flow downwards as glaciers.
I boiled water at the most advantageous position I could select, and
obtained an elevation of 16,522 feet.* [Temperature of boiling water,
183 degrees, air 35 degrees.] It was snowing heavily at this time,
and we crouched under a gigantic boulder, benumbed with cold. I had
fortunately brought a small phial of brandy, which, with hot water
from the boiling-apparatus kettle, refreshed us wonderfully.

The spur that divides these plains from the Lachen river, rises close
to Kinchinjhow, as a lofty cliff of quartzy gneiss, dipping
north-east 30 degrees: this I had noticed from the Kongra Lama side.
On this side the dip was also to the northward, and the whole cliff
was crossed by cleavage planes, dipping south, and apparently cutting
those of the foliation at an angle of about 60 degrees: it is the
only decided instance of the kind I met with in Sikkim. I regretted
not being able to examine it carefully, but I was prevented by the
avalanches of stones and snow which were continually being detached
from its surface.* [I extremely regret not having been at this time
acquainted with Mr. D. Sharpe's able essays on the foliation,
cleavage, etc., of slaty rocks, gneiss, etc., in the Geological
Society's Journal (ii. p. 74, and v. p. 111), and still more so with
his subsequent papers in the Philosophical Transactions: as I cannot
doubt that many of his observations, and in particular those which
refer to the great arches in which the folia (commonly called strata)
are disposed, would receive ample illustration from a study of the
Himalaya. At vol. i. chapter xiii, I have distantly alluded to such
an arrangement of the gneiss, etc., into arches, in Sikkim, to which
my attention was naturally drawn by the writings of Professor
Sedgwick ("Geolog. Soc. Trans.") and Mr. Darwin ("Geological
Observations in South America") on these obscure subjects. I may add
that wherever I met with the gneiss, mica, schists, and slates, in
Sikkim, very near one another, I invariably found that their cleavage
and foliation were conformable. This, for example, may be seen in the
bed of the great Rungeet, below Dorjiling, where the slates overlie
mica schists, and where the latter contain beds of conglomerate. In
these volumes I have often used the more familiar term of
stratification, for foliation. This arises from my own ideas of the
subject not having been clear when the notes were taken.]

The plants found close to the snow were minute primroses, _Parnassia,
Draba,_ tufted wormwoods (_Artemisia_), saxifrages, gentian, small
_Compositae,_ grasses, and sedges. Our ponies unconcernedly scraped
away the snow with their hoofs, and nibbled the scanty herbage.
When I mounted mine, he took the bit between his teeth, and
scampered back to Palung, over rocks and hills, through bogs and
streams; and though the snow was so blinding that no object could be
distinguished, he brought me to the tents with unerring instinct, as
straight as an arrow.

Wild animals are few in kind and rare in individuals, at Tungu and
elsewhere on this frontier; though there is no lack of cover and
herbage. This must be owing to the moist cold atmosphere; and it
reminds me that a similar want of animal life is characteristic of
those climates at the level of the sea, which I have adduced as
bearing a great analogy to the Himalaya, in lacking certain natural
orders of plants. Thus, New Zealand and Fuegia possess, the former no
land animal but a rat, and the latter very few indeed, and none of
any size. Such is also the case in Scotland and Norway. Again, on the
damp west coast of Tasmania, quadrupeds are rare; whilst the dry
eastern half of the island once swarmed with opossums and kangaroos.
A few miles north of Tungu, the sterile and more lofty provinces of
Tibet abound in wild horses, antelopes, hares, foxes, marmots, and
numerous other quadrupeds; although their altitude, climate, and
scanty vegetation are apparently even more unsuited to support such
numbers of animals of so large a size than the karroos of South
Africa, and the steppes of Siberia and Arctic America, which
similarly abound in animal life. The laws which govern the
distribution of large quadrupeds seem to be intimately connected with
those of climate; and we should have regard to these considerations
in our geological speculations, and not draw hasty conclusions from
the absence of the remains of large herbivora in formations
disclosing a redundant vegetation.

Besides the wild sheep found on these mountains, a species of marmot*
[The _Lagopus Tibetanus_ of Hodgson. I procured one that displayed an
extraordinary tenacity of life: part of the skull was shot away, and
the brain protruded; still it showed the utmost terror at my dog.]
("Kardiepieu" of the Tibetans) sometimes migrates in swarms (like the
Lapland "Lemming") from Tibet as far as Tungu. There are few birds
but red-legged crows and common ravens. Most of the insects belonged
to arctic types, and they were numerous in individuals.* [As _Meloe,_
and some flower-feeding lamellicorns. Of butterflies I saw blues
(_Polyommatus_), marbled whites, _Pontia, Colias_ and _Argynnis._
A small _Curculio_ was frequent, and I found _Scolopendra,_ ants and
earthworms, on sunny exposures as high as 15,500 feet.]

Illustration--TIBET MARMOT.

The Choongtam Lama was at a small temple near Tungu during the whole
of my stay, but he would not come to visit me, pretending to be
absorbed in his devotions. Passing one day by the temple, I found him
catechising two young aspirants for holy orders. He is one of the
Dukpa sect, wore his mitre, and was seated cross-legged on the grass
with his scriptures on his knees: he put questions to the boys, when
he who answered best took the other some yards off, put him down on
his hands and knees, threw a cloth over his back, and mounted; then
kicking, spurring, and cuffing his steed, he was galloped back to the
Lama and kicked off; when the catechising recommenced.