Books: Himalayan Journals (Complete)

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

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I spent a week at Tungu most pleasantly, ascending the neighbouring
mountains, and mixing with the people, whom I found uniformly kind,
frank, and extremely hospitable; sending their children after me to
invite me to stop at their tents, smoke, and drink tea; often
refusing any remuneration, and giving my attendants curds and
yak-flesh. If on foot, I was entreated to take a pony; and when tired
I never scrupled to catch one, twist a yak-hair rope over its jaw as
a bridle, and throwing a goat-hair cloth upon its back (if no saddle
were at hand), ride away whither I would. Next morning a boy would be
sent for the steed, perhaps bringing an invitation to come and take
it again. So I became fond of brick-tea boiled with butter, salt, and
soda, and expert in the Tartar saddle; riding about perched on the
shoulders of a rough pony, with my feet nearly on a level with my
pockets, and my knees almost meeting in front.

On the 28th of July much snow fell on the hills around, as low as
14,000 feet, and half an inch of rain at Tungu;* [An inch and a half
fell at Dorjiling during the same period.] the former soon melted,
and I made an excursion to Chomiomo on the following day, hoping to
reach the lower line of perpetual snow. Ascending the valley of the
Chomiochoo, I struck north up a steep slope, that ended in a spur of
vast tabular masses of quartz and felspar, piled like slabs in a
stone quarry, dipping south-west 5 degrees to 10 degrees, and
striking north-west. These resulted from the decomposition of gneiss,
from which the layers of mica bad been washed away, when the rain and
frost splitting up the fragments, the dislocation is continued to a
great depth into the substance of the rock.

Large silky cushions of a forget-me-not grew amongst the rocks,
spangled with beautiful blue flowers, and looking like turquoises set
in silver: the _Delphininin glaciale_* [This new species has been
described for the "Flora Indica" of Dr. Thomson and myself: it is a
remarkable plant, very closely resembling, and as it were
representing, the _D. Brunonianum_ of the western Himalaya.
The latter plant smells powerfully of musk, but not so disagreeably
as this does.] was also abundant, exhaling a rank smell of musk.
It indicates a very great elevation in Sikkim, and on my ascent far
above it, therefore, I was not surprised to find water boil at 182.6
degrees (air 43 degrees), which gives an altitude of 16,754 feet.

A dense fog, with sleet, shut out all view; and I did not know in
what direction to proceed higher, beyond the top of the sharp, stony
ridge I had attained. Here there was no perpetual snow, which is to
be accounted for by the nature of the surface facilitating its
removal, the edges of the rocks which project through the snow,
becoming heated, and draining off the water as it melts.

During my stay at Tungu, from the 23rd to the 30th of July, no day
passed without much deposition of moisture, but generally in so light
a form that throughout the whole time but one inch was registered in
the rain-gauge; during the same time four inches and a half of rain
fell at Dorjiling, and three inches and a half at Calcutta. The mean
temperature was 50 degrees (max. 65 degrees, min. 40.7 degrees);
extremes, 65/38 degrees. The mean range (23.3 degrees) was thus much
greater than at Dorjiling, where it was only 8.9 degrees.
A thermometer, sunk three feet, varied only a few tenths from 57.6
degrees. By twenty-five comparative observations with Calcutta,
1 degree Fahr. is the equivalent of every 362 feet of ascent; and
twenty comparative observations with Dorjiling give 1 degree for
every 340 feet. The barometer rose and fell at the same hours as at
lower elevations; the tide amounting to 0.060 inch, between 9.50 a.m.
and 4 p.m.

I left Tungu on the 30th of July, and spent that night at Tallum;
where a large party of men had just arrived, with loads of madder,
rice, canes, bamboos, planks, etc., to be conveyed to Tibet on yaks
and ponies.* [About 300 loads of timber, each of six planks, are said
to be taken across the Kongra Lama pass annually; and about 250 of
rice, besides canes, madder, bamboos, cottons, cloths, and
_Symplocos_ leaves for dyeing. This is, no doubt, a considerably
exaggerated statement, and may refer to both the Kongra Lama and
Donkia passes.] On the following day I descended to Lamteng,
gathering a profusion of fine plants by the way.

The flat on which I had encamped at this place in May and June, being
now a marsh, I took up my abode for two days in one of the houses,
and paid the usual penalty of communication with these filthy people;
for which my only effectual remedy was boiling all my garments and
bedding. Yet the house was high, airy, and light; the walls composed
of bamboo, lath, and plaster.

Tropical Cicadas ascend to the pine-woods above Lamteng in this
month, and chirp shrilly in the heat of the day; and glow-worms fly
about at night. The common Bengal and Java toad, _Bufo scabra,_
abounded in the marshes, a remarkable instance of wide geographical
distribution, for a Batrachian which is common at the level of the
sea under the tropics.

On the 3rd of August I descended to Choongtam, which I reached on the
5th. The lakes on the Chateng flat (alt. 8,750 feet) were very full,
and contained many English water-plants;* [_Sparganium ramosum,
Eleocharis palustris, Scirpus triqueter,_ and _Callitriche verna?_
Some very tropical genera ascend thus high; as _Paspalum_ amongst
grasses, and _Scleria,_ a kind of sedge.] the temperature of the
water was 92 degrees near the edges, where a water-insect
(_Notonecta_) was swimming about.

Below this I passed an extensive stalactitic deposit of lime, and a
second occurred lower down, on the opposite side of the valley. The
apparently total absence of limestone rocks in any part of Sikkim
(for which I made careful search), renders these deposits, which are
far from unfrequent, very curious. Can the limestone, which appears
in Tibet, underlie the gneiss of Sikkim? We cannot venture to assume
that these lime-charged streams, which in Sikkim burst from the steep
flanks of narrow mountain spurs, at elevations between 1000 and 7000
feet, have any very remote or deep origin. If the limestone be not
below the gneiss, it must either occur intercalated with it, or be
the remains of a formation now all but denuded in Sikkim.

Terrific landslips had taken place along the valley, carrying down
acres of rock, soil, and pine-forests, into the stream. I saw one
from Kampo Samdong, on the opposite flank of the valley, which swept
over 100 yards in breadth of forest. I looked in vain for any signs
of scratching or scoring, at all comparable to that produced by
glacial action. The bridge at the Tuktoong, mentioned at chapter xix,
being carried away, we had to ascend for 1000 feet (to a place where
the river could be crossed) by a very precipitous path, and descend
on the opposite side. In many places we had great difficulty in
proceeding, the track being obliterated by the rains, torrents, and
landslips. Along the flats, now covered with a dense rank vegetation,
we waded ankle, and often knee, deep in mud, swarming with leeches;
and instead of descending into the valley of the now too swollen
Lachen, we made long detours, rounding spurs by canes and bamboos
suspended from trees.

At Choongtam the rice-fields were flooded: and the whole flat was a
marsh, covered with tropical grasses and weeds, and alive with
insects, while the shrill cries of cicadas, frogs and birds, filled
the air. Sand-flies, mosquitos, cockroaches, and enormous
cockchafers,* [_Eucerris Griffithii,_ a magnificent species.
Three very splendid insects of the outer ranges of Sikkim never
occurred in the interior: these are a gigantic Curculio (_Calandra_)
a wood-borer; a species of Goliath-beetle, _Cheirotonus Macleaii,_
and a smaller species of the same rare family, _Trigonophorus
nepalensis_; of these the former is very scarce, the latter extremely
abundant, flying about at evenings; both are flower-feeders, eating
honey and pollen. In the summer of 1848, the months at Dorjiling were
well marked by the swarms of peculiar insects that appeared in
inconceivable numbers; thus, April was marked by a great black
_Passalus,_ a beetle one-and-a-half inch long, that flies in the face
and entangles itself in the hair; May, by stag-beetles and
longicorns; June, by _Coccinella_ (lady-birds), white moths, and
flying-bugs; July, by a _Dryptis?_ a long-necked carabideous insect;
August, by myriads of earwigs, cockroaches, Goliath-beetles, and
cicadas; September, by spiders.] _Mantis,_ great locusts,
grasshoppers, flying-bugs, crickets, ants, spiders, caterpillars, and
leeches, were but a few of the pests that swarmed in my tent and made
free with my bed. Great lazy butterflies floated through the air;
_Thecla_ and _Hesperides_ skipped about, and the great _Nymphalidae_
darted around like swallows. The venomous black cobra was common, and
we left the path with great caution, as it is a lazy reptile, and
lies basking in the sun; many beautiful and harmless green snakes,
four feet long, glided amongst the bushes. My dogs caught a "Rageu,"*
["Ragoah," according to Hodgson: but it is not the _Procapra
picticaudata_ of Tibet.] a very remarkable animal, half goat and half
deer; the flesh was good and tender, dark-coloured, and lean.

I remained here till the 15th of August,* [Though 5 degrees further
north, and 5,268 feet above the level of Calcutta, the mean
temperature at Choongtam this month was only 12. degrees cooler than
at Calcutta; forty observations giving 1 degree Fahr. as equal to 690
feet of elevation; whereas in May the mean of twenty-seven
observations gave 1 degree Fahr. as equal to 260 feet, the mean
difference of temperature being then 25 degrees. The mean maximum of
the day was 80 degrees, and was attained at 11 a.m., after which
clouds formed, and the thermometer fell to 66 degrees at sunset, and
56 degrees at night. In my blanket tent the heat rose to upwards of
100 degrees in calm weather. The afternoons were generally squally
and rainy.] arranging my Lachen valley collections previous to
starting for the Lachoong, whence I hoped to reach Tibet again by a
different route, crossing the Donkia pass, and thence exploring the
sources of the Teesta at the Cholamoo lakes.

Whilst here I ascertained the velocity of the currents of the Lachen
and Lachoong rivers. Both were torrents, than which none could be
more rapid, short of becoming cataracts: the rains were at their
height, and the melting of the snows at its maximum. I first measured
several hundred yards along the banks of each river above the
bridges, repeating this several times, as the rocks and jungle
rendered it very difficult to do it accurately: then, sitting on the
bridge, I timed floating masses of different materials and sizes that
were thrown in at the upper point. I was surprised to find the
velocity of the Lachen only nine miles per hour, for its waters
seemed to shoot past with the speed of an arrow, but the floats
showed the whole stream to be so troubled with local eddies and
backwaters, that it took from forty-three to forty-eight seconds for
each float to pass over 200 yards, as it was perpetually submerged by
under-currents. The breadth of the river averaged sixty-eight feet,
and the discharge was 4,420 cubic feet of water per second.
The temperature was 57 degrees.

At the Lachoong bridge the jungle was still denser, and the banks
quite inaccessible in many places. The mean velocity was eight miles
an hour, the breadth ninety-five feet, the depth about the same as
that of the Lachen, giving a discharge of 5,700 cubic feet of water
per second;* [Hence it appears that the Lachoong, being so much the
more copious stream, should in one sense be regarded as the
continuation of the Teesta, rather than the Lachen, which, however,
has by far the most distant source. Their united streams discharge
upwards of 10,000 cubic feet of water per second in the height of the
rains! which is, however, a mere fraction of the discharge of the
Teesta when that river leaves the Himalaya. The Ganges at Hurdwar
discharges 8000 feet per second during the dry season.] its
temperature was also 57 degrees. These streams retain an
extraordinary velocity, for many miles upwards; the Lachen to its
junction with the Zemu at 9000 feet, and the Zemu itself as far up as
the Thlonok, at 10,000 feet, and the Lachoong to the village of that
name, at 8000 feet: their united streams appear equally rapid till
they become the Teesta at Singtam.* [The slope of the bed of the
Lachen from below the confluence of the Zemu to the village of
Singtam is 174 feet per mile, or 1 foot in 30; that of the Lachoong
from the village of that name to Singtam is considerably less.]

On the 15th of August, having received supplies from Dorjiling, I
started up the north bank of the Lachoong, following the Singtam
Soubah, who accompanied me officially, and with a very bad grace;
poor fellow, he expected me to have returned with him to Singtam, and
thence gone back to Dorjiling, and many a sore struggle we had on
this point. At Choongtam he had been laid up with ulcerated legs from
the bites of leeches and sand-flies, which required my treatment.

The path was narrow, and ran through a jungle of mixed tropical and
temperate plants,* [As _Paris, Dipsacus, Circaea, Thalictrum,
Saxifraga ciliaris, Spiranthes, Malva, Hypoxis, Anthericum,
Passiflora, Drosera, Didymocarpus,_ poplar, _Calamagrostis,_ and
_Eupatorium._] many of which are not found at this elevation on the
damp outer ranges of Dorjiling. We crossed to the south bank by a
fine cane-bridge forty yards long, the river being twenty-eight
across and here I have to record the loss of my dog Kinchin; the
companion of all my late journeyings, and to whom I had become really
attached. He had a bad habit, of which I had vainly tried to cure
him, of running for a few yards on the round bamboos by which the
cane-bridges are crossed, and on which it was impossible for a dog to
retain his footing: in this situation he used to get thoroughly
frightened, and lie down on the bamboos with his legs hanging over
the water, and having no hold whatever. I had several times rescued
him from this perilous position, which was always rendered more
imminent from the shaking of the bridge as I approached him. On the
present occasion, I stopped at the foot of some rocks below the
bridge, botanizing, and Kinchin having scrambled up the rocks, ran on
to the bridge. I could not see him, and was not thinking about him,
when suddenly his shrill, short barks of terror rang above the
roaring torrent. I hastened to the bridge, but before I could get to
it, he had lost his footing, and had disappeared. Holding on by the
cane, I strained my eyes till the bridge seemed to be swimming up the
valley, and the swift waters to be standing still, but to no purpose;
he had been carried under at once, and swept away miles below.
For many days I missed him by my side on the mountain, and by my feet
in camp. He had become a very handsome dog, with glossy black hair,
pendent triangular ears, short muzzle, high forehead, jet-black eyes,
straight limbs, arched neck, and a most glorious tail curling over
his back.* [The woodcut at vol. i. chapter ix, gives the character of
the Tibet mastiff, to which breed his father belonged; but it is not
a portrait of himself, having been sketched from a dog of the pure
breed, in the Zoological Society's Gardens, by C. Jenyns, Esq.]

A very bad road led to the village of Keadom, situated on a flat
terrace several hundred feet above the river, and 6,609 feet above
the sea, where I spent the night. Here are cultivated plantains and
maize, although the elevation is equal to parts of Dorjiling, where
these plants do not ripen.

The river above Keadom is again crossed, by a plank bridge, at a
place where the contracted streams flow between banks forty feet
high, composed of obscurely stratified gravel, sand, and water-worn
boulders. Above this the path ascends lofty flat-topped spurs, which
overhang the river, and command some of the most beautiful scenery in
Sikkim. The south-east slopes are clothed with _Abies Brunoniana_ at
8000 feet elevation, and cleft by a deep ravine, from which projects
what appears to be an old moraine, fully 1500 or perhaps 2000 feet
high. Extensive landslips on its steep flank expose (through the
telescope) a mass of gravel and angular blocks, while streams cut
deep channels in it.

This valley is far more open and grassy than that of the Lachen, and
the vegetation also differs much.* [_Umbelliferae_ and _Compositae_
abound, and were then flowering; and an orchis (_Satyrium
Nepalense_), scented like our English _Gymnadenia,_ covered the
ground in some places, with tall green _Habenariae_ and a yellow
_Spathoglottis,_ a genus with pseudo-bulbs. Of shrubs, _Xanthoxylon,
Rhus, Prinsepia, Cotoneaster, Pyrus,_ poplar and oak, formed thickets
along the path; while there were as many as eight and nine kinds of
balsams, some eight feet high.] In the afternoon we reached Lachoong,
which is by far the most picturesque village in the temperate region
of Sikkim. Grassy flats of different levels, sprinkled with brushwood
and scattered clumps of pine and maple, occupy the valley; whose west
flanks rise in steep, rocky, and scantily wooded grassy slopes. About
five miles to the north the valley forks; two conspicuous domes of
snow rising from the intermediate mountains. The eastern valley leads
to lofty snowed regions, and is said to be impracticable; the
Lachoong flows down the western, which appeared rugged, and covered
with pine woods. On the east, Tunkra mountain* [This mountain is seen
from Dorjiling; its elevation is about 18,700 feet.] rises in a
superb unbroken sweep of dark pine-wood and cliffs, surmounted by
black rocks and white fingering peaks of snow. South of this, the
valley of the Tunkrachoo opens, backed by sharp snowed pinnacles,
which form the continuation of the Chola range; over which a pass
leads to the Phari district of Tibet, which intervenes between Sikkim
and Bhotan. Southwards the view is bounded by snowy mountains, and
the valley seems blocked up by the remarkable moraine-like spur which
I passed above Keadom.

Illustration--LACHOONG VALLEY AND VILLAGE, LOOKING SOUTH.

Stupendous moraines rise 1500 feet above the Lachoong in several
concentric series, curving downwards and outwards, so as to form a
bell-shaped mouth to the valley of the Tunkrachoo. Those on the upper
flank are much the largest; and the loftiest of them terminates in a
conical hill crowned with Boodhist flags, and its steep sides cut
into horizontal roads or terraces, one of which is so broad and flat
as to suggest the idea of its having been cleared by art.

Illustration--LOFTY ANCIENT MORAINES IN THE LACHOONG VALLEY, LOOKING
SOUTH-EAST.

On the south side of the Tunkrachoo river the moraines are also more
or less terraced, as is the, floor of the Lachoong valley, and its
east slopes, 1000 feet up.* [I have since been greatly struck with
the similarity between the features of this valley, and those of
Chamouni (though the latter is on a smaller scale) above the Lavanchi
moraine. The spectator standing in the expanded part below the
village of Argentiere, and looking upwards, sees the valley closed
above by the ancient moraine of the Argentiere glacier, and below by
that of Lavanchi; and an all sides the slopes are cut into terraces,
strewed with boulders. I found traces of stratified pebbles and sand
on the north flank of the Lavanchi moraine however, which I failed to
discover in those of Lachoong. The average slope of these pine-clad
Sikkim valleys much approximates to that of Chamouni, and never
approaches the precipitous character of the Bernese Alps' valleys,
Kandersteg, Lauterbrunnen, and Grindelwald.]

The river is fourteen yards broad, and neither deep nor rapid: the
village is on the east bank, and is large for Sikkim; it contains
fully 100 good wooden houses, raised on posts, and clustered together
without order. It was muddy and intolerably filthy, and intersected
by some small streams, whose beds formed the roads, and, at the same
time, the common sewers of the natives. There is some wretched
cultivation in fields,* [Full of such English weeds as shepherd's
purse, nettles, _Solanum nigrum,_ and dock; besides many Himalayan
ones, as balsams, thistles, a beautiful geranium, mallow, _Haloragis_
and Cucurbitaceous plants.] of wheat, barley, peas, radishes, and
turnips. Rice was once cultivated at this elevation (8000 feet), but
the crop was uncertain; some very tropical grasses grow wild here, as
_Eragrostis_ and _Panicum._ In gardens the hollyhock is seen: it is
said to be introduced through Tibet from China; also _Pinus excelsa_
from Bhotan, peaches, walnuts, and weeping willows. A tall poplar was
pointed out to me as a great wonder; it had two species of _Pyrus_
growing on its boughs, evidently from seed; one was a mountain ash,
the other like _Pyrus Aria._

Soon after camping, the Lachoong Phipun, a very tall, intelligent,
and agreeable looking man, waited on me with the usual presents, and
a request that I would visit his sick father. His house was lofty and
airy: in the inner room the sick man was stretched on a board,
covered with a blanket, and dying of pressure on the brain; he was
surrounded by a deputation of Lamas from Teshoo Loombo, sent for in
this emergency. The principal one was a fat fellow, who sat
cross-legged before a block-printed Tibetan book, plates of raw meat,
rice, and other offerings, and the bells, dorje, etc. of his
profession. Others sat around, reading or chanting services, and
filling the room with incense. At one end of the apartment was a good
library in a beautifully carved book-case.

Illustration--HEAD AND FEET OF TIBET MARMOT.

CHAPTER XXII.

Leave Lachoong for Tunkra pass -- Moraines and their vegetation --
Pines of great dimensions -- Wild currants -- Glaciers -- Summit of
pass -- Elevation -- Views -- Plants -- Winds -- Choombi district --
Lacheepia rock -- Extreme cold -- Kinchinjunga -- Himalayan grouse --
Meteorological observations -- Return to Lachoong -- Oaks -- Ascent
to Yeumtong -- Flats and debacles -- Buried pine-trunks -- Perpetual
snow -- Hot springs -- Behaviour of Singtam Soubah -- Leave for Momay
Samdong -- Upper limit of trees -- Distribution of plants -- Glacial
terraces, etc. -- Forked Donkia -- Moutonneed rocks -- Ascent to
Donkia pass -- Vegetation -- Scenery -- Lakes -- Tibet -- Bhomtso --
Arun river -- Kiang-lah mountains -- Yaru-Tsampu river -- Appearance
of Tibet -- Kambajong -- Jigatzi -- Kinchinjhow, and Kinchinjunga --
Chola range -- Deceptive appearance of distant landscape -- Perpetual
snow -- Granite -- Temperatures -- Pulses -- Plants -- Tripe de roche
-- Return to Momay -- Dogs and yaks -- Birds -- Insects -- Quadrupeds
-- Hot springs -- Marmots -- Kinchinjhow glacier.

The Singtam Soubah being again laid up here from the consequences of
leech-bites, I took the opportunity of visiting the Tunkra-lah pass,
represented as the most snowy in Sikkim; which I found to be the
case. The route lay over the moraines on the north flank of the
Tunkrachoo, which are divided by narrow dry gullies,* [These ridges
of the moraine, separated by gullies, indicate the progressive
retirement of the ancient glacier, after periods of rest. The same
phenomena may be seen, on a diminutive scale, in the Swiss Alps, by
any one who carefully examines the lateral and often the terminal
moraines of any retiring or diminishing glacier, at whose base or
flanks are concentric ridges, which are successive deposits.] and
composed of enormous blocks disintegrating into a deep layer of clay.
All are clothed with luxuriant herbage and flowering shrubs,*
[_Ranunculus, Clematis, Thalictrum, Anemone, Aconitum variegatum_ of
Europe, a scandent species, Berberry, _Deutzia, Philadelphus,_ Rose,
Honeysuckle, Thistles, Orchis, _Habenaria, Fritillaria, Aster,
Calimeris, Verbascum thapsus, Pedicularis, Euphrasia, Senecio,
Eupatorium, Dipsacus, Euphorbia,_ Balsam, _Hypericum, Gentiana,
Halenia, Codonopsis, Polygonum._] besides small larches and pines,
rhododendrons and maples; with _Enkianthus, Pyrus,_ cherry, _Pieris,_
laurel, and _Goughia._ The musk-deer inhabits these woods, and at
this season I have never seen it higher. Large monkeys are also found
on the skirts of the pine-forests, and the _Ailurus ochraceus_
(Hodgs.), a curious long-tailed animal peculiar to the Himalaya,
something between a diminutive bear and a squirrel. In the dense and
gigantic forest of _Abies Brunoniana_ and silver fir, I measured one
of the former trees, and found it twenty-eight feet in girth, and
above 120 feet in height. The _Abies Webbiana_ attains thirty-five
feet in girth, with a trunk unbranched for forty feet.

The path was narrow and difficult in the wood, and especially along
the bed of the stream, where grew ugly trees of larch, eighty feet
high, and abundance of a new species of alpine strawberry with oblong
fruit. At 11,560 feet elevation, I arrived at an immense rock of
gneiss, buried in the forest. Here currant-bushes were plentiful,
generally growing on the pine-trunks, in strange association with a
small species of _Begonia,_ a hothouse tribe of plants in England.
Emerging from the forest, vast old moraines are crossed, in a shallow
mountain valley, several miles long and broad, 12,000 feet above the
sea, choked with rhododendron shrubs, and nearly encircled by snowy
mountains. Magnificent gentians grew here, also _Senecio, Corydalis,_
and the _Aconitum luridum_ (n. sp.), whose root is said to be as
virulent as _A. ferox_ and _A. Napellus._* [The result of Dr.
Thomson's and my examination of the Himplayan aconites (of which
there are seven species) is that the one generally known as
_A. ferox,_ and which supplies a great deal of the celebrated poison,
is the common _A. Napellus_ of Europe.] The plants were all fully a
month behind those of the Lachen valley at the same elevation.
Heavy rain fell in the afternoon, and we halted under some rocks: as
I had brought no tent, my bed was placed beneath the shelter of one,
near which the rest of the party burrowed. I supped off half a yak's
kidney, an enormous organ in this animal.