Mnos.

GIFT OF HORACE W. CARPENTER

CROSSING A TORRENT BY A RICKETY CANE-BRIDGE.

AMONG THE

HIMALAYAS
By Major
L.L.D., F.L.S.,

L. A.

WADDELL

etc., Indian Army Medical Corps, Author of "The Buddhism of Tibet"

SINIOLCHU PEAK

With numerous
the

Illustrations
others,

by A.

D. McCormick

Author and

and from Photographs.

WESTMINSTER

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE
2

& C

o.

Whitehall Gardens
1899

^ ^

T O

MY WIFE,
THE BRIGHT COMPANION OF SOME OF THE JOURNEYS
HEREIN DESCRIBED, THESE PAGES ARE

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

425928

PREFACE
The
grandest part of the grandest

mountains on the
it,

globe has, strange to say, no book devoted to

except

one that was written about half a century ago. Since that
time,

however, these lofty regions, on the rugged borders

of Tibet, have

become much more

accessible.

Roads have

penetrated the mountain fastnesses in nearly every direction

in the state of

Sikhim, a Switzerland of the East, situated

in the heart of the

Himalayas, within sight of the culminating

Mount Everest. The worst torrents have been bridged, and travellers' staging-houses have been erected along some of the chief routes, thus facilitating the exploration of these mighty mountains, and creating a desire for further and more general information in regard to them and their quaint Tartar tribes, than is to be found in
pinnacle of the world,

Hooker's Journals.

'

Having
state of

visited

many

of the

less

frequented parts, and

possessing an intimate knowledge of the social and political

most of the primitive

tribes,

venture to hope that

some account of

my

travels

may

contribute to the supply

I

of this want. During the past fourteen years

have traversed

portions of this region nearly every year, sketching, shooting,

collecting,

and especially exploring the customs of the people

of Tibet, and of Nepal

on the
warlike

frontiers

the

land of the

Goorkhas

where

lived in tents for four or five

to the

months of several successive years. In regard

interesting tribes, such as the Lepchas,

more

who

are fast dying

\iii

PREFACE
or losing
their

out
to

ancient

customs,

have endeavoured

rescue

some of the curious practices of these wild and

I

primitive people; and

have simplified, as

far as possible,

most of the uncouth native names which, while they add

to the

mystery of these Tibetan borderlands, are so repellant

*

to the general reader.

To

render the narrative more complete,

have added

in

respect to some glaciers and peaks, which were not reached

by Hooker or myself, a summary of the descriptions of these by Sherwill, Graham, White, and Hoffman, and also

some geological notes by VV. T. Blanford, mostly from reports that are buried away in more or less inaccessible Mount Everest I approached somewhat nearer journals.
than

any

European
higher.

except Hooker;
it

and

here

record

some new research respecting

to

and other peaks alleged

be

still

The commercial
to.

possibilities

of Tibet are also referred

This mysterious

land has at the present time a very

special interest for us, in view of the

imminent disintegration

of China.

Its

gold-mines, which are probably the richest

in the world,

should alone

make

it

of commercial importance,

though most
able and has

of this riches lies in regions

almost as inhospit-

able as Klondyke.

Much of the country, however, is habitmany promising resources undeveloped. And

protectorate

with

an

English

over

Tibet,

replacing

the
rich

shadowy Chinese suzerainty over

valley

that country,

and the

of the Yangtse
within

up to the border of Eastern Tibet

secured

the English "sphere of interest".

England

would not only prevent a possible Russian wedge being

interposed
sessions,

between her Indian, Burmese and Chinese pos-

but she
to

would consolidate her position from the

the

Indian

Ocean

Northern

Pacific,

and gain thereby

the paramount position throughout Asia.

PREFACE
The
that
illustrations are specially
will

IX

numerous, and

it

is

hoped

they

bring vividly before the eyes of the reader

truthful pictures of the scenery

and people. As most of them

are photographs, and these as well as the careful sketches

by Colonel Tanner and myself and

Mr. McCormick,

others,

done on the

spot,
artist,

and the sympathetic drawings by that Himalayan

based on

my

photographs, have
processes,

all

been

reproduced

by photo-mechanical

they are not

open

to the objections offered to the illustrations in

Hooker's

Journals, that they "

do not convey by any means a correct

everything
I

impression
in
is

like

most lithographs of foreign scenes printed

characteristic features are lost
3
. .
,

England the

Europeanised."

For several of the photographs

page

am

indebted to the kindness of Mr. Hoffmann, and especially

for
lifts

the
its

splendid

one on the

title

an

icy horn that

glittering pinnacle

about 7,000

feet higher

than

Mont

Blanc, and surpasses the Weisshorn in boldness and grace.

These

attractive regions,

still

to a large extent unexplored,

thirst-

should arrest the attention of travellers and climbers

ing for fresh
the
fields

of adventure.

Their valleys vie with

as

Andes of

Brazil

and

Peru

the

paradise
all,

of the
is

butterfly

and orchid-hunter.

And, above
interest

there

the

varied

ever-present

human

of the

many

Tartar

tribes, with their wild picturesque characters,

idyllic

customs, and

surroundings;
of
the

and the awe

at

once forbidding and

land

alluring

strange

inhospitable

beyond the

mountains.

The
huts,

facilities

for

travel,

in

the

way

of roads and rest-

are increasing

every year since the recent war with

Tibet, detailed in these passages, which has brought Sikhim

more
able

closely under British suzerainty.

British

Thanks

to the

energy

of the

agent,

Mr.

White, most of the objectionour path have

cane-bridges that

beset

now mostly

PREFACE
been replaced by substantial iron structures. The attractive
valley of Choombi,
as
it

if

ever
will

it

shall

become

British territory,

might have done,

already,
is
it

surpass most parts of Cashmere.

And
the

not a great deal to find that the

itself

new

roads bring the glaciers of Kanchen-junga,

one of

most magnificent mountains

in

the world and almost

is

the highest, within five or six days of Darjeeling, which

under one day's journey from Calcutta, which

three

is

less

than

weeks from England.

This illustrated narrative of

reflect,

my

journeyings

hope may

these

some measure, the keen enjoyment of travel in regions, may awaken further interest in a fascinatin
little

ing

though
to

known

land,

may
are

assist in

guiding the
general

traveller
interest,

those bring

features

that
to

of greatest

and

home

the

reader a

whiff of the

bracing breezes of the Himalayas.

L. A.

WADDELL.

London, December 1898.

CONTENTS
Page

CHAPTER
The views and
the people
difficulties

To Darjeeling and the Preparations for our Journey.

of the Central Himalayas

Special of Our arrangements

travel in the interior

I

CHAPTER
The Start and Cross
Troubles
jungle
at starting

II

into Native Sikhim.

country
.

Nepalese

fair

and Feast of Lanterns

Lama-Temple and bloody

sacrifices The

Great

Rang-eet Valley

Our

Tea-Gardens Lepchas the

in

camp

61

CHAPTER
The Tribes of Sikhim

III
King's Capital.

Up the Teesta Valley to the

The Lepchas A Native Chief and his Government Legends Crossing a torrent by a rickety cane-bridge The Land90

Leeches and a climb

CHAPTER
At the Capital

IV

of Sikhim to the Threshold of the Snows.

The King and Queen Their relations with the British Intrigues with the Chinese Monks and Monasteries The Upper Teesta to the Threshold of the Snows

136

CHAPTER
Amongst
the

The Alpine Lachoong Valley to the Tibetan Frontier

and Passes. Yaks and Tibetans Tang-kar snowfield Death of a fellowtraveller Tibetan guard and their captain Dong-kia and other passes and glaciers The true Himalayas or Abode of Snow An unexplored pass, and a survey beyond into Tibet

165

CHAPTER
Political

VI

The Lachen Valley and Eastern Glaciers

of Kanchen-junga.
Missions
glacier
to

Tibet

Eastern

Glaciers

of

Kanchen-junga
230

Zemu

Xll

CONTENTS
Page

CHAPTER
Through
(

VII

British

Bhotan to Darjeeling.

Hir

from the jungle Snakes Christian Missions Turbulent and our annexation of their country Tibetan traders The wild horse Junction of Rang-eet and Teesta Locust plague.
food
Bhotanese,

239

CHAPTER
To the Eastern
On
the
line

VIII

Pass of the Jelep, and the Scene of the late War.

in

of an

Lingtoo

Anglo-Chinese Convention The highest European fort in the world Jelep pass, the trade route to Lhasa and Pekin The Choombi valley, its political and strategical importance How

The

army

the field

Storming

the Tibetan fort at

places are

named

Lepcha songs

Game the Bhotanese Terai The and music Cinchona plantations

in

Koch

tribe

255

CHAPTER

IX
etc.

Along the Nepal Frontier towards Everest, to Sandook-phu and Faloot.

The warlike Goorkhas and conquest of Nepal Their recent adoption of Hindooism The other tribes of Nepal Paradise of the orchidhunters Rhododendron forests View from Tonglu Sandook-phu,

"the

hill

of the poison-plant" and

its

in the

snow

form

Peaks

Faloot

scenery

Peak

Mauled

A Nepalese frozen dead

Everest,
its

by Bears

names and
300

higher than Everest

CHAPTER
Spectre

The Southern Peaks and Glaciers of the

Kanchen-junga Group.
"Singalelah ridge" a misnomer Ridge beyond Chow-banjan Camping under difficulties Yampoong yakstation and its Tibetan herdsmen Jongri and the Guicha pass to Pandim and the glaciers of Kanchen-junga Kanchen-junga, its form and structure Its worship by the natives Mr. Graham's ascent of "Kabru" Expert opinion and evidence on this claim to the highest climb.
of the Brocken

The

360

CHAPTER
Across the unexplored Dui and
of Eastern
capture of

XI

The Kang Pass for the Western Glaciers of Kanchen-junga and for Jannu
Nepalese jealous exclusiveness.
Chambab
passes into Nepal

Nepal

Geology

of adjoining part of Tibet

Divisions Flight and

394

King of Sikhim Chinese intrigues in Sikhim and Tibet Western side of Kang-La Northern cliff of Everest Nepalese guards Game Bivouac in cave Return

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Page

Crussinc. a

torrent by a Rickety Cane-bridge

(Frontispiece)

ii

Peak

(Siniolchu) (Title page)

iii

letter showing relative sizes of Everest, Mt. Blanc, etc The Himalayas of Sikhim rising above the Clouds. Entering the Mountain Train Fishing in the Terai Outer Himalayas in North West Provinces Hill Pedestrians Steaming up through an Avenue in the Sal Forest Girl carrving Child A Clearing in the Forest Nepalese Villagers Tibetan twirling a "Praying Wheel" "Baksheesh"! Snows from Senchal Key to Snowy Ranges seen from Senchal Everest from Senchal
Initial
.
. .

3
5
7

n
14
15
17

19
21

25

26

30
31

3$ 42
43

Curio-Sellers

Tibetan

A Lepcha
Nepalese Woman of Moormi or Tamang-Bhotiya Tribe Bhotiya Women selling Eggs
Sikhimese
.

44
45

46
47

Matron

Nepalese Children Packing up the Baggage The Start Achoom, our chief Lepcha Servant Our "Caravan of Coolies" Kintoop, the Tibetan Explorer "K.
Coolies

49
55

60
62

64
P."

and head of our

65

\i\

LIST

'i

I'

l.

T K A T

IONS
Page

Buddhist Temple at Dortsook Nepalese Swing at a Fair

6S
71

A Monk

sipping

Murwa Beer

75

R wg-eet River "Their parasols grow by the wayside" A Lepcha Lepcha Houses A Lepcha Woman Sikhimese Chief and Retinue The Morning's Bag at Gamotang Crossing Torrents A Limboo Beauty Dik-chu Cane-bridge Temple Band at Phodang Monastery The King and Queen of Sikhim Crossing Cliffs on Bamboo Ladders Log Bridge on Cantilever Principle

80 86
92

96
99
102

112

118
120
131

137

145

160 166 169

Yaks

The

polite Tibetan Salutation

172 177
181

Cascades of the Lete Himalayan Larch Downward View from the Cleft Giant wild Rhubarb View into Tibet from Tang-kar Pass Trying to boil an Altitude Thermometer Grave and Cairn of our Fellow-Traveller

184
185

189
191

195

An Avalanche
Yoomtang and

of Rocks
its

199
205
.

Yaks
.

Captain of the Tibetan Frontier Guard on his Yak Kanchen-jow and Entrance to Seboo Pass The God of Mt. Kanchen-junga Peak D- (Siniolchu) North Ridge of Kanchen-junga, showing Gap Nangna Pass Bhotanese Chief and Retinue The Marriage of the Rang-eet and Teesta Rivers

207

215
217

....
.
.

234
235
237

246
251

Locust (A. Succintum) Orchid and Moss-covered Oak Forest

254
257

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Tibetan Fortifications at Yatoong Tibetan Soldiers Chinese Envoy from Lhasa, and Suite Koch or "Cooch" Tribe

XV
Page
267

269
272
291

A Goorkha The Ruler of Nepal

Kiranti or Jimdar Tribe Mangar Nepalese A hill Musician Through a Glade of feathery Bamboos

302
305

306 309 314 318 319

321

Rhododendron Trees
Sea of Clouds rising from the Plains Poisoned Arrows Snows from Sandook-phu Everest Group rising above the Clouds Nepalese frozen to Death in the Snow Key to the Everest Group Everest from Sandook-phu Everest and Peak XIII from the South Everest and Peak XIII from Bangura Trig. Station Nepalese Himalayas from Someshwar Range My Taxidermists at work

326
327 331

335

342

343 353
.

355 357

362

Peak XIII from Migo Shar-pa Bhotyas Pandim from Tong-shyong-tam Glacier at Guicha Pass Kanchen-junga, South-East Face from Tong-shyong Eastern Glacier of Kanchen-junga from Tong-shyong Worship of the God of Kanchen-junga Kanchen-junga from the West Crossing Oma Pass on a Yak "The Enchanted Lake of The Peacock's Tail" Anglo-Tibetan Boundary Commissioners The Lay-Governor of Lhasa, and Suite Profile of Kabru etc., from Semo Pass Kang-La from the West North-East Face of Everest Bivouac in a Cave
.

370
373

376

378
.

381

383
387

395
397

....

403 4 11

414
416
417

420
427

xvi

MAPS

MAPS
Page

Map Map

of Ranges and Peaks seen from Senchal

....
. . .

32

of the Environs of Everest and Eastern Nepal Sketch Map of Pang a Pass on Flank of Everest

349
437

Himalayas of Sikhim and Adjoining Countries showing Author's Routes

453
431

APPENDIX. Notes to the Text

INDEX

439

CHAPTER

TO DARJEELING AND THE PREPARATIONS FOR OUR JOURNEY

" In a hundred ages of the glories of the Himalaya."

Gods I could not tell you of Old Sanskrit Poem.

all

the

HE long
of years
realized
into
!

cherished dream
is

about to be

To-morrow we plunge

the wilds of the mightiest

alps in the world to explore

their little-known regions,

to

camp

among

their

breezy heights and thundering

live

torrents,

and

to

among

their

semi-

savage Tartar

tribes.

We

are

starting from

Darjeeling, on the thres-

hold of the mountains, and

famous
distant

for

its

view of those

peaks

with

which

we

are

now going
the

to

make

closer acquaintance.

Let us then

invite

reader to

accompany

us to Darjeeling to look

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

our preparations people
for

at

the journey,

to

see

some of the

strange

who

are to be our companions, and enjoy

the magnificent scenery

by the way.
to

The journey from

India

Darjeeling

can now-a-days

be done comfortably within twenty-four hours from Calcutta,

thanks to the railway.
Vividly

do

remember my

first

journey to that mountain health-resort.

How
artificial

refreshing

it

was

to

escape from the vegetative

after

existence

and steamy heat of Calcutta, and

speeding along on the leaden wings of the Northern Bengal

express,
to

emerge one April morning from the

4

train at

the comparatively cool station of Siligoori.

see looming high

We

now

could

above the quivering haze that smothered

the dusty plains, the soaring peaks of the cool "hills," as

Anglo-Indians are wont to

earth.

call these loftiest

if

summits of the

In the distance they looked as

they belonged to

another

world.

Their lower ranges were hid in the grey

haze
purple
in

and

rosy

morning

mist,

above

which towered the

spurs of the higher ranges, rising above the clouds

lines,

long

tier

over

tier,

up to the snows, which were

topped by the dazzling white peaks of the mighty Kanchenjunga,

"

Whose head in And whitens While summer

Is

wintry grandeur towers,

with eternal sleet;
in a vale

of flowers

sleeping rosy at his feet."

When we had

fortified ourselves against the anticipated

cold of our sudden ascent into these high regions, by putting

IN

THE MOUNTAIN TRAIN

on warmer clothing and snatching a hasty breakfast, we

entered the
the
little

toy-like

train

that

was

to carry
in

us up

mountains, and ensconced in arm-chairs

cars,

one of the

open
belt

we were soon

rattling gaily across that

dreaded

of fever-laden forest

the

Terai, which separates the

plains

from

the

foot

of

the

hills.

Passing the

Tibet-Pekin trade-road

on our

right,

and crossing "The

Bent-going River"
(Mahaldi,

ENTERING

THE MOUNTAIN TRAIN

C&%d"'-

corrupted by the Bengalees into "Mahanadi

"),

we steamed

through

some deserted
forest.

tea-plantations in clearings in this

this

deadly
bourers

For

in

poisonous atmosphere no
settle.

la-

can

be induced to
flees

Each

fresh

batch of

imported coolies soon

panic-struck before the " Blackmalarial

Death" (Kala-azar), "Black-water Fever" and other

pestilences which lurk in every brake and

lay their avenging

AM()N<;

THK HIMALAYAS
their reeking solitude.

hands on every intruder who invades

And
it

they claim their victims also from the highest. Here

was that a former English vice-queen of India caught

fever

fatal

when

halting to sketch

by the wayside

in return-

ing from a

visit to

Darjeeling.

Amidst

this desolate tangle

of grass-grown tea-bushes are to be seen a few ruined huts of the

planters,

perched on
rank

tall

posts to
telling
in

lift

them somesad
tale

what above the

British

exhalations,

of

capital

and enterprise sunk

an almost hopeless

waste.

Nor
itself
is

is

it

only

man who

suffers

here.

The

tea-plant

attacked

by more than the ordinary number of

from

blights

and

diseases,

which

the

plantations

over-

looking us

a few thousand feet up the mountain-side are

free.

comparatively
Still
it

is

possible as

to get acclimatized
this.

even

to

such an
the

unhealthy

place

The few

wild

aborigines,

Mech and Dhimal, who

and who
almost as
forests
will

live in the

depths of these

forests,

undertake no hired service, have acquired

the deadly fevers of these
this

much immunity from

as the tigers

and other wild beasts who make

their

home.
Sal

And
trees,

as

we steam along

past clumps of up-

standing

which look

like pines in the distance,

you may see

in the clearings

on the banks of the streams

the black aborigines
s

that deeply score the plain,

fishing
in

some of
long

the

shallows

with

push-nets

of Chinese

pattern.

Further on

we passed through

bit of real

"jungle"

THROUCxH THE TERM JUNGLE

or primeval forest, with a wild luxuriance of vegetation as

rank as any
of sensitive
tufts

in

the

heart of Brazil.

Its

tangled thickets
tall

Mimosa and dark greenery between the

grass

of

giant

twenty

feet

in

height,

are

still

the

haunt of the tiger and of the herds of deer and boars on

which he preys, also of wild elephants, rhinoceros, buffalo

and other big game.

stalwart
cotton-trees

And
with

here,
their

under the
fiery

figs

and the
blossoms,

crimson

clusters of fern

and clumps of moss carry the cool influence

far

of the
plains.

snowy mountains

out into the dust beclouded

The
shoot

ascent begins quite suddenly.

The Himalayas here

like

up abruptly from the Indian plains

giant

cliffs

from the sea-shore, so that here, at their base, notwithstanding

we were about 300

miles inland from Calcutta,

feet

we

are yet scarcely

in

more than 300

above the

sea-level,

though
rise
all

the next thirty-five

feet,

miles

or so of railway

we

over 7,000
the

and pass within a few hours up through

of
climate,

gradations

ranging

from tropical

to

temperate and sub-Alpine.

base,
at

We

can see here, from this deep

in the foliage

one glance, the striking differences

that sharply demarcate the different climatic zones as detailed

by Hooker, and which

scenic
effects

give

such magnificent and varied

in

as

are
in

to
this

be seen
very

no other part of the

further to the

world.

Not even

same range
For
in the

north, can the like contrast be seen.

north-western

and Panjab Himalayas the mountains do not

rise so

suddenly.

The

outlying

sandstone range of the Siwaliks, famous for

io

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

mammoth
rainfall
fossils,

their
less

intervenes

and owing to the much

drought
is

there

and the greater heat and

of

spring,

and greater cold of winter, the vegetation

not

only very

much

less

luxuriant and varied than here, but

many

of the lower slopes there are almost burned up and

bare of trees. This part of the Himalayas that

called "

we

are "

now

entering

is

Sikhim
'"'

",
It

which seems to mean

The Land

of Moun-

tain Crests".

may be viewed

as a stupendous stairway

hewn out of
glaciers

the western border of the Tibetan plateau

rivers

by

and great

and leading down to the Indian

in

plains, with a fall of

about 17,000 feet

is

a hundred miles.

The
less

face of this vast incline

roughly cut up into count-

peaks and ridges of stupendous height, and valleys of

corresponding depth, adown which dash the glacial streams

and thundering torrents of water precipitated by the excessive rainfall of this rainiest section of the Himalayas, for
it

faces the

Bay of Bengal and

rains or

receives the

full

force of the

heavy summer
of the rivers
a

"monsoon".

And

the deep gorges

so

interpenetrate the mountains as to carry

hot

climate

far

along their banks,

till

the semi-tropic

vegetation becomes almost overhung by

giving
torrid

snowy peaks, thus

endless

variety

of climate

and scenery, from the

arctic cold of
is

heat

of the
its

tropics

up to the bleak
snows.

Tibet and
situated

everlasting

Zoologically, Sikhim
Palaearctic

on

the

borderland

between the

and

Oriental

regions,

and

at the junction

of the Chinese, Ma-

layan and

Indian

sections

of the latter region.

Thus

its

OUTER HIMALAYAS

IN

NORTH-WEST PROVINCES.
feet.)

(Kumaon, about 6,000

THE SIKHIM HIMALAYAS

animal
animals
life
is

13

representative
enter

of

all

these.

The
and

Palaearctic

of Tibet
east

from

the

north
oriental

the

others

from

the

and

south

the
to

animals

ascend

no higher than about

8,000

10,000 feet; and a few

Ethiopian animals also have wandered from Africa thus far

eastwards.
It
is

peculiarly
in

isolated
it

from the Himalayas on either

wall-like ridges that

side,

shut

as

is,

by two great

run out into the plains, the so-called "Singalela" and Chola
ranges.

We

now ascend

low gravelly spur of the former or

western ridge, at Sookna, or

"The Dry

Site," proceeding at

the exhilarating rate of nine or ten miles an hour; for this

miniature railway, quite a curiosity of engineering, runs with

its

two-feet

gauge, for the most part along the carriage-

road that winds

powerful
tons,
little

by long

zig-zags

up the mountain.

The
fifteen

engine,
train

weighing only from ten to

of
ten
1

drags
the

the

to
in

fifteen

laden
that

carriages
rate;
is

up

gradient

of about

28

at

rapid

but as the cars are mostly open

trollies
is

and there

no
like

plunging
a

into

tunnels,

this

journey

made more

drive in

an open carriage, and you see the scenery to

advantage.

As we advance up
with
like

this gravelly spur,

which

is

clothed

forest of stately Sal trees, our

narrow path seems

an avenue festooned with

climbers,
in

ferns, pepper-vines

and ropes

of many-hued

through whose thick foliage the

flecks of

sunbeams

filter

broken

dancing

light.

One

of

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

tall

the ferns that encircle these

trunks, crowns

them with

massive coronets of
the
trees

stiff

feathery fronds that stand up like

head-dress

of a

red

Indian

chief,

and many of the

have six to ten of these coronets, one over the other.

this

Emerging from
one thousand
feet

forest at a red clayey ridge

sea,

about

above the
passed

we

rose through the haze,

indefiniteness
into
train

and

then

the

hills

from

grey

bright

masses
in

of form

and

colour.
ravines,

The

twisting

curved
a
swift

and out of shaggy

of

carrying us through
scenery.

succession

ever-changing
blue
hills

We

catch

glimpses
us,

now

of the

and curling clouds above

and now of the

rich

green masses of the woods and

fast

gorges through which we were passing, or again of the

dwindling dusty plains below, which stretched
far off horizon like a great

out to the
get

dark

restful

sea.

And we

HILL PEDESTRIANS.

picturesque peeps at groups of the bright-eyed

little

Mon-

STEAMING UP THROUGH AN AVENUE IN THE

SAL

FOREST.

THK MOUNTAIN FOLK

goloid

i7

people
forest

of these
path,

hills,

sturdily

trudging

along the

winding

some

of the

women

carrying their

GIRL CARRYING A CHILD.

children in

a basket slung
in
all

over their back, and the

men

with their loads

baskets similarly strapped

occasionally waking
the

over their
with

foreheads

and

echoes

i8

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

some high-pitched Tartar melody.

snatches of

The

refrain

of one of these songs runs

Travelling with a pretty maid short and charming, And so seems life with a lovely wife.

The road seems very

The landscape has

the
truly
tropical

hitherto presented the appearance of

forest

evergreen

with

its

rank growth

of gingers,
shrubs,
its

calladium
wild

and other

broad-leaved herbs and

confusion with

of fallen trunks and decompos-

ing

leaves,

matted

thorny
tall

twiners
trees
;

and

bamboo
in

thicket,

through

which
of

the

struggle

the

choking
aloft

embrace
tall

giant
tied

creepers

while

others

shoot

like

masts,

down by

countless

climbers

which creep along the ground, cling to every trunk and

fling

themselves from tree to tree, making the jungle quite

impenetrable.

Now, however, the

character.
itself,

forest

began rapidly

to

change

its

The undergrowth, which was almost

perceptibly,

a forest in

thinned
Birds

and

the

landscape got more

smiling.

and gaudy

butterflies

and other

insect-life

became more numerous amongst the many-hued wild weeds,

including
are

velvety

Begonias,

tall

Cannas, and others which

prized

hot-house plants

at

home.
the

startled deer or

monkey might be seen where

their

wild

plantains

waved

broad shiny plumes against the warm slopes and the

itself aloft like

Sikhim screw-pine bore

lar<{e-leaved oaks

a giant mop.

few

and chestnuts also showed themselves as

CLEARINGS ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE

stragglers

19

from the temperate

of
all,

zone above.
little

The

greatest
like
It

straggler

however, was a lowly

weed,

blue-flowered
travelled
to
all

groundsel
the

(Ageratum

conyzoides).

had

way from Mexico, and seems only

recently

have been introduced here, probably as accidental tares

WW&'^^W^

20

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

white

fragrant

blossoms of the orange trees and the pink

of the

peaches, and the bright yellow patches of mustard

beside the fresh green of the maize,

of the hardy highlanders.

we passed

several huts
are,

Wretched hovels they

meaner

even than the poorest

Irish shanties, but the

cheery inmates

with flowers in their hair and the bright splashes of colour

in

the

dress

of the

women and

children

make

a pleasing

picture in spite of the squalor of their dwellings.

Our

thirsty little engine, toiling

up the mountain, stopped

frequently in the ravines for water, and thus enabled us to

get

out, as

from a coach when changing horses,

then,
to

for

some

minutes

now and

pick

few wild flowers, or

cliffs

" gold " and " silver" ferns,

of gneiss with

where cascades tumble down

mica-schist glistening in the sun.

And we
who

got time to glance at our fellow-passengers.

The

fresh

faces

and robust

figures of the planters

have joined us by the way

exile
in

attest the healthiness of their

these

hills,

and contrast strikingly with the pale

lot is cast in the

pinched faces of the tired workers whose

plains,

and who are now hurrying

to the cool hills to restore

their lost strength.

their batteries or

There are a few

in the

soldiers proceeding to

detachments

mountains, British and

or Pathans and

Indian

the latter including

some Afghans
like

Sikhs (pronounced somewhat

British soldier

"Seeks"), but

whom

the

(Tommy
Then

Atkins) perversely calls "Pythons"

there are several of the perky
hill

and

"

Sykes "
1

peasantry,

the

women
knives

loaded with jewelry and the

stuck
in their girdles.

men

carrying ugly

There are a

"

OUR FELLOW-PASSENGERS
few boisterous young

21

Bengalees venturing to

visit

these

mountains under the

romantically
in

pax

Britannica.
ulsters

They

are clad un-

European

and patent-leather shoes,

and

their warlike eyes flash

under their aniline-dyed turbans

in their "

as they clutch a

Birmingham umbrella
are

National

grasp.
flock

And

there

a few belated stragglers from the

of cold-weather tourists, or "globe-trotters" as they

NEPALESE VILLAGERS.

are
to

irreverently

called,

on

their

way

to Darjeeling to try

get a peep at Everest, the highest point in the world

to greater

and they are now seeing these mountains

than their fellows

advantage

who

flock here in the dry dusty winter

is

months, when the lower atmosphere

laden with dust haze.

22

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

reference
us realize

The chance

by one of them

to a

mutual friend at
is

home makes
The

how

small the world

after all.

geological formation of the rocks was also noticeable.

feet up,

About 2,000
buti (or "

we passed
"),

in the cuttings at

Choona-

The Kime-kiln

strata of lime-stone, russet veins

coal,

of iron ore,
the

and shaly outcrops of

dipping

down

at

most acute angles.

But these seams of coal were so

contorted by the enormous crushing force which threw up

the

Himalayas

that

they

are

not

profitable

for mining.

Further on

we passed through
gneiss,

shiny layers of mica-schist

up

into

stratified

which was often crumpled into

wavy
this

folds

and

ripple-like markings.

Much

of the soil of
is

part

of the outer Himalayas, and that which

is

most

preferred for tea-growing,

called " laterite."
Still

stiff

reddish clay of the kind

higher up, on rounding the shoulder of a spur,

we

got a whiff of the deliciously fresh breeze from the cooler

region above
;

and we commanded bird's-eye views of the

plains,

lower

hills

and

such as are got from balloons. Far

kites

below us we saw the circling

rivers

and eagles; and the

from the ravines that we have crossed threaded their

like

way

streaks of silver

across the plains that stretched

out as in a map.
precipitous

Our

train then boldly skirted the top of

valleys, alarmingly near the

edge

at times.

To

circumvent these precipices and the dangerous water-courses

which

threatened

disaster,

demands many an ingenious

engineering device

of spirals, reversing stations and deep

masonry embankments. One of the most dangerous of these

TIBETAN PORTERS
torrents
is

23

the Pagla Jhora, or

"The Mad Stream,"

so called

from

its
it

being subject
swells

in its freshets to fits of fury,

during
tears

which

up suddenly into a raging torrent that

hill

madly down the

side

and hurls great rocks headlong

down

the

valley.

In

such places the roadway has to be

supported by deep buttresses built up from over a hundred

feet below.

The
steep

clearings

get

larger

and more numerous. The

less

slopes

are
its

shorn

of their forests for tea-cultivation,

which with

trim cabbage-like rows of tea bushes does

not enhance the beauty of the landscape.

The

white

villas
vil-

of the hospitable planters dot the mountain sides, and

lages
busiest

become more
of these

frequent.

At one

of the largest and

marts, Kurseong, about 5,000 feet above

for

the

sea-level,

where we stopped

few minutes,

we

notice

some

Tibetans, conspicuous amongst the

many

divers

races which thronged the street.

or

They

are lounging about,

acting

as

porters

big,

grimy,

deep-chested

men and
in

women, with unkempt

pigtails,

and clad uncouthly

greasy

sheep-skins or blankets, and decked with massive turquoise

trinkets.

Now we
tation

are

in

fresh

temperate

climate.

The

vegethe

has

completely

changed,

and

we

recognise

bramble and raspberry

of which

there are fourteen kinds

here, the strawberry, maple, chestnut, cherry, willow, sorrel,

stag-moss, and

many

other

common

trees,

shrubs and weeds got more open

of temperate Europe.

The undergrowth has

and grassy; and almost the only feature of the landscape

24

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

is

which suggests the tropics

tree-ferns,

the feathery frond of the

tall

which

lift

their graceful

heads

like stately palms.

Further up, towards Sonada, or "

gestive

The

Bears'

Den ",

sug-

of the

bruins

which frequent

this

neighbourhood,

we passed above
mountain side
far

the clouds, which were seen hugging the

beneath

us.

And

the prevailing

dampness

showed

itself in

the moist dripping forest and frequent mossIn this

chilly
its

covered grottoes.

shade, the colours grow

more sombre, the

a greenish blue.

foliage loses

warm

olive tints

and gets

Magnificent parasitic orchids cling to the

moist moss which thickly clothes the dripping bark of the

tall

oaks,

ilex

and magnolias, and long

in

tufts

of stringy
shapes, and

lichens

hang from the branches

in the

fantastic

stream
In
I

wind

like

hoary beards.
of over 6,000 feet in a few hours

this

rapid

ascent

had been watching the quick revolution of the index of

aneroid.

my
the

Now
by
relief

experienced one of the

effects of this

rapid ascent
instant
is

a slight explosion in the ear, followed

by

of a

feeling
in

of tension in the temples.

This

one of the ways

to

which Nature adjusts our phypressure

siology

the

diminished

of the

atmosphere

at

such elevations.

The

air in the

inner

chamber of the ear

behind the
pressure,
this

"drum" expands

with the diminished atmospheric

tension, but the excess in

and so causes a feeling of

air is ultimately

volume of

expelled through that passage

tube,

into

the throat, called

is

by anatomists the Eustachian

restored.

and then equilibrium

Still

ascending,

ere

we

gain the elevation of 7,470 feet

PRAYING-WHEELS
at

25

Ghoom, on

the bare bleak ridge of Jala-pahar, or

forest fire has shorn of
its

"The

Burned Hill", which a

timber,

the chill air has compelled us to

don our

thickest ulsters

and
This

wraps.

It

is

indeed delicious to
is

feel really

cold again

village of

Ghoom

the

first

large outpost of the Tibetans,

TIBETAN TWIRLING A PRAYING-WHEEL.

or "Bhootiyas" as they are here called.

Here we see them

shod

in

snow-shoes, busily plying their prayer-wheels and

counting their beads and mumbling their mystic legend

"Om
sure

manee pad-me Hoong", " Hail

to the Jewel in the Lotus-

flower"

the

mere utterance of which sentence gains them

entrance into heaven. Their huts, most of which are

26

AMONC,
empty

II

IK

HIMALAYAS
gay with manytails

built of

Kerosine-oil boxes and tins, are

coloured bunting, streaming from poles topped by yaks'

and bearing various symbolic devices

from
tall

to

ward

off devils.

And

bamboos

inscribed prayer-flags flutter in the breeze,

wafting their petitions to the countless demons

who

infest

"baksheesh!"
the
air

and springs and

the

hillsides

in

the

neighbourhood.
for

Among
is

many beggars

here

who clamour

baksheesh,

one very ancient wrinkled dame commonly called "the

ARRIVAL AT DARJRELING
old

27

witch of

Ghoom".
and her

She

is

dirtier

even than most of

her fellows,
polish,

coat,

worn

into tatters
herself.

and a greasy
Tibetans are

seems more ancient than

for

Few

conspicuous

personal

cleanliness,

most of them wear

constantly the same suit day and night for months without

changing, and often

till

it

is

a thing of shreds and patches.

is

Needless to say a Tibetan garment

preserve
;

always a zoological
it

and both here and along the road

sight

is

no un-

common
seated

to

see,

as

in India,

both

men and women

and necessary

on

the

ground

reciprocating

kind

attentions to each other's hair.

Leaving

Ghoom we

glide

down

the grassy northern slopes

of this ridge, which

plains,

now

shuts out the view of the Indian

and

after

about four miles of curving road, each

bend of which reveals enchanting views, we sweep round

a corner, and with a cheery whistle our plucky runs
little

engine

home and

lands us in the station of Darjeeling.

When we
fight

have rescued our luggage from the group of

eager porters,
over
it,

men, women and children, who vigorously

we

are

free
in

to

look about us and see that

valley like

Darjeeling

stands,

not

ordinary

Alpine

towns,

but perched high on the summit and shoulders of

out into a great gulf of valleys of sturises

a spur which runs

pendous depth, beyond which

shaggy mountains,

a vast amphitheatre of dark

rising range over

range up to the snows.

The snowy peaks which were

not

visible in the

morning are

now

to

be seen, so

late in the

afternoon.

They

are

hidden by a great bank of cloud, below which, however,

28

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

snow showed
itself

the

in silvery streaks,

fingering

away

down

the higher gorges in delicate traceries.

first

But the

thing that strikes the traveller, on his arrival

is

from the plains,

climate,

the surprising and complete change in

its

and
it

in

the country and

inhabitants.

And how
about

sudden

all

has

been!

We

have shot up directly from

the burning plains of India into a

four

European climate
is

in

hours;

and into a country which

at all,

not physically a

part

of India

but a Tartar land, judging from the

oblique Mongoloid eyes of the people, their pig-tails, Chi-

nese
the

hats

and

dress,

and strange non-Indian speech, and

freedom

of

the

women whose
veil,

bright

and

happy
the

faces,

hidden by no jealous

recall in

many ways

Japanese, though lacking the culture and refinement of the

latter.
It
is

refreshing too to see the

manly independent

bearing
after

of these

boisterous

good-humoured mountaineers
plains-

the

mercenary obsequiousness of the fawning

Indians
also

people.

are

here,

as servants

and followers

of their European masters, but their lanky legs and flabby

shivering
figures

are

strangely

out of keeping with their

surroundings.
It
is

also

pleasant to
to

be once more
its

in the

midst of a
the

real

spring,

breath

freshness,

and

feast

eye,

fatigued

by the monotonous evergreen of the Indian

plains,

on
that

its

budding blossoms.

For the gradations of seasons

natural year in
in

mark the opening and course of the

temperate Europe are almost entirely absent

this

India

and

contrast

increases the delight of the traveller to Dar-

SUNRISE OVER SNOWS FROM SKNCHAL

jeeling,

29

when he meets again

the glad season which

"hangs

her

infant-blossoms on the trees", and hears the cuckoo's

plaintive note that recalls sweet

memories of home.
following

Such were

my

impressions

whilst

my

sturdy

Tibetan porters up a steep path to one of the

houses perched on the
a cozy
hillside,

villa-like

where
fire,

found awaiting

me
I

room with

its

blazing

a comfort to which

had long been stranger.

To

see the famous sunrise on the snows,

was up next
to Senchal, a

morning long before daybreak, and rode up

peak about

1,500 feet, higher than

finer view,

Darjeeling, and com-

manding a

weather permitting.

And

was soon
in the

rewarded with a sight of the grandest snowy landscape

world. Far

away

in the yet

dusky sky, and

at

an amazing

height, a rosy peak flashed forth for an instant

into the darkness.
It

and vanished

This was the summit of Kanchen-junga.

reappeared almost immediately, and brighter than before,

the
rising

in

glow of dawn, which, reflected from peak to

peak, streamed

down

the lower pinnacles, bathing

them

in

a soft rosy light that faded quickly

grey,

away

into cold bluish

and

left

the

snowy ranges a sea of

sun
shot up with
its

dull sapphire
first

peaks.

Then, as
glinting

the

long low

beams

on the highest and then

in

quick succession

on the lower peaks, these dim blue

crests

and crags leaped

fire,

forward tipped with ruddy gold and splashed with

as the sun rose higher

which,

and higher, melted away

frosted
silver

in the dis-

tance

into

amber and
full

against

turquoise

sky. In the

flood of sunlight these

snows

lost

most of

3
their

AMONG THK HIMALAYAS

broad details of light and shade, and presented an
uniform

almost

chalky whiteness through the pearly haze.

SNOWS FROM SENCHAL.

Not a cloud obscured the view. Snowy mountains stretched

round almost half the horizon, culminating
in the

mighty

SNOWY RANGES FROM SENCHAL

mass of Kanchen-junga
feet of everlasting
(or " Kinchinjinga ") with
in
its

33

13,000

snow, and Everest

the background.

From

this latter peak, rising

on our

left

over the dark shoulder of

Sandook-phu, the crowded range of snowy pyramids extends

almost continuously eastwards to Jannoo and Kabroo (25,000

and 24,015
(28,150
ft.),

ft.

respectively)
far

on the flanks of Kanchen-junga

and thence

away

to the silvery

cone of the

Mount Everest
29002 ft

j%

U8U

EVEREST FROM SENCHAL.

Tibetan Choomo-lha-ri (23,940

ft),

and sinks
right.
It

in the eastern
1

snows of Rhotan, on the extreme

was sublime

"Northwards soared

The stainless ramps of huge Himala's wall Ranged in white ranks against the blue untrod,
wonderful whose uplands vast, universe of crest and crag, Shoulder and shelf, green slope and icy horn, Riven ravine, and splintered precipice Led climbing thought higher and higher, until It seemed to stand in heaven and speak with God. Beneath the snows, dark forests spread, sharp laced With leaping cataracts and veiled with clouds Lower grew rose-oaks and the great fir groves Where echoed pheasants' call and panthers' cry, Clatter of wild sheep on the stones and scream Of circling eagles: under these, the plain
Infinite,

And

lifted

Gleamed

like a praying-carpet at the foot

7

Of

these divinest altars."

34

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

The
vastness of this view, vast
is

beyond

that of

any other

spot of earth perhaps,

tion

almost oppressive. In every direc-

the eye as

it

sweeps the horizon traverses some hun;

dreds of miles of the earth's surface

gulf

and from the deep

flowing

of

the

silvery
feet,

Rang-eet

river,

7,000

feet

beneath our
rise,

great masses of dark forest-clad mountains

tier

over

tier,

carrying

the

eye

up

to the majestic

snows with the graceful Kanchen-junga towering up 27,000

feet

above the

river in the foreground.

Thus,

at

one glance,

we

see an elevation of the earth's surface of considerably

over five miles in vertical height.

As

if

we were

to imagine

Mont Blanc
shore,

rearing

its

full

height abruptly from the seaNevis,

all

bearing
in

on

its

summit Ben

the

highest

mountain

Great Britain, and above

that,

two Snow-

dons, one on the top of the other, and were able with one

glance to take in

all

these four superposed mountains.

The
ized

surpassing height of these Himalayas

may be

real-

by comparison with the peaks of

of the latter peaks exceed

the Alps of Europe.

feet,

None

15,784

and only

six

or seven are

above 14,000

feet.

While the Himalayas have and more than 1,100 which

feet.

several peaks over 28,000 feet,

have been measured exceed 20,000

So enormous, indeed,
the
it

is

this

great

projecting

mass of

Himalayas that physicists have shown, not only that

draws the plumb-line considerably towards
it,

but that

it

so attracts the sea as to pull the latter several hundred

feet

up

its

sides.

Yet

this

fact

is

so

little

generally
tell

known

that

most sea-captains would

stare

were you to

SCENERY FROM SENCHAL

them
that
in

35

coming from Ceylon

sailing up-hill
1

to

Calcutta they had

been actually

Nothing perhaps gives a better

this, that

idea of the enormous size of the Himalayas than

they pull the very sea so

In
this
it

far

up their

sides.

unique view of snowy

mountain scenery from

Senchal,

takes time and reflec'ion to adequately conceive

the dimensions of the

panorama extended before one. The

are

height
peculiar

from

which

they

viewed

together

with

the

atmospheric conditions modifying the perspective,

tend

to

dwarf

their

actual extent, both in horizontal

is

and

vertical directions. It

difficult for instance,

is

to realise that

the summit of Kanchen-junga

as the

nearly forty miles distant

in

crow

flies,

from the Rang-eet river

our foreground.

But the longer we look the more the true proportions of

the scene

grow upon

us,

till

we begin
it

to gain

some sense

of

its

stupendousness, and then

a view,

holds us spell-bound.

Such

and to get

it

you must be favoured with

a clear day, spoils you in a measure for vastness in scenery

ever

after.

Its

only defect

is

the

want of variety and

boldness in the great swelling mountains in the foreground

and middle distance, owing

in

to the relative absence of

cliffs

the

outer

ranges.

For very bold and rugged scenery

we

require to go further in amongst the mountains, nearer

to the snows.
I

was much amused

grand scenery.
I

at

my

Indian servant's estimate of

this

It

was

his first visit to the

mountains,

and

had taken him with me

to carry

my

field-glasses

and

camera.

While

was

sitting

on the summit, enjoying the

36

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

my
eyes on the elegant outline of the higher
the
detailed formation can be distinctly

view, feasting

ranges,

of which

made

out through a telescope, and drinking in the delicious

air,

mountain
mountain

and watching the clouds creeping up the and the

swift kaleidoscopic

side,

change

in colours

and

light

and shade from the clouds which were

head,
I

drifting
it

lightly

over

asked him what he thought of

feeling

all.

He

replied with

much

and
is

tears

in his

eyes as he
1

gazed again

at the

view: "It

a horrid country

It is

so

covered with forest and so steep and stony that few or no

crops can grow, rice cannot grow at
all,

and every eatable,

even milk,

is

so dear that

it

can scarcely be bought.

kill

And

the people look like devils and will certainly

us when-

ever they get a

chance.

beseech your honour to take

His ideal of a lovely country,
in

me back

to India

soon!"

poor fellow, was a fever-breeding rice-swamp

the other hand, the sprightly highland lad
to look after

Bengal.

On

who had come

in pointing

my

pony, took unfeigned pleasure

out to
the
their

me some

of the natural beauties of his country.

hills

And

natives

of the

often

show great
in the

taste in planting

temples and headmen's houses

most picturesque

positions possible.

Turning from

the

natural

beauties of form and colour

in this vast landscape, to the

this

rocky materials out of which

landscape has been evolved, we find in these mountains

in land-sculpture.

an object-lesson
in

Spread out before

us, as

a map,

we

see

how

the valleys have been

carved out

of "the everlasting hills" by the eroding forces of rain and

EARTH-SCULPTURE SEEN FROM SENCHAL

wind, ice and
the peaks
is

37

frost,

and how the resulting configuration of

determined by the particular kind of rock of

which

the

mountains

are

composed.

Thus

the

straight

angular outlines and crystalline form of the highest snowy

peaks are due to the intensely hard crystalline rocks, quartz

and granite and massive gneiss which form the axis of the
Himalayas, and which
grating forces.

have resisted so

well

the disinte-

The
is

irregularly jagged

and bold contour of

the lower peaks

owing

to the

unequal hardness of their

constituent gneiss and granite rocks, which have weathered

unequally.
the

And
hills

the rounded broadly sweeping outlines of

are

lower

due

to

the thick

coating

of

silt

and

debris

and the

relative

absence there

of denuded rocks,

and the crumbling character of the

soft shales

and

schists.

The whole

surface,

too,

of these

outer mountains of our

fur-

foreground and middle distance, so deeply carved and

rowed by the water-channels,

sive

exhibits, in the

most impres-

way

possible, the powerful influence of denudation in

the formation of the valleys.

Here, too,

we

see

how

the running water of the countless

hills their

upland
tracks,

rills

scoop out from their parent

threadlike

and gathering strength and volume by the accession

of numerous tributaries issuing from dark ravines, grow into

impetuous torrents that cut deeper and deeper down into

the mountain sides, and at length collect into a great river

which strews the plains with the ruins of the

hills.

Thus

we

see

the

drainage-lines
tree.

take

the

form of a mighty
ramification

many-branched

This

tree-like

of

the

38

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

as

water-channels,
the
aboriginal

seen from here, has impressed

for

itself

on
our

name

the

spur

of

Darjeeling,
is

in

foreground.

The Lepcha name The

for this spur

"

The

Fallen-

Tree

Hill " [Kung-gol-l'<?).

tortuous spurs, running

down

from the steep foreshortened ridge of Jalapahar, represent

the
torn-

up roots of the prostrate tree;

the trunk

is

the

ridge extending to Darjeeling; and the

two main branches

are the spurs of Birch Hill and Lebong, from which extend
the

innumerable ramifications of smaller spurs that form

the branchlets.

And
to

turning
artificial,

from the

natural aspects of the landscape

the

we

find

how Man
and

himself has helped to

transform

this
It
is

scenery,

how sudden
all

has

been

this

change

not easy to believe that

hill

these cultivated

clearings

on the

sides in the outer ranges, with their

thriving settlements, busy marts and villages through which

we have
gardens,

passed,
the

their

hundreds of square miles of

with
their
all

tea-

white

villas

comfortable-looking

curling smoke, the net-work of roads

over the mountains,

and the din and

past sixty years.

stir

of

life,

have

all

sprung up within the

Yet so

it

is.

In

1835

when

the Darjeeling hills were

sanita-

ceded by the Sikhimese King to the English, as a

rium for our troops, the whole stretch of these mountains

was covered by dense

lation, all told,

virgin forest,

and the scattered popusouls

numbered not more than about 200

while

now

this settlement contains a

population of over a quar-

ter of a million, of

whom some

thousands are Europeans, and

FOUNDING OF DARJKELING

39

the tea-gardening industry alone represents over five millions

sterling of invested British capital,

which

is

steadily increasing.

Such rapid progress

cial

in

material development and

commer-

prosperity would be hard to beat even in the

mushroom

growth of American towns. The rapid advance of the new

settlement by leaps and bounds was owing to the exertions
of Dr. A. Campbell of the Indian Medical Service.

He had

been our

political

Resident at the Court of Nepal, and when

he was appointed Superintendent of Darjeeling he attracted

hither
also

the

Nepalese to

settle

in

their

thousands, and he

introduced the tea-plant, the cultivation of which has

so enormous an industry.
rising clouds,

now become

But our reveries are cut short by the

which

gather over us into a drenching mist that drives us

the
hill.

down

Our way passes near the moss-grown chimneys

barracks on the ridge, built long ago as a

of the ruined
sanitarium
rains

for our

European troops
health

but as the mists and

of the men, causing

injured

the

and

spirits

several to

commit

suicide, the buildings

in

had

to

be abandoned.

Now
name
full

it

is

curious

this

regard to find that the native

of this

exposed peak (Senchal), which receives the

force

of the rainy
is

monsoon from

the

Bay

of Bengal,

and which

cloud-capped most of the year, means

it

"The

Damp

Misty Hill"; so that

is

possible

had the Govern-

ment known

the etymology of the

word they would have

as well as the loss of

been spared much needless expense,

several lives of our soldiers.

On

the

way down

to Darjeeling

we saw some

natives,

40

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

armed with
butterfly-nets, wildly

as well as British soldiers,

chasing the gorgeous insects that abound here.

species
that
is

One

local
is

confined

to this particular mountain,

it

so

rare that

one specimen of

fetches about a

pound

sterling.

The
is

pursuit,

however, of these winged gems, though exciting,

not always very successful; for often, like

Mark Twain's

flea,

"when you have

got

it,

it

is

not there."

We

passed a

picnic party, the ladies of which

were dressed

in silks, for

Darjeeling

is

terribly respectable.

They were

travelling in

"dandies", a

common mode
(which
;

of conveyance here for those

is

who do
fixed
to

not ride.
a pole

The dandy
is

a sort of reclining chair,

a

called
this

dandi
it

in

India,

and

hence the name)

and by

pole

is

carried

on the
Tibetan

broad shoulders of three or four sturdy hillmen.

ponies are, however, the favourite
fortable

"mount"; and very comthough slow.

But they

and sure-footed they

are,

have the awkward habit of keeping to the extreme outside

edge of the path, which

skirting a precipice
is

is

rather
is

alarming when you are

not fenced. This practice
are

and the path

said

to

be

acquired

when they

young pack-ponies

in Tibet,

where the bulky loads which they carry force them

to

keep out from the inner rocky borders of the narrow

tracks.
at Darjeeling, as the

mountain

Back again

ways of society

in

the

Himalayas are as the ways of any fashionable European

health-resort,
it

will

be readily understood by those acquainted

with

the

late

hours

and

feverish

energy by which the

Western nations pursue health and pleasure, that active

DARJEELING
participation
in

TOWN
me

41

the social

life

of Darjeeling was not comto the place.

patible with the objects

which had brought

The town
esque,

itself

can scarcely be considered very picturfewness of trees

owing

to

the

from the

reckless
its

destruction
greatest

of the

magnificent forest which once was

these

glory.

Of

moss-covered

monarchs there
in

remain now only a group of oaks, forming an oasis

the

grounds of Beechwood, and a few stragglers dotting the

hillside

here and there, like solitary giants, accentuating the

general bareness.

At Beechwood

are also a few fine pines

Sir

and rhododendrons planted by

forty

Joseph

Hooker over
have

years

ago.

The

Cryptomerias
is

which

been

introduced from Japan, as the climate

graceful

too moist for the

deodars and other Himalayan pines, are so trim

to suggest

and solid-looking as
a child's of the

the

conventional trees in

box of
bazaar,
in

toys.

Conspicuous, too, in the long lines

the
inevitable

are

corrugated iron

roofs,

announcing
invasion
enterprise

more homely than picturesque

fashion the

of yet

another of nature's solitudes by modern

and invention.
of the

Many

walks

are

very

pleasant

and

resemble

English lanes, not only those which zig-zag up and down,

but also the numerous paths which stretch like ribbons over
the hillsides for those

who
far

love the level.

On

these, however,

you seldom can go

to

without being pestered by pedlars

buy

all sorts

of things that

you do not want yet these

;

hawkers despite your protests

their

will insist

on spreading out
plaids,

whole stocks before you, jewellery,

daggers

42

AMONG THK HIMALAYAS

curios, including

and swords, carvings, and the crudest of

prayer-wheels, amulets, skull-drums and trumpets of

human

bones, and "genuine" antiquities from Tibet and China, most

of which are of local manufacture, and
sale to visitors.

made

specially for

The

bazaar

or

market,

though

not

beautiful

in

its

CURIO SELLERS.
buildings,

is

on Sunday morning a scene of eager bustle

Its

and bright

colour, a paletteful of tints.

varied groups

of humanity, too, are most interesting in themselves to those

Europeans who are not hopelessly prejudiced against everything

"native".

For

it

is

too

much
all

the

fashion

of the

Anglo-Indians at Darjeeling to put

the

these hillfolk, from

mere

fact

of

their

being

"natives",

on the

same

PICTURESQUE NATIVES
low platform as the Indian plains-people.
discrimination

43

little

more

might show them that the

much

despised

"niggers" are not really "so black as they are painted".

They

are

not

Indian
are

at

all,

but
to

despite

their

want of

civilization,

some

found

show more manly and

generous

instincts

than

many

of those

who

despise them.

A TIBETAN.

On Sunday
many
their

morning, the villagers from the

in in

hillsides,

for

miles

around, troop here

marketing,

their thousands to
all

do

week's

decked

their

finery.

The

women and
all

children are especially picturesque, dressed in

the colours of the rainbow, and laden with massive gold

44

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

silver

and

jewellery,

and necklets of rupees

they wear

their fortunes

on

their necks.

Here you may see representatives of most of the varied

native population. First there are the timid, plaided Lepchas,

the aborigines of these mountains.

They

live in the

jungles

and

have

brought

some

forest-produce,

such

as

yams,

cardamoms, orchids, wild honey, and gorgeous

butterflies, to

A LEPCHA.
the

market to barter

for salt

and other

articles.

They

are

now

numerically very few as they are being

little

swamped by

swarms of the sprightly

immigrated
district,

chattering Nepalese,

who have

in

enormous numbers
or
as

to settle in the Darjeeling

as

peasantry
here.

the well-paid workers on the

tea-gardens

The

bright-eyed Nepalese
attire,

women,

gaily

parading their holiday

are neatly dressed in bright

THE TRIBES OF DARJEELING

colours,

45

many

of them
toilet

in

English broad-cloths, and they

complete their

with a gaudy handkerchief of European

in

manufacture thrown gracefully over their heads,

style.

Italian

Some

of the

piquant faces

of the youngest would

be almost pretty were their owners not addicted to the

NEPALESE WOMAN.
Moormi
or

Tamang-Bhotiya

tribe.

unsightly

practice

of chewing

betel-nut.

Then
all

there

are

many

of the stalwart turbulent Bhotiyas, as

are

the Tibetan-

speaking races

here called. These include the natives

of Tibet proper, as well as the

mixed race of Lepchas and

Tibetans

who form

the
east,

Sikhimese Bhotiyas, the Bhotiyas

forming the " Doog-pa
"

from Bhotan on the

Bhotiyas,

4<>

AMONG THK HIMALAYAS

and the more numerous Khotiyas from Nepal on the west,

the

"S/ier-pa"

Bhotiyas.

Most picturesque of

all

are the

mounted Tibetans, dashing along on sturdy ponies with

jingling
harness-bells,
in

and

their

scarves

red

and

blue,

streaming

the wind.

The Bhotiya women,

figures,

especially those

of Tibet, are great

awkward

most of them, neither

BHOTIYA WOMEN SELLING EGGS.

very clean nor comely, nor over-burdened with

esty
;

false

mod-

but

all

are

beaming with good temper, and they wear

and
charms
set
like

massive

amulets

breastplates,

of

gold
their

and

silver

filigree

work

with

turquoises

and

prayer-wheels and rosaries are also be-jewelled.

The

richer

women wear

chaplets

of large

coral

beads,

costing

as

THE TRIBES OK DARJEELING

much
as

47

ten

to

twenty pounds a
girdles, various

set,

and many wear,

ornaments and

hanging from their

silver

Chinese chopsticks. Lounging

among

these groups you see

several sleek priests, the so-called Lamas, in cherry-coloured

robes,
hats,

and usually capped

like

with

sugar-loaf-shaped

scarlet

mitred abbots, counting their rosary

in the left

SIKHIMESE MATRON.

hand and twirling

a praying-wheel in the right,

;

and solemnly

mumbling

their spells

but

who

are always ready to interrupt

their devotions to take part in ordinary gossip or a sip of

beer, with as

little

suspicion of impropriety as the

Burmese

Buddhists do theirs to take a puff at their huge cheroots.

Above

the general

hum

in

one corner of the bazaar, rose

48

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

wail,
in

the

minor key, of a poor old blind beggar

woman

calling piteously for alms

6
X
-

*
have come

r
i

r
-

r o

Sa laam Sahib bak-sheesh do

But quite the

noisiest of all are the strident

Indians ser-

vants of the Europeans, and the followers and traders

in their

who
sly

wake, and among

whom

are

many

pink-turbaned usurers, the " Marwari Baniyas" and " Kaniyas," the Indian Shylocks

who scheme

to get the easy-going

Lepchas and other simple hillmen

into their clutches.

The wares
bazaar
itself

are exposed in open booths and stalls in the

as

well

as

along the paths and road-sides

sellers sit

leading to

it;

and the

behind their great piles

of grain, sweetmeats, betel, tobacco, starchy

food-stuffs, that

yams and

other

are spread

on green

leaves, with a variety

of utensils, trinkets and nicknacks. These include matches

of Japanese manufacture, Manchester
cloths
;

silks,

cotton and broad-

soap, tobacco, kerosine

oil,

and Huntley

&

Palmer's

biscuits.

But

far

more

interesting than the wares are the

figures

of the sellers and buyers.

all

The

struggling, surging

crowd amidst
subjects to the
fish-like

the

turmoil of the
if

fair

supplies endless

artist,

he does not mind the ancient and

smells which here abound.

faces,

The

eager, expectant,

or
to

happy
olive

and the complexions ranging from ruddy

and bronzy brown; the graceful drapery of the

children, the long full flowing robes of the
skirt

women and

Lepcha

and Bhotiya women, the short-kilted

and neat bodice

THE TRIBES OF DARJEELING

of the

49

Nepalese,

with girdles of brilliant colour, and the

of the silk kerchiefs thrown coquettints

delicate tints of
tishly

many
head,

over the

faded

by the sun

to

tender

NEPALESE CHILDREN.
tones of green, old gold, pale pink and rose,
a study of colour.

make

quite

Beyond

the bazaar, in the picturesque

little

cemetery,

is

50

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

tomb of Csoma,
fell

the

the Hungarian, a romantic adventurer

who

a martyr here to his self-imposed task of finding of his

race.

out the origin

are Asia,

The Hungarians

or Magyars

the

descendants of the Tartar nomads from Central

burst

who

over

Europe about the

a

ninth

or tenth

century A.D.
student,
set his

Csoma, when but

out

poor penniless young

only his
stick,

on

his

errand

with

and

begged
suffering

way

across Asia Minor to the borders of Tibet,

hardships.
a

endless

In

Tibetan, he believed that

with
his

he

had

found

language

cognate

own;

and

after

many

years of seclusion in a Tibetan monastery he

Af-

published his great Tibetan Dictionary and Grammar.

terwards

he tried to reach Lhasa, but died at Darjeeling,

this

where the Asiatic Society of Bengal erected

tomb

to his

memory.
Soon
after

my

arrival

at

Darjeeling

made

the usual

short excursions to see the sights of the neighbourhood

the cave of the mystic thunderbolt or

"Dorfe" on Obser-

vatory
ling",
valley

hill,

from which cave Darjeeling, or properly " Dorjeits

derives

name; down

to

Lebong, the Rang-eet

up
to

and the

Teesta-bridge,
;

and

the

peaks of
are easily

Tongloo and Sandook-phu

reached by

all

of which

points

good

riding-roads, with staging-houses

trips to

on the

way, thus enabling these charming

comparatively
Travelling in
starting,
is

be made with

little

trouble

or expense.
are

Upper Sikhim, however, on which we

and not
to

now

a very big business indeed,

be carelessly

undertaken, otherwise one's experiences are apt to be more

l'RKPARATIONS FOR TRAVEL TO SNOWS

varied than agreeable.

51

The expedition has

to

be thought

out and
is

thoroughly organised beforehand.

of being attacked
if

Not that there

or, like

much danger

by man,

Hooker,

seized and imprisoned,

only one be armed against banditti,

frontier.

and be
only

careful to

keep outside the Tibetan

Though,
went

a few weeks before

we

are starting, Darjeeling

panic-mad from a scaring report that the Tibetans with

whom we had
the
residents

just

had a

little

war, were swarming through

to

Sikhim to attack the town

posted

and the military

all

reassure

pickets

round

the

station

and

paraded the troops daily through the

streets.

The reasons why

travel in

Sikhim demands costly and

elaborate preparation, are because no food worth mentioning

is

to

be obtained locally

because the roads are so few

and bad, that everything must be carried on men's backs,

and by porters taken through from

because
frequently
there
is

British territory

and

no

shelter,

except what you

bring with you, against the sudden and trying changes of

climate,

which have to be encountered

in the

dipping

in

and out of

tropical valleys in the ascent towards the snows.

rich in

For Sikhim so
is

scenery and in natural products

most inhospitable

to the traveller.

The few

natives

you

chance to meet

in the interior feed, clothe

and house them-

selves almost entirely

little

on the products of the jungle. Very

grain

is

ever

cultivated

by them, and never enough

for their
visitors.

own

yearly wants, so they have none to spare to

butter are seldom procurable until

Even milk and

you reach the upland pastures of the Tibetan yak-herdsmen,

52

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

And
on.
servants' food, cooking

where sheep also may be obtained.

pot can nowhere be

shooting for the

much depended

Not only must your own and your

utensils,

bedding, baggage and tents be brought with you,

all

but the food and bedding of

well.
It
is

your numerous porters as

all,

this last

which
the

is

the most serious drag of

for

the

badness

of

tracks

compels everything to be
few short distances can
it

carried on men's backs

only

for a

ponies and yaks be substituted,

little

and

thus requires almost a

army of

porters or coolies to carry the

mere food alone

in

for

your camp. This burden hampers you most heavily

for the coolies,

your

movements,
fellows

though a splendid
their rations as

set of strong

and

willing, eat

up

they go, and so

make

it

difficult for

you

to penetrate to very distant points.

To

provide for this you have to send on in advance some

rice

bags of

and Indian corn, so as to

establish commissariat

depots on the line of march. Then, you must not overload

your
carry

coolies.

Although many of these sturdy Bhotiyas can

for

enormous loads of two or three hundredweight

considerable distances

and
no

there

is

a story that a Bhotiya

woman

carried a cottage piano on her back for

many

miles

up the mountain,

still

coolie can

go

at a decent pace,
in these

about fourteen miles a day, on a sustained tour

mountains,
with
heavier

load than

about sixty pounds

the

inclusive of his

bedding and wraps.

laden, that
is

And

more

lightly

your coolie
coolies

is

to say, the greater

number of

you have, the more quickly you get over the ground
less discomfort.

and with the

So

try as

you

will to

reduce

PREPARATIONS FOR TRAVEL TO SNOWS

them you must inevitably take a large number
in

53

any case

and you cannot always get the best stamp of

tractable

coolie, the
sufficient

Lepchas
to

and Sikhimese

Bhotiyas,

in

numbers

go

to outlandish places.

The enormous expense

of

all

this

porterage
in these

is

indeed

one of the chief drawbacks to travel

Darjeeling
is

mountains.

notoriously

expensive

place

even

for

a
all

Himalayan sanitarium, but the most exorbitant item of

is

porterage.

Even the

casual visitor finds this, in getting

to the railway station.
is

his

baggage moved from and

The

recognised rate for

just

each coolie
in

eight annas a day, or

double the rate

this

every other part of the Himalayas,

is

and
all
its

notwithstanding that Darjeeling

the nearest of

to

the chief source of food-stuffs in the plains, and in

it

railway

has quite as cheap or cheaper carriage than

the

long strings of toiling camels and bullock-carts which

this

do

duty for the other Himalayan

stations.

Such

ficti-

tiously high rates

may have been

make

necessary in the earlier

days to attract the Nepalese to

uninhabited country, so as to
our Goorkha regiments.

settle in
it

what was then an

a recruiting ground for as the population

Now, however,

has become immense and settled, surely Government might

do something
the

to

remove

this

anomaly; especially

so, as

standard of comfort
is

among

the people here stands so

very high, and

the

so

much
the

higher than in other parts of

children

Himalayas,

that

women and

here are

literally

loaded with necklets of rupees, and

many wear
in

massive

golden jewellery

of

barbaric

size,

and dress

54

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

silks

expensive

and broadcloths.
of
all

Moreover,

the

persons

who appear most

to benefit

by these

easily earned

gains, thus extracted mainly from the pockets of the Euro-

peans,

are

the swarms of Indian usurers and shopkeepers

plains,

and grain dealers from the

who keep up

the prices,

the
is

innumerable jewellers and the spirit-shop keepers.

difficulty that the

Another

mountaineer experiences here

the want of proper guides.

There are

as yet

no

profes-

sional guides in the Himalayas, as

no natives of these regions

get

are

climbers
native

themselves.

The sportsman can always

the

hunters of the musk-deer or shepherds to pilot

tracks,

him along the beaten

in the

and they are especially

useful

zone of the almost impenetrable shrubby rhododenis

dron, which
in

much
;

greater obstacle than the dwarf pine

the Eastern Alps

but these

men

are of

little

or no use

to the climber

who

is

bound

for the higher slopes of difficult his

peaks.
if

He must

trust

mainly to himself and

compass,

he has not brought with him a trained Swiss guide, as

did Mr.

W. Graham, who
some

is

practically the only

9

one who
climber

has done any real ice-climbing in these parts.

will
in

The

also

find

useful hints as to details

and expense
of the
hill

Major
is

Michell's

paper,

10

though the
there.
I

cost
I

journey
at
first

much underestimated
do any ice-climbing,
a native

As

did not propose

to secure

to

was fortunate
is

as

guide,

of

Upper Sikhim, who

a noted ex-

plorer of Tibet, Kintoop

by name, and whose acquaintance

as the

we

shall presently

make

headman of our

coolies.

The season

also

must be considered.

The

late

autumn

PREPARATIONS FOR EXPEDITIONS

and spring are the most pleasant
mountains.
In
for

57

travelling in these
to

the

summer months, May

daily

September,

heavy rain

falls

almost

on the high peaks, veiling

the scenery in cloud, and the unbridged torrents, landslips,

leeches and
levels

many

insect pests

make

travelling in the lower

is

difficult

and disagreeable.
the

May

the

month of

avalanches.
course,

In

winter the passes and uplands are, of

drives the

closed

by snow, which, however,

game

down
ber,

into

more

accessible places. In the middle of Septem-

the

atmosphere clears and gives magnificent views

plants
fall

and

many

and

flowers

still

carpet

the

uplands.
this

Snow
month
In

begins to

about the middle of October, but

fine

as well as

November has

clear settled weather.

March and

April, though
is

most of the higher passes are

closed,

and the cold

too intense on the higher peaks, gorhillsides,

geous rhododendron trees cover the

to

from 9,000 up
explore the

13,000

feet,

with their brilliant bloom.

To
and

higher peaks and the glaciers,- therefore,

the

you must endure

mists,

discomforts

of the

late

summer

rains

and

chance the weather. At that season, occasionally the clouds

lift,

giving glorious views

and milk and

butter, as well as

yaks

and sheep

for

meat, can

be obtained up to about

14,000 to 15,000 feet; and the yaks can carry your heavy

baggage over the rocky tracks on the verge of snow

distances,

for

long

and do not require you

to bring their food, as they

it

are simply turned loose to find

fine

for themselves.

Settled

weather usually begins about the middle of September.

Restricted in these

many

ways, you must draw out a plan

58

\Mo\c.

THE HIMALAYAS

of your journey carefully before hand. Our present scheme

is

that

we

start
is

in

the

beginning of October when the

rainy season

nearly over (though a

if

month

earlier

would

have been preferable

we could have managed

its

it),

and

follow the valley of the Teesta upwards to

water,

chief head-

the

La-chen,

and ascend that

river

northwards to

the

upper

Zemoo
;

Valley, which

Hooker had been unable

to penetrate

and thence pass southwards over the eastern

to the valley of

glaciers of

Kanchen-junga or Kinchinjinga
This

rocky avalanches (T6-loong).

route will take us for

a considerable distance over a line of country

where no Euro-

pean has yet

points
as

set foot.

And we have
we

settled all the knotty

to the instruments

are to take, the commistheir

sariat question as to the kind

and quantities of stores and

transport, the best form of tent, collecting apparatus, maps,

books including Hooker's Journals and Rlanford's notes,

etc.

And

now, on the eve of our departure, as we survey with

the
last finishing

satisfaction

touches that

we have

put to

our plans, the crowd of our coolies outside, and their head-

man and
loads

our servants inside, busily sorting the various coolie-

into

which we have divided our baggage, stores of

photographic

edibles,

tents, shooting, collecting, surveying,

feel a thrill

and other apparatus, we

of pleasant half-anxious

expectancy as to the success of our expedition, and the

possibilities of the

next few eventful weeks.

CHAPTER

II

THE START AND CROSS INTO NATIVE SIKHIM

To breathe the air of Sikhim free, To wander by her purling rills, And seek the beauty of her hills, The blueness of her sky.
C. Macaulay's

Lay of Lachcn.

It was a bright smiling morning, on the 3rd of October, and, beyond the blue
clear, giving us
hills,

"

the snows stood forth invitingly

high hopes for the success of our journey

out from Darjeeling, alpenstocks in hand,

as

we stepped

and followed by a small string of personal servants carrying our guns, field-glasses, maps, survey and photographic
apparatus, collector's paraphernalia, and last but not least,
that luxury of eastern travel

the

lunch-basket, which
hills.

it

is

never wise to
party
all told,

let far

out of sight in the hungry

Our

including B. and myself,

forty-one were

numbered

fifty-three

persons, of

whom

porters, or coolies.

62

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Our personal servants were mostly Lepchas and Sikhim-

ese Bhotiyas, lissom, active, and pleasant-featured, with long

pig-tails

and Chinese
plaids,

hats, shoulders

draped with blue and

white striped

and a sword

like a

Roman
belt.

warrior's,

suspended

in

an open scabbard from their

Of

these,

ACHOOM, OUR CHIEF LEPCHA SERVANT.

the chief
is

Achoom, who
waiter

is

our courier, commissariat

valet,
all

officer,

chef de cuisine,
is

and

rolled into one.

He

a treasure of a servant; good-tempered, truthful, honest,

faithful

and hardworking as a slave

interests,

in

devotion

to

his

master's

and
of

full

of wonderful resources in the

life.

many

makeshifts

camp

There

is

scarcely anything

OUR CARAVAN OF COOLIES

his

63

deft

fingers

cannot do,

from cooking some recherche

dish, to carving a

bamboo

flute

and decorating

it

by pokertheir skins
is
is

work, or shooting
for
like

game and dexterously preparing

my
all

collection,

a work in which he delights, as he

a

true

Lepchas,

born
but

naturalist

at

heart.

He

under the average height,

strong and wiry in build,

has a sympathetic Mongolian face, an almost aquiline nose,

slight

moustache,
smile,
in

well-formed mouth, usually relaxed in a

in

pleasing

except when,

virtue of his high office,

he

is

dressed

English broadcloth and an Indian turban

his face

on

his head,

when

wears a dignified sense of

his
is

responsible
ordinarily

position.

His sword,

hanging by

his

side,

used

for the

peaceable purpose of chopping off

fire,

branches of trees for the camp

tent,

or extra pegs for our

though

it

is

ever ready
in

in

the defence of his master,

like

whom

he follows

dangerous places

a shadow.

We
has,

have also a few Indian servants*

And

one of us

as

orderly, a fine-looking stalwart Sikh from

my

old

regiment of Bengal cavalry.

Our

coolies are a motley crowd.

They

contain represent-

atives of

most of the Tartar

tribes to

be found at Darjee-

ling;

and strong as horses, what a display they make of

animalism
1

muscular strength and of vigorous

Many

of

them have brought

their wives, great sturdy

good-natured

women who
variety

carry

even heavier loads than the men. The

is

of their

costumes and colours

very great, and

carry their loads
lined

so

is

their noisy chatter as they go.

They

on

their backs, either in large conical

Lepcha baskets

64

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

broad
leaves to keep

with

out the wet, or tied on to a

wooden

framework

which

is

strapped over their shoulders

like

knapsack;
these

and

they

support

loads

by

broad
that
is

band

of plaited

cane
fore-

passed over their

ixes

the

package

on the shoulders.

OUR CARAVAN OF COOLIES.

And
the

in their

hand each

carries a hollow

stem of bamboo,

length

of a walking-stick, to support their load

when

THE TIBETAN EXPLORER

resting

"K.

P."

65

by the way, and

it

also serves as a water-bottle,

while traversing the sultry ravines.

Quite a hero

in his

way

is

Kintoop, or "

The Almighty

KINTOOP, THE TIBETAN EXPLORER "

K.P.",

HEAD OF OUR

COOLIES.

One", our
coolies.

chief guide
is

and the head of our transport and

He

the explorer " K.P." of the survey reports,

who

did

many deeds

of daring

in

Tibet.

With an
5

iron

66

AMONG THK HIMALAYAS

constitution he has inherited, although a native of Sikhim,

all

the

sturdy

courage

and

roving

propensities
spirit

of

his

rugged Tibetan ancestors. His adventurous

outlet, while

found an

he was

still

mere youth,

in

exploring

many

of the
as

then

unknown
to

parts of Tibet, Bhotan,

and Nepal,

assistant

the

trained

half-breed

Tibetan spies sent

by

the

Indian Survey to

map

out these jealously-guarded

regions beyond our border. His qualifications for this rough

and risky work, attracted the notice of Captain Harman, R.E.,

who

sent

Kintoop again

to Tibet to solve

one of the great

as to

geographical problems of the day

namely,
is

whether

the mighty river Tsang-po of Central Tibet,

continuous or

not with the Brahmaputra or Dihong river which pierces the

Eastern Himalayas at the plains of Assam.

This problem

had baffled

all

attempts at direct solution; for not even the

Tibetans themselves
it

know what becomes

of their river after

turns

southwards, a few marches to the S.E. of Lhasa,

tract of country absolutely unexplored, a no-

and enters a
man's
land,

peopled
all

by

fierce

savage

tribes

who have

successfully resisted

entry of strangers into their country,

indeed they
all

kill

the Tibetans on principle.

How
far

Kintoop,
into
this

alone

and

unarmed,
life

forced
in his
;

his

way

country,

carrying his

hand, and almost perishtreacherously

still

ing

from

hunger

and

cold

how he was

sold as a slave, and

on escaping, and while

a fugitive,
faithful

he struggled painfully on down the Lower Tsang-po,

to
his

mission,
plains,

till

he came almost within sight of the

his

Assam

and then, when

further

progress

was

KINTOOP, OUR HEADMAN AND GUIDE

67

absolutely barred, he, according to arrangement, threw 500

specially-marked logs, each a foot long, into the river; and

how

this

experiment, performed at such pains, miscarried,

fault

through no

of

his,

but through no one having been

sent to watch for these logs in Assam, owing to the death

of Captain

Harman from
;

frost-bite

caught

among

the snows

of Kanchen-junga
failure

yet how, notwithstanding this unfortunate

to

direct
rivers,

and

establish

the

connection

between

these

two

he brought back particulars of the Lower

a

Tsang-po
previous

for

nearly
all

hundred
details

miles

lower

than

any

explorer;

the

of these

achievements
himself,

have been repeatedly related to

me by Kintoop

and they are summarized

Department.

in the reports of the Indian

Survey

In appearance, Kintoop,
is

as seen in the foregoing picture,

thick-set

active

man

of

medium

height

and middle
rugged,

age,

with

look

of

dogged determination

in his

weather-beaten features; though as he talks his

little

dark

eyes sparkle

beneath his oblique Mongolian eyelids, and

His complexion His
face
his
is

prematurely wrinkled brows.

is

no darker

brown than a swarthy

for

Italian.

hairless save
lip.

one or two straggling

is

bristles

on

upper

And

altogether he

a picturesque figure, clad in his dark crimson

pig-tail,

Tibetan coat, long

Chinese hat, and parti-coloured

belt.

snowshoes, and a dagger stuck in his

voice
I

His deep-chested

have often heard calling

like

clearly

from a

hill-top

some miles away,

all

a ship-captain's in a storm.

He

has

the

alertness

of a mountaineer, and with the strength

68

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

is

of a lion he
sort of

a host in himself.

Indeed he
to stick

is

quite the
fearlessly

man you can depend on

thin.

by you

through thick and

Our

first

day's

march was only eight miles down the

BUDDHIST TEMPLE AT DORTSOOK.

deep valley of the great Rang-eet

river, that

here divides

the British district of Darjeeling from Independent Sikhim,

to

Badamtam, where

there

is

a staging-house that saved

us the trouble of pitching our tents.

Scarcely had

we begun our descent from

the Mall,

when

A NEPALESE FAIR
we overtook our
previously.
coolies,

69

who had been despatched an hour

to

They had been unable

civilization

tear

themselves

suddenly away from

Darjeeling
bazaar,

and the

attractions of the

and

now they were descending

like

the

winding path

in single

file,

a long line of ants.

Lower down, past

taph or

the white cupola of the Buddhist ceno-

Chor-ten of Dortsook

with

its

pairs of eyes (see

its

sketch on page 64), and past the Lama-temple with

of fluttering prayer-flags, and
vicarious
its

rows

prayer-barrels turning out

prayers for the neighbourhood,

we meet crowds

of

gay holiday-makers and hear unwonted sounds of revelry

village

proceeding from the

Bustee
;

below,

the so-called Bhotiya

it

and on

arrival there

we

find

en fete, on account

of the Feast of Lanterns of the Nepalese.

The

latter are

small in stature, with features clearly betraying their Tartar

descent.

They now, however, pose

as Hindoos,

and have

adopted the externals of Hindooism, and amongst others,

this
festival,

which,

though nominally held

Luckee
(or

in

honour of

the

goddess of good-luck
feasts,

Lakshmi)

is

really

one of Nature's

a harvest home,

when
full.

the crops

have been harvested and the granaries are

And

it

is

with the Nepalese the greatest gala day of

all

the year.
fair

All were dressed in their best, and the fun of the

was

raging
others
swings,

fast

and

furious.

Some were dancing and

sounded
like

singing,

played
of the

pipes

which

the

bag-pipes

type of the great wheel at Earl's Court,

girls

were whirled round with screaming

wine was being freely circulated.

and children, and

70

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

During
this festive

outburst the Nepalese not only drink

deeply

themselves,

but

freely
;

treat

all

their

friends,

ir-

respective of caste

and creed
a
rarity

so that a sober
"

man

at such
will

time

is

quite

among them.

And

the

gentlemen be pleased to drink something," said one

them, offering us as

of

we stood on

the roadway, a seat and

a not overclean-looking jug of beer.

We
join

declined this proffered kindness, and began to feel

anxious about
the

our coolies,

lest

they might be tempted to

as

general
this

dissipation,

especially

most of them

belonged to
that

very

village.

We

noticed with
tipsy,

some alarm

several
all,

of them

were already

and what was

worst of
suspicion.
all,

Kintoop, the headman, himself was not above

;

This looked serious

for

human heroes

are, after

only

men and
his

with men's weaknesses, and Kintoop's

weakness was
that

fondness

for

wine

though

must say

he seldom did indulge to great excess, and almost

in

never when he had important business

it

hand.

And

here

certainly

was not easy

for our

men

to resist the pressing

friends.

invitations of their hospitable

Nepalese

For we saw

several

of the

latter,

good-naturedly seizing and stopping

some of our
and forcing

coolies

who chanced

to

be

their comrades,

their not unwilling victims to

have a drink.

Our march was now

had deposited
in

at a standstill, as

most of the coolies

their loads

by the
I

roadside, and were joining

the general

merry-making.

had therefore
his

to

tackle

Kintoop severely, and ordered him to collect

pilot

men and

them through

this

village

without delay.

And we

TIBETAN DEVILS AND THEIR WORSHIP

ourselves proceeded on with a few coolies

73

who were

carrying

the most necessary things.

Continuing our descent we pass again into the zone of

tree-ferns,

of which there are eight species within a short

ft.

distance, at about 6,000

elevation,

and giant stag-moss

and we wind along the hot shadeless flank of Lebong, or

" the tongue-shaped spur", as this

Lepcha name means. Axe

and

fire

have shorn

it

of

its

trees for tea cultivation.

Whole

forests

have been annihilated, leaving here and there only

narrow belts of trees
in the ravines, as

solitary tree, or

evidence
sacrifice
this
slips,

of the
to

magnificent woods which have

civilization.

fallen

advancing

One

of the results of

wholesale

removal of

forest

is

the frequency of land-

through the heavy rain ploughing through the exposed

soil.

soft
slid

In

several places stretches of the hill-sides had

their tea-bushes, so that the
is

down, carrying with them

old adage for

cannot run
in the

investors " there away" not

is

nothing like land, for

it

strictly applicable to

property

Himalayas.
the end of this spur
Its
is

At

the

little

Lamaist monastery
objects that are
sacrificial

of Ging.

altar

is

covered with

idols,

worshipped as
ments.
Its

fetishes,

and candles and

frescoed

implere-

walls

are

with

atrocious

daubs,

presenting

many

devils, deities
is

and

saints of Chinese design.

The

place,

however,
finer

worth

visiting
in

by those who have

not seen

the

paintings

Tashiding and the larger

spirit

temples of Sikhim.
represented

The guardian

of this place
tigerish

is

on the wall as a hideous,

monster,

74

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

:

gorgon-headed, with tusks and out-thrust tongue

tive

a destruc;

demon who

is

worshipped with bloody

sacrifices

and

we saw

his shrine

drenched with the blood of

kids, fowls,

and other animals.

Buddhists,
prohibited
!

Yet these Lama-priests profess to be

the
is

with

whom
truth

taking
this

of

life

is

absolutely
is

The

that

bloody

sacrifice

vestige of the old devil-worship of the country.

say, that
devils

The people
;

God

is

good

spirit

and harms no one

but the

are actively malignant,

and therefore

their goodwill
is

must be secured by peace-offerings.

and the devils are worshipped
Still

So God

neglected,

instead.
for several miles,

descending through tea-gardens

a
belt

we

enter

of semi-tropical forest, and about the eighth

the
sea.

mile
feet
in

we reach
above the

staging-house
It
is

of

Badamtam,

at

2,500

picturesquely perched in a clearing

fine

the forest, and

commands

views of Darjeeling, 4,000

river,

feet

above

us,

and of the great Rang-eet

2,000 feet

below

us, glistening
filling

through the green foliage

like a silver
its

ribbon, and

the valley with the soothing sound of

rushing waters.
After our
three
hours'

walk we were not sorry to find

on entering the house, that Achoom, who had preceded us

with the commissariat, had ready waiting for us a hot lunch,
to

which we did
jugful

full

justice.

For drink we had a large

beer,

bamboo

of the

refreshing

that
12

the

Lepchas

brew from a
grain
giant
is

millet seed called

Murzva.

The fermented

put into a jug formed by cutting off a joint of the

this

bamboo, and

jug

is

then

filled

up with hot water.

THE WINE OF THE COUNTRY

The
liquor
is

75

imbibed by sipping

it

up through a thin

A MONK SIPPING MURWA-BEER.

reed
like

straw.

It

tastes

like

weak whiskey-toddy or
and
it

rum-punch with a pleasant

acidity,

is

milder than

76

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

mildest
is

the

English

beer.

It

is

the wine of the country

and

a food as
delight

much
to
sip

as a drink.
it

The men, women, and

times

children
night.

at

all

from morning

till

And

they sing

its

praises in an apostrophe to the

sipping reed, the best kind of which

hills

comes from the grassy

is

of Sarrie
in the

(Tsari),
:

where the reed

also used as an

arrow

chase

O! sipping reed of

Sarrie!

Thou 'rt born to make us merry. Thy stem instils the luscious wine, The drink of gods, nectar divine. Thy shaft is shaped an arrow fine,
That's
fit

for bravest princes'

bow.

Thy top bears up the banner-line Of praying-flags that Lamas twine,

1

sipping reed of Sarrie

Even
that

the priests or
it

Lamas

are so addicted to this beverage

they sip

in their temples,

and none can

it.

travel far

without an

attendant carrying
is

a store of

Indeed one
his

of the commonest sights

sipping a jug
of this
life

to see a

monk going

rounds

beer
is

as

a solace to his pessimistic

for

dogma

that

"all

misery,"
full

he then

is

able to

contemplate the world with

coolies

approval. Whilst our truant

were dropping
in

in,

in

twos and threes, we spent the

the

afternoon

sauntering

through

magnificent

forest,

revelling in the jungle sights

and sounds

the

flashing of a

pheasant, and of the tiny sun-birds like winged gems, across

the depths of green
;

the loud whirring of the Cicad insects

trees high over head, the fluty cooing

on the fern-covered

of a kind of cuckoo in the thick undergrowth, the cheery

SNAKES AND BEARS

chirping of the squirrels as they scamper up and
frail

77

down

the

ladders of climbers, the sharp rat-tat-tat of the crimson-

crested

golden woodpecker on the stump of a dead

tree,

the

ringing

echo of the woodsman's axe followed by the

crash

of falling timber, and the hoarse bark of the Kakar

deer
are

echoing

up the
here,

valley.
I

These last-mentioned deer

common
this

and

shot one last year within twenty

yards of
the

very house.
but the

Black bears also abound, not

Indian

bear,

Himalayan (Ursus

Tibetanus).

They come out

when

freely into the clearings of the tea-gardens

is

the Indian corn

ripening in June and July, and are

nasty customers to meet at close quarters.

You must

also

be

on your guard against even more dangerous though

foes.

more lowly

For we here encountered a deadly serpent,

with fatal results

cobra,

fatal for

the serpent.
in

It

was an enormous
and of the pale
in

measuring

56

inches

length,

variety. It raised itself with

expanded hood

a menacing

manner, but quickly backed away, unlike the more aggressive

dark variety which generally pursues you.

single solitary spot

It

was the

Malayan kind, with a

on

its

neck, and
It

not with the pair of spectacles of the Indian variety.

is

somewhat

reassuring, however, to

know

that poisonous
this,

snakes seldom ascend the mountains so high as

I

though

found two as high as Birch

Hill (6,500

ft.)

at Darjeeling, of

other species than the cobra, namely, the "Krait" (Biingarns

ccerulus)

and Calliophis Mac/elandii, yet both almost as deadly.

forests,

Going through these

you cannot possibly have

a more interesting companion than the Lepcha, a true son

78

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

He
is

of the forest.

a born naturalist

and keen sportsman.

He knows
thing
in
;

the habits of every bird and beast and creeping

plant.

and the properties of every

few
are

He
is,

is

steeped
so
full

romance, and

braver than

he

or

of resource and

self-reliant

when

battling against

physical

dangers

in the forest.
its

His quiet, impressionable, affectionate

nature wins

way

into

your confidence, and

his unruffled

temper under
his

difficulties

cheers on the traveller

who

is

in

company.
was interesting
to

It

watch them decoying

some

tiny

brilliantly

plumed sun-birds which here take the place of

the
in

humming-birds of America.
the thick

When
to

these were hiding

shrubs and not one

be seen anywhere, a
into his closed
fists,

Lepcha who was with me, by blowing

imitated
little

the hooting of a small owl which preys on these

birds,

and almost immediately the adjoining shrubs

were

alive with these

and other small

birds,

all

twittering

with excitement and craning their necks to see and to jeer

at the helplessness of their nocturnal

enemy, who, they well

knew, could not see them

in

such broad daylight.

after a

And

when

this ruse failed to

draw them

few times, they

immediately crowded out again when the Lepcha, with his

lips

applied to the back of his hand, imitated the squeaking

of a small bird

when

it

is

seized

by a hawk

or other bird

of prey.

So curious were they

to see

which of their com-

panions was being seized and devoured, that they exposed

themselves freely for a few seconds,

hid

and then promptly

away

again.

THE LEPCHA

IN HIS

FORESTS

79

Or when you see some lovely orchids growing on the

top
of an

enormously high
like to

tree,

your

Lepcha asks you

whether you would

the
tree,

get them, and he nimbly climbs

cutting notches here and there for foothold, and

fearlessly fetches

them

to

you from

that giddy height.

tells

And

he also gives you their names, and

habits,

you

all

about their

and how they

differ

from other species.

is

Altogether the

Lepcha

a very different

sort of

comcares

panion

in the

jungle from the Indian

who knows and

nothing about flowers,

eats or that eat him.

nor animals

except
Lamps

those that he

As

the

darkness closed

in

we watched

the pretty effect

at Darjeeling,

of the illuminations

of the Feast of
us,
all

mapping out

the

town above

and the
over the

thousands
hillsides.

of

twinkling lights in the clearings

retired,

We

after

an early dinner,
because

with

many

misgivings for

the

morrow,

neither Kintoop nor about a dozen

of his

remaining

men had

yet turned up.

a messenger from

At daybreak next morning we found

Kintoop to say that he was delayed
ters
for

in getting

sober por-

the

few remaining loads of luggage, but that

we

should start off and leave him to follow.

to

But we decided
of us, and
it

wait

and see the baggage

off

in

front

arrived in a few hours, not, however, on coolies, as no sober

men were
we

to

be found, but on ponies

for

and fortunately the

road was practicable

ponies for two more days' march.

So

off

started again,

and our

coolies, looking

ashamed

of their dissipation of yesterday,

now

that the effervescence

8o

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

mirth had subsided, seemed anxious to atone for
zeal.

of their
their

misconduct by extra

We
eet,

dipped rapidly down the gorge of the great Rangcross.

which we had to

Below

us,

dense woolly white

RANG-EET RIVER.
clouds

filled

the [depths of the

lower valleys, giving the

fiord,

appearance of a snowed-up lake or frozen Norwegian

from whose white shores rose up the dark outlines of the

mountain

ridges,

range

upon range, up

to

the dazzling

peak of Kanchen-junga.

THE RANG-EET VALLEY

As we descended by sharp

81

zig-zags through almost five

miles of the forest of Sal, (that timber tree inferior only to

teak,) the clouds drifted in the

morning breeze up the mounriver with

its

tain

sides

and revealed the winding

us.

silvery

strands

a thousand feet below

Soon we reached the

bottom of the gorge amongst whose rank vegetation and

dark boulders "fever lurks
of the small
to the
in

every brake".

The passage down

Rangnoo by a wooden

bridge, brought us
noisily

bank of the great Rang-eet rushing

mountains.

between

steep

This river

is

never fordable, and as the

to cross in a

cane- bridge

was broken we had

canoe

but the

skipper of this craft and his solitary assistant, whose services

are

so

seldom
they

in

demand,

were

nowhere

to

be found,

although

had been apprised of our coming. So a

for

messenger was despatched to search

a mile up the valley.

them

in their fields,

Meanwhile,

we

breakfasted

among

the boulders,

mocked
to
its

by the bare bones of the old cane-bridge. Tied

piers as well as to the twigs of trees

which bend over into

the stream are numerous bundles of rags and prayer-flags,

as
offerings

to

the

devils

of the

river.
it

The water

itself

was deliciously
from not
only
the
to

cool, only

58

Fah., as

had come down

far-distant
feet

glaciers,

although the elevation was

818
air

above the

sea-level,

and the temperature of

rod-fishing
is

at

noon was 87

Fah.

Some good

be got here, including the great

Indian carp or the

off

Mahaseer.

We

came upon

Lepcha dining

huge

dragon-like lizard (Varanus draccena), generally called the

82

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Cobra
as
it

Bis

is

erroneously

believed

to

be poisonous.

Another Lepcha was

in

fishing with the rudest of nets, and

for the

a hap-hazard

way

Lepchas shun the great

rivers,

as few of

them can swim. He was, however, quite content

small bag; very unlike the native Indian fishers,

with

his

who make
I

clean sweeps of even the smallest fry

and when
point,

have

remonstrated with some

of these

on

this

they replied,
to

"Why

should

we

leave

them

for other

men

catch?"
Geologically,

we were now down again amongst

,3

the

slates

and limestones and carboniferous shales

at the foot of the outer hills.

which we
descended,

encountered
the
it

As we

gneiss

formation got more and more micaceous until

glistening mica, of which

became
the

many

of the boulders
also

in

river

bed are composed, though many are

blocks of gneiss, fallen from the rocks

feet

some thousands of

above.
crossing-place
is

Our

at a relatively

narrow part of the though

gorge where the river rushes

the
actual
fall

in a series of rapids,

of the river in the course of twenty-three

point,

miles

above

this

as

measured by Dr. Hooker,

is

only 987
In

feet.

crossing,

we

nearly

came

to

grief.

The canoe was

out by
fire

only a floating

beam which had been hollowed

rifts,

and axe.
an oar a

It

had many ominous

of
flat

no rudder, and

for

bit

wood
its

tied to a pole.

When we

had

wedged
had

ourselves into
in

narrow cavity, and several coolies

their bundles, lading
it

crammed

themselves and

CROSS INTO NATIVE SIKHIM

to
its

83

last inch,

the two ferrymen dragged the laden crazy

it

craft

up stream some distance, and then poled

out with
it

a long bamboo, broadside-on to the rapids, which seized

and hurled

it

swiftly

down

the stream.

Then

the ferrymen

wildly plied their poles, and the canoe shot obliquely across

the

current,

under the double impulse,

to

the

opposite

bank,

where we bumped heavily on a boulder that sent

us with a jerk into a swirl of relatively shallow backwater,

at

a point

far

below that from which we had

all

started. It

took some time to transport

our baggage and coolies

and the ponies, which

latter,

poor things, were tied to a

rope cable and hauled across, partly swimming, at considerable risk to their lives from the swift current and the great

boulders in

its

bed.

As

luck would have

it,

the only package

which was damaged

in this

rough

transit,
I

was

my

box of

photographic glass plates, about which

strictest

had given the

orders to preserve

it

carefully from

damp

or

falls;

for

paper and celluloid films do not keep well

to take
in

in this climate,
fragile glass
it,

and you are almost forced

plates.

weighty and

One
it

of the

men

the excitement of landing

It

dropped

bodily into the river.

its

was quickly
were

fished out,
little

and fortunately,
worse
for this

well-soldered contents

the

ducking.

On
is

the river

bank

at the

bottom of

this

malarial gorge
suffer terribly

poor hamlet of charcoal-burners who

fever.

from

They asked

for

medicine and

gave them some

quinine, though this deadly fever usually lays hold of

them

with a grip that quinine cannot loosen.

84

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

We

were now

in

Native or "Independent" Sikhim, and

missed the good roads of the British territory.

The rugged
for

narrow goat-track which sufficed the Sikhimese

led past rank crops of

a road

cardamoms, growing
tall

in the rich silt

It

on the
stiff

river

banks,

and through
this

gingers.

was a
feet,

hot

climb

up out of

gorge for about 2,000

with the afternoon's sun beating

down on

us.

The

stillness of these semi-tropical forests in the

noontide
toil-

heat strikes you as you rest to recover your breath in

ing up
hill.

Scarce a sound

is

to be heard, or

any

life

to

be
a

seen,
deer,

except a solitary bird, or squirrel; or sometimes

as,

startled

from

its

siesta

by our

footsteps,

it

crashes through the rotten twigs and branches which strew

your path
the

or a few gorgeous butterflies float lazily

among

foliage.

Even
listen

the

hum

of insects seems to cease, so

startled

that as

you

you are almost

by

the sound of

a falling leaf.

Higher

up,

past

the

cedar-like

timber-trees,

"Toon"
to

[Cedrela toona), of which tea-chests are made,

we came

Cheer pines
the
in

[Pinus

longifolia),

so
in

common

at the

foot of

Northern
a

Himalayas, but

damp Sikhim
like

only found
this.

few relatively dry land-locked slopes

shoulder of the gorge

On
"The

gaining the

we emerged on
feet),

to the

open slopes of the hamlet of Kitam (2,840

Cotton Field
tivated
fields
",

or

a picture of pastoral simplicity.

stretch

Its well-cul-

and meadows
flanks

up

for

many

miles to

Namchi on the
intended to

of

Mount Tendong, where we had

as
it

camp; but we decided,

was

late

in

the

IN

NATIVE SIKHIM
it

85

afternoon, to stay here for the night, especially as

to

seemed

be

beyond the range of malaria

feet

for

after a height of

of 3,000
rious,

or so, even dense forest ceases to be malaFah., which

and the temperature here was 74

was

quite tolerable after the great heat of the day.

Whilst our tents were being pitched

in

an orange-grove

on the outskirts of the village we were regaled with Murwabeer by the

jugs,

headman

of the place, in freshly-cut

bamboo

and new sipping reeds, before a crowd of admiring

natives.

We

afterwards strolled through the hamlet,

among
stilts

the

homesteads which

dot

the

hillside,

perched on

amidst clumps of feathery bamboos, broad-leaved bananas

and orange

trees,

now bearing

their bright

golden

fruit.

And

we watched many
weaving
their

of the villagers at their primitive looms,

nettle-fibre,

homespun cotton and

which they

dye with the wild madder or Manjeet, from the jungle

near by. Their very parasols grow by the wayside.
It

was

comical to see children sheltering themselves from a shower

of rain by
a leaf of the giant calladium, which they had

plucked
I

in the adjoining jungle.

experienced, as usual,

much

difficulty in

photographing

these intensely superstitious people.

They

exhibited a lively

horror
of the

and hid away whenever the

lens, or

"the
at

evil

eye
for

box"

as

they called
it

it,

was pointed

them;

they believed that

worked some dark magic on them

and so put
to cast

and took away

their souls with their pictures, their

them
his

in

power of the owner of

over them.

photograph

spells

And

similarly a

photograph of the

86

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

blighted
the

scenery they alleged

suasion

landscape.

Some

per-

coupled with a small present, however, generally

THEIR PARASOLS GROW BY THE WAYSIDE.

overcame

their scruples.

An

old

Lepcha woman here presented us with some eggs.

of eggs,

present

however,

may

be

embarrassing

at

EGGS AND MARRIAGE-LOVE SONGS

times
in

87

Sikhim

for

it

is

common way

of proposing

marriage,

and the acceptance of the basket of eggs by

,4

the object of one's affections settles the question.

stantial

A circumDar-

story

is

told

of the
as to

sister

of the present Rajah

visited

or

king

of Sikhim,
for

how when she

jeeling

the

first

time,

she was so captivated by the

there,

charms of a certain European

that she wished to

marry him. So when he accepted her present of eggs, she

bluntly

asked him to marry her right away

to

and she was

only

made
wife,

understand with

difficulty

that he already

had a

and could not according to our customs take

another.

As

the

daylight faded,

we returned

to

our tents, and

after dinner,

we

sat outside

watching the picturesque groups

fires.

of our people at their

camp

Some men and women

in

were cooking, others fetching water

long

bamboo

pitchers;

some men

lolling

lazily

or

stretched

on the grass were

singing snatches of Tartar songs in a quavering minor key

image, in a pure silver mirror hands and only won by loving heart. Like a tree of costly coral, like a leaf gemmed with turquoise, Like a fruit of precious pearls, you, my love, are rare. You are the loveliest of lovely flowers, and where'er you go I as a turquoise butterfly will follow my flower.
love
is

My

like the

Beyond

the reach of grasping

Others were jesting

in

rough fashion with each other, or

all

playing games of chance, for

are inveterate gamblers.

Some were
mystic spell
voice

piously counting their beads, or crooning

in

some

a low

deep chant and pompous supernatural

as

which seems to come from

low down

as their

88

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

while
others had already retired for the night into

boots;

the flimsy booths which they had rigged

up with branches,

and the sheets of waterproof matting {goom) which we had

issued to each coolie to protect our

baggage from the

rain

and

in

these

rude arbors

many were

already fast asleep,

pillowing their heads on their loads or

empty

baskets.

To
us,
is

our

leeward,

so

that

the

smoke does not annoy

our indispensable cook's department.

Achoom

is

at

present being relieved of the drudgery of the actual cooking

whilst

we

are in these

lower valleys, by

my

Indian cook,
life,

also a tried

man, and well accustomed to camp

having

been with

me

through the Burmese war of 1886

87,
life

up

to the Chinese frontier;

larly

and since then he has been reguHis rough active

unlike

camping about with me.

a haggard

has

given him

appearance very
Indeed

the

sleek

comfortable cook of towns.

his sharp

and almost

cadaverous features

are

so

suggestive

of the

mummy

of

Rameses the Great, that we have dubbed him "Rameses";

and he takes quite kindly to
his real
this

name, doubtless because

to serve

name

is

Ram.
in

Rameses may be trusted

up something savoury
ever and

a marvellously short time, whena halt by the way.

wherever we

call

But what

weird figure he cuts as he crouches over his pots and

lit

pans amid the smoke, his thin face

up by the
like

lurid glare

of the spluttering, crackling log-fire;

more

a magician

concocting some mystic potion, than our worthy domestic

preparing al fresco a simple meal for to-morrow.

Then Kintoop came up

for

orders

for

the

morrow's

TENT LIFE
march.

IN SIKHIM

89

And

after

dismissing

him

we

sat discussing our

plans and other matters, until the bustle of the

the

camp

ceased,

cooking

fires

died down, and the eerie hooting of the

great wood-owl, the screech of the night-jar, the flickering

of the tiny lamps of the
cat,
fire-flies,

and the cry of the

tiger-

suggested that

it

was time

for us to turn into

our tents.

; ;

CHAPTER

III

UP THE TEESTA VALLEY TO THE KING

CAPITAL

They journeyed over And through the

steep

Tendong

Vale of Teesta fair. By Silling's slopes and Yeung's Mendong And Kubbi's smiling pastures rare And Ryott's roaring falls, To where high perched on Man's breast With banners gay and brazen crest

Shone Sikhim Raja's

1S

halls.

C. Macaulay's

Lay of Lachen.

THE

rustle

of the

early

breeze amongst the trees, the

crackling

of the freshly-lit
outside,

camp
awoke

fires,

and the

stir

of our

waking servants
the
first

us next morning, just as

streaks of daylight were stealing through the chinks

tent.

of our

We

were up, dressed, and outside

in

a few

minutes: and whilst an early cup of tea was clearing away

the cobwebs of sleep, our tent was struck and packed up

and both we and our

soon
in

coolies

were again on the move,

after

the

sun had risen.

To

get the

men

started off

the

chill

of the

morning, cost Kintoop

much

trouble

PLEASURES OF MOUNTAINEERING
for these

91

men, unlike the coolies of the

plains,

always eat

before starting.

Nor was

it

easy to get the strongest

men

to carry the heaviest loads, for these

were usually shuffled

the

on

to

the weaker back of

some "willing horse", and

strongest coolie often contrived to

load,

make up a bulky-looking
wraps of himself

containing
his

little

else than the light

and
It

comrades.
real

was a
air

pleasure

to step out briskly in the

keen

cool
the

to

get

warm

and

to

stop

here

and there by

wayside to pluck some of the tempting brambles and

yellow raspberries that overhung our winding path, as

we

brushed aside the dew-drops which hung

the tips of the foliage.

like

pearls from

And we

enjoyed again the delights

of drinking delicious water from the crystal streamlets that

crossed our path.

As we ascended
the
river
far

this

open valley of the Mangpoo, with

past the picturesque huts of the
hill side,

beneath

us,

Lepchas that dotted the clearings on the

Achoom

was hailed

as

an old friend by everyone we met.

He

is

almost the only

Lepcha

in service at Darjeeling

who has
the

remained true to the traditions of

faithless,

his fathers,

"

among

faithful

only

he

".

One amiable

old

man, who

was introduced as Achoom's

his

uncle, pressed us to

"honour

hut with a
as

visit".

We

gladly accepted his invitation,

especially

these
are

Lepchas,

who

are

the

aborigines of
for their

the

country,

extremely interesting, not only

many charming
the
state

traits,

but also chiefly because they represent

of primitive

man when

he subsisted by hunting,

Q2
fishing,

AMONG THK HIMALAYAS

and gathering wild
fruits

and digging roots; and

they

now

are a vanishing race, fast disappearing before the

tide of emigrants

from the more active and

civilized tribes

who have

lately

swept

in

great waves into their country.

A LEPCHA.

These
following
as

"Lepchas",
the
call

as

they

are

called

by Europeans,
16

Nepalese

name

of

the
is

tribe;

"Rong",
name;
is

they

themselves, and which

their proper

are

known

to the Tibetans as M'dn-ba or Mon-rik, that

THE LEPCHAS
"people of the M011 country"
for the

93

general

Tibetan name
to

lower Himalayas, from Kashmir

down

Assam and

Burma.
hills

The Lepchas were

the

sole

inhabitants of these

until

about 250 years ago, when Tibetans entered the

country
to

and usurped the

all

government,

and appropriated
hills,

themselves

the best lands on the cool

to

driving

the

Lepchas

down
still

seek

new homes

in

these

lower

valleys
settlers

and the
and

lower malarial gorges. These Tibetan

their

descendants

are

generally

known
is

to

Europeans by the Indian term of " Bhotiya" that

inhabitant

"an

of Bitot or Tibet;" but

we
",

will call this ruling

race of Sikhim, " Sikhimese Bhotiyas

to distinguish

them

from the Bhotiyas of Tibet proper,

and those of Nepal

and Bhotan,

all

of

whom

differ

considerably.
side

Now
for a

that

you see a pure Lepcha,

by

side with

these other tribes, you could never mistake him, not even

Sikhimese Bhotiya, of

whom many
features,

possess a consideris

able strain of Lepcha blood, so sharply

he distinguished
dress, in

from

all

these
in

in physique,

and

speech

and manners,

customs and character.

with
his

He
moral,

is,

indeed,

distinctive

traits,

physical and

very much what his environments have

made

him.

Living in a country which yields to him, without husbandry,

a profusion of wild fruits and edible roots and other jungle

products, the

Lepcha

is

naturally indolent and easy-going.

His

close

companionship
a
;

with

nature

has

made him

naturalist,

tender

lover
his

of flowers, and something of a

his

philosopher

though

narrow gorges have narrowed

94

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

life

views. His solitary

forests

in the peaceful

depths of the great

strangers.

makes him timid and shy of

His hard

experience of the

forces of nature, the storms

and floods

which wreck

his

home and

scanty crops, and scatter desolation

and death around him, has made him a worshipper of malignant devils, and intensely superstitious. His exposed bivouacking at night in malarial gorges, has sapped

much

of his vigour
love liberty

and enervated him. His roving and hate

restraint, leading

life

has

made him

him

to shun service,

and preventing

him ever combining with

his fellow-tribesmen against a

spirit,

com-

mon

foe.

And

this

unwarlike

crushed under generations

of the heroic in his compo-

of Tibetan oppressors, has

sition,

left little

when he
But, as

is

pitted against disciplined masses of other

tribes.

we have

seen, he

is

a keen sportsman, a born

to a fault,

naturalist, sympathetic, frank

and generous
is

and no

one can be braver than he

in facing

danger

in the forest.

We
home

follow,
in

then,

this

genial old

Lepcha

to his hutlike

one of the clearings. His mild Mongolian features,

hair parted

down

the middle, scanty beard and moustache

;

impart a somewhat effeminate appearance but the frank happy

look in his honest eyes stamps him as the simple contented
child of the forest,
at

who

dearly loves a joke and laughs heartily

the

comic side of things.

And

his soft, slow, staccato

speech strikes agreeably on the ear

of the Bhotiya or the
shrill

after the loud

harsh tones

hurried jargon of the Nepalese.

His lissom figure

is

clad in

long plaid of blue and

white striped cloth of home-spun nettle-fibre or cotton, which

is

wound round

his

body and descends

to the knee, the

THE LEPCHAS

95

loose end being thrown gracefully over his shoulder, leaving

the right

arm

free.
is

His waist

is

girdled

by a red

or blue

band, from which

straight,
like a

suspended

his long, formidable-looking,

in

one-edged knife (ban)

soldier's
is

an open wooden scabbard,

is

Roman

sword. This knife

to
it

him even more

he clears the

than the kookrie

to the Goorkha.

With

jungle, builds his hut, skins the animal he shoots with his

arrow, or snares in the forest; "it

table-knife, his hoe,

is

his

sword

in battle, his

spade and nail-parer," his gimlet, ham(his

mer and

razor.

His hair he wears in a pig-tail

women-

folk plait theirs in two),

nial

and when a hat

group
at

is

added, on ceremoit

occasions,

as

in the like

page 102,

is

usually

of cane-work and

an inverted flower-pot, resembling

generally those of the wild

Naga and Abor

tribes of

Assam,
in front.

and bears a small plume of grass or peacock feathers

Around

his

neck he hangs small packets of charms against

the evil eye etc.

For leggings he has a broad tape tied round

;

the leg from the ankle to the knee. His feet are bare

and

when he

travels he carries a wallet, slung over his shoulder,

to hold his pipe, food etc., like his kinsmen, the

Nagas and
and
in his

Kachins and other Indo-Chinese

tribes further east,

hand

his

bow and

arrows, as very few Lepchas possess a gun.

is

His flimsy hut

almost idyllic

in its simplicity.

It

is

perched on stout posts amid a few orange trees and bamboos,

and surrounded by a patch of

cultivation

small plot

fenced in by thorny branches, for a few gourds, turnips and

chillies,

and beyond

this a
little

few small crops of maize, barley,

terraced land for irrigated rice.

millet for beer,

and a

96

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

if it

This scanty cultivation,

is

may be

dignified

by such

a term,
is

usually

a mere scratching of the ground, and

done

mostly by the women, while the

men do
of the

the hunting.

The
is

house,

with

the

exception

log framework,
floor,

built

almost entirely of bamboo.

all

The

the walls,

the roof and the thatch are

of bamboo, as well as the

vessels

and cook-

ing utensils. the ground

in

On

floor,

the

angular

space

between
hill-

LEPCHA HOUSES
the
side

sloping

and the platform or

and other

floor of the hut, are

;

housed the

pigs, fowls

live stock

and

have rather unpleasant

recollections of nights spent in such huts over the squealing

pigs

for the

Lepchas

treat this animal quite as

one of the

family,

and deem roasted pig the most delicious of morsels,

an opinion which proves merely that human nature here

is

very

much

like the

same brand elsewhere.

LEPCHA HOUSES

97

We
for

ascend
stair,

the

notched

log of

wood which does duty

to the landing,

where we are received by the

to stoop
I

matron and her family.

enter

And we have
inside,

humbly

to

the

low door.

Once

as

am

putting

down

my

hat on a clean-looking vacant spot, the good wife, with

horror on her face, snatched up

my

hat and placed

it

else-

where, and

apologetically

explained that the devil of the

house

is

at

present occupying that spot, and his Satanic

Majesty's

fearful

wrath would be incurred were anything

spot,
I

placed on that tabooed

and some incantations

have done.

will

be needed to undo the harm

When we

are

seated on a low stool, and our eyes get accustomed to the

subdued
as
its

light
is

and the smarting from the smoke

fills

which,
it

there

no chimney, half

the

room before

finds

slow escape through the chinks in the roof and walls,

with
the

tanning these
interior
reflects

dark frescoes,
simple

we

then see that the

its

mode

of living of

inmates,

and shows that their few wants are easily

is

satisfied.

There

no division

into

rooms, as the family sleep altogether,

;

untroubled by the Western scruples on such matters

and

they never think of undressing when they

retire to rest, pro-

bably from the need of remaining ever ready to defend themselves

and

their cattle

from wild beasts.

At one end

is

an

open
it

fireplace

formed of a few stones and baked mud. Beside

vessels,

are a few

bamboo

and leaves

for plates

above-

it

hangs a frame

for

smoking
filled

meat, though, considering

that the
this

room

is

constantly

more or
There

less with
is

smoke,

contrivance seems superfluous.

also a primi7

; ;

98
tive

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

loom and spindle
;

but no table and no beds, for the

floor.

inmates dine and sleep on the

At

the other end

is

the granary, containing a few baskets of grain, with a large

collection

of

Murwa

millet

and yeast

for

brewing beer

yams and miscellaneous

and other
mainly
of

roots, berries, tender shoots of ferns

forest produce.

For

their ordinary food consists

roots which they

berries, fungi,

dig

up

in the

forest,

supple-

mented by
occasional
is

and spinach of boiled

leaves, with

game; but even

frogs are not refused.

There

scarcely a plant too tough for

them

to chew,

from which
is

they do not abstract some nourishment.

article

Salt

the only

they

need which they do not find ready to hand

and

this

they get by barter

until

not

by money.
need

They never
it,

had money
not

lately,
it,

as they did not

and did
in their
if

know

the use of

and have no word

first
it

for

it

language.
did

When money was

it

given to them,

they

accept

they

used to wear

round

their necks, as

an ornament.

Indeed they feed,

clothe and house them-

selves almost entirely

on the products of the jungle.

They

never depend on their few scanty

crops, so that famine

from which the Indians every

ribly, is to

now and

then suffer so

ter-

them
the

practically
rafters

unknown.

Amongst
wall
as

and on bamboo brackets on the

bright golden heads of maize
;

are

stored

away some

seed for next year's crop

one or two spare garments,

flute

bamboo smoking-pipe,

bamboo

and

harp.,

and a

few nick-nacks
also

including

charms against

devils.

There are

some bows and arrows, and some aconite

root to

make

LEPCHA WOMEN
a deadly
paste
for

99

poisoning their arrows

when used

in

war or against

tigers

and other big game.

of
the

The

family

relations

Lepchas

show

traces

of

matriarchy, in which the children trace their descent through

their

mothers

and

not

through

their

fathers.

Now

the

A LEPCHA WOMAN.

Lepcha

has

usually

only

one

wife,

and

there

is

no

ceremonial
are

marriage.

Some

of the

younger women-folk
their

remarkably

comely,

considering

Spartan
fair

up-

bringing;

and

many

of the children are almost

life
is

and

chubby, but their hard exposed

soon

fatal

to

good

ioo

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

especially
as

looks,

most of them go naked. The in-door

is

dress of the

women

a close-fitting
their full

gown

without sleeves,

and

this

was probably

dress originally. But now,

all

for out of doors,

like

they wear over

a long, loose, wrapper-

white cotton

gown

with long wide sleeves turned up in

cuffs to

Tibetan fashion at the

show

the red lining

a dress
grace in
in

which
its

effectually

masks the
is

figure

and has

little

drapery.
into

Their hair
pig-tails

parted

in

the middle and done

a knot

up

two

which are usually gathered

silver pin.

on the crown and secured with a head

is

And

over the

thrown a gaudy

silk

handkerchief, drooping negli-

gently over the neck, somewhat in the fashion of a Spanish

peasant-girl's.

Around

the neck they wear as

much

jewellery

as they can afford. Their stockingless feet are unshod.

And

many
to

of them as they walk, busily twirl a

distaff,

acting up
wif,

the old

Saxon

ideal of a wife

and maid

namely,

to weave, and

spinster.
life

In domestic

these Lepchas are gentle and especially

kind

to

their

children

and

their

elders.

They

offered us
is

some
not

native tea

and Murzva beer. This "tea", however,

the
tea
plant,

made from

which these poor people

cannot afford to buy.

leaves

It is

a decoction brewed from the

of the maple, vaccinium, wild vine and other trees

and
after

herbs.

But we must now push on with our journey,

giving each of the girls a cheap coral necklace, and

each

of the

children

bright

new
had

two-anna-bit, like an
laid in a large stock

English
of these

threepenny piece.
coins,

We
in

as they

come

handy

for small services

COPPER MINES IN THE TEESTA VALLEY

and
for

ioi

overcoming the objections of many of the people

to have their photographs taken.

Up

this valley,

through old clearings on the

hillside

now

overgrown with rank smelling wormwood, we passed some

copper mines on our
right.

These copper mines are worked

on very primitive and wasteful principles, and entirely by

Nepalese lessees,
dread
all

for the superstitious

Sikhimese intensely

mining operations. They believe that the ores

and veins of metals are the stored treasure of the earthspirits

;

and that the removal of

spirits,

this treasure

enrages these
all

malignant
ill-luck,

who

visit

the robbery with

sorts of
failure of

plagues of sickness on

men and

cattle,

and

their too scanty crops.

The Nepalese

call

these mines khaiii

or panch-khani, and use the copper chiefly for their coinage.

Thence through more

stretches of
all

wormwood, which with

fields,

the American ageratum seizes on

the fallow

we reach

the village or Mik (3,700

the

feet)

on the shoulder of Silok-vok, or

"Stair of the Rhinoceros."

here, says tradition, but
fifty

These animals were once

common
be

now they

are not to be
It
is

found within about

noted,

miles

down
is

the valleys.
also the
is

to

however, that

" Silok "

name of

giant tree

(Terminalia pentaptera) that

found here.

We
in

soon gained the ridge leading up to the graceful mountain,

Tendong.
front

Here the headman invited us

to

sit

down

of his house, and treated us to

Murwa

beer.

Then

continuing our ascent,

we reached Namchi

(5,608 feet) and

pitched our tents in a grove of chestnuts near the so-called

" fort " of the feudal chief of this part of Sikhim, the Lasso Kazi.

I02

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

is

The Kazi
a

a sort of baron, the hereditary lord of half

forest
is
;

hundred villages and many a mile of

twelve chiefs

and one

of the
for

among whom Sikhim

17

parcelled out

revenue purposes.

He

is

of course not a Lepcha, but

a Sikhimese Bhotiya.

Soon

after

our arrival he sent his steward to us with a

SIKHIMESE CHIEF AND RETINUE.

present of a few oranges, bananas, milk, butter, eggs and

fowls
;

and a message that he himself would

afternoon.

like to visit

us in the

Before

the

appointed hour a large

mat was spread near our

three

tents,

and on
;

it

were placed

European

chairs

on Tibetan rugs

and a message

was sent

to say that the chief

was coming.
tail

He

came,

at

tended by his daughters and a

of retainers, kinsmen

RECEPTION BY SIKHIMESE CHIEF

and
here,
vassals, including slaves,

103

for regular slavery

bow

still

exists

though of a mild type, and often as security

debt.

for the

payment of some
off his

We

exchanged greetings, he taking

in

Chinese hat and giving a formal

Chinese

style, after

which he asked us to be seated and sat down

picturesque
retainers,

himself.

His

most
whilst

of

whom

wore

Lepcha

plaids,

remained
girls,

standing,

his daughters,

bright-eyed,

giggling

seated themselves

unceremoni-

ously on the mat behind him. Three jugs of his

own

special

brew of Murwa beer were brought

set

forth, of

which one was

down on

a stool before each of us, and as often as

we

sipped some up through reeds, the jug was replenished.

We
mild

now saw how much

these Bhotiyas of Sikhim, the

differ

ruling race

and to which Kintoop belongs,

Although leavened
retain
to

from the

Lepchas.

some extent with

traits

Lepcha blood, they

features

most of the rough

and

of their Tibetan ancestors beyond the Himalayas.

tall,

They

are

hardy mountaineers, who keep mostly to the

cool uplands and seldom descend to the unhealthy gorges.

The
well

are

powerfully

built, their leg

muscles are especially

is

developed.
as
this

Their
suits

ordinary
the

dress

like that of the

Lepchas,

country

better
soft
felt

than

Tibetan

costume, but they

usually

wear a
like

Tibetan hat.

Most of them, however, are

like
is

Kintoop, dressed somewhat

Tibetans.

Over

their inner vest

and trousers of cotton

a claret colour, high
at

worn a large loose woollen gown of

collared,

and with very long wide sleeves, turned up

the cuff to

show the white and blue

lining,

and girdled at

to 4

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

by a
scarf.
It

the waist
is

contains no pockets, as the pocket

front of the

made by
;

pulling
into
this

up the

gown above
stored

the

girdle

and

capacious
articles
;

cavity

is

away a

prodigious

number of

the

wooden drinking-cup
flint

(f or-pa), pipe and tobacco, matches,

and

steel,

small

knives, purse, charms, rosary, prayer-wheel, books, needles

and thread, and varied personal nick-nacks

food.

in addition to

Needless to say the bulging of these bulky

gives
is

articles

often
girdle

Falstaffian roundness to the figure.

In the

stuck a sword or dagger.

like a

Our host was dressed

Tibetan grandee,

in a

long

robe of flowered dark blue

silk,

gathered up at the waist

inside

by

a red girdle,

and showing an
;

embroidered

vest,
silk,

with high brocaded collar

loose trousers of pale blue

his
;

and black velvet boots.

On

head he wore a pork-pie

hat,

instead of the usual skull-cap

and from
,

his right ear

hung

a long pendant golden earring

set with turquoises.

He was
in

a middle-aged

man

of pleasant manners. Speaking

Hindustanee, he asked after our health, where

we were
that

going,

and

various

questions

about

Darjeeling and

wonderful

city,

Calcutta.

Whilst

we were

thus engaged, a
hill,

noisy crowd of

some hundred men came up the

preceded
learned

by one

or two subordinate officials. This uproar

we

was a protest by the peasantry and

for

serfs against a

demand

forced

labour, which they

deemed unusually excessive

still

and grievous. Sikhim has a

tive

sort of feudal or

more primi-

government,
or

which forces the people, other than the

to

priests

Lamas,

work

for

it

whenever and wherever

PRIMITIVE LAWS OF PROPERTY

called on, without remuneration.
this

105

An

order had been sent to

chief to

send a large quantity of building materials

and labour, as well as cash, towards the erection of new

buildings
at

the

Rajah's head-quarters
bitterly

and these people

were complaining
that their crops
at present.

that

they

had no money, and

to leave

would be ruined were they

still

them

They were
this

louder in their complaints

certainly

when
at

told

that

order

must

be complied with
is

once.

What
the

the people fear most in such cases

not so

much

forced

labour and cash tax that

is

imposed, as

the "squeezing" or unscrupulous blackmailing

by rapacious

subordinate

officials; far as I

for

even "the Kazi himself", says Mr.

Edgar,
himself,

1S

"as

can make out, keeps the greater portion

contri-

paying over to the Rajah a certain fixed

It

bution."

was some time ere the hubbub ceased, and

of
all

the

least

noisy

the

people,

though

not the

least

numerous, were the Lepchas, whose rule of conduct almost

seems to be " Give unto every man

This, indeed,
is

all

he asketh."

one of the most curious survivals of the

Society

primitive

stage

of

and the Family,

in

that the

Lepchas seem to have had absolutely no true conception

of private property until they learned the idea from contact with

Bengal traders.

Previously,

as

with their cognates,

the ruder Indo-Chinese tribes on the Assamese and Burmese

frontiers,

everything belonged absolutely to the chief,

who

as

rule

allowed

his

subjects
as

to retain possession of as

much of what they acquired

ately want; but
it

he himself did not immediloan.

was only by way of a

Thus, the

106

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

had no motive
it.

individual

for

amassing property, as he could

this

not expect to keep

for the so-called his

And

perhaps

is

the chief reason

for,

"laziness" of the Lepcha;

exertion,

robbed of

incentive

to

why

should
it

he slave to amass

property
his

when he cannot keep Even now, under

land of the
soil.

and reap the benefit of

labours?
in
this

the present form of governthe cultivator has no

ment
title

Lepchas,
cultivate

to

the

He may

any unoccupied land

in

without any formal permission.

But the assessment, as

Burma and Manipur,

is

on the number of persons and

cattle

and not on the land. Even our host the Kazi has no
proprietary
right
in

real

the
title

land, says Edgar,

though he has

a kind of hereditary

to his office.

Now, however,
ago,
a

that the English assumed, a few

months

leading hand in the government

we may expect a
modern
lines,

re-arrangement of these

matters upon more

for

and the commutation of service

is

money payment,

that

to

say rent;
liberties

as
all

in

the

old

feudal system in England

when

of

kinds had to be paid for by money.

is

Such an arrangement

needed,

not only to emancipate

the servile class, but also to provide funds for

making good

roads and opening up the country.

A
the

curious
rulers
It

Tibetan

code

of laws

supposed

to

guide

of the
is

country has lately been found

by Mr.

White.
trial

an

odd

mixture

of Buddhist

maxims with
practices.
:

by ordeal and other barbarous pre-Buddhist

Its

most interesting features have been thus summarized "

regulations regarding government

"The

servants are delight-

TIBETAN LAW CODE

fully

107

general

in

form.

They

are

to

'

leave off their

own
'

work and apply themselves

they are
never to use the

entirely to

Government work

name
just

of

Government

for their

private ends: they

must give
:

judgment and not favour

all
'

those

who can reward them

inquire diligently into

all

cases

and leave no case undecided, so that

men
of

can say,

your
are

work has been

practically
sides.

well

done.'

The

laws

evidence

that

patient listening must be given to both

for

The punishments

offences

vary

according

to

the gravity of the offence.

The murder

of father or mother

or holy

men may
is

involve the death penalty, but the killing

fines

of others

punishable by

varying
'

from 10
'

oz. to

300
with

oz.

of gold. Curiously enough

of
for
'

old lamas

are classed
;

men

no rank
oz.

'

and personal servants

In cases

they can
is

be killed
without
tively

80

ahead.

where blood

shed,

life

actually being taken, the penalties are compara-

light;

though
for

in

the interests of order a

superior.
fined,

man may
his

be beheaded

wounding a
is

For wounding

own

servant

man
in

not

but he
the

must tend the

first

wounded man. So
his knife
is

quarrel,

man who

drew

fined,

and the wounded one must be nursed by

in

his assailant.

Blood feuds are obviously not encouraged

Pathan would
find

Sikhim

the

no

sympathy under the

false

shadow of Kanchen-junga. For the

certain

and

avaricious,

oaths

are

required

and they

may even have

to

submit to the ordeal of carrying hot stones or plunging

the hand into boiling
oil.

Lamas and monks should

not be

sworn, neither should

'

magicians, shameless persons,

women,

io8

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

the

fools,

dumb and

children.' This categorical

enumeration
is

of persons on

whom

oaths will probably not be binding

not complimentary to the women-folk of Sikhim.

tions
ideas.

The

rela-

between man and wife

Divorce
is

are
itself:

according to primitive
a husband

simplicity

who

wishes

to be separated from his partner

pays her a small sum of

money, varying according

have been married.
suit

to the length of the time they

A
left

wife

gives

a fixed

sum and

'

one

of clothes' "1

Scarcely had
insight into the

we

the Kazi

ere

we

received further

summary methods
the village

of his patriarchal govern-

ment.

The headman of
up
dress
this

who had

entertained us
to

on our way
dishevelled

morning,
uttering

came running
in

us with
truly

and
:

loud

tones

the

Hibernian complaint

" The

landlord

came a few hours ago

and demanded an exorbitant sum of money down on the

spot for the king
;

and when
it,

protested that
his

could not
raided

pay

it

and had not got

carrying off
all

he with

men

my
he

house,

my

valuables and

everything

could lay hands on, money, jewellery and even grain and
beer; and,"

he added plaintively, "I implore you gentleEnglish Government to help

men
this

of the just

me

against

high-handed robbery." We, of course, could do nothing,

so

he

left

us

vowing that he would go

to Darjeeling to

seek redress from the English Governor.

The house of
(jong)
;

the Kazi, or baron,

usual,
it

is

called a fort or castle

and as

is

is

situated

on a spot selected

for

defence

against

native

attack,

though unprotected against

BUDDHIST MONASTERY
modern weapons.
a stone platform,
It
is

109

two-storied

stone

building

on

with

a balcony and several rooms, the

chief of which contains the family altar with the

image of
building

Buddha and various gods ranged on

is

shelves.

The

rather

mean

in

appearance, although built of stone and

logs in place of the

bamboo

of the vassals
rule,

'

huts, to

mark

the

advance since the Lepcha

tribes,

when, as with most

little

wild

the

house of the chief differed

is

from the

poorest of his retainers. There

the
doors.

little

rude carving on

The

floor

is

boarded with rough hewn planks

is

the roof of the usual mushroom-head shape,

strips of

thatched with

bamboo but
;

part of this roofing

was being replaced

civilization

by corrugated

iron, a sign of

advancing

A
at

loud noise of drums and bells and blowing of horns

attracted our attention to the monastery-temple
is

sundown
It

near by.
style,

a barn-like building of the usual Sikhimese

interest

and of scarcely more architectural

than a "Free"
;

or dissenting church.

The

door, as usual, faces the east

and

by

its

side

is

a huge prayer-barrel about six feet high,

drowsily turned by an old sitting devotee,

in the

by jerking

a string

manner sketched by Hooker, and each

registered

half revolu-

tion

is

by the
the

striking of a bell, giving the effect

of a
I

chime,

as
at

bells

are

slightly

different

in

tone.

was amused
charge.
I

the clumsy

lying

of

the

Lama-priests

in

had been unable

to procure

at Darjeeling a

certain

Tibetan book which gives a legendary history of

Tibet,

and of which most monasteries possess copies.

In

reply to

my

queries the

Lamas denied having

a copy, but

no
on
looking

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

over the pigeon-holes
of their library, where
I

great bundles of books are stacked,

the

espied one.
;

On

this,

Lamas were

not

a
it

whit
at

abashed
price.

they

smiled

and
I

stoutly

refused to lend

any

Here, however,
to

got from a Tibetan Lama,

who chanced

be passing, that
bones, which

exquisitely carved necromantic sash of

is

human

now

displayed

in

my

collection in the British

told us weird

Museum.
tales
till

Over our camp-fire the Lepchas

phantoms seemed
is

to

flit

in the

surrounding gloom.
in

There
all

certain

romantic

prettiness

their

peopling

the

streams,

woods and peaks with nymphs and dryads,

sprites.

kelpies

and

other

One

of them

told

us the

legend of
us,

Tendong, the graceful mountain that towered above

which we were to cross on the morrow.
Its tall

and

cone stands
Teesta and

between the two greatest

rivers of Sikhim, the

the Great Rang-eet, at their junction.

THE LEGEND OF MOUNT TENDONG

or
'

The

Uplifted

Horn

'.

In the old. old days

in

when

there were none but the

Rong

(i.

e.

'

Lepchas

')

deluged the land. The waters drowned all the people in the valleys and covered all the mountains except this peak Tendong, and that of his sister Mainom, the adjoining mountain
this country, a great flood

the north. The few survivors who had fled to Tendong saw the peak of Mainom disappear under the water, and hence it is called 'Mainom', (properly Ma-nom) or 'The Disappearing Sister'; and the shrieks of the drowning can still be heard from Tendong, which then alone remained above the flood. The still rising waters lapped this peak also, and threatened to swallow it, whereupon the surviving people prayed to the mountain to save them, and it then miraculously elongated itself, and kept its clinging refugees above the rising flood. Hence this mountain was named Tendong, properly Tun-rong^ or The Uplifted
to
'

Horn'.

After

a time the waters

fell,

but ever afterwards the grateful

Rong
this

(Lepchas) have fervently worshipped this mountain, which had in

miraculous way saved their ancestors.

LEGENDS OF THE LEPCHAS

Now
this
I

in

legend of a Sikhimese Mount

believe,

Ararat possibly
flood caused

preserves,

the

tradition of a local
river

by the damming up of the Teesta

slip,

by

a great land-

below

its

junction with the Rang-eet. For smaller floods

are
side

occasionally

occurring in this
opposite

way

and on the other

local

of the

valley,

Tendong, we have the

in

names of Rang-iroon and

Rang-liot, which

the

Lepcha
Brimful

mean "The Turning

Great River "
;

of the Great River", and

"The
in

and which the Lepchas explain

the

a legend with
his

which
spouse,
his

tells

how

Rang-eet

river

quarrelled

the

Teesta, and refusing to go with her, carried

waters

high

up

the

valley

to

the

two

sites

above

mentioned.

This legend as told to me, runs

RIVERS.
let

THE STRIFE BETWEEN THE RANG-EET AND TEESTA

la the beginning of the world,
the mountains, the
straight
straight,

when

the rivers were

first

down from

King of

Serpents, 'Pa-ril-byuJ led the Teesta River,

down

to the plains, so that the course of this river is generally

'

and hence the Teesta was called

The

Straight-going Great

Female River' (Rang-nyo-ung). On the other hand, the other chief river of Sikhim, the great Rang-eet, was led down by the quail-like bird, Tut-fo {Pitta Nepalensis). Now this bird, on the way, feeling hungry, ran about here and there searching for food, and thus it led the Rang-eet an extremely winding circuitous course, so that when the river approached the plains, he found that the Teesta had already arrived there and had occupied the only available outlet. Waxing wroth at being thus forestalled by a female, the Rang-eet turned himself round and retired amongst the mountains, till his waters rose to Rang-iroon and
Q
'

Then, fearing lest his rashness might endanger the world, he repented and returned and espoused the Teesta, and they twain have flowed on together ever after.
Rang-liot.

These legends, of course, may possibly have arisen through

false

etymologies of the words,

especially as the

Lepcha

names of the Rang-eet and Teesta may

also be rendered

112

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

"The Beloved
"

respectively,
Sister

Retiring
If

One
an

"

and

The Great
landslip

or

Queen
it

rivers.

such

enormous

had occurred,

must soon have been broken through;

for

no

evidence of
deposits

extensive

lacustrine

have been
in

found here, such as exist

Valley
of Nepal

the

where

such

a cataclysm certainly did take

place
tells
:

and there
us
that

tradition

still

the

plains

of

Katmandu were
covered
great

by

a
till

lake

a
"

saint

named
Mellow-

The

Voiced

One "
cut

(Manjusri)
the
his
let

dam

with

sword, and
the river es;

cape hence that

river
is

now

call-

ed

THE MORNINGS BAG AT GAMOTANG.

mati).

"The
'

Flee-

ing One' (BagJi-

With regard
that

to

our Sikhim legends,

it

is

remark-

able
like

the

bird

therein

mentioned

is

almost wingless,

most of the extinct

birds,

and thus presumably of a

most ancient type.

GAME
The
following

IN SIKHIM
(6th

113

morning

October),
ft.)

we

crossed the
fine forest

steep shoulder of

Tendong

(8,675

through a

of oaks, chestnuts, maple, birch and magnolias, and dipped

down
there

to

Temi

in the valley

of the Teesta.

We
the

were told
tracks

were

leopards

about,

and

we saw
("

of

bears, wild goats (thar)

and wild sheep

barhel", the Ovis

nehur).

The

latter

animals had been digging up the ashes

salt,

of some old camp-fires for the

suffer

for

want of which they

so

much.

We

also

saw several Kaleej pheasants

and
higher
up,

{Gallopliasis

melanonotus),

the

fine

red

horned pheasants {Ceriornis satyra), the Bap of the Bhotiyas

;

but

we had no
is

time to go after them just then.

all,

Game
is

not, after
;

so scarce on these mountains, as

it

generally believed
forest,

though

is

difficult

to get at, in

the evergreen

where from the numerous perennial

streams
the

it

is

widely distributed during the greater part of

year.

Sportsmen,

however,

who

care

for

something
Sikhim

more than big bags and wholesale slaughter

not wanting in interest.
to
It
is

will find

possible in the higher ranges

get a

fair

amount

of shooting, though even after long

days' tramps the experience of the too eager

often be that of the

Nimrod may

"Three Jolly Huntsmen

Still,

" in the celebrated

legend of the nursery.

several men, travelling in the

upper ranges, amid scenery not to be surpassed, have brought

back a goodly number of very

fine

horns and skins of stags,

musk

deer, wild sheep

and goats, a snow-leopard or Ounce,

to

silver fox,

and even an occasional Ovis ammon, not

speak

of the gorgeous

Monal

pheasants (Bhotiya " Cham-dong"),

ii4

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

(

blood pheasants, snow-cocks

gan,

Tctragalhis Tibetanus), ptarmietc.,

sand-grouse,

woodcock, snow-pigeons,

that they

get

by

the

way.
all

And on
is

the Tibetan side of the range,

plentiful.

game from

accounts

very

As on

this

occasion

we

ourselves did not leave the path, in

passing over Tendong,

we bagged only green wood-pigeons

for

and some small birds and animals

the bright scarlet
brilliant

my collection,

including

and blue
like

fairy-chats [Niltava grandis)

and

sun-birds

lustrous

gems,
*

and a new species

of Laughing Thrush [Gar. Waddelli).

Gorgeous

butterflies

abound
in

here,

more than four thousand species are found

Sikhim alone, and some of these are so beautiful and

rare that collectors

pay almost fancy

is

prices for them.

One
for

of the

swallow-tailed

said

to

be

worth about 20

a good female specimen. Especially numerous was a species

(Kallima

inaches)

which conceals
it

itself

by

imitating

the

dead
of
its

leaves

amongst which
is

lives.

The under

surface

wings
it

marked and coloured exactly

like a
in

dead
atti-

leaf,

and

settles

on a twig, with closed wings,

this
illusion,

an

tude that completely supports

as

noted by

Wallace

in

regard to
is

the

butterflies

of Sumatra. "

So

marvellously close
out, that

this imitation

of the dead leaf carried

even the spots of fungus which grow upon these

faithfully

decaying leaves are

these
little

reproduced, and thus enables

creatures

to

escape their sharp-eyed enemies,

and survive

in the struggle for existence.

The change

in the foliage

was noticeable

as

we ascended

from the evergreen forests below to the variegated autumn

THE
tints

SPIRITS
etc.,

OF THE PASSES

115

of the maples,

of the temperate zone.

Further

up,

beyond the rude

a path

shelter of

bamboo

[Ba-kyini) in the
is

forest,

leads to the top of the mountain, where

said to be a lonely cell to which a

to offer prayers to

Lama comes

every year

Mount Tendong,
;

to safeguard the country

from another deluge

for the

Lamas have accepted

that old

legend of the aboriginal Lepchas.

Where
usually

the path crossed the crest of the spurs there was

a cairn of stones, or a rude stone altar, sacred to

the spirit of the

mountain.

At

these

spots our

men

laid

down

their loads,

and tearing a few

strips of

rag from their

dress, tied

them
as

to a twig or a stone,

which they planted

spirit,

on the

cairn,

an offering to the mountain

:

and

called with a loud shrill voice

Ki-ki so-so la-so-la! Lha-gyal-ol

!

Diid-pam-bo ! (Pray
victorious
In
1

accept our offering

1)

The

spirits

are

The

devils are defeated

spots,
in
still

passing
right

these
side

travellers invariably

keep them
is

on

their

token of respect. This

an oldit

world custom which

survives in the West, where

it is

is

considered the "lucky-way". Thus,

practised in stirring

the Christmas puddings etc., in passing wine at table, from

right to
left
;

in cattle

treading the corn in this direction

in

and among the Scotch Highlanders,

this

walking thrice

in

way around
it

those to
called.

whom
And

they wish well, "to

make

the

deazeV\ as

is

the offering of the rag recalls

the Western custom of offering a stone to the lonely cairn of

an

ill-fated

traveller,
left

who

has died

among

the mountains.

Leaving to our

the dreary path through a wilderness

u6

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

of bamboos, leading to the old monastery of Tashi-ding and

Pemiong-chi and Sanga-cheling

described in

visits to

which

have already
steep

my " Buddhism of Tibet " we struck down

And
here our alpenstocks

zigzags to Temi.
as the clayey soil

came

in useful,
rain.

was very slippery from recent

The
6,000

first

patches of cultivation appear

in the forest at
is

about

feet.

Above

this height little tillage

done on account

of the cold clouds, and the destructive hailstones which demolish the crops, literally bombarding the cereals by their violent downfall.

have seen hailstones hereabouts as large as a walnut.

primitive kind of agriculture which
is is

The
is

practised here

the

same which
and
in

common among
earlier

the wilder Indo-Chinese

I

tribes,

the

clearings which

have seen

in

the back-wood settlements of America.

virgin
forest

few acres of the

rich black loam,

are

burned down,

and the

enriched by the
of the trees
yields
is

wood-ashes, between the charred stumps

scratched
for

or

scraped on the surface and

abundant crops

about

two years,
it

after

which

period,

being somewhat exhausted,

is

is

abandoned and a
after a year or

fresh strip of forest

burned down, which

for a

two

is

in turn

abandoned

new one

and so on,

until

after ten or

twenty years the

first

patch, which has lain so

it

long fallow, has again become a jungle, and

again
great

is

brought

under

this

"jhooming"

process, as

it

is

called.

The
is

destruction

of forest which this

in

practice

entails,

perhaps

excusable

such

sparsely

populated region

where hundreds of miles of

forest timber simply falls

it

and

rots

through the impossibility of transporting

to a

paying market.

UP THE TEESTA VALLEY

As we descended,
fringed

117

these

patches of "jhoomed"

fields

by

forest belts,

got more numerous, and

of

we soon
Here the
for the

emerged on the bare

son of the chief of
night, but

hill-side

Temi

(4,771

ft).

this district offered us his

house

we

preferred our tents.

The 2ones of

cultivation

here

on the flanks of Tendong and other parts of central

Sikhim, as well as Darjeeling, have undergone great alteration

since

Hooker's

visit.

Much

of the forest has disap-

peared owing to the increase of the population.

The view
moun-

up the Teesta valley was very

tain

fine with its interlacing

;

ridges

leading

up to snows

in the

foreground were

the dark frowning

cliffs

of Mainom, while to the right were

the snows of the Chola pass.

Our next two

days'

march up the

semi-tropical valley
to cross

of the Teesta to the cane-bridge

that river,

by which we had

was very hot and rather uninteresting. The steep

descent of over 3,000 feet to the gorge of the thundering

river

was no easy matter

after the

heavy

rain of the night,

still

as the track zig-zagged

down over
and

slippery clay and

slate
;

more
boiling

slippery

mica-schist

chlorite

and

over

and

dashing

torrents

that

we had

to

cross

by
In

slimy logs and saplings that were thrown across them.

the

deep gorge, so intense was the heat, that one of us

resist

could not
rivulet,

a plunge into the cool pool of the

the
risk

Rangpo

despite

from the

blazing

sun overhead.

Across one of these bridges some fishermen had made a

weir of bamboo,
the

so

designed that the

fish

in

descending

rapids, are driven into this basket

and captured.

We

n8
tasted

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

some
of the
fish,

but found them very bony and

CROSSING TORRENTS.
rather insipid.

The men cooked them by baking them

for

a few minutes in the camp-fire, inside a joint of the ubiqui-

THE LIMBOO TRIBE

tous

119

bamboo. Our

little-used track led

through such luxuriant

in

forest that

one of our men had

a sapper, cutting

to

go

front to clear the

way,

like

down
our

projecting branches and

rope-like

vines

that

barred

path.
;

The

characteristic

vegetation here was figs and nettles

and we were especially

warned by our men against the

so-called

"deadly"

nettle,

whose great smooth glossy leaves look so innocent of the

deadly venom which lurks beneath.
also

The

wild

Mango was

common, and

its

fruit

though small was pleasant to

the taste.

Amongst

the birds, wood-peckers were especially

numerous, owing to the large quantity of dead and dying

timber.
I

got no
the

fewer than

eighteen distinct species of

these

shewing

immense range and variety of the

climate

hereabout.

The head-man

of the village of "Fat

Earth" (Nam-fak) where we encamped, brought us the usual

poor
presents

of stale milk, rancid butter, a few oranges

to the tribe

and bananas. He belongs

call

which the Nepalese

(or merchants,)

Limboo, and the Tibetans "Ts'ong-pa,"

were and are
still

as they

the chief cattle-merchants and

butchers in Sikhim, where cattle used to be the chief import

from the plains. But the people

(Yak-herds?) or "Ek-tambo".
are

call

themselves Yak-tamba
flatter faces,

They have

and

much more markedly Mongolian

;

in feature

than the

Lepchas

though they have adopted the dress and externals

of Hindooism, like most of the other Nepalese tribes.

They seem

to have shared with the

Lepchas the western

half of Sikhim, before the advent of the Tibetans

and other
into

Nepalese

tribes.

At present they extend westwards

i2o

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

far as the

Nepal as

Arun

river,

which pierces the Central

Himalayas,

and by which possibly they have descended

(see

from the plateau of Central Asia

divisions of the tribe, are alleged

map

in

Chap. IX). The

by Mr.

Risley, to be denoted

A LIMBOO BEAUTY.

by nicknames.
merely the

This would be curious

if

true

but

it

is

result of
in

an attempt to find the meaning of the

like

Limboo names

an alien language,

attempting the

etymology of Gaelic words by means of Greek, and the

results

are

so absurd as to

seem nicknames.

Mr. Risley,

however, has otherwise advanced Indian ethnology by the

UP THE TEESTA VALLEY

methods he has advocated, and
this subject
it

121

is

to

be hoped that on

he
tells

will

continue to raise his voice.

that

Achoom

me

these

Limboos
Lepcha

are proverbially
half-breeds of the

stingy and inhospitable, even the

tribe,

such as the Yangmo, according to the Lepcha saying:

is

"

Though a Yangmo's door

eat,

open wide,
In

there's nothing

to
to

though plenty inside".

Nepal they intermarry

some extent with the semi

aboriginal Kiranti tribe.

Our pioneer brought

us the disconcerting news that the

cane-bridge over the Teesta,

unsafe

by which we must
;

cross,

was

without

extensive repairs
it.

so

we despatched some
up

men
the

to repair
hill

drizzling rain prevented our going

to the

Yangong monastery, which

Its

boasts a finely

carved door.
Tibet,

head Lama
the

is

one of the explorers of

the Indian Survey
several miles

Ugyen Gyatsho,

"U. G." of
said

Reports.
long,

Here are some caves

to be

and believed
all

to connect the sacred

mountains Tendong
devils.

and Mainom,

infested of course
is

by

Higher up the ridge

mystic
in

the large stone carved with the

figures.

Om

mani, which Hooker

The

following

day

the series of tiresome ascents and descents over spurs,

a ridge

which we crossed was pointed out to us as the

battle

scene of a pitched

between the Nepalese invaders

in

and the Sikhimese Bhotiyas

were forced to
retire.
It

1787 A.D., when the former

is

called

Neh

(about 2,500

ft.),

and

it

occupies a fairly strong defensive position on a spur

of Mainom.

We

all

suffered badly from the bites

of the pipsee

flies

122

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

swarmed
here,

that

and worried us almost beyond endur-

ance. This insect, in appearance like a diminutive house-fly,

draws blood

at once;

and

in

so doing

it

poisons the wound,

so that the blood continues to ooze from the puncture and

also

exudes underneath the skin,

forming bluish patches

which often
for

end

in

ulcers.

We

cleared our tents of

etc.,

them

time by fumigation with brown paper

in

but our

coolies

the

open suffered
;

severely.

The

land-leeches

were also troublesome

ticks (Ixodes)

and several loathsome blood-sucking

made

us almost regret that

we had not gone

all

by the much
these
pests.

longer*

road (via Kalimpong) to escape

tiger-cat,

leopard,

civet,

and red cat-bear

or "white face" (Dong-kar) of the Bhotiyas, were shot

by
was

my

collector here

and the

flesh

of

all

these animals

eaten by the Lepchas, and indeed esteemed a delicacy.

We
these
their

could not but admire the very evident usefulness to

animals

of their

specific

colours.

How

admirably

markings conceal these beasts, each

in its special sur-

roundings, so that they can approach their prey unawares,

as

well

as

escape from their

own

natural enemies.
it

The

spotted markings of the leopard render

practically invisible

amongst the spotty shades of the

just as the yellow
this

tree-foliage

where

it

lives

and black

stripes of the tiger assimilate

animal to the withered yellow stems of grassy reeds

it

with their dark shadows in the places that

the broad markings of the cat-bear

haunts.

So

too,

and the faggoty pattern

of the civet
in the

are admirably suited to conceal their owners

live.

dusky trunks and branches among which they

CROSSING A RICKETY CANE-BRIDGE

Early
in

123

the morning,

we descended

the

gloomy gorge

of the roaring river, amid rank decaying vegetation which

suggested deadly malaria.

As we reached

the bridge, our

men
spirit

sent up a loud shout, calling on the malignant waterto

let

us cross in safety.

And,

certainly,

it

looked

as

if

special

prayers

for

our safety were really required,

at all times,

for the bridge,

dangerous

was a mere ragged

skeleton of

itself,

and slippery with green slime.

feet

Spanning the yawning chasm about 300

wide, in

whose depths the mighty

river

thundered along, sixty or

eighty feet beneath us, in leaping waves, dashing over great

boulders of gneiss the size of cottages, and scattering clouds

of spray, and hurling uprooted trees like matchwood, this
frail

rickety

structure

seemed by aspect and surroundings

ascribed

to

suggest the

horrors

by the ancients

to

the
it

knife-edge bridge over the Styx.

And we had

to cross

somewhat

after the

manner of Blondin on the slack

rope.

Here, however,

we had

the doubtful advantage of a loosely

to

knotted

rope of strips of rotten cane

is

clutch hold of.

For the bridge

formed by two suspended ropes of cane

thrown across the gorge,

rocks

and
in

their

ends are

lashed
;

to

and

trunks

of trees
parallel

the

neighbourhood
tied

and

between these two

rope
to

ropes,

and

from the one

so,
;

the
bits

other at

intervals

of a

yard or

are susin the

pended
narrow

of cane forming V-shaped slings

is

and

angle of these V-slings

end,

laid a line of

bamboos,
footing.

end
It
is

to

on

which you have to find

your

thus

like

walking on a rope, for between the slings

i2 4

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

is

it

all

open on

either side,

and as you cross you swing

in mid-air,
I

as seen in the frontispiece.

had already crossed several of these primitive bridges

in the

in

Sikhim, as well as the rope-bridges (jhola)

but
this.

Northern
rickety-

Himalayas,
looking as

none

were

ever

so

alarmingly
it,

On

climbing
frail

up on to

it

proved on

examination to be not only

but rotten!
sent

And we now

found that the

to

men who had been

two days before

repair

it,

had declined the hazardous task and had

it.

decamped without touching

about two seasons, and
old
this

These bridges

last

only

this

one was already several years

at
all.

and had not been repaired

river

But we must cross

gorge meant

anyhow,

as a night's detention in this

fever in a fatal form.

I

sent one of

my

Lepchas,
it,

who was accustomed

to

to these
it,

bridges, to

examine

and he managed
it

go over

and

returned to say that he thought

was crossable. Sending

first

him across
off

again,
as

prepared to follow, having

taken

my

boots,

the

bamboos on which
I

had

to

walk

were so slippery.
I

But

had not gone many yards ere

line of

found that there was only a single

bamboos

for

foothold,

and that these

end nor
tied

single

bamboos were
V-slings,

neither lashed

end

to

to

the

and that many of

I

these V-slings were untied or wanting altogether.

fore

there-

retraced

my

steps,

and sent the Lepcha to

tie it

up

bit.
I

then mounted the bridge again, and

almost shudder,

even now, to think of that awful passage.

Had

known

CROSSING A ROTTEN CANE-BRIDGE

what was
in store for

125

me

should never have attempted

it.

The

instant that

you step on to these bridges they

in

recoil

from you, and swing and shake

an alarming way, rolling

from side to side and pitching with every step you take,
like

ship

in

storm.
lift

They swerve
your foot
;

with

sudden

jerk,

every time you

not only sideways and

longways, but also downwards and forwards, as your weight

depresses the bridge, until you pass the middle,
oscillating structure kicks

when

the

up

after you, as

you ascend. So,

seizing

the two suspension cables, one in either hand, for

a railing, you have to

work your way across

I

this

jerky

swinging, shaking, writhing thing.

got along a short

I

way

without

much

difficulty,

so long as
I

could look to see the

bamboo rod on which

sides

had

to walk, although the

open

heightened the sense

of insecurity. But on clearing

the bank, the instant you look

down

to see

where to place

your

feet,

the

rush

of leaping water in the deeply sunk

torrent underneath you, gives

you the giddy sensation that

running swiftly upstream.
is
it

both you and the bridge are

Yet, without
single

looking

down, how
the

possible to see the

bamboo
find

overhanging
your
?

abyss

and

on
miss

which
which

you must

shaky

footing,

and to

means
tied

certain death

Hitherto the line of

I

bamboos had been

end to end, but now, as

it

stepped on to the next

one,
front

tilted

up;

and

could see that most of those in

in their

were also lying loose and disjointed

V-slings,

widely

separate

and some
;

also

of

these

slings

were

loosened and others wanting

they had been loosened and

26

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

of the

broken away by the passing

person

who preceded me.

I

But

it

was now too

;

late to turn back, as

could not swing

round

so,

went forward with long

swinging
like line

strides to get a foothold

on

this

shaking,

of slimy

bamboos which
I

writhed
to

and twisted

a broken-backed serpent.

had

take darting, furtive peeps at the slippery, creaking bam-

boo,

and

after

each step

had to half close

my

eyes

for

an instant to counteract the giddy feeling of the upward

rush
of the bridge.
false step

Ah,

it

was a creepy, ghastly

feeling!

One
Still

meant

instant death in the raging gulf below.

in
it

there

was a fascination

all,

suspended
far

at that

giddy height over the rushing, swirling waters

the the

beneath,

unceasing deafening roar, the bold rocky banks, and

rainbow

tints

of the

clouds
last,

of spray rising from the

boiling

abyss below.

At

after

what seemed an age,

I

the other bank was reached and the danger, so far as

sonally

per-

was concerned was

for.
I

past.

But the others had to

be provided

Once

across,

shouted to Kintoop,

who had

arrived

by

this time, to tie

up the loose parts along the whole length

of the bridge, before the laden coolies attempted to cross,

And

it

was marvellous

to

watch the operations of him and

into

his

assistants.

They darted

the jungle with their knives,

into convenient

and cut the stringy bark of a giant climber

lengths,
teeth,

and taking a bundle of these

strips

between

their

they scrambled pluckily along the

ropes, clinging

with their toes, like monkeys; and they deftly tied up several
of the
loosest
parts,

using only their prehensile

toes in

CROSSING A ROTTEN CANE-BRIDGE

this

127

operation,

in

places

where they needed

flexibility
in

to

hold on

with

both hands.
in

Such

their toes

have they
they use

acquired

climbing trees and

for

otherwise,
;

that

them dextrously
acts almost like a

gripping things

and

their great toe

thumb.
repairs

Even when

these

were done,
all

it

was found that

were natives

the great majority of the coolies,

of

whom

of these

hills,

were afraid to cross

it,

even when relieved

of their loads. Their loads, therefore, had to be broken up

into small
their

parcels,

which the more steady men tied up

in

Lepcha

plaids

and slung on to
in this

their backs, leaving

both hands free; and

re-crossing

way, by dint of crossing and

some

scores of times, our

baggage was
it

finally

got across.
to

As

for the terror-stricken coolies,

was pathetic
after
it

watch them struggling over the bridge, even

had been repaired and they had been relieved of

their loads.

The

thrilling horror

and despair pictured

pitiful to

in their faces as

they crawled along was truly

see.

At a

critical

moment more

than one squatted

down

in

the middle of the

bridge, half-paralysed with fear, unable to go either forwards

or

backwards

till

someone

stole to their aid

and two of
lost

these

we thought must
reached them.

certainly

have

been

before

assistance

Not a few refused

off.

to cross

on

any account, and bolted

And

all

of us

who

crossed,

vowed

that

we would

rather

go a month's journey round

about than cross such a terrible bridge again.

We

studied

the

mechanism of the
Its

bridge,

while

our

baggage was crossing. w

great height above the water

128

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

to

is

provide against the

rise

of the flood waters.

It

is

situated at a relatively narrow part of the river,

latter

where the
through

rushes
it

in

leaping
its

waves between the

;

cliffs

which

has cut

way

and these

cliffs

of bare rock and

huge boulders form the natural

bridge.

piers

and bastions of the

From

these piers, two ropes or cables are thrown

across the gorge and their ends lashed to these rocks, and
to

the

trunks

of trees, and pegged into the ground

slings
at

and
like

the

stays

and

either

end form a network

the rigging of a ship. These two parallel cables which sup-

port the bridge, each consist of three or four plaited canes

of the rattan palm {Calamus rotang), about 400 feet long.

As

these had

become

rotten they

had been strengthened by

loosely knotted together.

a chain

of bits of

bamboo bark

From

these cables hang the V-shaped slings of split cane,

feet

about three
feet deep.

apart,

and each about two and a half

Into these hanging slings are laid the

bamboos
originally

which

form

the

platform

or

footway.

There

had been, we were

side

told, three or four

bamboos dovetailed
to
their

by

side

and

securely

lashed

and spliced

adjoining bundles of
chain,

bamboos so

as to form a continuous

but the bundles

all

had got loosened and the extra

out

bamboos had
ingenious
closing

fallen

long

before

our
the

arrival.

An

device

of outriggers

prevents

bridge from

up and choking the passenger. At

or
so,

intervals of every

ten

feet

rod

of

bamboo
its

is

passed transversely

under the platform, and from

extremities pass ropes of

cane and bark that are tied to the two cables, which are

UP THE TEESTA VALLEY

thus

129

kept

apart.

These bridges are

Bhotiyas

called

Jalang by the
site

Nepalese,
the

and by the
is

Scunpa; and the

of

Sam-pa
for

Sain-dong, or the " bridge face."

The Bhotiya

name

this

Teesta

river

is

Sang-choo, or

"The Pure

Water",

so-called because great rivers tend to purify them-

selves from contamination.

at

While the temperature of the

air

noon was 73
to
its

Fahrenheit, the water was only 6o Fah.,

owing
fall

having come directly from the snows.

off,

The
was

of this river as measured by Hooker, not far

in

found to be 821 feet

10 miles, and

its

current in places

ran at the rate of 14 miles an hour.

Glad were we to get away from

this fluvial horror,

flat,

and

emerge from the

stifling

gorge up on to a cool
cairn

where

we

encamped

at

the

or

Mendong

of Tyun-tang,

amongst wild

citrons.

And

here a refreshing cup of tea and

the hot lunch that

Achoom had

awaiting us

made

us forget

our troubles and fatigues of the day.

Next morning we were

cliffy

off early

along the bold and

Silling,

upper valley of the Teesta, over the slopes of

with fine

and ever changing views of the Kanchen-junga

river,

snows, and crossing the Ryot

reached Toomlong, "

On

Man's Breast", the mountain capital of the King of Sikhim,

before nightfall. But oh, the hateful leeches and the climb
I

The damp
with legions

forest

through

which

we passed swarmed

of

voracious

land-leeches.

No

thicker

than

a knitting-needle

when they

are

fasting,

they stood alert

track,

on every twig of the brushwood that overhung our

and on every dead

leaf

on the path.

And

as

we approach9

3o

A.M0NG THE HIMALAYAS

they lashed themselves vigorously
to

ed

and

fro,

in

the

wild

endeavour

to

seize

hold
fix

of us.

The

instant

they

touch their

victim,

they

themselves

firmly

and then
till

mount nimbly up by

a series of rapid somersaults

;

they

reach a vulnerable point

in

and then they

lose not an instant

commencing

their

surgical

operations.

Our poor

serv-

ants

and coolies who walked bare-footed were of course

badly bitten.

From
all

their ankles

and legs

little

streams of

blood trickled

day, and at every few steps thsy had to

little

stop and pick off these horrid

difficult

pests,

and

it

was often

to

dislodge

them.

We

had dusted our stockings

felt

with

tobacco-snuff,

and had not

the usual sharp nip

and our legs were well encased

len

in putties or thick

wool-

bandages,

which are wound round the leg from the

ankle to the knee, over the boots and stockings, and give
grateful

support

to the leg

and more freedom had each picked

to the calf

muscles than leggings.

of
leeches

We

off

thousands

during the day,

from outside our boots and

putties,

and were congratulating ourselves on having escaped,

but on taking off these articles to cross the small substantial

cane-bridge

over the

Dik-chu

river,

after

having walked
that a large

about sixteen miles through

forest,

we found
fill

number of leeches had sucked

their

of us.

They had

insinuated themselves through the eyelets of our boots, and

between the

folds

of our patties,

and thence through the

after

meshes of our stockings.

to repletion with our blood,

And,

gorging themselves

some had withdrawn themselves

putties,

and were lying under the

their thread-like bodies

DIK-CHU CANE-BRIDGE.

VORACIOUS LAND-LEECHES
swollen
while
there

133

with

our blood,

to

the

size

of small
boots,

chestnuts;

others

had crept down

into

our

and had
all

got squashed, bathing our feet in gore; and

this

had

happened

quite

unconsciously to
the

us.

Washing our
B.

wounds only made them bleed

less bitten

more

profusely.

was

than

was, probably owing to his blood being

all

so saturated with nicotine, as he smokes

day

long.

It

was
in

pitiful

also

to

see

the

poor

cattle,

ponies and goats

legs

these

leech-infested
less,

forests.

Their

were

always

bleeding more or

and these pests lodge

in their nostrils

and hang from

their eyelids

and various parts of

their

body.

To

dislodge them from the recesses of the nose, the herdsit

men,
or so

is

said,

keep the poor beasts from water

for a

day

and then, when the animal drinks, the leeches show

and

themselves,
their legs

may be

removed.

All the Lepchas have

covered with the scars of these leech-bites; and

loss

the
I

actual

of blood in this

way must be very

great.

have no doubt that these pests have something to do

the remarkable absence of four-footed

with

game

in these

regions.

They range

in

these

damp

forests

from about
for the

4,000 to 10,000 feet elevation.

leech
is

The Bhotiya name

"

The Blood-drinker"

[tak-toong).

The normal

food,

however, of these myriad leeches,

blood-suckers,

like that of those other

;

the

mosquitos,

is

vegetable juice

and not
taste

one out of many millions of them can ever possibly

blood.

This

river,

the

Dik-chu

or

Ryot,

is

a snow-fed stream
feet in a course of

which descends tumultuously, about 10,000

34

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Its

about twelve miles.

ing or

Bhotiya name means

its

"The

Stagger-

Reeling Water"; whilst

Lepcha name of RyotBris-

oong means "The Rapid Reckless Water" or "The

tling

Restless

Water

"

all

of which names well describe

the furious character of this torrent.

The

leeches

and the pelting

rain,

all

day long, had so

although
it

delayed us and disorganized our men,

that,

was

now about

p.m.,

we had

not yet had breakfast, only the

morning tea and

toast.

We

were now ravenous

till

but there

was
the
us
;

little

chance

of our getting anything

hill,

we reached
feet

Rajah's residence on the

for

about 3,000

above

we found

that

Achoom and

the lunch-basket had

gone on ahead.
the river

So
to

after climbing

over some boulders on

leech-bites,

bank

wash again our bleeding

to

we

began the steep climb up the short cut

cuts are proverbially tedious,

Toomlong. Short
went right up

and

this track

the rocky face of the gorge, rising about 3,000 feet in two
miles. It

would be a trying climb

fast

at

any time; but coming

it

at the

end of a long

and a fatiguing day's march,

taxed our strength severely.

We
I

had frequently

to pull

ourselves up over rocks by clutching hold of creepers.

The

ascent seemed endless.

feet I sat

When

had climbed about 2,000

down

dead-beat, while B., puffing

It

away

at his invi-

gorating pipe, pushed on slowly ahead.

dusk,
the

was now getting

sun had dipped behind a peak, and the forest

near,

showed no sign of any habitation

to

and not even water

I

quench our
;

thirst,

except the drizzling mist, as

was on
person

a ridge

when suddenly a good angel appeared

in the

QUARTERED

IN A

MONASTERY
Murwa
this

135

of a smiling young Lama, carrying a jug of

beer,

which he presented to me.

beverage,
I

Refreshed

by

reviving

resumed the ascent, accompanied by the young

as

monk, who acted

my

guide.

He
up,

told

me

that the

news of

our approach had reached the monastery of Phodang, which

was only about a mile higher

had immediately sent him

and that the good Lamas

to us with the

welcome Murwa.
ft.)

Wet and
as

weary,

we reached

the monastery (5,290

in,

just

the

darkness was closing

and here the hospitable

were not up,

Lamas

installed us in a cloister as our tents

fire

provided us a blazing

in

the middle of the

room
in

to

dry

our clothes, and a lamp, and assisted

our rugs

Achoom

spreading

on the
in

floor

round the

fire,

and soon Rameses

brought
comforts.

an ample meal which completed our material

CHAPTER

IV

AT THE CAPITAL OF SIKHIM TO THE THRESHOLD OF THE SNOWS

And

leaving Sikhinvs halls, the four O'er Man's hill, by Ringon's rill, 'Neath stately Narim's summit hoar, By Namga's shades and Chakoong's glades, And rapid Teesta's rocky shore Travelled till they the torrent crossed.

C. Macaulay's

Lay of Lachen.

WAS

rudely

awakened next morning,

at

daybreak,

by a deafening din of trumpets and drums outside our

cloister;

and on looking out of the unglazed window of

I

our

cell,

found the noise proceeded from a band of Lamathe outside of the temple,
shell-trumpets, beating
their

monks who were parading round

blowing discordant horns,
fifes

and

drums and clashing cymbals, and they wound up

noisy
orisons

with

still

more

ear-piercing

blast at the

front door of the temple.

One
feet

pair of the trumpets

was so

immensely long
to

over

six

that

young novice had

march

in

front to support their ends.

OUR CLOISTER
Our
cloister
in

IN

THE MONASTERY

139

the
it

daylight

looked a severely empty

furniture. Its walls

room, innocent as
frescoed with the
the

was of any

were

smoke of many years; and we were not

Several
bats

only inmates.

hung solemnly

in

black
fleas
in

festoons from the

beams

and during the night many

had crept out from nooks and crannies and were much
evidence.

Some

Keating's

insect

powder,

which

had
still

provided for such emergencies, had not yet arrived, as

about a dozen of our coolies had not yet turned up. These

men

did not arrive

therefore

till

late in

the forenoon.
to let our

We
here

halted here
also to

for the day,

men

recuperate,
all

and

weed out the

weakliest,

and leave

unnecessary baggage, such as the extra tent, and

this point

such luxuries as camp-tables and chairs. For from

we go almost

right

up

into

rugged Alpine country where

every unnecessary mouth to feed, and every extra ounce of

baggage,

is

a drawback.

We

also

wished to

visit the

King
told,

of Sikhim,

whose head-quarters are here.

We

were

however, that the King had just gone to the residence of

our

new

political

agent at Gantok,
this

and had taken with

him the abbot of

sent

monastery, but the prime minister

visit

us

an invitation to
this

the palace in the afternoon.

is

The abbot of
or

monastery, which
is

called

Phodang,

"The Chapel-Royal",
in the state.

one of the most important

all

persons

He

has

along been well disposed

towards Europeans, and now, since the country has passed

more under our

he has been

control,

and as he

is

something of a

patriot,

made one of

the chief ministers and the de

4o

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

facto primate of the Lamaist Church in Sikhim. This kindly

old

man

is

friar

rather than a

monk, frequenting the busy

haunts

of men, and

may

often be seen at Darjeeling.

He

has imbued his subordinates with

spirit.

much

of his

own

kindly

The young Lama who was

and who
is

acting for

him during

his absence,

his

nephew, and son of the prime

;

minister,

is

an intelligent well-mannered youth

after us

and as he

had looked so well

and our coolies B. gave him

I

some

bits of jewellery,

and

gave him some and a Japanese

tins

of fancy
all

biscuits,

bottle

of

liqueur

teapot,

of which things he carried off in high glee.

The
Valley

situation of this
is

monastery overlooking the Dik-chu

the
valley to the
ft.),

fine.

It

commands views up

snows of the Chola, or "The Lake Pass" (14,925

called,
it

so

is

said,

from

its

chain of lakelets. Below these snows

off,

that rise above us only thirteen miles

stretch the grassy

ft.),

and pine-clad slopes of Chomnaga (12,500

the rocky heights of Fyoom-gang, or "

surmounting

The Reedy Bamboo

Ridge," whilst

in the

foreground, amongst the cottages that

is

dot the fields of rice and maize,

the small monastery of

Labrang,

or

"

The

Bishop's

Palace,"

where

resides

the

nominal head of the

so-called "living

Church of Sikhim, and one of the

" or re-incarnated

Buddhas

Lamas, who no

sooner die than they are supposed to be reborn again as

the head
tion

Lama

of the same monastery.

one,

The

saintly reputalittle

of this

particular

however,

has worn a

threadbare through his too frequent potations of something

stronger than
the local

murwa

beer.

And

not far off

is

THE

KING'S PALACE

141

small convent with three nuns, the chief of

whom

is

a sister

of

"Tcheeboo" Lama,
After breakfast

the friend of Hooker. the monastery, watching

their

we sauntered about

the routine of the monks,

and the peasantry bringing

offerings to the priests, whilst our jaded coolies

their draggled features

were preening

and dressing
to

their leech-bites.
bites,

One

of the

best

applications

these

to

prevent the
I

inflammation and ulceration so apt to ensue, was,

the ordinary Friars' Balsam, which
serious
I

found,
that
it

had brought

for

trouble

to travellers, blistered feet, for

which

is

a sovereign remedy.
In
the

afternoon

we
at

availed ourselves of the invitation

to visit

the

palace

Toomlong.

We

were escorted by

some Lamas, Kintoop and

several others of our henchmen.

this

There was nothing, however, to show that

capital
village,

was the

of

Sikhim.

There

is

no town, scarcely even a

hill-side

except for the huts that dot the

at

wide
after

intervals;

and the "palace" was most disappointing

it

the

grand accounts of
other
officials.

given by Colman Macaulay and

then

some

But

we were

only

ordinary

travellers, for

whom
to

things were not put en rose; and personsee things as they really are in every-

ally

we
life.

prefer

day

The
of
the

" palace usual

in

",

which crowns a
style,

knoll,

is

a barn-like building

Sikhim

with

great

thatched
tied
Its

roof
at
sur-

projecting

mushroom-head
it

fashion,

and
off.

down
is

the corners to prevent

being blown
turret, like a

roof

mounted by a small

gilt

factory belfry, but

42

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

in

of Chinese pattern, which gleams from afar

the sunlight.
is

The whole

place
it is

has

mean

look; and there

nothing

to suggest that

the residence of the king, except perhaps

sentries

the

two or three scare-crow

in the

who hang about

the

gate-way

low wall that surrounds the building. They

are clad in
locks.

Lepcha garb and armed with antiquated match-

Crossing the small garden, prolific in

wormwood

weeds,

and passing through the squalid courtyard, we were conducted by a round-about way to the main door.
house,
as

For

this

the

residence of a "priest-king,"
like a

is

sacred,

and

must be approached
direction;

holy temple,

in the respectful

that

is

to say with the right

hand

to the wall.

The

chief door

by which we entered was of roughly hewn

It

timber,

loopholed for musketry.

opened

into

dark

narrow passage, whence we were ushered up a dark ladderlike

stair,

and thence,

groping

our

way,

we stumbled

into

what has been grandiloquently called "The Audience

the

Room", where
a

Sikhim Rajah held

ceiling,

his court.

It

had

mean

look,
in

low

and was floored with planks

it

rough hewn

Robinson Crusoe fashion, and

civilization.

was without

any of the refinements of

with
grizzled
hair,

Here an old man

like the

shrewd
in

features,

and dressed
suit,

ordinary

Bhotiyas,

a not over-clean

came forward

and bid us welcome with a shake of the hand.

He was

the Prime Minister or Kang-sa Deivan. Speaking in Hindustanee,

as

neither
is

of

us

at

that

time were fluent with

Tibetan, which

the court language of Sikhim, he invited

OUR RECEPTION BY THE MINISTER

us to be seated on chairs
;

143

and he himself

sat

down

cross-

legged on a cushion
Rajah,

upon the

slightly raised dais of the

;

and plied

his prayer-wheel
floor,

whilst our
us,

men

seated

themselves demurely on the

in their hands. like

behind

with their hats

Slaves passed round Tibetan tea, a brothbrick-tea, butter

mess of boiled Chinese

guests,

and

flour.

We,

as

were

first

served

with
their

it

in

small

Chinese

bowls, but our men, as

became

inferior rank,

had

to

produce
ries

their

own wooden

cups, which every Bhotiya car-

in his breast-pocket.

This tea was followed by some

I

murwa

beer, which

was about the worst

I

ever tasted.

It

was sour as vinegar.

little

conscientiously, however, sipped a

for

politeness'

sake,

though not without alarm as to

the consequences. After our host

civil

had made the customary

and as to whether we had
his

enquiries about our health,

suffered

any annoyance through the neglect of any of

people since
as to

we

entered Sikhim, he questioned us closely

to go.

why we had come and where we wished

But

we gave him no very

as

precise information on these points,

we

did

not wish him to be able to hinder our movepredecessors had done Hooker's; or report
to

ments, our

as his

intended route

the Tibetans, with

whom many

of

these officials are

still

covertly in league.

He
owing

told

us that

if

we proposed going up
to do)
it

the Lachen

Valley,

(and this

we wished

was not yet open,

:

to several bridges

having been swept away

true.

this

in-

formation

proved to be

He was

anxious to
to

know

what the English Government intended

do with the

144

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

allies

King, since our expulsion of his

the Tibetans from the

country
Rajah's

and he apologized
sister,

for the

non-appearance of the
I

she of the story of the basket of eggs.

asked

him about the etymology of some of the names of places

as to

why

certain mountains, rivers

and places had received

all

their particular

names,

for

had found that nearly

such

names

in

this

country are remarkably descriptive of their

physical

peculiarities.

But

his

reply

was of the
so

usual

convincing kind:
that
is

"They
so
I

are

called

and so because
back on
the

their

name;"

had to
this

fall

my

chief

sources of information
itself,

on

subject,

fountain-head
local-

namely, the traditions of the aborigines of the

in

ities

question.

When we
stair,

got

up to go he rose and
then groped our
;

wished us a pleasant journey.

We

way

down

the creaky

through the dark corridor

the

and were

glad again to

get into

open

air,

out
his

of this dreary

building where the

King of Sikhim has

home.

We

had

no idea that he was so miserably poor.

surroundings and hedged in by his priests,

In such dismal
it

is

indeed a

wonder
he
is.

that he

has

not turned

out

more helpless than

The King,

or

as his people call

is

him Gyal-po, which

is

the Tibetan word for "king",

a Tibetan
2S

by descent and

sympathies.

The

first

of his dynasty,

which began about

himself, the

250 years ago, was a pure Tibetan, and he

ninth
all

of the

line,

is

largely of the

same blood, as nearly

his

predecessors married, like himself, a Tibetan wife.

He was

born

in

i860, and bears the grand

name

of

"The

THE KING AND QUEEN OF SIKHIM

(

H5

Almighty Necromancer" Too' -top-nam-gyel). His appearance

is
I

well

shown

in the

accompanying photograph, which

is,

believe, the only

photograph which has ever been taken

THE KING AND QUEEN OF

SIKHIM.

of him, owing to his extreme sensitiveness to the disfigure-

ment caused by

his hare-lip.
is

His wife, the queen,

Tibetan,

the

daughter of a
is

personal servant of the Grand

Lama

of Lhasa, and

named
is

Ten-zam-drama. As seen

in the picture,

her headdress

marvellous arrangement, a hillock of pearls, turquoises, coral

146

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Personally,

and other precious stones.

she

is

bright and

prepossessing, and rather inquisitive.

Some

of the questions

she asked a friend of mine at his

of
course,

visit,

through an interpreter

were very personal, such as

are

"How

old

are

you?"

"Are you married?" "Why

you not married?"

in political

She has been credited with intriguing

matters

and causing some of our recent troubles with Tibet.

Her husband, however,

the kingship,
priests,
is

like

most of

his

predecessors in

a mere puppet in the hands of his crafty

who

have

made

sort

of priest-king
in

of him.

They encourage him by every means

leave
the

their

power
all

to
his

government

to

them, whilst he devotes

time to the degrading

rites

of devil-worship, and the ceaseless

muttering of meaningless jargon, of which the Tibetan form

of

Buddhism
by

chiefly

consists.

They
direct

declare that he

is

saint

birth,

that

he

is

the

descendant of the

greatest

king of Tibet,
a

the canonized Srong-tsan

Gampo,
seventh

who was
They say
in

contemporary

of

Mahomed

in

the

century A.D. and

who

first

introduced Buddhism to Tibet.

that a great grandson of that saintly king settled

in

Kham,

eastern

Tibet,

and was the ancestor of the

kings of Sikhim,

who

are hence calkd

Kham-ba, or "natives

of

Kham ",

title

which has misled Mr. Risley and other

writers

into stating that

"Kham-ba"
it

is

the kingly section

dis-

of the
tinction
race.

Lepcha

tribe,

whereas

is

a purely Tibetan

and has nothing whatever

to

do with the Lepcha

This saintly lineage which secures for the king's person

THE KING AS A PRIEST-GOD

popular homage amounting to worship,
is

147

probably, however,

a mere invention of the priests to glorify their puppet prince

for

their

own
Not

sordid ends.
to

Such devices are common

in

in

the

East.

mention the Mikado who,

the old

order of things, claimed divine descent from the sun-goddess,

Theebaw

the

ex-king

of

Burma was

priest-king,

who

claimed to be

descended from the most famous king the

of,

Burmese ever heard

to wit, a

somewhat mythical king

of Buddha's day and of Buddha's

own Sakya

tribe.

And

many

of the

modern Rajahs of India boast of even higher

descent

from

God

himself!

have seen several examples

of this process taking place at the present day

aboriginal
tribes

among

the

of Central
set

India.

Certain of these non-

Aryan headmen
themselves

themselves up as Hindoos, and calling

or

Rajputs,

members
priests

of the kingly caste, they

to

pay unscrupulous Hindoo

invent

for

them an

orthodox though mythical pedigree.

Without entering much

into

the

government or misits

government of

this

country, there are a few points in

history that are interesting, as illustrating the principles

on

which the enormous British Empire has been

built up.

In the building up of our Indian Empire, our policy has

long been to secure along our frontiers, as buffers between

these

and the neighbouring empires, a

states,

fringe of thriving

semi-independent
internal
affairs,

self-governing

as

regards

their

and enjoying an amount of freedom that

in case

would make them a useful force

under our suzerainty

of invasion, but

as

we guarantee

their

autonomy

148

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

to

and open
stone

our trade.

For

trade, after

all,

is

the key-

of our policy, and not land-hunger or territorial ex-

pansion.

"The
"

greatest of
is

all

political interests," says

Mr.
exist

Chamberlain,

commerce, as our nation cannot

without trade." Annexation of neighbouring states, or even

direct interference in their
until oft- repeated

management,

is

never thought of

aggression and aggravating injury to our

absolutely

commerce

leaves

no

alternative
civilized

but that the

country should be brought

under a

government.
arose
in

Our
this

relations

with

this

little

Himalayan

state

way.
the

When

warlike tribe of Hindooised Mongoloids, the

Goorkhas, after conquering Nepal, towards the end of the

eighteenth century, encroached on India in 1814, they over-

ran Sikhim and threatened to occupy the whole stretch of

the Himalayas as far south as Assam.

The

British,

however,
late king,

drove them out of Sikhim in 18 17, restored the

and adding

to

his

state a considerable tract of the Terai

hills

or Morang, at the foot of the

to us

which had been ceded

the defence of

by Nepal, our government undertook

and interposed
it

his country,

as an effectual barrier against

the expansion southwards of the aggressive Nepalese, whose

growing power

at that

time endangered India.

Then

after

fourteen years of peace a frontier dispute again broke out

between

Sikhim

and the Nepalese, and

to

settle

it

the

British agent, Mr. Grant,

was

sent.

He was

so impressed

with the advantages that Darjeeling offered as a sanitarium

for

our troops, that he induced our Government to negotiate

BRITISH EMPIRE-BUILDING
for its cession.
territory,

149

The Rajah

yielded in 1835 the wished-for

strip

namely Darjeeling, and the

it

of hilly land
for

connecting
pension

with

the

plains,

in

exchange

an annual

of 300,

soon raised to 600, which sum much

it.

exceeded the revenue that he had ever derived from

Whilst the young settlement of Darjeeling was growing

by

leaps

and bounds, things went smoothly

it

for

several

years
priests

between

and our feudatory king, or rather the

who

acted for him.

change came with the acces-

sion

to

power of a

crafty Tibetan minister

who

ruled the

country with a sole eye to his

rate slave-dealer,

own

profit.

He was

an invete-

and made money by sending slaves from

Sikhim, where slavery was prevalent, to Tibet, and he, as

well

as

the

local

chiefs,

with this object, raided into our

British

territory,

and kidnapped

subjects

and refused

to

release

them; while, on the other hand, he demanded the

all his

return of
In the

runaway slaves who had

his

fled to Darjeeling.

hope apparently of extorting

demands he
in

seized

the

Governor of Darjeeling, Dr. Campbell,

1849,

when

the latter went to try to get matters on a friendly footing,

and imprisoned him

for six

weeks

at this very place,

where

we now
then
lives

are

and along with him Dr. Hooker, who was

in the
is

travelling
here,

country

and both nearly

lost their

as

related

by Hooker

in his Journals.

These

outrages were avenged by the annexation of a further strip

of

Lower Sikhim

including

all

the Terai, the suspension of

the cash allowance for a few years, and

of the hostile minister.

by

the banishment

150

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

latter,

The

however, continued his intrigues and his

evil

influence over the king from the adjoining Tibetan district

of Choombi, across the Chola Pass, where in order to escape

from the heavy rains of Sikhim, the kings usually spent

their

summers.

Further kidnapping and plundering led to

24

the English occupation of "the palace " here in 1861,

a

when

treaty

was exacted to secure

free trade, the protection

facilitate

of travellers,

road-making and to
in return for this

our trade with

Tibet

and

concession the king's annual

allowance was raised to 1,200.

After
this,

though no actual

conflict occurred, the

King

kept aloof from the friendly overtures

made

to

him by our

Government, and allowed the treaty

roads to
aulay,

in

regard to trade and

remain a dead

letter.

In

1884 Mr. Colman Mac-

one of the few who have realised the considerable

possibilities of Tibet, finding that the little trade

commercial

there had been between India and that country was languishing,

prevailed
secretary,

on the government of Bengal, of which he

to

was
that

send him to open communications with

land.

jealously

isolated

On

this

errand

he passed

through Sikhim and met the Tibetan governor of the frontier

district,

secured his good will and obtained a friendly letter

from the minister of the

Following up
for a
this

Grand Lama of Western Tibet.

opening, Mr. Macaulay arranged in 1885

commercial mission to Lhasa, and he procured from

visit that

the Chinese a passport to

in

sacred city of their vassal,

terms of the Treaty of Tientsin extracted by the Euroat the

pean powers

occupation of Pekin. But this passport

CHINESE AND TIBETAN INTRIGUES IN SIKH1M

proved to be simply a paper concession,
the
like so

151

much
to

of

Chinese
it

concessions,
is

and was never intended

be

used. For

an open secret that the Chinese, who hold

in their

most of the Tibetan trade

ately

own

hands, sent immedi-

secret

orders

to Tibet to obstruct the mission, with

it

the result that an armed force of Tibetans opposed

and

prevented

it

from crossing the

frontier.

So jealously did the

Chinese view this mission that they actually conceded us

some of

their territory

on the Burmese side to secure

its

withdrawal, whilst they decorated the King of Sikhim with

a grand
title

and a high-class button of rank from Pekin.

of this mission was regarded

Our abandonment

by the

Tibetan Lamas as cowardice. They intrigued more actively

than ever
in

Sikhim.

They stopped

all

trade over the passes

and they induced the King to desert

in Tibet.

his

country and settle

For over two

of the

years

there

was

the

strange

spectacle

King absenting himself from

his country,

and he

deliberately refused to return notwithstanding the representations

made

to

him by our government

;

that his country

was going to
sorely

ruin

that his impoverished people

in

were being

harassed

by orders issued

his
;

name, extorting
that

extravagant
almost
in

sums of money from them

revolt;

they were

open

and that

if

he did not return soon

to right their wrongs, his allowance

might be stopped. He,

however, refused to return and defied our Government; and

his

Tibetan friends, emboldened by our apparent inaction,

threw

an armed rabble of Tibetan troops into Sikhim

in

152

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

and blocked our trade-route by building a
at
fortified

1887

barrier

Lingtoo,

below the Jelep pass, well within the

Sikhim

territory.

This move ended disastrously for the Tibetans. In March

1888
them,

they were driven out of Sikhim with great loss to

and

little

to ourselves.

Since then, the King,

British Resident

who

had meanwhile returned, has had a

imposed

upon him, and the policy of desertion and misrule under

which
his

country has so long languished

to

is

now

over.

The

King has been made

must discharge
his

understand that henceforward he

to his state

duties

and must have no

joint

more dealings with

representing

the

Tibetans.

Commission
appointed to

England and China has been

define the frontier and facilitate trade with Tibet.

Good

roads

are being made, and torrents bridged

and already, swarms

of Nepalese are being imported into the country, to reclaim

its

forests

and give to

it

a large settled population of

in-

dustrious peasantry.

To

guarantee the performance of his

engagements, and counteract the intrigues of the banished

minister, his

own Tibetan

wife,

and

their

Chinese supporters,
resi-

a detachment of our troops has been placed near his

dence
than

and as we take our departure we can see on more

hill

one

across

the

valley
little

the

white

tents

of our

pickets, the outposts of our

army, under whose watch

for several

and ward the country has been

months.

Under an enlightened and

is

efficient administration, there

in fertile

not only no reason

why

Sikhim, so rich

valleys

and with some mineral wealth as

well, should not

become

A CHANCE OF LIBERATING SIKHIM

prosperous and pay
is

153

its

way

but,

on the contrary, there

every

prospect of the

country becoming as rich and

district.

prosperous as the Darjeeling

to

The

chief obstacle
priests
is

advance,
is

now

that the political

power of the

broken,

the administrative corruption, which in

;

the East

eats deeply into every department

and the present Rajah

certainly

does not seem to have displayed much aptitude

for his trust.

Much more
presumptive

hopeful
as

is

his

younger
son
still

son,

who

is

his

heir,

the

elder

has

been

made

monk
if

in Tibet.

This boy,

who

is

a mere child, might,

;

suitably

educated,

become

a creditable ruler

and those
its

who have
at heart,
bility,

the best interests of the country and

people

expect that our Government

will see

the advisa-

nay, the necessity, of putting this boy, without delay,

under proper European instruction, so as to train him up

to

an enlightened sense of his princely duties and respontowards

training,
his

sibilities

people and country.

effectual,

Such
entirely

however, to be

must be done
is

by a competent European,

for

it

in

the last

degree undesirable that the boy be made a Bengalee Baboo

and there

is

much

risk

of this

happening, for even the

Lama Ugyen Gyatsho

years'

has been so influenced by his few

association

with

Bengalees,

that
really

our

Sikh

orderly

stoutly maintains that he

must be
It
is

one of these, and

not a Sikhimite at

all.

to

be hoped that our Governso,

ment

will see to this

important matter, and

while con-

tributing to the welfare of his people

and the development

154

AMONG THK HIMALAYAS

same time secure
to ourselves a use-

of his country, at the

ful

ally.

On
lazily

returning
in

to

the
in

monastery with

its

flags fluttering
else,

the
a

wind,

lazy keeping with

fruit,

everything

we found
etc. gifts

few presents of

stale

milk and butter

awaiting us from the minister.

in

We

acknowledged these
in

the usual

way, by sending him

return

much

more than
the

their equivalent in value,

and

also paid toll to

servants

who brought

the

things.
in

The remainder

of

the evening, after dinner,

ritual

we spent

watching the curious

of the priests in the temple.

or priests sat cross-legged in rows, according

The monks

to their rank, the head-priest sitting

next to the high

altar,

on which were ranged the

strous Indian
also

idols of

Buddha and

the mon-

and Tibetan

divinities of the

Lamas.

On

it

were

set brazen candlesticks,

and bowls containing holy

still

water,

flowers

stuck

in

English beer-bottles

bearing

their original labels, cake-offerings

and

sacrificial

implements.
the

Clouds of incense

filled

the

building,
lit

and

in

smoky

gloom of the temple, dimly

by

flickering candles, the

monks

half veiled

and half

visible

chanted their spells to

devils.

appease the divine wrath and to banish the

service, at times,

This

was most solemn and impressive.

When

the sound of voices rising from a low intoned drone swelled

up

into a loud joyous chant,

and sank again

into a whisper,

and the only sound was the slow deep sepulchral tones of
the
steal

chief priest, the influence of the mysticism

into

seemed

to

your very

soul.

Then suddenly the thunder of

PUBLIC PRAYERS FOR

drums and the shout of the
clash

OUR EXPEDITION

155

priests

and people and the

ear,

of cymbals

crashes

on your

startled

and the

service

becomes

for a time noisy

and discordant.

We

were surprised
for

to find that part of this service

was

specially

our

benefit,

as

Kintoop had offered many

candles and had arranged for special prayers for the success

of our expedition and our safe return.

What immensely

tickled

our

Indian

servants

was the

frequency with which refreshments of soup, tea and occasional

rounds of beer were served out to the monks

during the intervals of worship.

in the

temple,

They

declared that they

would much
its

like

to

belong to a religion which provided

Before

votaries with creature comforts so abundantly.

in

we turned

for

the

night

we

noticed an extraordinary

procession of some of our coolies,

who had

evidently been
to

paying
to

visits

and been too hospitably treated

murwa
They

drown the memory of

their fatigues of yesterday.

were stumbling along, the most unsteady bringing up the

rear,

but

all

were

in

good humour and not

at all boisterous
all

and Kintoop assured us that they would be

the morning, and so they proved to be.

right in

Early next morning (12th

to

October)

we were
by

off again

Upper Sikhim, along

the Teesta Valley,

the lower

road, as the short cut over the Mafi pass

was blocked by
the
small

a landslip.

Over undulating spurs

of De-thang, or "

we passed

monastery
Laurel".

The Meadow

of the Scented

This

is

species of

Daphne from whose tough

bark the natives make paper. At the hamlet of Tingcham,

i 56

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

afflicted

where we encamped, goitre was common. One of the

peasants,

a rosy-cheeked,
see
if
I

buxom

girl,

was brought by her

dis-

parents to

could do anything to remove the

figuring swelling in her neck,

which hindered her prospects

of marriage.

gave her, as well as the others, some red

iodide of mercury ointment and

it.

showed them how

to

apply

But neither these people nor the headman, who brought

us a few presents of food, gave us

any

useful information

about the unexplored To-loong valley, up which

to

we wished

go,

and which we could now see looming dark and

steep,

some ten miles up the other

side of the Teesta.

The people

are intensely superstitious, and

many

are the

wild legends related of this lonely gorge, whose very name,

"Valley of the Rocky Avalanches", seems appalling. These

stories
tell

not only of the

are

dangers from the showers of

the
spirits

rocks

that

shot

down by

of the glaciers

and precipices, but

await
lonely
the

also of the supernatural horrors

which
its

foolhardy
since

person

who

dares

to

penetrate

glens

the

Lamas have placed

the

mausoleum
it.

of the kings there, and have worked their spells over

One
to

of the few monasteries of the aboriginal Lepchas

is

be seen across the Teesta, almost

are

opposite our tent.

The Lepchas
rulers

boycotted by their disdainful

regular
monasteries,

Bhotiya

from

the

and

in

self-defence

they have established

three
is

this

one of Gyagong and two or But

their

others

of their

own.

form

of

Lamaism
Thus

even more depraved than that of the Bhotiyas.

they offer eggs and sacrifice fowls and other living things

LEPCHA SACRIFICES TO BUDDHA-HORNBILLS

157

before the idol of the compassionate and sacrifice-abhorring

Buddha

Here we

saw several

birds

of that well-nigh

extinct

family, the Hornbills.

vultures,

They

roosted on the trees like great

painting

their

beaks bright vermilion from the

tails.

paint-box they carry under their

of the
nesting,
his

Our Lepchas
regard

told us
their

curious

habits

of these birds in

to
all

how

the male bird builds a thick

is

mud

wall

over

mate whilst she

orifice

hatching her eggs, leaving only a

until the

small

through which he feeds her

young

are fully fledged.

Next day we crossed a valley

of which

lined with
slightly

many

landslips,

one was
it.

still

fresh

and

moving

as

we
of

scrambled over
the Hill", and

Beyond Ringon,

or

"The Monastery

its

mendong

or cairn of Sim, on a point which

commands a
to the

fine

view up the mysterious To-loong valley

glaciers,

Kanchen-junga

we descended
the

to the village

of Singtam, where

we encamped on

bank of a stream,

beside two huge prayer-barrels or rather prayer-mills.

They

were

turned

like

a water-mill

at

home, by the rushing

waters of the brook.

to

When

the headman, or Pi-pon,

came

pay
to

his respects, bringing the usual small presents,

we

tried

induce him to get us some grain, as our coolies'

food had already run alarmingly low, and we had been told
that

some maize was

stored in this village.

We

therefore

tried to

tempt him to bring us some by offering four times

the Darjeeling market rate,

and the

further reward of a fine

coral necklace for his womenfolk, should he bring not less

158

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

than two hundredweight of the grain before sunset. Although

protesting
that

such

a quantity
it,

could

not

be
it

found,

he

afterwards turned up with

and measured

out with his

own

hands,

giving very skimp quantity.

On

receiving the

money and
and bowed
tration
p.

the promised necklace, he put out his tongue

his

thanks

in

true

Tibetan fashion

(see illus-

172).

The Kazi

or baron

who

resided here in

Hooker's time has transferred himself higher up to Ringon.

I

got
its

some information about the lower To-loong Valley

lonely monastery from a

and

monk who had been

intended,

there.

He

advised our going, as

valley.

we had

by way

of the

Lachen

We
tall

enjoyed magnificent sunset views up

the wild To-loong Valley, where the huge rock of Pon-nay

stood up like a

beetling tower or giant campanile.

Our
rising

track next day led

down
cliffy

to the

bed of the rapidly

Teesta;

here

in

canon we walked through

shady groves of overhanging chestnuts, oaks, and maples,

and past lovely fern and moss-grown grottoes, making many

detours to circumvent precipitous rocks,

over which casinto

cades

tumble
lost

down
in

the

cliffs

and leap

mid-air

to

become

rainbow mist long before they reach the

bottom of the cool gorge, where the thundering Teesta

churns
its

waters into milk-white foam.

At

the Lepcha village

of Namgor, where

we were

to

encamp, we met a party of

with a large flock of
Darjeeling.

Tibetan shepherds,
sheep,
that

who had come

bringing to

they were
the
I

They had

come from
valley.

Tsang province by way of the Lachoong

had bought two sheep
for ourselves

After

and

CROSSING CLIFFS ON LADDERS

servants, they
route,

150

gave us the disquieting news that the Lachen

up which we wished to go, would certainly not be

for several

open

weeks
letter

at least.

We

thereupon despatched

Kintoop

with

and present to the abbot of the

at

Choong-tang monastery

the foot of the Lachen

valley,

asking him to get the necessary bridges constructed at our

expense without delay, and next day we pushed on ourselves

to

Choong-tang.

Fording a stream of foaming cataracts, we struck down

again to the canon of the Teesta, whose cool bed
is

now

over

4,000

ft.

above the

sea.

And

after

fording

many

tributary torrents

we reached, beyond Chakoong,

the open

gravelly
clear

delta

of the many-armed Ryot river, that rushes

and sparkling over pebbly strands to join the Teesta

at

close

hand.

As we passed

a copse of alders, on a ter-

race that looked like an old moraine,

calling
in
in

we heard

pheasants
afterwards

the

tempting cover,
silver

and

my man

brought
here.

some

pheasants that he had shot for us

Thence we threaded the broad ancient bed of the

Teesta,
is

now

a wilderness of stones, through which the track

for the traveller

marked out

by small pyramids of

stones,

crowning the top of the most conspicuous boulders.

On we
This

went

until

our course was suddenly barred by a great bend

cliff.

of the Teesta, which sweeps round under a huge

we had
road"
again

to scale

by ladders of notched bamboos, the "high

in

to to

Upper Sikhim
the
river-bed

a very

literal

sense!

Descending

beyond,
to

we threaded our way

amongst the great boulders

where, at an elevation of

i6o

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

ft.

5,200
their

above the
form

[sea,

the

Lachen and Lachoong

of the

unite

waters to

the

commencement

Teesta.

Here the
road to Tibet branches into
two, one of which leads up
the

Lachen, or the

"Long

CROSSING CLIFFS ON BAMBOO LADDERS.

Pass", and the other up the

valley-

"Short Pass", or Lachoong, and from these two

passes the rivers respectively take their names.

Upon

the

promontory formed by

their junction,

above a small meadow,

DELAYED BY BROKEN BRIDGES

stands the monastery of Choong-tang, or "

161

The Meadow of

Marriage (of the two rivers)."

On

crossing the

Lachoong
the

torrent

by a good cane-bridge,
awaiting us with
the monastery.

we found Kintoop and

The Lama, though
and
dignified,

head

Lama
was

jugs of murzva, on the marshy

meadow below

quite a youth,

strikingly

handsome

and had short curly hair

like the conventional

images of Buddha.
the Tibetan
style,

He

presented a

ceremonial scarf, in

and said that immediately on receiving

all

our message he had collected

the available

men from

surrounding hamlets to make the necessary bridges; and

that
all

these men,

some dozen

or more, were then present.

at

We
take
built

thereupon held a council,

which

it

appeared that

the construction of the three bridges over the

Lachen would
to

nearly
entirely

week,

as

the

largest

would require

be

from our side without any aid from the op-

posite bank, as

no Tibetans had yet come down that

valley.

There was no doubt as

for

to the chief bridge being really broken,

Kintoop had himself gone up to the place, to ascertain

I

the facts. This intelligence,

ing, especially as

confess,

was most disappoint-

such delay at this time of the year, even

in

were we to consent to wait so long

such a hole, meant

almost certainly more snow on the upper passes to which

we were bound.

So we

decided, reluctantly,

to

alter

our

programme and go up the Lachoong Valley

instead,

and

thence try to work round into the Lachen Valley by Kangralamo, as Hooker did, in the reverse direction, or by the

unexplored pass of Sherboo.

And we were

reconciled to

162

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

change when we looked up the Lachoong Valley. were gladdened by the sight of
its

this

Our

hearts slopes
for
it

bold pine-clad
off;
its

and peaks tipped with snow, only a few miles

rises

so

rapidly that

it

is

almost Alpine at this

lower end.

Whilst our tents were being pitched on the

breakfast was getting ready,

meadow and
the

we responded

to

Lama's

invitation to visit the monastery.

We

were received as honoured guests, and we must have

formed quite a picturesque procession as we climbed the

winding path to the convent, to the inspiriting
the temple band
file,
!

strains of
in single

First, there

marched the band

blowing horns and trombones, clashing cymbals, and

beating drums that were held aloft by a handle, like huge

uplifted frying-pans, such as

we had seen

at

Phodang. After

the band, and immediately preceding us, walked the stately

mitred Lama, carrying burning joss-sticks or tapers of sweet

incense.

We

were escorted by several red-robed

tail

priests, while

Kintoop with a straggling

the rear.

of our followers brought up

The monastery
looking the rivers.

is

perched on a commanding knoll, overIt

is

a small two-storied

building of

rude stone, with an upper wooden balcony reached by a

notched log as a ladder.

One

of the chief idols in this

temple

is
25

the tutelary goddess called

is

"The Diamond Lady

Sow".

This lady

not exactly the kind one would care

to introduce to one's friends.

She has the form of a woman

with three
is

heads, one of them a sow's, and her character

that of a blood-thirsty

and vindictive

she-devil.

To

account

THE LEGEND OF CHOONG-TANG MONASTERY

for

163

her high

position here, the

is

Lamas say

that the
it,

name

of this place

not really, as the villagers

it

call

"

Choong-

tang";

but

that

should be "Tsoon-tang" which means

"The Meadow
This

of our

Lady

(-Sow)".

now

solitary place
still

was once a Tibetan outpost, of

visible
;

which the ruins are

and

it

was the scene of

of the
are

much excitement about

valleys

ten years ago.

The people

of

Lachen and Lachoong which meet

here,

Tibetan herdsmen, over

whom

the abbot or

Lama

of this

monastery claimed
tithes

spiritual jurisdiction

and extorted so many

It
is

that

they

rebelled

against him.

related, that

the infuriated
tering

mob

of herdsmen gathered here, and slaughvalley,

at

two bull-yaks, one from each

the
in

spot
the

where we are encamped, they dipped

their

hands

reeking blood, and swore a great oath never again to

allegiance
to
this

owe

Lama,

or send their sons to be

its

monks

of this

monastery,
its

or do any of

drudgery or cultivate
to the monastery,

any of

lands.

Then they marched up

brandishing their swords, beating

drums, and shouting ven-

geance on the
precipitately

Lama

but he, on hearing the outcry, had fled

down

the valley to Ringon monastery, where

fell

he

still

lives.

The deserted monastery

till

into decay,

and

remained

in a ruinous state

1883,

when

more popular
it.

Lama was

sent from Pemiongchi to re-establish

to the opposite extreme,

This new
said
;

Lama, however, went

it is

and

so intimately identified himself with the Tibetans, that he joined

them and
and
at

fled to

Tibet during our recent war with that country

present our

handsome young host

is

in charge.

64

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

acts

He
I

up to
out,

his

Buddhist ideal
in

in

some ways,

for

when

was going

gun

hand, to look for game, he lamented

over

my

sin of shooting,
life,

and appealed
within
I

to

me

not to take

any animal
temple
of

at least

some miles of the sacred

to

Buddha.

So

had

go botanizing

instead.
inspirit-

And
ing

looking up out of this deep dark gorge to the

snowy peaks

rising

only

few miles up the valley,

really

we were cheered

to feel that

we were

on the threshold

of the Himalayan Alps, at

last.

CHAPTER

THE ALPINE LACHOONG VALLEY TO THE TIBETAN FRONTIER THE TANG-KAR, DONG-KIA, SEEBOO, FATA AND GORA PASSES

Dong-kia's beetling bastions frowned

A
No

silent

warning

far

around

foot

may

venture here. C. Macaulay's

Lay of Lachen.

Such

delightful

day's

walk we had up the lovely

It

Alpine valley

of Lachoong.

well repaid us for

all

our

many

days' discomfort in the hot gorges below.

Our path
first
it

ran along the

bank of the rushing

river.

At

led

over gravelly strands

in the cool river-bed,

where clumps

of familiar European shrubs and flowers showed the proximity of the snowy peaks, which

now almost overhung

still

us,

although the forest on the banks was every step carried

us quickly

semi-tropical.

But

up

into an Alpine climate.

to the opposite

After about a mile,

we crossed

bank by
Tibetan

a cane bridge near the place where

Hooker

lost his

[66

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

this,

dog "Kinchin"; and beyond

valley

over an old moraine, the

opened out a

little,

and the snow fingered down

the peaks on either side of
us.

The upper

reaches ot the

hillsides got

more and more

and
the

bare and

rugged,

contrast between their south-

ern

and northern
striking.

sides

was

most

The
were

warm
still

southern

slopes

covered

by

dense

forest,

where straggling rattan-cane,

or climbing

palms,

rose

to

LOG-BRIDGE ON CANTILEVER PRINCIPLE.

the tops of trees 70 or 80 feet high, and trailing over 100

yards through the jungle,

penetrated almost to the pines

THE ALPINE LACHOONG VALLEY

that

167

crowned the summits. The

pines, as

we moved upwards

into cooler altitudes,

were reaching farther and farther down

while
in

the

mountain sides;
lay

the

cold

northern

shade,

snow

low down below the peaks, which on

trees.

this side

were mostly bare of

At
hut
the
in

the

hamlet of

Kedoom

(6,400

feet)

we

halted at a

an

orchard of peach and apricot trees, and found

fruit

refreshing,

though not yet

in

ripe.

Here there

is

very
place,

marked change
as

the

flora

and fauna. Indeed

this

Mr.

Blanford
the

observes,

may be

considered the
faunas,

boundary

between

Malay

and

Palaearctic
is

boundary which on the eastern Chola range

feet higher.

3,000 to 4,000

Wild goats {Gooral) are

to

be found here.

We

recrossed the river by a picturesque bridge on the

cantilever principle, the

same which

is

so
;

common
and
I

in

China,

and figured on the willow-pattern plates

the same style

have seen

of bridge, only more elaborate, in Upper

Burma. They resemble somewhat the ancient Gallic bridges

described

by

Caesar,

and much the same are

still

to be

seen
or

in

the mountains of Savoy. Great logs of pine, oak,

other

sturdy

trees,

are laid

down on

either

bank and

"canted" up, so that one end projects a long way over the
bank, and the beams are fixed in this position by loading

down

their

landward ends by heavy

rocks.

Then

across

the abutting ends of these piers, stretching from the one to

the other,
is

placed a platform of three or four logs, lashed

this,

together; and on

for footway,
It is

some planks and brush-

wood

are laid crosswise.

thus a fairly strong suspension-

168

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

and
if

bridge,
cattle

made broad enough,

it.

as this

one was, even

can cross
this

Beyond

bridge,

the valley broadened out, and the

undergrowth got

less dense.

We

passed up through a fine

trees,

open glade
squirrels

in the forest,

amongst walnut

where the

were busy

at

work.

We

knocked down a few of

the nuts and found them excellent.

holly,

Onwards through

hazel,

maple, crab-apple, poplar and pines, we entered an

peculiarly

open grassy meadow, dotted by the

cattle,

Tibetan

the yaks, browsing on

first

its

rich pasture.

This was the

out of the
in

time

had seen these Tibetan oxen,

"Zoo"

in

Regent's Park.

They

are

shaggy

beasts,

appearance
cattle
call
is

something

between the
:

American
and

bison,

and the
grunting

of the Scotch highlands

aptly

their curious

denoted

in their scientific

name of

"The

Grunting

Ox"

[Bos grunniens).

They

are noble-looking
in spite of their

massive animals, especially the bull-yaks,

oddly round and squat appearance, their broad straight

backs, short legs, and long silky hair.
hair

This thick coat of

in the arctic cold

which protects them from perishing

is

of the snows,

longest on their sides and undersurfaces,

it

and

in

some of the older animals

almost sweeps the

tuft,

ground.
the

The

tail

ends in a great bushy

as

which serves

same purpose

the

bushy

tail

of the hybernating

squirrel, curling
like

over

its

owner's feet and nose when asleep,

a rug, and thus affording protection against the intense

of the Himalayan nights.
in

cold

These bushy

yak-tails are

much

demand

in India,

as fly-whisks (chowrics) for In-

THE YAKS AND THEIR HERDSMEN

dian princes, and as royal
temples.

i6g

emblems
the

for the idols in Indian

The colour of
;

wild

yak

is

a dark brown,

almost black

but most of the domestic yaks acquire a good

;

deal of white with the black predominating

and those most

valued
muzzles
white,
their
tails

have
tipped

their

with

some white on
neck,

and

their

entirely white.

The

female yaks are called

Di-mo ; and the A-yn

are

a kind of polled

yak.

Here

also

were

YAKS.

some hybrids between

Indian

these domestic yaks and the

freely with

common
and

cow

for the

yak interbreeds
2fi

most other

species of the
are
said
to

ox

tribe.

These hybrids are

called Zo,

stand

these

warmer

valleys better

than pure

yaks,

though even they cannot survive the heat of much

170

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

in

lower elevations
rather fierce, and

this

latitude.
it

Most of these

cattle

are

we found

politic to give

them a wide

berth in passing.

Perhaps nothing gives a better notion of the essentially

pastoral character of a primitive language like the Tibetan,

than the evident relation of the

ideas

name
".

of the Yak, to the

of" wealth

"

and " excellence

is

In pastoral Tibet,

where
done

the use of

money

almost

unknown and
for

business

is

mainly by barter,
of cattle"

the

word

wealth means " possessed

the

herds of yaks and sheep.

While the word

"Yak"
call

itself is

evidently onomato-poetic, coined from the

it

of the

beast: and

seems to have conveyed

to the

rude Tibetan mind the beau ideal of excellence

nothing
to form

seemed
the

better than a

good

fat

yak

and hence
is

it

came

common word

for that

which

"good and

excellent."

The

sight of these Tibetan cattle with their Tibetan herdstheir fierce visaged deeplike bears, with a

men, the so-called "Dok-pa", and

voiced mastiffs,

who

are

marked

white

patch on the breast, and hence their usual

name

is

"Bear"

[Tom-mo],
of Tibet

made

us feel that

we were
still

nearing the borders

itself.

And

this

was

more evident when the

musical jingle

of harness

bells

heralded the approach of

riding on ponies

a party of Tibetan merchants,

who came

and yaks, and driving a string of laden yaks. For baggageanimals

pass regularly along this track from

Kedoom

to

and from Tibet.

Here,

too,

Lammergeyer eagle came

to greet us, hovering

on widespread wings, high overhead,

the unfailing escort of the traveller in these high regions.

PECULIAR TIBETAN SALUTATION

The
valley

171

now had grown

truly Alpine.

On

either side

of us rose snow-capped

mountains, almost bare

of trees,

except

in

the ravines where rhododendrons and dark pines

clustered thickly.

These elegant pines {Abies Smithiana), the

"Spruce" of Hooker, and another {Tsuga Brunnonid), had

been advancing slowly down the
hillsides

and

first

reached

the river bank on the cold northern aspect of a head-land,

about 8,000 feet above the sea-level, and about ten miles

above Choong-tang, whence we had started that morning.

Suddenly,
village

on rounding a grassy spur, we came on the

ft.),

of Lachoong (8,600

lying like

a truly Alpine

town
the

in the

bottom of the open

valley, at the junction of

Lete river with the Lachoong, and amidst the grass-

covered moraines noticed by Hooker.

the village

We

were met outside

led
in

by a party of the inhabitants

by the headTibetan
style,

man, who presented a scarf and saluted us

pressing
in his

forward his right ear and putting out his tongue

most polite way.

is,

This extraordinary form of salutation

think,

one of

the best illustrations possible of that kind of salutation which

Herbert

Spencer

27

classes as expressing the self-surrender

of the person saluting to the person he salutes.

And

it

has

never been properly described before. There

ing " of the ear as stated

is

no

" scratch-

by Hue and

the writers following

him.
or
is

What

is

done

in addition to the

uncovering and low

bow

prostration, that

and the abject putting out of the tongue,

left

the

Tibetan presses forward his

is

ear.

This,

it

seems to me,

in

accordance with the ancient Chinese

172

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

off the left ears of all prisoners taken in

custom of cutting

war, and presenting

them

to the victorious chief.

is

The

presentation of the scarf of white Chinese silk

part

an

essential

of

Tibetan

courtesy.

Not

only

is

this

^y
THE POLITE TIBETAN SALUTATION.
necessary
in

paying formal

visits,
it,

but no favour can be

it

asked of a superior without

for
all

and

forms the envelope

are these

important

letters.

So extensively indeed

articles

used in Tibet, that their importation forms a consider-

able trade with China.

LACHOONG VILLAGE

173

We
that

pitched our tent on the velvety bank of grass border-

ing the river, and nestling under a great craggy mountain

rose
it

abruptly

many thousand
we could

feet

above
its

us.

How

high
in

rose, indeed,

not see, as
its

head was hid

shoulder and
chill blast

mist;

but a glacier peeped over

cliffy

patches of snow lay

low on

its

sides,

and the

blew down
overcoats.

its

slopes

and made us quickly don our warmest

Our

tent

was soon the centre of an admiring crowd of

all

villagers

who watched

our proceedings, open mouthed

and open eyed, as most of them had never seen Europeans

before.
skirts

Some

of the

girls

looked picturesque

in

tartan
like the

and small round

hats,

and dressed generally

Bhotiya
bracelets

women
on
of

at Darjeeling.

Those wearing conch-shell

their wrist are usually married.

all

The

greatest

attraction

for the

people was to see us dine, which

It

we

did al fresco to enjoy the view.

was

interesting to
us.
It

watch the yaks browsing high up the crags above

they got there and found a footing was a marvel.

How
made

one almost dizzy to look up

like

at these great beasts

scrambling

chamois along the slippery face of the

fore-shortening

cliffs,

which

by

seemed

almost

perpendicular.
at every

They

clambered over loose masses of rock where

moment

we expected
eyes, or send

either

to see

them dashed down before our

some of

the rocks thundering

sunset,

down

to over-

whelm

us below.

At

which occurred

at 4 o'clock,

when

the sun suddenly dipped behind Kanchen-junga and

threw the valley into cold shade, the herdsmen called their

74

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

home
;

cattle

and then these big beasts lumbered down

hills

the precipitous

at a run,

and gathered on the meadow

antics, so

near

our tent,

where

their

playful
see.

clumsy and

uncouth,
literally

were

ludicrous

to

Instead

of lowing, they

grunted with joy, and most of them have tinkling

bells, like

Alpine

cattle.

Here

got

my

first

glass of yak's

milk.

It
is

surpasses in richness the richest Devonshire cream,

and

too rich in fact to drink, but with oatmeal porridge

next morning was excellent.

young yak was bought

presents
that

as

meat

for

the
us,

camp.

Amongst some
little

were

brought

were some sweet

;

turnips,

grown

locally

from Tibetan seed

ling,

such would be most welcome at Darjeeoff

which

is

badly

for
is

vegetables.

They have no
far.

Murwa

beer here as millet

too

bulky to import so
stuft

Instead of this they drink a coarse

brewed from maize,

and even

this

is

a luxury.

Buckwheat and barley are the

only grains grown locally.

I

had some interesting conversation with several of the

people, and with the

Lama

of the place.

The

inhabitants of this valley are called Ha-pa or Har-pa

Tibetans, as they

came

originally from the

Ha

province of
are

south-western Tibet, bordering Bhotan.

in
this

They

nomads

habit.

Though they have

few
the

fixed

their head-quarters at

village,

of them
early

stay here for

as

more than a few

months.

In

spring,

the

snows melt on the

upland pastures, they move up the valley with their herds,

by

stages,

to

their

summer

grazing-stations,
all

which

lie

at

intervals

of four or five miles

along the upper valley.

A NOMAD TRIBE
And
at

175

each of these stations are

erected

rude huts as

shelters,

which are evacuated as the herdsmen move on.

way, they ascend gradually higher and higher as
till

In

this

the weather warms,

they reach the summit of the Dongkia

it

pass (18,000

ft.)

about June, when

is

usually

unsnowed
and
few

and open. Thence, they cross the

frontier into Tibet

move slowly along with

their black yak-hair tents, a

of their cattle, and their produce, to Kamba-jong, the headquarters of the adjoining district in Tibet.
as far as the capital of

few go even

Western Tibet

(Shiga-tse or Tashiltheir

humpo). At those marts they barter

tea, cloth, rugs, jewellery etc.,

goods

for salt,

and then they slowly return

so as to recross the frontier into Sikhim about the end of

August, and retreat down

this

Lachoong valley before the

advancing snow. In mid-winter they leave Lachoong and

drive their yaks and other cattle
to
still

further

down, almost
vil-

Kedoom. The
and

valley has thus practically only one

lage,
is

in this respect the

neighbouring valley of Lachen

pride

said

to

resemble
their

it.

These people

themselves

immensely on
their

pure Tibetan blood, and do not conceal

contempt
to

for the Sikhimese,

though they have to pay

is

revenue
the rate

the

Rajah of Sikhim. This

paid in kind, at

of two pounds

of butter for each milk-yak, and

salt for

a blanket and two pounds of

each house.

Kintoop announced that the fugitive ex-Lama of Choongtang monastery, of

capabilities Mr.

whom we

have heard, and of whose

Macaulay had formed a high opinion, had

returned secretly from Tibet and desired to see me.

He came

176

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

I

carrying a presentation scarf, which

that

accepted, although at
it

time

was unaware that

my

acceptance of
I

meant,

according to the custom of these people, that

ably consider his request.

would favour-

He was

a jolly-looking, typical

monk
sion,

of middle age, with an intelligent and shrewd expres-

and he rejoiced
"

in the
8

title

of

"The Holder

of the
his

Religious Mysteries",

which he was careful to write on

card in the vernacular.

loyal to the English,

He

said that he

had

all

along been

and had rendered much assistance to Mr.

taken him to see the sights of Calcutta
his
it

Macaulay,

who had

and that as he had there seen with

of the great power of the English,
that

own eyes evidence

to think

was absurd
us,

he

had

been

intriguing

against

with the
said he,
is

poor

Tibetans, as his detractors alleged.

"No,"

"I have

been consistently loyal to the English, and that

Tibetans carried

why

the

me
"

off

by

force."

"What

other punish-

ment,"
inflicted

asked

in
?

an incredulous tone," have the Tibetans

upon you

" None," he
in

replied, " that

was enough
I

to

compromise me; and now

be re-instated

as they

have released me,

wish to

my

monastery here

in Sikhim.

For," said he, " although this monastery belongs to

(Pemiongchi), yet the
fiscated
it,

my

sect

new English
it

political officer

has con-

and given

to the rival sect,"

is

whose head, our

supreme.
officer.

old friend the

I

Lama
the

of Phodang,

now

politically

advised him to represent his case to our political

The view up
the "
to

Lete Valley towards Tang-kar Pass,

attractive that

Tungra" of Hooker, was so

we decided

go there next day. The only information we possess of

CASCADES OF THE LETE.

AT LACHOONG
this

179
his visit to

pass

is

the

brief notice

by Hooker, of

it

more than

forty years ago,

it.

and since that time no European

appears to have visited

Our
getting

coolies

now

got

quite

excited

at

the prospect of
in

into the snow,

and busied themselves

preparing

for this arctic weather.

Several began mending their snow-

boots and their blanket-coats;

faces

and the women, as

if

their

were not dirty enough already, smeared more brown

paint around their eyes and noses, as a protection against

possible

snow-blindness.

The Tibetans

suffer a

good deal

from
get

this affection,

and always use goggles when they can

glasses
stitched into a

them

coloured

band of

cloth,

as metal

is

so painfully cold.

The commonest

eye-preservers

consist

of a

gauze netting of closely plaited, black yakpeople when crossing the snow merely

hair; but the poorer

blacken
pigment.
the

their

faces

around the eyes and nose with dark

followed by the
all

This

latter practice is

women

of

lower classes of Tibet at

times of the year, even

at Darjeeling
is

where there

is

no snow. This hideous custom

to

said

to
their

have been forced on them by the Lamas,

attractions for possible

lessen

admirers amongst the

wavering members of the celibate monkhood.

It

was almost freezing as the darkness

fell

settled in,

and a

few drops of sleety rain

the night
I

from the threatening sky. During

a rumbling
I

was awakened by

and shaking

like

an earthquake, but on looking out,

of the disturbance

found that the cause

was a yak that had strayed amongst

it

the tent ropes, and

was more alarmed than myself.

180

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

off for

Next morning we were

here at Lachoong our

the Tang-kar pass, leaving

heavy stores and the weakliest of

return this way.

our coolies, as
river

we must

We

crossed the

on some logs and saplings thrown over the boulders,

regular

the

bridge

having lately been swept away by a

flood,

which had cut a fresh section through the end of

is

the moraine on which the village

built,

and

a streamlet

poured over

this in small cascades.

left

The bulk

of the village

stands on this terraced the

score
or

bank, and as

we passed upwards,

so of houses presented a suggestively Swiss

appearance with their wooden balconies, projecting eaves

and truly Alpine

Ascending

setting,

amidst dark pines and snowpeaks.

this lateral

moraine which belts the Lete valley,

we

rose rapidly, passing on the

way

the small monastery,

where the
a
scarf,

Lama came

forward and pompously presented

a couple of rupees, or eight

and received

in return

times the cost of the scarf.

Continuing our ascent over a bare ridge,

dotted here
Griffithii)

and there with the graceful Himalayan larch {Larix

which grows
at

about from 8,000 to 12,000

feet,

we
its

struck

the gorge of the tumultuous Lete, and followed up

steep

bank amidst pines and rhododendrons.

wild

Here

a species of

red

currant, pleasant to the taste,

grows abundantly.

After a time,

the

track got lost in the rocky bed of the

stream, along which

we picked our way amongst

:

the great

boulders, through most beautiful scenery

ficent pines,

avenues of magni-

graced by cascades, and overhung by snowpeaks.

After a mile or so,

we gained

the track

on the opposite

side

TO THE TANG-KAR PASS

181

and passed up through the pine forest oi Abies Dwnosa and the
silver-fir

(A Webbiana,

in

Tibetan "Dura Shing"), and here

{J. excelsa), the "

and there great black juniper trees

Shook-

pa" of

the Tibetans, the aromatic

wood

of which

is

burnt as

HIMALAYAN LARCH.
incense in the temples, and
is

the

"pencil-cedar" of com-

merce.

shot here, near an overhanging rock, a speckled

wood

pigeon, and higher up a snow pigeon {Columba len-

conota),

and very good eating they were

formed Sikhim
his chief
officials

Hooker

tells

how

these

last

animal food for some months,

off his

when

the

cut

meat supply

in the

182

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Presently

hope of starving him out of the country.

reached the upper limit of trees, and here

we

we encamped
at

amongst the rhododendrons and red and blue barberry,

about
12,000 feet elevation.
to

The
the

cessation

of trees was

not due

any change

in

geological formation, but

merely to cold and height. So spongy with

damp was

the

boggy

soil,

that

we had

to

cut

down

a quantity of the

pine branches

as

a platform on which to pitch our tents.

Hanging from the few straggling storm-tossed pines were

masses
fluttered

of a

stringy

white

lichen {Usnea barbatd), which

like grizzly beards.

from their branches

Our men always preferred

of

the forest to the

for

open

as a place

encampment; not only

shelter

from the cold and

fire,

wind,

but also for the sake of fuel for their cooking

and the
especially

convenient
that

fire-place

which

tree-trunk

offers,
fire

of a

dead

tree.

They

kindle their

at

the

foot of such a tree,

and the rotten touch-wood

at the

centre ignites, and the trunk thus getting hollowed out the
fire,

by

acts

as

a reflector in throwing the heat forward.

Some
the

of the half-rotten logs were luminous, and glowed in

dark this was due probably

rather
this

not to ''phosphorescence",

but
for

to

the

presence
stained

of luminous micro-organisms,

wood was

dark green by some kind of

fungus.

The morning dawned

intensely

cold,

the

thermometer

registered two degrees Fah. below the freezing-point.

The

grass and foliage were white with frost, and the ice spangles

of the frozen forest glittered in the sun.

We

started off in

RHODODENDRON MOORS
the crisp keen
air,

183

crackling the ice over the shallow puddles

streamlets that

of yesterday.
fringed
stones.

The many
icicles,

we

crossed were

with

hanging from the dripping banks and

Ascending the bleak open valley

like

a highland

moor, with rhododendron instead of heather

miles, the rocks closed in

for

about two

around

us,

and we entered a great

like giant

rocky

cul-de-sac,

whose walls rose up

towers and

battlements, that shut the snows from our view.

Through

a deep

cleft

in

this

wall,

the stream tumbled

down

in a

string of cascades,
feet,

and
to

here, at an elevation of about 14,000

we decided
this

encamp, as the pass could be easily

reached from

point the following day; and also because

it

the dwarf rhododendron-brushwood ended here, and

was

now our only

spot
for

fuel.

After selecting a picturesque and sheltered

I

our tent, and while B. went botanizing below,

cleft in
itself

climbed the precipice to the

the rocky wall, through

which the rivulet precipitated

not so sheer as
it

headlong.

The

cliff

was

looked from below.

but

steep track zig-

zagged

up

its

face,

no

bridle-path

could

easily

be

made here

for

mountain

artillery.

The view from

the top was superb.

At

ten o'clock not

ex-

a cloud obscured the summits.

Westwards the view

tended away down the rocky valley up which

to

we had come,
to the

the black tree-line, and

down

the

deep trough

silvery

Lachoong

river,

over 8,000 feet below, beyond which

glaciers
this

rose range

upon range of snowy mountain and blue

up

to

Kanchen-junga and Kabroo.

is

The contour of

latter

mountain as seen from here,

a long undulating ridge,

84

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

its

not the elegant tent-like form of

view, as seen from Darjeeling.

foreshortened southern

And

looking upwards through

the cleft where the rushing stream wrestled with the rocks
that

barred

its

progress,

was a peak of everlasting snow,

DOWNWARD VIEW FROM THE CLEFT

only
a

(14,500 feet).

few hundred yards

off,

dazzling white against the

dark blue of the Tibetan sky.

On

passing further up this narrow gorge, the stream was

seen to turn sharply up to a snowfield on the right, towards

RAREFIED AIR -GIANT RHUBARB

the pass; so
to
I

185

sent on a
I

man

to report

on the snow-track
feet

the

pass,

and

climbed a few hundred

higher to

the crest of the

cliff

called La-che-pia, overlooking our

camp,

and found

it

to be a miniature tableland.

This ascent was

over a slope of patches of snow overlying loose shingly

splinters

of rock,

chipped
slid

off

by

the

frost,

and

which

down

under foot as you went.

In
I

this

ascent,

felt

for the first

time the effects of

the rarefied air of
this

great

eleva-

tion, for I

was now
height
Blanc,

about the
of

Mont

although

no

ice-

climbing had yet

been done.
slightest

The
giant wild rhubarb.

exertion
short-

now caused

ness of breath,

and

faint

headache and giddiness; but

I

these disagreeable sensations ceased immediately

at rest.

remained

The

natives believe that these

air,

symptoms

are caused

by

a poison in the

which they

call "

the poison of the

pass " {La-dook).

In this
turf,

treeless

region there was

very

little

grass and

but

many

flowers.

Indeed the number of "living flowers

i86

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

was here remarkable. Although
still

that skirt the eternal frost"

so late in the season, there were

a few gentians bloom-

ing

amongst the withered primroses, and a great variety

of the "everlasting" kind, enveloped by

of flowers

Dame

Nature

in

such

warm woolly

coats of hair as to resemble

fleecy tufts or balls of wool.

Of these

the most striking were

the Alpine lover's favorite flower, the Edelweiss {Leontopo-

dium

alpinus) or " Lion's foot",

and the large woolly aromatic

Saussurea gossypiphora, which the Lamas use as decoration for their altars.

The

weirdest of objects in this treeless re-

gion

is

the giant wild rhubarb

{Rheum

nobile),

29

" the " Cliuka

of the

Tibetans.

Its

tall

pale pyramids of about four feet

all

high and

an equal diameter at the base, standing on

cliffs

the topmost
sentries

ranging up to 15,500

feet,
;

looked

like

guarding these gigantic battlements

and more than

for

once they misled

me

into

stalking

them

possible
this

snow-bear or eagle. As few Europeans have ever seen

magnificent
its

plant

growing
first
I

in

its

home,

here reproduce

photograph, the
graceful

believe that has ever been taken.

its

The

incurving
its

of the pale pink leaves of

is

tall

stem to protect

bunches of seeds

remarkable.

Its

stem contains a large quantity of water, a grateful beverage

to the thirsty traveller,

and the

stalks of

its

leaves are as

pleasantly acid to the taste as our cultivated rhubarb.

No

trace

whatever could
here.

find

of the

glacier

which

Hooker places

The
it

line of perpetual

snow

is

uneven,

and strange to say,

here descends

much

further on the

sunny southern side than on the cool northern shade, though

THE LINE OF PERPETUAL SNOW

on the
evidently

187

more

outlying
to

spurs

the

reverse

holds.

This

is

owing

the greater portion of the rain-clouds

which come from India on the south precipitating themselves at

once,

as

snow, and leaving

little

of their moisline

ture for the drier northern sides

and Tibet. Here, the

ft.,

of perpetual snow, although in places over 18,000

aver-

ages a height of about 16,000

ft.

above the

sea-level,

and
ft.

comes

as low as

15,000

ft.,

compared with about 9,000

in the latitude of the in this part of the

it

Swiss Alps. In winter the snow

ft.,

falls

Himalayas as low down as 6,000

but
ft.

seldom

lies for
it

more than a few days even

at

10,000

Though

was not yet noon the clouds which had been

creeping up the valley

the

now began
to

to drift over

me, and by

time

got

down

camp

all

the snows were hidden

in clouds.

The

tent

was

tied
in

to

rocks and boulders, as tent-pegs

could not

be used

such a stony place.

hillsides.
I

We

spent the

day rambling over the

sighted

some partridges
berries,

and a monal pheasant feeding on the rhododendron

but
this
I

did not get a shot at them.

altitude in his

Achoom's trouble with

high

cooking operations was amusing.

sir,

He came

to

me
is

with a long face, and said, " O,

the water
I

of this place
boiled the

very bad

It

will

not boil properly.

have

potatoes and the rice and vegetables for more

still

than three hours and

they are hard." The real reason

of course was that the water, under the reduced atmospheric

pressure,

boiled
starch

at

so

low a temperature that

it

did not
to roast

burst

the

grains fully.

So

told

Achoom

188

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

potatoes

his

and not to try to

boil

them.

We

were now

quite out of bread, which

grew mouldy

in less

than a week,
it

and even that also which we had toasted

for softening

to preserve

down
for

in stews, tasted

now

like old Stilton.

We
to

started

the

pass

next morning (October 19th)

before day-break, so as to secure an unclouded view, and

get
sun.

over the

frozen

snow before

it

began

to

thaw

in

the

Proceeding upwards through the rocky throat of

the gorge,

we

entered the stony valley to the right, between

bold snowy

peaks,
the
for

and crossing the frozen streamlet, we

snow-field,

soon

reached

which

stretches
to

up

in

an

unbroken sheet
pass.

about

three

miles

the top of the

is

From

this

expanse of perpetual snow the name

derived

Tang-kar, or

"The White
to

(Snow-) Field".

On

the

way we had
the rarefied

frequently

stop to recover our breath in

air.

On
spirit

reaching the top, our

men

shouted a prayer to the

of this pass, and tearing shreds from their dresses, tied

to the tops of

them

some

prayer-flags which projected from

a rude cairn on the fine sweep of snow on the summit.

The view
ceases
rises a

into

Tibet from here

is

striking.

The snow
this

a few yards below the summit,

and beyond

panorama of dark, bare peaks streaked with a

of tints like the burned up hills of Aden, but

fiery

welter
in

set

framework of dazzling snow, and capped by snowy

peaks soaring up into a clear Italian sky.

bitter,

The

cold was

but the piercing wind that swept the top was

itself.

much

more trying than the cold

This icy

blast,

sharp as

TANG-KAR PASS-VIEW INTO TIBET

a razor, cut and skinned our faces,
flakes of

189

froze our breath into

snow, hung

icicles

from moustaches, and striking

our temples, through our closely-fitting woollen arctic caps,

caused severe headache.

Yet thousands of

tiny birds, like

wag-tails, annually migrate over such

exposed passes to and

is

from Tibet

though when the temperature of such winds

the freezing-point,

much below

we were

told,

even eagles

VIEW INTO TIBET FROM TANG-KAR PASS (16,500

feet).

and

other

large

birds

often

drop

stone

dead

in

their

flight.

We
there

descended a short way down the Tibetan

side, as

was no guard

to

oppose us; and Kintoop pointed

out the position of a distant hot spring that he had formerly

visited.

Returning to the summit, we tried to boil a

ther-

mometer

to control the reading of our aneroid which gave

ft.,

the height at about 16,500

as on the survey

map, but

190

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

half-an-hour's
(spirit

after
all

assiduous
as well

trial

and the expenditure of

our fuel
all

as a large bundle of firewood)

boil.

and

our patience, the thing would not

This

in-

strument, a
best

"hypsometer" of the
is

latest pattern
its

and by the
purpose
in

London makers,
It is

quite unsuited for

such altitudes.
with
its

made

of brass, which parts so quickly

heat in these intensely cold regions, that the water

cannot be heated to the boiling-point.

a less conductive metal, and a jacket of

What
felt

is

needed

is

or other non-

conducting material, also a mica-screen to prevent the flame

being extinguished
to

by the wind.

It

would be interesting

know how
in

the native survey-spies boiled their thermoas they

meters

Tibet,

were supplied with these badly

designed instruments, and the heights of most of the passes

in Central

and

S.

W.

Tibet, as found in the maps, are given

on their authority.

Leaving the pass about 10

in retracing

a.

m.,

we found some

difficulty

our steps, as the snow had begun to thaw and

in places,

we sank deeply

and the dazzling glare was very For the

fierce

trying in spite of our dark spectacles.

in this latitude so

sun

heated up the
three
feet

air as to raise its

temper-

ature to

Fah.

above the snow, when out

it

of the wind; so that, paradoxical as

may

seem,

it

sometimes

happens that people get sunstroke even amidst the snow.

We

looked again for the glacier mentioned by Hooker,

find

but could

no trace whatever of
mistake
in

it.

There probably
for
it

has been some

placing

it

here,

would

indeed be remarkable that a glacier should have entirely

TANG-KAR PASS
disappeared within forty years and yet have
trace
left

191

behind no

of any very recent glacial action.

The stream from

TRYING TO BOIL AN ALTITUDE THERMOMETER ON THE SUMMIT OF TANG-KAR PASS (16,500 feet).
the

snow-field

had already
its

in

these

few

hours

become

swollen to twice

size

by the melting snows.

in

At
(Fah.)

night

the

temperature

our tent

fell

four degrees
all

below

the

freezing-point,

and we needed

our

192

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

warmest woollen and sheepskin wraps; and our poor men

who

could not be accommodated in the servants' tent, sought

the shelter of

some overhanging rocks

for

to our leeward,

where

they huddled together;

rocks
retain
it

get

heated up by the
of this heat long
stars in this high

sun during the day,

after the

and

much
The

ground has radiated

off.

altitude sparkled with

I

unwonted

brilliancy.

was roused next morning about

sunrise,

by a strange
servants in
this

European voice

outside, cheerily calling to

?

my

Hindoostani, " Is your master here

"

Wondering who

could be at such a place where no European had been

for

so

many

years

and

at

such a time,

hurried out to

find

stalwart

figure

leaning

on an alpenstock. Bidding
cleft,

me good

morning, he pointed to the

and
I

said, " Is that

the pass?"

and
and

seemed incredulous when

replied that

it

lay over two miles higher up. " For," said he, "

my

aneroid,

which
16,000
pass."
his,

have just received from the Survey

ft.,

office, registers

my map

gives 16,100
that

ft.

as the height of the

I
it

showed him

my

watch-aneroid had beaten

ft.

as

recorded over 22,000

for this height, whilst

our large one which had been standardized a few weeks

before
at

the Survey

office,

gave a reading of a few

feet

under 14,000, which coincided with the

point thermometer or hypsometer.

results of our boiling-

The

truth

is

that small

aneroids are only toys, and not to be trusted. After a cup

of coffee, he said he must push on as he was going over

the pass
that this

down

into the

Choombi Valley of

Tibet.

suggested

might lead to awkward

political

complications,

FRACAS WITH THE CHINESE GUARD

193

seeing that our boundary commissioners had just arrived at

some understanding with the Tibetans and Chinese

this as

as to
cross,

a boundary

line

which Europeans must not

at

and the Chinese ambassador was himself

the present

moment on
gallant

the Tibetan side, not far from this pass.

Our

friend,
;

however,

declared that he would risk such

his coolies

troubles

so

wished him good luck, and he and

cliff

clambered up the
cleft.
I

and soon disappeared through the

afterwards heard that he was seized

to the irate

by the Tibetans

and carried

Chinese Commissioner, who promptly

deported him across the frontier and required considerable

persuasion to hush the matter up.

Our canvas
air.

tent

was a curious
loosened
all

sight in the crisp keen

After our

men had
it

the ropes,
stiff

it still

remain-

ed standing, as

had been frozen

as a board with

the moisture of our breath.

And
fell

it

had

to be beaten with

the tent poles and sticks to

roll
it

it

to the ground,

and

to

up.

The

return
hill.

to

Lachoong was

easy,

as

it

was

directly

down
into

On

arrival at

Lachoong, an open note was put

my

hand, addressed to
It

"The Doctor

travelling in

Upper
and

Sikhim".
implored
of his

was
to
in
I

from
at

an unknown once to

correspondent,

me

come

Kedoom where

a friend
state.

was
as

an alarming and apparently

dying
I

Anxious
resist
fair

was to push on up the

;

valley,

could not

such

an appeal

so although

had already done a

feet,
I

day's march in our

off

descent of about 6,000

at

once started

down

the valley

on

foot, as

no pony could
13

94

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

man who brought
some

be got, accompanied by Kintoop and the

the letter as a guide.

The man

led

me

to the small temple-

cottage outside which

we had
in

halted to eat
I

apricots

on the way up, and there

room
I

met

my

correspondent

attending a prostrate figure,

in

whom

found unconscious and

I

dying condition.
I

As

a last resource

applied a few
rallied,

medicines that

had brought with me, but he never

and he died next morning about 4 a.m.

death.

His was a sad

in

He was
had

the Reverend S

h,

who had been

weak
to

health in Calcutta, and almost immediately after

coming

the

hills

started

off to the

Dong-kia Pass, where the

rarefied air,

combined with the cold and glare of the white

fatal

/ocks and snow, had caused

inflammation of both lungs,

and some sun-stroke as

well.

We

decided to bury him here,

as his remains could not well be carried back to Darjeeling,

which

was more than

valleys.

week's journey along the hot

fixed

intervening
his

So we

on a romantic spot

for

grave

and on a terrace above the house where he died,

and overlooked by snowy peaks, the rushing waters of the

Lachoong murmur unceasingly

their

lament over the

last

resting-place of our unfortunate fellow-traveller.

Returning to our camp at Lachoong,

ing

found B.

sufferfelt

from

a
to

slight

cold

caught
for

on the pass.

As he we had

disinclined

proceed

few days, and

just

entered the most interesting portion of the mountains, and

the

cloudy

sky presaged snow on the higher passes,

therefore pushed on next

day up the

valley, leaving

Achoom

and Rameses the cook, and most of the other servants

DEATH OF A FELLOW-TRAVELLER
with B., and arranged for letters to be forwarded on to

195

me

by runners.
in

Kintoop, of course,

took with me, and also

addition to two yaks for baggage, ten strong Sikhimese

coolies.
I

and Tibetan

was rather

loth to

have

to take as

GRAVE AND CAIRN OF OUR FELLOW-TRAVELLER.

cook Rameses'

assistant,

who
a

rejoiced in the
title

name

of

"The
his

Mighty Ocean"
insatiable

(Gyatsho),
for

which aptly defined

capacity

pilfering

and devouring our scanty

I

stores

nor was

his

cooking very tempting, but

could

not afford to be fastidious.

I

was glad

to

be able to ride up the greater part of

196

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

fifteen

the

miles to

Yoomtang,

after

the

fatigues

of the
little

previous

day and
pony,
not

night.

My mount

was a shaggy

Tibetan

much

to look at, but very sure-footed.

I

The

tinkling collar bells which rang out a chime as

I

passed

along,

could have dispensed with, nor was the high-peaked

all

Tibetan saddle at
I

comfortable.

Progress was slow, as

could only go at a walk owing to the uncertainty of the

track.

The owner

of the pony acted as guide.

He was
the quaint

a native of this valley, and told

me

as

we went

legends of the places

we

passed.

One

of these was

THE LEGEND OF THE LOST TALISMAN.

In the

heart

of the Tibetan mountains, to the north of

the Dong-kia,
lie

the neighbouring pass,

the vast ruins of

a deserted city, near the village of Ge. In the olden times

when

this city

was

flourishing

it

was the

size of

2,000 villages
inhabitant

and had 4 great

setting

monasteries.
city

One day an

out for the

of Tashilunpo

with firewood for

sale, finding that the

load on one side of one of his asses

other,
it

was heavier than the

he picked up a stone the

size

of a ram's head, and tied

the loads.
the
stone,

to the lighter side to equalize

On

arrival at Tashilunpo, the

it

Grand Lama saw

and divining that

was a lucky talisman, he

it

asked the
he
carried

man about
it

it,

and on receiving
it

as a present,

off

and deposited

in his

monastery.

Ever

since that time the monastery of Tashilunpo has prospered

enormously and come to

rival

Lhasa, but
true, that

Ge has decayed.
loses
its

And

the

prophecy has come

when Ge

POLYANDRY
talisman,
it

197

will

become empty both

inside
left.

and

out.

Even

so

it

is.

Now

there are only ten huts

My

guide,

like

most

of the

Tibetans hereabout,
Polyandry,

is

polyandrist.
posite of

This peculiar

institution,

the

op-

polygamy, whereby two or three or more men are

married to one wife in common, seems to have been widely

prevalent in ancient times.
It

even existed

in

Great Britain

according to Caesar.
of the
lack

Its

origin cannot, from

what we know

of chivalry

amongst Tibetans, be explained

is

on the principle that " the single possession of one wife

blessing too great for

a
is

one individual

to aspire to "

It

rather regarded in this pastoral country as an arrangement

to protect the joint-family

when
it

its

head

is

away

for

weeks,

herding the

cattle

and

is

also

viewed as a device to

keep the

common

property within the family, in a country

in

which cannot support a large population. Here,

however,
it

Sikhim,
is

is

usually a fraternal polyandry, that

to say

the conjoint husbands are usually brothers.

is

And

the practice
is

that

if

the eldest brother marries, his wife the brothers; while

his
if

the joint

wife
ries,

of

all

the second brother mar-

then

wife

is

common

only

to

the

second and
exception to

younger brothers, and not to the

this rule,

elder.

An

however,

is

the present

Queen of Sikhim, who was

originally married to the

younger half-brother of the present

king, and she

now

is

the joint wife of both.

The

children

call the eldest of the conjoint brothers their

"father".

The

family

relationships

are

therefore

somewhat complicated,

iq8

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

when,
as

especially
ladies

sometimes happens,
half a

some of these
dozen husbands.

are the

happy possessors of
right

Ascending the

bank of the

river,

we picked our

way amongst

the boulders, and soon reached the junction

with the Si-boo,

which rushes down a

far

fine

rugged valley

from the steep Gora pass,

glacier.

up which we could see a

a
steepish

Then we zigzagged up

rocky

track

called the "Tired Yak Pass" [Yak-che La), the foot of which
is

the

usual stage
;

for

tired

laden yaks coming

up from

Lachoong

and here are some huts of a grazing-station.

Beyond

this

we passed through

magnificent pine

forest
tints

whose darkness was relieved by the golden autumn

the larch, and fording

of

many

crystal streamlets
ft.),

we reached
said to be

the Po-nying rivulet (10,850

where there
rises

is

a detached

mass of rock that

feet high.

sheer,

like

a pulpit,

about 2,000

Further on
avalanche.

we came
whole

to

the wreckage of a tremendous

The

side

of a

great

mountain,
left,

that

towered above us about three miles to our

away, and come thundering

had broken
ago
;

down some

six years

and

the rocky avalanche had covered the valley for

many

miles

with

its

debris and buried several miles of forest quite out

of sight,
ing from

leaving only a fringe of splintered pines projectits

borders.

The enormous mass of

these fallen

rocks had thrust the river to the opposite side of the valley,

over a mile

out of

its

course,

and had

dammed up

its

waters there, forming a lake.

This

is

common way

in

which lakes are formed

in the

AN AVALANCHE OF ROCKS.

AVALANCHES AND BARRIER LAKES

Himalayas.
Instances of
it

201

are to be found in the case of

the lacustrine valley of Nepal, and probably in the

Lepcha
in

legend of the lower Teesta already referred

lake of Naini
Tal,

to,

and
its

the

and the

Tals or lakes

in

vicinity.

And

such lakes thus suddenly formed and having at their

outfall

no rocky barriers
I

in

situ,

are subject to quite as

sudden disappearance.

myself witnessed

how

this

occurred
in

when

travelling in the North

Western Himalayas

1882.

On

the night of the 23rd

August of that

year, the

sudden

pressure of water from the flood of an excessive rainfall burst

through the

outfall

dam

of

Bhim
away

Tal,

whose waters rushed

and
over

down
when
I

the valley, sweeping

stretches of the forest,

fallen

saw the lake early next morning, its level had

feet,

twenty

leaving the greater part of

this great landship
cliffs

its

bed a muddy
see {vide

plain.
illus-

High above
tration)
still

we could

the scars on the

that

had been rent asunder,

Luckily
this catastrophe

standing out clear and sharp.

night,

happened during the

to

and no human
cattle.

lives are believed

have been
all

lost,

and only a few

My

guide said
spirit

that

this

havoc was wrought by the malignant

for

of

the

mountain,
to

some offence
this offence

that

had been given him;

differed

though as

what

was opinions

much.
its

The rock seems

to

be a weathered granite,
frost,

and

fall

happened during a sudden

water
like
in the crevices

which by expanding the

of the rock, splits the latter asunder

dynamite; but probably an earthquake also had to do

it,

with

as there are

some hot
off.

springs near, which indicate

volcanic action not far

202

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

over
this

Clambering

great

field

of rock
It

like

a vast

quarry, the aspect of the valley changed.

grew darker

and
the

wilder.

Beetling crags and bleak stony slopes carried of the pines up almost to the snows.
the pleasanter

blackness

But

our track

wound along

wooded bottom of

the valley, through rhododendrons, larches and willows that

fringed

the

river bank.

Here and there we crossed the

split

shingly bed of an armlet of the river, which

up into
islets.

many

branches, rushing swiftly between green turfy

In this maze of tracks of marking

the
trail

my

guide pointed out the device

freshly

by a handful of

cut twigs.

Laid lengthwise on one of the diverging tracks, these twigs

signify that that

one so marked

is

the one the traveller should

choose.

If laid

crosswise they read

(in

"no passage

this

way."

A
far

hot

spring

Tibetan Sa-chod) marked

its

position
it.

up the valley by a cloud of steam that hung over

loud
in their praises

And my men became

healing virtues of
its

of the marvellous

waters as a panacea for every ailment

under the sun.

to cross over to

It
it

lay on the opposite bank, and

we had

by a slippery log-bridge. The hot water,

smelling of rotten eggs, oozed from numerous crevices in

the
granite

rocks

at

an elevation of 11,730

ft.

At

the

largest spring a well or pool of about three feet has

been

excavated,
against

and

this
rain.

was

roofed

over

as

protection
first

snow and
was

As
to

at the pool of Siloam, the

comer

considered

get the
it.

best
all

of

it.

Here he

certainly got the cleanest of

For

my

men, notwithin
it,

standing the

cold, quickly stripped

and bathed

and

HOT SPRINGS AMIDST SNOW

drank deeply of
its

203

malodorous waters, and they invited

But
I

me
ing

also to

do

likewise.

contented myself with climb-

up the

hill

a short distance to taste a smaller spring

which there welled out, and

sacred

which though
hot.
I

not

deemed

was uncontaminated and quite as

The water
some

tasted of the usual sulphureous kind, and

for

collected

chemical analysis. " The sides of the pool and the beds

of the several issuing streams were encrusted with stringy

white

sulphury

clots,

and

in

this

hot water, masses of a

green confervoid growth waved from the stones.

rature of the hottest spring

The tempewhich
is

was 114.5
visit

Fall.,

only

about 2
fore.
3l

higher than at Hooker's

over forty years be-

The

contrast between the

Fah.),

great heat of this water

and the

icy air (3 3.

and the cold glacier water of

the river, flowing amidst streaks of snow, with a temperature

of 44

Fah., only a few feet distant, was most striking.

This apparently supernatural character of the spring has,

of course, overawed the Tibetans,
at this spring
is

who

allege that the rock

the abode of a devil [Chab-dii)

who

causes

disease

if
is

she be not conciliated.

They

also believe that the

spring

hotter in the morning and colder during the day

it

whereas
to

is

only their subjective sensations that lead them

as the difference
air at
air.
I

think

so,

between the temperature of

is

the
the

spring
colder

and the
morning

mid-day

less

marked than
difficulty

in
in

had considerable

getting

my men away
this,

from

this attractive spot.

Above

the

valley

presented

remarkably weird

appearance, as most of the granite boulders, blackened by

"

204

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

covered by
large patches of a bright

dark lichens, were

scarlet

fungus,

the fiery aspect of which in such a

snowy

setting

reminded one somewhat of the banks of that Hadestop of the Geirangerfiord

in

like lake at the

Norway.

And

the splintered trees were transformed into fantastic ghostly

shapes by masses of the long hoary lichen that streamed

in

the wind.

A
of
It
is

sudden bend of the

(11,650
ft.)

river revealed the grazing-station

Yoomtang

with

its

herds of yaks and sheep.

beautifully situated in an
river

open meadow, through which

a curve
;

the

winds with

many

on every side are

dark pine-clad slopes, leading up to magnificent snowy peaks,

of which the chief
visible.
I

is

Phaloong. Several glaciers also were

selected for

my

quarters one of the best of the

further

empty

log-huts, as

most of the yak-herds had gone and

down

the valley

my men

occupied the others. In one

of the huts, in addition to the horns and skins of several

deer and boars, said to have been killed in the neighbour-

hood,
stag,
all,

saw a
called,

fine

pair of horns of the great " Sikhim

it

so

though
Tibet,

is

not found within Sikhim at

these

but

only
I

in

whence

horns
I

had been
sighted in

brought.
the

shot here a few

snow pigeons, and

pine woods a few wary partridges and pheasants, but

did not go after them.

to

My

Tibetan coolies were delighted

see

flock

of the

red-billed

and red-legged crow

(or

properly, "chough"), which they said was the

common crow

of Tibet.

The
;

cold

at
at

night

was

intense, although there

was no wind

and

sunrise the thermometer registered

YOOMTANG AND
3

ITS
it

GLACIERS
was 36

205

Fah. of

frost,

while at 8 a.m.

Fah. and the

water of the river 40

Fah.
the

Next day

crossed

"Lachoong"
by

river (here called

Yoomtang
I

after this village)

a rude log-bridge.

Thence
about a

ascended

the

eastern

side

of the

valley

for

YOOMTANG AND
thousand
feet,

ITS YAKS.

and over a terraced moraine,

to the foot of
ft.,

the great glacier. This elevation, about 13,000 the the

is

perhaps
of
is

lowest

limit

to

which glaciers descend

the

in

this part

Himalayas.

On

northern

slopes

their

position

much

higher, and the glaciers themselves are larger even,

although

the

rainfall

on which glacialization depends

slopes

is

much

less.

The southern

seem too steep

to allow of

206

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

The
ice falls into

the ice forming a stream of great length.

the lower valleys as avalanches from the fan-shaped slopes,

and soons gets melted by the excessive

rainfall.

Here

shot

a snow partridge [Lerva vivicold), a piping hare [Lagomys

Roj'/ei),

and the curious wingless water-thrush, the Dipper.

Continuing up the valley for four miles,

river,

we

re-crossed the

and soon reached the upper

ft.

limit

of trees, about

13,000

Many

logs

were lying cut and trimmed into

planks of a size that a yak could carry, ready for transport

to Tibet,
for

where timber
to

is

extremely scarce.

Here we halted
for

little,

carry up
river,

some smaller pieces

called

our

own

firewood.

The

now

the

Riv-la, leaping over

the rocks, here

became a chain of foaming

cataracts.

The snowy mass

peaks
as
;

of Phaloong towered above the other

and several glaciers

came down
black

its

sides, as well

between the sharp-pointed

streaked with
blue

crags

to

its

south.

They were

and green crevasses, and

feet of us.

extended to within a few hundred

noticeable
that

And

it

was

the

valley

had broadened out from the

narrow V-shape of water-eroded valleys into the open U-shape,

with rounded rocky surfaces, characteristic of glacier action.

This configuration, however,

may be
;

in part

owing

to the

very low dip of the rocks here

the low Teesta valley
it

for the dip of the gneiss in

is

very high, and, as Blanford notes,

is

still

considerable as far as
is

Yoomtang; but hereabouts,

its

where the gneiss

dip
it

granitoid, with veins of pure granite,

;

is

very low and almost horizontal and to the westward

.

dips at an angle rarely exceeding io to 20

PAINFUL EFFECTS OF RAREFIED AIR

Toiling

207

slowly

up the bare stony valley and over old

moraines, with the snows and glaciers coming

down
on
us.

nearer

and nearer, the

the yaks and
I

rarefied air

began

to tell sorely

Even

pony

suffered severely from the

mal de montagne.
I

suffered less than

ride

most of the party as

of the

had been able

the

to

a great part

way; but

all

men who

carried loads, and

most of these were hardy Tibetans, were

CAPTAIN OF THE TIBETAN GUARD.

attacked

more

or

less

severely.

All

of us

had
;

splitting

headaches, nausea, palpitation, and bloodshot eyes

and we

had

to

rest

frequently

by the way
is

for

the shortness of

breath,

and that sensation which

as

graphically described

by Hooker

feeling

of " having a
in the pit
I

pound of lead on

each knee-cap, two pounds

a

of the stomach, and

hoop of

iron

around the head."

cannot explain

why

we were
this place

all

so

much more much

affected

by

the rarefied air of

than by the

higher elevations of Tang-kar.

208

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

painfully on, several of our

As we plodded
fusely at

men

bled pro-

the nose.

We
the

were

all

in

a sorry plight as

we

crossed the bridge, or Samdong, about the fourteenth mile,

and struggled
(15,000
ft.).

into
is

few

bleak stone-huts of

Momay

This

the highest grazing-station in Sikhim,

it

and

it

is

so inclement that

is

only occupied for a few

weeks during mid-summer by the hardy mountaineers.

These deserted, weather-beaten huts are

built of

rough

stone without any mortar, and through the numerous chinks

quite an icy hurricane blew, so that
inside the hut,
I

had

to pitch

my
The

tent
flat

and even then

it

was

bitterly cold.

roof consisted

of a few rough-hewn pine logs, held

down

by big

boulders.

few minutes after

my

arrival,

Kintoop came to

me

with some alarm in his face, to say that the captain of the

Tibetan guard of the pass (the Dong-kia) and his

in this station,

men were

and they intended to prevent us proceeding

any

further.
still

Whilst Kintoop was

at

speaking, several Tibetans arrived

the

door of

my

hut, attending a fine-looking old

to

man
(or

riding

on a yak, and who proved

be the captain

Ding-pon) of the guard.

He dismounted and came

he

forward,
accept-

carrying a ceremonial scarf which he offered for

my

ance

and on
if
it

my

taking

it

stated

who he

was, and

asked
that
I

were true what he had heard from

my men
On
learn-

intended going up to the Dong-kia pass.

ing that such was

my

intention, he

endeavoured to dissuade

me

from going, by alleging that not only was the weather

STOPPED BY THE TIBETAN GUARD

up there
terribly inclement, but that
it

209
to

was impossible

reach the pass now, as snow had fallen two days ago, and
driven

him and

his

men down; and

certainly their faces

with blood-shot
if

eyes and blistered peeling skin looked as

I

they had been exposed to arctic weather.

found him

quite reasonable
his

and

civil.

He

apologised for himself and

men

being on the Sikhim side of the pass, and he said

I

that of course

could go
it

if I

chose to the summit of that

pass

but that
that

was

his

duty to prevent

me from going

beyond
that
I

point

into Tibetan territory.

He

maintained

the

summit of the pass was the boundary, although

that the recent

told

him

agreement with China had fixed

the boundary at the watershed of the Lachen,

miles

some

eight

beyond the

pass, to the north.

Nor would he consent

on any terms to allow

valley,

me

to cross this

way

into the

Lachen

as

Hooker had done

in the reverse

direction.

He

maintained, like the

guard who also stopped Blanford at

from Lhasa were positive as

this pass, that his instructions

to the absolute closure of this pass against everyone except

few privileged Tibetans

and he added with much pan-

tomime, the old story, that were we to force our way across,
the throats of himself and his
I

men would be
felt

cut.

Under

ordinary circumstances
force

would have

much

inclined to
it

my way
I

over
I

it

into the

Lachen

valley,

where
I

was

so

essential

that

should arrive
it
;

quickly, and

have no

doubt that
negotiations

could have done

but unfortunately political

in

were going on just then with the Chinese

regard to this very boundary, and the promise had been

14

2io

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

me
not to cross this frontier, so as to risk
in this settlement.
I

extracted from

any undue complications

to

therefore had

forego

the attempt, and consent to go no further than

pass.

the

summit of the

This Tibetan captain turned out to be a very interesting

old man.

He had

attended the Tibetan governor or Jongmission,

pon,
in

who had met Mr. Macaulay's

the

and he

is

figured
I

photograph

of

that

group,

copy of which
in

shewed him.
little

He had

also

been fighting against us

in

our
of a

war with Tibet, the previous year,

command

small

body of Tibetans, and he had there imbibed a wholefear of our firearms.

some

In referring to

his

experiences

on that occasion, he

lost all his

Mongolian

stolidity

and

grew quite excited,

bystanders

as

he

recounted to
rifles

the awe-stricken
fire

how

our quick-firing

could

"

about a

dozen" shots without reloading,

about
five

whilst the Tibetans took

minutes to reload their wretched muzzle-loading

flint

flint-lock
fire.

muskets, and then as often as not the

missed

My
in

shot-gun

interested

him

greatly.

He

handled

it

lovingly,

and

as he looked

down

the barrels, he exclaimed

!

astonishment, "
it

Why,

it

shines clear like a mirror "

and
own

certainly

was even

in this respect, a contrast to their

dirty barrels, deeply

honeycombed
its

as they were with rust.

But

it

was

my

revolver, with

quick-repeating mechanism,

that interested

him most,

as this
rifle,

was a

special

weapon of
its

war.

had not brought

I

my

on account of
it.

weight,

and the few chances

expected of using

He asked me

TIBETAN CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD

to

211

show
I

its

working by

firing

at

some of

his straggling

sheep. so
fired

could not consent, of course, to such butchery,

instead

a quick

succession

of

shots

into

some

logs

of wood,

and scarcely had the sharp pinging of the

whistling bullets rung out, than the old

in

man scampered

off

hot haste, to see

hunting-knife

how deeply

the bullets had penetrated.

also

My

and a few other appliances were

curiosity.

examined with eager

He

presented

me

with a

sheep, one of a flock he

was sending
is

to Darjeeling for sale.

Tibetan mutton, though small,

nutty sweetness.

not to be excelled for

At Kintoop's suggestion

offered
I

him a

little

of

my
in

scanty store of whiskey, which

had brought with me

were the only
I

case of accident; for tea and soup

tives
spirit
I

restora-

ordinarily took at these altitudes, as

it

had found that

acted almost as poison,

so exaggerated the breath-

lessness

and

palpitation.

He promptly
dregs
little

produced his drinking

spirit

cup from

his

breast pocket,
to

and he drank the

;

with

immense

relish,

the

though he magnanimously
the

pretended to leave a

in

cup

for his

men, who

passed the empty cup round from hand to hand, and each
of them licked
it

more than

clean, with so

much smacking

of lips and rueful countenances,

that

took pity on them

and poured a

little

more of

this precious liquor into the

lion's share,

cup
for,

for

them. But the captain again took the

it

naively explained he,

was not etiquette

for his

men

to drink until after him.

Tibetans seldom taste

spirits

in their

own

country. Their

212

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

drink
is

usual alcoholic

the

sour beer that

off

is

made from
seeds
into

fermented
vessels,

barley

and

strained

from

the

and drunk cold, not

hot, like the

murwa
arak

of Sikhim.
is

Jaesche says (in his dictionary) that spirit or

in monasteries,

distilled

and

in the
is

houses of the big

not
frequent

men

in

Tibet Tibet

but
nor
the

this
in

am

assured

in Central

Tsang, where

spirit is

very seldom drunk except by

it,

Chinese,

and
it

when

the Tibetans specially require

is

they usually buy

from the Chinese. The sour beer

feasts,

served
yak,

up to grandees

at

in the

horns

of the

wild

{Dong) like the Urus horns which the ancient Germans used
as

cups for their strong drink, according to Caesar.

And

these horns are

mounted

in silver or brass

and slung over

for this

the

shoulder

when

travelling.

The Bhotanese use

ox,

purpose the horn of the great wild

frontalis).

or mithan [Bos

How

very different are these Tibetans from the Lepchas,

their

and even from

kinsmen the Sikhimese Bhotiyas

Yet

the Tibetan too has had his character shaped largely by his

environments.

Though

of the

same Mongolian descent, he

is

in

many

respects almost the anti-type of the Lepcha. His rugged,

wind-swept country has given him a rugged character and

features. His cold, bracing climate

and

full

animal diet has

given him a robust body

that

full

of rude blustering animalism,

tends to
with
all

make him when

uncontrolled

a turbulent
his

bully,

the fierceness of spirit

hell)

which

European
disastrous

name
storms

of Tartar [Tartaros,

suggests.
his

The

and avalanches that wreck

herds and

scanty

TIBETANS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS

crops, have caused

213

him

to worship these as destructive malig-

nant devils, and his awestruck mind, thus dominated by the

supernatural forces, has
religious.

become

intensely superstitious

and

Whilst the isolation of his country by protecting

his

and perpetuating

numerous and jealous hierarchy, has

made him

the most priest-ridden mortal in the world. But

I

many

of them, especially the better class of monks,

have

found to be most kind and considerate, and deeply imbued

with
a
tolerant
spirit,

due

doubtless

to

education

and

temperament, and partly also derived from the Buddhism

which permeates
said
lands,
to

their religion.

As

a class, they cannot be

be

broad-minded, although living on broad tablefree

in

the

mountain

air.

They

are not naturalists,

life

nor even

skilful

sportsmen, being forbidden to take

by

their priests.

The presence
into

of these Tibetan

officials

cowed

my men

uncommunicativeness. The
that

latter

spoke of the diabolical

tortures

would be

inflicted

on them as informers, by

the Tibetan Government, which they said seized even people

in

Sikhim and carried them

off to

Tibet for punishment.

jails, for

There they do not indulge

they do not
a slow death
kill

in the

luxury of

when

their prisoners right

away, or put them to

by

torture, as, although professing Buddhists,

they do not hesitate to do, they simply cut off their ears
or

chop

off a

hand or

foot,

and

set the mutilated person

free.

Such mutilated criminals form the

I

majority

of the

beggars,
In

am

told, in

Lhasa and other large Tibetan towns.

the

particular,

my

guide,

owner of the pony, was

214

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

and he now
tried to run

especially reticent,

away with

his

pony,

but was caught and

brought

back by one of

my

men.
I

And

to secure his presence, or rather that of his pony,

latter into

gave the

the charge of one of

my

men, and

locked

away
it

his saddle

and harness.
I

As

was now

clear that, for political reasons,

pass,

could

not force
of getting
get over

my
into

way beyond the Dong-kia

my

only

way

to the glaciers of

Kanchen-junga was to try to

the Lachen valley by the knife-edge of the

into

Seeboo La, or "Pass of Frozen Hailstones", which led

the

Lachen

valley.

And

to facilitate our journey thither,

I

on our return from the Dong-kia on the morrow,

Kintoop and two of
the

took

my men

in the

afternoon to explore

entrance of the Seeboo, the passage of which seemed

not hitherto to have been

made by any European.

Crossing
heavily

an icy torrent on boulders, under the rounded

flanks of Kanchen-jow, or
ft.),

snowed

"The Great

Beard-

ed Glacier" (22,550

and below the

valley

glacier of Phaloong,
for

we went up the wild stony

of Seeboo

about

three miles, and over the moraine and small glacier noted

by

Blanford,

to

barren

rocky plateau

with

a few icy

lakelets,

above which towered great

piles of rocks leading

up to the pass.

The

utter desolation of this region

was very impressive

The stony
winds,

waste, bare of
in

all

vegetation owing to the keen

and buried

snow

for eight or nine

months of the

year, stretched right

rising

up to the snow-covered slopes which,

a few hundred feet above us, surrounded us with a

THE REAL ABODE OF SNOW

circle of glittering icy spires

215

and domes,

all

over 20,000 feet

high.

It

was indeed "The Abode of Snow", the true Himalast.

laya

at

The

root

of this

word

is

the same which

the

appears in the Greek Imaus, and the

German Himmel,

Aryan "heaven";

for these

snowy regions

are the highest

KANCHEN-JOW AND ENTRANCE TO SEEBOO

" /ieaven-up "

PASS.

part

of the

world, and therefore nearest to

the

abode of the gods.

stern,

So

sombre, and solitary was

this scene, that

if

we

seemed
death.

to have passed into a valley of distress,

not of

The

recent frost had killed even the insects, and

there

besides

ourselves

was no trace of any

solitude

living thing,

animal or vegetable.
the

The

was unbroken, save by

sighing

of the

wind, and

the subdued gurgle of the

216

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

which too had
lost its colour

river,

under the leaden sky,

and ran
which

swiftly dull, scarcely disturbing the universal

calm

rested

over

all.

The

loneliness

and fixed gloom

were indescribable. Plato perhaps rightly said that " whosoever

is

delighted

with solitude, entirely and absolutely,

is

either a wild beast or a god."

And

it

is

easy to see

how

the Tibetans,

who

place their gods in such regions, picture

them with

sullen

savage features, hurling avalanches and

other

thunderbolts,

and

death-dealing
deified

weapons.

Just

so

have

the

Scandinavians
of nature.

the

more sublime and

Odin and Thor
fight

terrible

aspects

So

their

with the thunderbolt, so they have their frost-giants of the

Jottenheim, and their

Nifelheim.
deified
Miiller

wind-giants of the Muspelheim and

These anthropomorphic gods are thus evidently

forces,

natural
in

and so

far

support
in

Professor
its

Max
was

his contention that

it

mythology

origin

physical, whatever

may have become

in its later

develop-

ments.

We
one
to

did not find the hot springs of this pass, having no

guide us.

These,

was

told, received

more worship

than those

we

visited the previous day, as they are the reputed

glacier,

abode of the powerful demon of the Phaloong

is

who

called " His Lordship the Long-lived Devil." M

Returning to bleak Momay, also desolate

I

in

appearance,

saw four sleek ravens, and got specimens of that gorccelicolor.

geously blue-plumaged bird, Grandula

reported

My men
"Burhel"

having seen

some of

the wild sheep,

{Ovis natiird).

One

of these was shot hereabouts by Elwes,

THE GOD OF MOUNT KANCHEN-JUNGA.

REPUTED OVIS AMMON

who accompanied
latter

219
to

Blanford,

and

in

regard

which the
the
'

writes
'

"

We

subsequently

found

that
all

Ovis
;

ammon
that he

of which
I

we heard

so much, were

Burhel
in

and

Hooker,

think,

must have been mistaken

in this
all

supposing

saw the former

neighbourhood,

for,

by the

unanimous evidence of

the Tibetans, none occur to the

south of the Dong-kia and Kongra-Lamo passes, although

they are to be met with a

I

little

further

north, in Tibet."

also

saw some
called

tail-less

rats or

marmots.

These small

mammals

Goomcher by the Bhotiyas, are credited with

if

supernatural powers, in that,

they are harmed

in

any way,
is

they produce fearful and disastrous storms.

evidently
due.
I

This belief

think,

to

the

habits

of these
live,

animals
accordthat

burrowing into the bowels of the earth, where

ing
to

the

Tibetans,

the

dragon-spirits

or

Nagas

cause
tives

thunder-storms.
will

Owing
in

to this superstition few na-

assist

you
rob
it

catching the animal, yet they do

its

not scruple
grain

to

of

hoards of stored grass and

whenever they are

in

need of

fuel

or

fodder.

secured a beautiful silvery water-shrew {Nectrogale elegans),

so

unique and rare that no perfect specimen of

it

was

hitherto

known. In the icy cold

river

could find no trace

I

of

life,

but about 2,000 feet lower

fish.

down

had seen some

tadpoles and
Plants,

however, were not absent on the

hill sides, in

the

crevices

between the stones

but they were almost entirely

the remains of flowering plants, and but very few grasses,

ferns

and other monocotyledons.

Mr.

Ball observed

this

220

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

in

peculiarity

the
fact

vegetation
is

of high altitudes in Europe,

and on

this

based the belief that flowering plants

in the

or dicotyledons

originated

dry and rarefied atmos-

phere of elevated plateaus and mountains. This too would

explain
the

absence

of well-developed
their late

Exogens

in

the

tropical coal-period,
in

and

and sudden appearance

the

cooler

times of the cretaceous period,

when

the

flowering plants descended from their high altitudes, where

the evidence of their early existence at this remote period

of geological
the

time has been

destroyed by denudation of
are grasses, crop

uplands.

Dwarf bamboos, which

up

on the hot damp southern sides of peaks as high as 12,000

feet.

The

especial prevalence of this rich variety of flowers,

especially

of primroses

and pedicidaris, on the southern

is

slopes of the Himalayas

remarkable, and cannot be simply

accounted

for

on the hypothesis of a migration from the

In Europe, too, "

north during the glacial epoch.

some of

the most ancient fragments of the Alpine flora are

now

to

be found only on the southern side of the Alps," as M.

de Candolle has shown.

33

The
is

whitish colour of the flowers in these Alpine regions

also remarkable.

Many

of the flowers which lower

down

are blue are here apparently white, but they

become blue

on pressing. This

fact,

together with the excessive thickness

is
still

of their petals, shews that the blue pigment

there,

and

that

the

white colour

is

due to the

air that inflates

the interstices of their tissue.

The temperature

of the air at

p.m. was 30.8

Fah., and

EFFECTS OF RAREFIED AIR

before
fall

221

sunset

went down

to

2 8 Fah.,

and snow began

to

in a disquieting

way, suggesting the

as

possibility of the

valley
visit

becoming blocked,

happened during Mr. Macaulay's

stretched

to the lower valley,

when deep snow

down

to

below Yoomtang.

We
cold,

all

passed a wretched
to our

night,

owing

to the intense
air.

and partly

sudden

rise in

the rarefied

My
all

warmest woollen clothes with

failed to

my

sheepskin-coat over

keep
;

me

from shivering

in the painfully piercing

cold wind

while the weight of the clothes further oppressI

ed

my

breathing.
it

do not believe
so

my

heart

is

a bad

one,

but

now

palpitated

violently

as to shake

my

whole body, yet so slowly as not to exceed 45

per
minute,

beats

and

at times

it

seemed

as

if

about to cease

altogether.
hill,

Yet on the

slightest

exertion, in walking

up

the

beats

went up

to

too or no.
lessened,

These alarming
and the heart
to

symptoms would no doubt have

become
pressure
that

accommodated
and thin
air,

in

some measure

the

altered
at in

had we remained long enough

altitude.

But even when Hooker had remained

these

regions

and

at

higher

elevations for
it

some months,

he says "he never knew what

outside
his

was to go a few miles

great
pressure,

tent

without

feeling

and he

always returned to camp with nausea."

And he

experienced

the same feelings at lofty elevations in Africa and Europe,

as well as in the Himalayas.

Even Mr. Graham who

in

suf-

fered so

little

from the high elevations

Sikhim complained

of the "very

loud and perceptible beating of the heart".

222

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

find the effect of these high elevations
I

To

on our
only

circula-

tion,

had

been

carefully

recording

not

my own

pulse-beats and respirations, but also

several

those of Kintoop and

selected

coolies,

at various stages

on the way up

from Darjeeling, but the results are not sufficiently decided

to

be

worth

detailing.

They showed remarkably

little

difference

from the

normal, even in the highest altitudes,

at
rest.

when
the
in

the

men were
in

The reduced frequency of

altitudes

pulse-beats
all,

the

higher
in

was not marked

excessive

and

seemed due

part

to

the

work

thrown on the heart by the intense cold. As Freshfield and

Hooker have suggested,

the breathlessness
is

and the attend-

ant discomfort of mountain sickness

to

somewhat comparable

sea-sickness,

and those persons who are affected more

than others need not necessarily have a diseased stomach

or heart.
In

the

morning,

as

the

snow had ceased, and

to

it

lay

only about a foot deep,

pass.
frost,

we decided

push on to the
of

But as the thermometer

or

at sunrise registered 8

24

Fah.,

it

was some time ere

my

shrivelled-up

men were ready

for starting.

The Tibetan
bits

soldiers fortified

themselves against the cold with

like Laplanders,

of frozen raw meat,

their daggers.

which they shredded up with

No

wind, fortunately, was then blowing, or

it

would have

been dangerously keen.

The
led

track

was marked out by

river

mounds of
bank,

stones,

and

across

the

to
at

the

left

and

re-crossed

about the sixth mile,

a spot called Jarwa (17,000 feet

WILD MEN OF THE MOUNTAINS

elevation),

223

near

which are two small lakes.

The Tibetan
his

captain and his

men accompanied

us,

and as
far

yak clam-

bered nimbly over the snow-laden stones,

outdistancing
I

my
yak.

pony, which
little
It,

slid
it,

and stumbled so badly that

he kindly offered
let

could

make

use of

me

the use of his

several

however, refused to

me mount, and made

it,

plunges at

me

as

approached
its

although held

back

by
that

the rope
I

through

nose-ring.
it,

And

was not sorry

the

had

failed to

mount

for

some time afterwards

tackle of ropes that fastened on the rough saddle loosened,

and the captain came down from

rush,

his high perch with a

all his

and on the top of him came

which were carried
in

cooking-pots and

pans,

two bags slung on behind

the saddle.

Some

large footprints in the

snow led across our

track,

and away up
be the
live
trail

to the higher peaks.

These were alleged

to

of the

hairy

wild

men who

are believed to

amongst the

eternal
is

snows, along with the mythical

white lions, whose roar

reputed to be heard during storms.

is

The

belief in these creatures

universal
I

among

Tibetans.

None, however, of the many Tibetans

have interrogated

on
the
into

this subject

could ever give

me
it

an authentic case.
always resolved
tell

On
so-

most

superficial

investigation

itself

something that somebody

heard

of.

These

called hairy wild

men

are evidently the great yellow snowis

bear (Ursus isabellinns), which

highly carnivorous, and

often kills yaks. Yet, although most of the Tibetans

this

know

bear sufficiently to give

it

a wide berth, they live in

224

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

an
to

such

atmosphere

of superstition that they are always

ready
of

find extraordinary

and supernatural explanations

at these footprints,
I

uncommon

events.

Looking

thought

of the poor snow-bears pent up in the sweltering heat of

the Calcutta

"Zoo", and what they would not give

to get

into such arctic regions.

Snow now

fell

heavily,

and a driving hurricane of loose

our footmarks, so that, as

powdery snow was

Kintoop pointed
our

fast obliterating

out, there

was a great danger of our losing

fate

way and

sharing

the

which hereabout befel

in

his

former

master, the

late

Captain Harman,

1881.

This

unfortunate officer was employed in the survey of Sikhim,

and on ascending
great

this

pass,

he saw

in the distance, the

snowy range of Tibetan peaks

as seen

by Hooker

and Blanford, and extending, as he estimated, 150 miles

from east to west.

To examine them more

his
34

in detail

he

bivouacked on the spot, but, as

baggage-coolies did

not turn up, he was fatally frost-bitten.

We

now found

that the snow-storm

had increased
fine

the

wind rose

furiously,
us,

and a whirlwind of

snow, blinding

and choking

drove us down, when almost within sight of

the top of the pass.

before,

Then

realized

more emphatically than

late

that Sherwill

and Blanford had advised too

I

date of starting; that

in

had started over a month too

to

late

the

season

and that
for

reach

these northern passes

exploration,

and have time

their

leisurely

one must

endure the discomforts of travelling in the rainy season.

The scene

that

bursts

upon the eye from the

crest of

GAME
this

IN

TIBET

225

pass

(18,100

ft.),

has been described and figured by

Mr. Blanford says, "it
in the world,
is

Sir

Joseph Hooker.

one of the

most remarkable landscapes

the journey to see
it.
. .

and alone worth

in front,

Cholamo
beyond
is

lake

is

beneath

the feet of the spectator,

hills.

a desert with rounded

Further away range after range of mountains, some

of them covered with snow, extend to a distance the eye

cannot appreciate.

The

total

change of colour and form

from the valleys of Sikhim, the utter barrenness, the intense

clearness

of the

atmosphere, produce such an effect as

in

if

one were gazing upon another world

of this
is

which the order

is

no

longer

preserved, where a tropical desert

seen
clear

amongst snow-capped peaks, beneath the unnaturally

atmosphere of the
arctic regions."
35

The game and

the

skins which Mr. Blanford procured from

this

Tibetan side of
three

pass through the Tibetan guards,

fresh
skins,

included

perfectly

one of the Tibetan

gazelle (Gazella picticauda; in Tibetan

God or Ra-gao)

the
live

others of Ovis Amnion, a

ewe and a young ram, and some

told that both Ovis
in the

Tibetan sand-grouse.

He was

Amnion

and Ovis natura are pretty common

Sikhim,
fC/iiru',

country north of

the
the

Goa Antelope

is

less

so

Tibetan antelope

Kemas Hodgsoni)
;

are never heard of in that

is

neighbourhood

and the wild yak

I

not found there now.

The name
Yak", and

of this pass,

find,

means "The Frozen Wild

to

a legend

was related

me

of a herd of wild

yak (Dong) that had strayed

to death in this pass,

here,

and were found frozen

its

which thus obtained

name.
15

226

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

old

The

Ding-pon and
glad
at

his

guard of the pass seemed

unfeignedly

our being driven

still

down by

the snowto

storm, and they were

more so when, on our return

Momay,
to give

as the storm

showed no signs of abating, we had

up our proposed attempt to cross the Se-boo, and

to retreat further

down

to

Yoomtang.

The Ding-pon

also

accompanied us here, on the plea of having some business

with the

Lachoong
sheep,

villagers in regard to the transport of

etc.;

wood and
his frontier,

but

it

was probably

to see us off
slip.

and make sure that we did not give him the

On
fine

the

way

to

Lachoong next day,

of
the the

followed up the
river
for

glacier

valley

Si-bo

36

or

"Cold"

some way towards

called
to

Gora or

" Top-of-the-Wall " pass, so

from

its

excessive
this

steepness.
:

No European seems
and as
I

have been up

valley before
into Tibet

had heard

that this pass,

which leads

between the Dong-kia

and the Tang-kar passes, was seldom used and never guarded, and
I

was arranging to make an expedition to Lhasa

I

in

disguise,

had sent Kintoop during the summer to reconthis

noitre

and explore

pass and the country beyond

it

in

a north-easterly direction, keeping

above the inhabited part

of Choombi, until he struck the trade route from that province

to Central Tibet,

on the great plateau to the north of the

Tang

pass.
this line of

As
the

country has not been surveyed, and even

position
I

of the

Gora pass

is

wrongly placed on the

maps,

give here

some

details of Kintoop's pioneer survey,

and a sketch of

his route (see large map), as plotted out

GORA AND PATA PASSES

by me from
his narrative.
I

227

His directions

may be

taken as

generally approximate, as

had supplied him with a com;

pass

the distances in miles, however, are less correct

his
'

but
of

he

and

party certainly

penetrated to

a distance

seven days

hard march in Tibet, and marched beyond the

for

Sikhimese frontier

thirteen

days.

There

is

no doubt

as to his having reached the Tibetan plateau, for he brought

back several plants which are peculiar to the dry

lands of Central Asia.

table-

Crossing
village

the

Lachoong
name, and

river,

/4

miles

above the above the

of that

about

300

yards

junction of that river with the Si-bo, and following up the

latter,
it

was found

to rise rapidly after

its

third mile to
limit of trees,

about the seventh mile, where, at the upper

it

turned eastward to the foot of a great glacier, one of the

sources of this river.

The

freezing torrent, which spouted

from an

ice-cave in this glacier, and which

at that time in June,

was 50 yards
to

wide and waist deep

had

be forded.

A
to

yak-herdsman here, from

the

whom
that

Kintoop asked the way

they were
all

Gora

pass,

declared

forbidden

by

the Tibetans to give any information as to the passes

into Tibet,

and he bolted

off.

The

river

above

this

flowed

between the terraces of a great

five

lateral

moraine

for

about

miles,

above which
of these

it

divided
to

into

two headwaters. expanding

in

The southern
into

led

the

Pata pass,

two

lakes,

each about three-quarters of a mile

length

and into the bright green water of the uppermost of these,

just

below the summit of the pass, the snow was

falling in

228

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

This pass,
about

avalanches in June.

which
5

is

not marked in

any map, nor

kar
It

its

lakes, lies

miles south of Tang-

pass,

according to
open,

herd-girl

whom

Kintoop met.
used

was

not then

but

it

was

occasionally
the
if

by the
account

people of that
of
its

valley;

whereas

Gora,

on

steepness,

was very seldom

the
river

ever used.

The

northern

branch

of

which

came

down

from the Gora pass was found to lead up to a grazingstation,

where many dead yaks were seen lying around.

cattle.

murrain had carried off about 80 per cent of the

called

This disease,
pest.
is

Yor or Hlak-po, seems

to

be rinder-

It

had

visited these parts several times before,

in Tibet,

and

also

known

where

it

also attacks the wild yaks. v

It

was believed

to

be imported from India, through lower

in-

Sikhim. Here again, the herdsmen refused to give any

formation

as to

to

the

passes, even

when Kintoop

said that
fol-

he wanted

go up to worship the mountain.

So he

lowed up the stream, which widened out into a limpid

lake.

The

ascent to the pass beyond was excessively steep,

as to

and so precipitous

be quite impracticable
feet elevation,

for cattle.

The summit, about 17,000

extensive view of snowy peaks.

commanded an
north-east-

Thence proceeding

wards, across Upper Choombi, Kintoop and his companions

had
that

to

go a

little

southwards to circumvent some great

cliffs

rose over 4,000 feet high, and they had to cross tor-

rents

and spurs,

till

they sighted the

uppermost village

in

Western Choombi.
Rido
river,

Then they ascended

that valley of the

northwards, and crossed the water-parting into

CAPTURE OF KINTOOP BY TIBETANS

the great plain of Central Tibet. Here they followed

229

down

a stream which flowed north-westwards into a considerable

lake,

on the northern bank of which was

twelve
houses.

compact

village

of about

On
at

sighting this they hid

away

amongst rocks, but were discovered by some huge Tibetan

mastiffs,

whose loud barking

villagers.

them

attracted the attention

of the

The headman

of the village recognizing

them

as Sikhimese, although they

to

wore Tibetan

dress,

and

suspecting them

be

spies,

seized

them

and stripping

them of the best part of

his
in

their clothes,

imprisoned them in
off to Phari

house,

saying that he

must carry them

in

a few days, for such were his orders

regard to people

entering from Sikhim.

The name

of this village was Kalathis lake

pak-tang;
Kala-tso,
to

and

Kintoop says that

resembled the

which he had passed several times on the way

Gyantse and Lhasa. The Kala-tso of Boyle and Turner,

however, would appear to be some ten miles or so to the

N. E. of
this lake.

During the night, Kintoop and

his party

effected their escape

and

fled

back again by the way they

had come over the Gora

pass.
I

The
with
the

following day (28th October)

returned past

Kedoom,

its

sad

memories,
valley.

to

Choong-tang at the bottom of

great and rapid changes in the
fortnight's sojourn in

Lachoong

The

foliage

which had occurred during our

the

valley,

showed
over.

that

the brief flash of Alpine

summer
and

was already
orange
in

The

leaves

had turned
will

to russet

a few days, and soon they

be swept

off

by

the whirlwind, and winter will have come.

CHAPTER

VI

THE LACHEN VALLEY, AND EASTERN GLACIERS OF KANCHEN-JUNGA

By

Lachen's forest green, boiling Zemoo's silver sheen, Travelled till they the torrent crossed At Tallinn Samdong hard in frost
fairy

And

And Tungu

deep in snow.

Down
And

Kongra-lamo's snowy waste

stately

The Yaks with

five score

movement paced,

swordsmen's weapons glanced As Kamba's chieftain grave advanced The mystic Chorten past. C. Macaulay's Lay of Lachen.

BACK
Lama's
a

at

Choong-tang, we were glad to accept the young

invitation to put

up

in his

monastery.

It

commanded

view up the Lachen valley, which was here evergreen

semi-tropical
forest,

with

though
the upper

over-topped
valley

by snowy

peaks.

The animals

in

were found by
in

Mr.

Blanford to

be more thoroughly Tibetan than

is

the

Lachoong.
being

This
less

doubtless owing to the pass from Tibet

much

high and rigorous.

still

The broken

bridges and ladders, however,

barred

all

POLITICAL MISSIONS TO TIBET

231

progress up this precipitous valley, as they did at the time of Maeaulay's political mission in 1884.

The

latter's visit

was even
after

still

later

in

the

season than
at

our own, so that

cost,

the

bridges

were repaired

great

and

after

some
to

days' detention, that party just

ft.)

managed

to

push on

Giagong (15,764

at

the

foot

of the Kongra-lamo

pass to Tibet, and then had to beat a hasty retreat before

the advancing snow.

This mission of the late Colman Macaulay

referred
to. Its

have already
feat

leader

achieved

the

diplomatic

of

opening

communication

between

India

and the Tibetan

government, for the

Hastings,
the

first

time since

the days of

Warren

over a

hundred years before.

of his journey up
officials,

He
Lay
at

has related

circumstances

this

valley,

and

his

meeting with the Tibetan

in his

of Lachen
the foot of

and how he was benighted

the
icy

in

the

snow

Chomiomo

(22,385 feet) and Kanchen-jow, whose

just crossed.

eastern slopes

we had
tells

His ballad

how

to nearly full had grown Ere they the frontier cold and lone Did reach, where wind-swept Giagong Lies white and chill and drear 'Twixt Kanchen-jow and Chomiom.

The moon

No man

or beast

may make

his

home

That barren snowfield near.

The day was waning, and the Of Chomiomo paler grew, As sank the sun into the west

crest

And
The

ever lengthening shadows threw

giant's

hoar between.

232

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

The The
north wind sharp and sharper blew,
frost

was piercing keen

Night followed day, but

still

no sound

Was heard the silent snow drift round Of coming footsteps, and no light Of lantern or of torch did peer
Across the waste of gleaming white

To

say that help was near.

At length

that awful night

was

past,

No more
And
The

they shuddered 'neath the blast;

across the wild,
fast,

The morning smiled

As Kamba's

the tentsmen followed

chieftain grave

advanced

mystic chorten past.

And

in Macaulay's tent that day,

In high durbar and bright array,

With welcome glad and presents

fair

Was
But
this

Bengal's greeting told.

Tibetan

official,

the

Jong-pirn

or
to

Commander
be
readily

of the adjoining
coerced.

fort

of

Kamba, was not

any

He

stoutly refused to receive

official

message
so.

whatever,

on the plea that he had no orders to do

Mr. M.
fact

achieved his object by making capital out of the

the

that

Tibetan

had

no orders not to receive any

if

communication, and by further declaring that

the Jong-

pon

refused

to

receive

his

message he would himself go

to deliver the

on to the
person.

capital,
last

Tashi-lunpo,
alternative

message
for

in

This

was too dreadful

the

Tibetan to contemplate, so he agreed to receive the communication, and

it

was duly delivered

for a friendly reply

THE ZEMOO VALLEY

was received
few months

233

from the

chief minister of

Western Tibet a

later.

Now, however,
bridges

restrained

as

we were by

the broken

and ladders, we could but look wistfully up the

this

dark vistas of

Lachen

valley, so graphically described

by Hooker and Blanford,

year
to to

trusting to be able the following

accomplish

our

projected
glaciers,

journey
thence

through
over

it

the

unexplored
glaciers

Zemoo

the

eastern

of Kanchen-junga,

and

back by rocky

T6-loong.

This journey was done two seasons later by the political

agent,

Mr.

White,
for

who commanded
opening
the

the

resources of the

Sikhim
bridges.

State

roads

and

building

the

He went

in the reverse direction,

entering

by To-

loong and returning

this

way; and he was accompanied

by Mr. T.
beautiful

Hoffmann,

to

whom

am

indebted for the

scenery

photographs

of the

glaciers

and other

en route,
the
clear

never visited by Europeans before.

1891,

Starting at
fine

end of June
weather

they experienced intervals of

whilst traversing the glaciers in the middle

of July.

The
ten
to

too brief narrative of this interesting journey, writ:,s

by Mr. Hoffmann,
the

tells

of their passage from To-loong

of Hooker) with
its

Zemoo
glacier,

valley (the

"Thlonok"
from

great
writes:
glacier

which

descends

Kanchen-junga.

He

"After a hard climb we reached the base of the

at

height
in

of

13,800

ft.

Here we counted four

distinct

caves

the

ice.

The

face of the ice-cliff at the

*34

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

is

end of the glacier

about 400 to 500

ft.

deep, and the

immense mass of
valley. ...
It

ice rested

between the two slopes of the

to remain here long

was too dangerous

on

account of the huge stones that

were continually

falling

from the
to

glacier.

We

crossed over one of the snow-bridges

the

opposite bank, getting

some

excellent photographs

of these curiosities of nature's architecture." Ascending the

glacier

and

its

surmount-

ing debris to an elevation

of 16,000 ft, "the
cleared
time,

mist

away

for a short

and we saw one

of the finest-shaped peaks

in the

Himalayas, marked

on the

map D 2

or Simioltheir

chum." Continuing
ascent to 17,000
ft.,

they

started the following

day

peak d
intending
to
strike

it

cross

the the

glacier,

rock

not

far

from

foot

of

Kanchen-junga.
almost
glaciers
in

The

glacier descends from

line,

Kanchen-junga

straight

and

is

fed

by many minor

coming down from

and the peak to the north

glaciers

of

it.

We

counted

dozen

on one occasion,
ft.

joining the main glacier.

We
a
to

reached a height of 17,500

in

To

the

south-west was

gap

the range of 19,300

still

ft.

The rock we had hoped

off at

reach was

a long
to

way

p.m.,

and we reluctantly turned back

camp.

KANCHEN-JUNGA EASTERN GLACIERS

The rumbling
falling rocks

235

noise of the avalanches and the crashing of

it is

never cease, and

dangerous to camp here,

glo-

near the base of a mountain.

riously.
all

The next day dawned

For the

first

time

we

obtained a view clear from

to the west.

clouds and mist."

the

Kanchen towered high

1 )

"To

south

Sim-vovon-chum (D

looked like a burnt-

HOiVril

RIDGE OF KANCHEN-JUNGA
filled

SHOWING

GAP

(21,000 FT.).

out crater
in

with snow.
a

Then came a 17,450

snowfield

ft.

gap

the

range,

with

wavy

and a magnificent
.
.

group of splintered peaks, not named on the maps.

Before
leaving
this

neighbourhood

we

visited

narrow

valley to the north-east of Kanchen-junga.

We

counted here

eight glaciers

coming down from the

different slopes,

some

236

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

The

joining the main glacier, and others ending abruptly, forming

a jagged

wall

of

ice.

rays

of the

sun

caused the

masses of

ice to

act like

huge prisms,

reflecting the

most

gorgeous colours." Mr. White then followed up the Lanok

(" Thlonok

"J valley

northwards to the Nakoo pass

ft.).

(1

7,000

ft.),

and back by the Nangna pass (17,590

NANGNA

PASS

(.17,

593 FEE

I'

EASTERN

JSIDE.

CHAPTER
THROUGH
BRITISH

VII

BHOTAN TO DARJEELING

In returning from
long,
I

Choong-tang to

the

capital,

Toompre-

came

across

some Bhotiyas making elaborate

bank of a stream.

parations for a hot bath, on the

They

had burned out a piece of the trunk of a

of tub, and
filling
it

tree into a sort

with water, they heated up the latter

by throwing
a
bonfire
;

into

it

some stones which they had roasted

emerged from
to
their

in

and

they

their

ablutions with

marked improvement

complexions.
?

So who
all,

will

now say
Bhotiyas
distaste

that the Bhotiyas never bathe

After

these

and
for

Tibetans

have
but

perhaps
with

no

constitutional

cleanliness;
zero,

the thermometer

near,

or

below

and
bather

Boreas
is

blowing
to

keenly,

even the
to

most

constant

apt

desert

allegiance

his tub.

The number
prisingly
large,

of snakes

found on our track was

sur-

though

this

may have been

partly owing

2 4o

AMONC, THE HIMALAYAS

to

my

having
I

been

specially

on

the

outlook for them,

ever since

had been bitten by one some years previously.

different

Here no fewer than twelve

last

species

found their

home

in

my

spirit-bottle.

Many

of

them were not

poisonous,

and the
gliding

most common were slender iridescent

gracefully
brightly

whip-snakes,
several

through the

foliage,

and

species

of

coloured, large eyed, " keel-

scaled" snakes, or Tropidonotus.

The poisonous ones were

a huge blue " krait " (Bungarns ccsruhcs), that was sunning
itself

on a rock, and the ugly

little

mountain viper (Trimecall "

surus monticola) which the Bhotiyas

The

Fierce Slow-

going
scribes

One"
its

tl

Barop-skep-pa"),

title

that

aptly
it

de-

character;

for though, like

most
it

vipers,

can

only

move very

slowly out of your path,

bites with the

utmost swiftness and fierceness. Both Lepchas and Bhotiyas

have a wholesome

fear of snakes,

and believe that

theory.

all

of

them

are

poisonous,
I

a very

safe-working

Such

gorgeous spiders too,

resplendent
giant
size,

had never seen before. They were

scarlet

in

brilliant

and metallic
in

blue,
;

and of
their

about four to six inches

as
to

spread

and

webs so large and strong

which some of them feed.

catch

small birds, on

Few

of these spiders have ever

if

been collected, and many looked as

they would be nasty

of small locusts
leaves.

venomous customers

to tackle.

The number

was noticeable, and some of them mimicked green

Our food was now

eked
out largely

at a
I

very low ebb, and had to be

could shoot for the pot, not

by what

even rejecting plump parrots. The men stayed their hunger

THROUGH
to

BRITISH

BHOTAN TO DARJEELING
berries

241

some extent with wild

and others things they

foraged in the jungle, such as the tender tips of juicy ferns,

nettles, etc., boiled as

spinach; wild
fruits,

yams and

other roots;

mushrooms and

several

including wild mangoes, and

when near a
the

village,

oranges

ad
it

libitum, for this

is

near

home

of the orange, whence

I

spread west to southern

Europe.

But

had

to

be on

my

guard against some of

the jungle products which

my

Bhotiya cook brought during

Achoom's absence.
pods of beans, which

For
I

found him about to cook some

at

once recognised as poisonous, and

belonging to a kind of laburnum.

At

one

of

the

poor
a

hamlets

which

we

passed,

Bhotiya offered

me

domestic

fowl for twelve times the

ordinary rate, and he would not abate the price one whit;
" for,"

said

he,

with the air of a political economist

who
is

had studied the laws of supply and demand, "this

positively

the

last

fowl

left

in

this

part

of Sikhim," as
all
I

the

troops

of the recent expedition

had eaten up
This,

the

fowls

and put an end to the

afterwards,

local breed.

ascer-

tained

was

true,

and there was probably not

journey, and very few

another fowl within

for

five or six days'

much

longer distances.
to

From Toomlong we descended

Dik-chu
the
river,

our old friend the

bridge,

and crossing
where

it

by

good
was

we

struck

new
I

bridle-road,

my pony

in waiting;

and

then

proceeded comfortably, winding through pleasant

glades and glens with picturesque views over the Penlong

pass (6,250

ft.),

to

Gangtok, or

"The Crown

of the

Ridge"
16

242

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

ft.),

(5,090

where our new Resident, Mr. White, was creating

in the wilds of

an oasis of civilization

Sikhim.

Here there burst on the view

trim

a tennis-court, rows of

huts

that

housed a small force of our soldiers and

British settlement, including

police,

and other signs of a

newly opened telegraph-station that connects us again

Its wire,

with the outer world.

tied

however, was, as yet, only

forest.
I

from tree to tree through the

letters,
is

got a welcome
article

budget of

and tasted again some bread, an

of diet that

not sufficiently appreciated until you have

it

been deprived of
civilization

for

some

weeks.

Another

sign

of

we met

here, in the heart of Sikhim,

was the

Indian money-lender usurer, the scourge of the poor natives,

the

pink-turbaned
rule.

Marwari,

who has come under

the

wing of our

Next day we crossed over more

hills

and dales to "The

Bamboo Hamlet",
held
It

or Pakyong, wheret here

(the

was

a stockade

by some of our troops

full

13th Bengal Infantry).

was

of

life

and
it

bustle, the

band was playing, and

English ladies graced

with their presence.

mine,
is

Beyond

this,

we passed another copper

on our

way down
by the
rich

the Rarhi river.

This, like the others,

worked

Nepalese

(or
;

more properly Newar) banker of

and here a place was pointed out

Darjeeling,
to

Lachmi Das
in

me

where,

a squabble over the revenue from these

of the rival monasteries of
in

mines, the

Lamas

Phodang and

Pemionchi had a pitched battle

of the

1880, and one at least

monks of

the latter monastery was killed on the spot.

THROUGH

BRITISH

BHOTAN TO DARJEELING

243

Large numbers of Nepalese colonists were busily

felling
in ac-

and burning the virgin

forest, to

form settlements,

cordance with our new policy of developing the resources

of the country, and raising revenue for improvements, by
leasing

out

the

land
these

on

easy

terms

to the

Hindooized
settled

Nepalese.
peasantry,
Rhotiyas,

For
as

latter

make an

excellent

compared with the easy-going Lepchas and

are neither

who

good

cultivators, nor yet

in

do they
preserve

pay any revenue worth mentioning

cash.

To

these aboriginal Lepchas, and the nominal ruling race, the

Bhotiyas,

from

being

swept

away

altogether

by these

active Nepalese emigrants, the latter are at present restricted

to

the

lower and most

fertile

part of native Sikhim, ad-

joining the district of Darjeeling. In the unreserved portion,

the racial distribution corresponds to

geological
valley
rocks,
granite.

some extent with

the

formations

for

the Lepchas

down

in

the

hot

coincide

generally

with the

limestones

and

schist

while the

Bhotiyas occupy the massive gneiss and

In a placid pool in the Rarhi

rising
in

some

fine large fish

were

most tempting

manner.

Thence

past some

silvery-barked giant

Gurjun

trees (Dipterocarpus sp.J,

we

entered British Bhotan and climbed under the old Bhotanese fort of

Damsang, perched on
ft.),

its

knife-edge

cliff,

up

to

Pedong (4,780

situated

on the grand trunk road to

Tibet and China.

Here we found the staging-house occupied by some of

the
suite

of the

Chinese

Minister

of Lhasa, the Amluvi,

244

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

returning to Pekin via Lhasa to get his negotia-

who was

tions with the Indian

Government

ratified.

He had
many

crossed

the

frontier

several

days previously; but

stragglers

of his party, which was said to include over 1,000 baggage

coolies,

were

still

hurrying along the road, some on mules

foot,

and ponies, others on

of packages,

laden with
I

all

sorts

and

sizes

amongst which

noticed

several

cases of
oil,

European
of
fuchsias

wines

and tinned provisions, kerosine

pots
to

and geraniums,

and some packages said

contain dynamite for blasting purposes.

At Pedong
Desgodins,

encamped near the small chapel of Father

the

Roman

Catholic missionary,

who

for

over

twenty years conducted a mission within Tibetan territory

on

the

borders

of China, and then

when he was driven

out by irate Lamas,

settled here

who

razed his building to the ground, he

side,

on the Indian
to

under the British

a

flag

and

on the high road

ants,

Tibet,

with

small staff of assist-

carrying
for

on

educational

work,

and

lithographing
traders.

tracts

distribution

amongst the Tibetan

self-sacrifice

One

cannot but admire the

given

of these

men who have

up

their

lives

entirely to this

humanizing work, to

labour here without salary and on a bare subsistence that

affords

them

little

better food than the poorest native; for

life's

they choose to die here amongst their

work without

ever thinking of returning, like most missionaries, to homelife

in

Europe.
results

It

is

pity
for

that

they have not more

striking

to

show

all

their labours.

Yet

it

is

something to accomplish the deliverance even of a few

THROUGH
individuals

BRITISH

BHOTAN TO DARJEELING

245

from the constant terror of malignant

spirits,

under which these poor natives labour.

a few of their flock

And

there are not

who

regard these benefactors with the

same mingled

feelings of reverence

and

love, as the Irish

peasant expresses towards his pastor, the " Soggarth aroon",

in the

song

"Who
in the winter's night

Soggarth aroon,

When

the cold blast did bite,

Soggarth aroon,

Came to my cabin door, And on my earthen floor Knelt by me sick and poor,
Soggarth aroon ?
"

Kalim-pong,
ridge,

which we reached next day, on the same

miles

twelve

nearer to

Darjeeling,

is

also a mis-

sionary

station,

where Mr. Sutherland and other members

of Scotland Mission are doing some good

of the Church

work amongst the mild Lepchas, of

colony
the
is

whom

a considerable

settled here.

was

surprised, however, to find that

lan-

Lepchas were being taught through the Nepalese

guage, and not through their

own

vernacular.

This village, whose

as
it

name means "the Governor's hold",

dis-

was formerly the head-quarters of a Bhotanese

is

trict,

now
of

the head-quarters of "British Bhotan

hills to

".

For

this

tract

the east of the Teesta, from

in

Pedong
1865 as
British

to the plains,

was annexed by us from Bhotan

an indemnity against the raids of the Bhotanese into

territory

and

for the

expenses of the war of 1864, forced

24(>

AMONCi THE HIMALAYAS

Their country, which
of "
is

on us therewith.

generally

known

by the Indian term

Bhotan

" or

"The End

of Tibet",

has physically the same general characters as Sikhim, for

it

is

the adjoining southern slopes of the Himalayas to the

Its

east of Sikhim.

people,

who

are under fanatical

Lamas

BHOTANESE CHIKF AND RETINUE.

from Tibet,

call

their

country
a

"

The Southern ThunderI

Dragon

"

(Lo-Dook),

name which

think denotes the

excessive thunder experienced in this area, which, lying at

the

head of the Bay of Bengal, receives, even more than

the
blast

Sikhim,
wettest

of the
all

rain

clouds,

and

is

by

far the

portion

of

the

Himalayas.

Our

military post

THROUGH
stands
further

BRITISH BHOTAN TO DARJEELING

247

east at

Buxar or "The Mouth of the Bamnaturally lawless

in
",
little
is

boo Bridge."
notoriously
their

These Bhotanese are

and

turbulent.

They

are

held

control
called

by

nominal

ruler, the "

Deb Rajah

as he

by

the plains-people; and their Chiefs or " Pen-lows " are each

petty sovereigns in themselves, as independent as they can

make
other,

themselves, and are constantly warring against each

knowing no law but

The good
old rule, the simple plan

That he should take who has the power And he should keep who can.

As
into

these

predatory

marauders were constantly raiding

far

our territory, destroying villages

off

and wide, and

and plundering

carrying

men and women

into slavery

their cattle, etc., our

government

inflicted a variety of mild

effect.

punishments, without, however, any good

Sir

And when
satisin-

Ashley Eden was sent

in

1864 to try to make

factory
sulted,

arrangements, he was so grossly assaulted and

that

we annexed

this part

of Bhotan, as well as a
hills

large
ject

strip
in

along the foot of the

event of the

up

to

Assam, subtribes to

the

good behaviour of the

an annual rent of about 5,000 as a preventive of further

aggression.

This

mountainous
the

tract,

however,

had previously

be-

longed to

Lepchas,

according to the local traditions,

and

this is

confirmed by the older names of the rivers and

mountains, which are mostly Lepcha.

Kalimpong crowns an open,

cultivated spur.

It

has a

248

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

milder
climate

much

than Darjeeling, and boasts a consi-

derable mart to which Tibetan traders come. Several

other

of these were

encamped

in

a yak-hair tent

and

improvised shelters.

They

bring for sale or barter,

ponies, wool, coarse blankets, furs, yak-tails, musk, turquoise,

gold-dust,
last are

Chinese

silk,

brick-tea,

borax and

salt.

These

brought across the snows fastened on the backs of

they take back English broad-cloth, piece goods

sheep.

And

and

other

European

manufactures

tobacco,

indigo, rice,

sugar,

madder and other

tropical products, as well as coral,

pearls, glass
It
is

beads and precious stones.

to
find

curious

that

the

brick-tea

is

brpught

all

the

way from

China, eight months' journey or more across

the most difficult

and mountainous country

in

the world, from

Yet,

Tasienloo through Tibet to this place and Darjeeling.

after
this

enormously long journey

it

is

sold at the latter

place at a cheaper rate than the tea locally

jeeling.

grown

at Dar-

And

although

these compressed blocks or bricks

consist for the

tea-dust,
still

most part of coarse twigs, caked with refuse

the

Tibetans

prefer

this

stuff to

the good
it.

Indian tea and will even pay a higher price for

I

bought from one

fine

of these Tibetan merchants an exIt

ceptionally

pony.

was creamy fawn-coloured,

it

like

the best Tibetan ponies, but

was so extensively covered

it

over with zebra-like

delighted the
lieve

markings that to see

would have

heart of Darwin and his

followers,

who

be-

that

the

horse
it

was

descended from a zebra-like

ancestor

though

is

said that the wild horses (or

Kyang)

THROUGH

BRITISH B HOT AN TO DARJEELING

is

249

of the Tibetan plateaus, whose flesh

esteemed a delicacy
all.

by

the

native

hunters,

are not striped or brindled at

Many
but
as
tips

of the fawn-coloured Tibetan ponies are brindled,

I

none of the many

this

have seen were marked so

stripe

fully

one.

It

had a black
nose and
stripes
tip

down

the spine, the

it

of the

ears,

of
the

tail

were black, and

flanks

had broad black

legs,

over

shoulders,

and

and dappled spots over the haunches.

its

So suggestive
"Tiger" by

of a tiger were the

natives.

markings that
it

it

was

called

And

proved to be a most gentle, good-

tempered beast, following

me

about

like

a pet dog.
still

The

inhabitants

of this part of Bhotan are

in con-

siderable

proportion

Bhotanese.

These

differ

in

appear-

ance from the Sikhimese Bhotiyas and the Tibetans, chiefly

in that

both

men and women wear no

Lamas and they
;

pigtails,

but shave

their heads, like

often wear turbans instead

of the

usual

Chinese hats.

They

are generally called

by

their religious title of

"The Southern Dook-pa

" (L'o-Dook-

pa),

as they belong to the as

their
spiritual

Dook-pa sect of Lamaism, and

own

head or Grand Lama, the King of

"

Bhotan, the

so-called

Dharma-

(or religious)

Rajah", as

opposed

to his temporal governor, the

"Deb Rajah" above

name Dook

mentioned.

The Lepchas

call

them "Proo", which may

be the antiquated form of

is

their present

which

spelt "

Broog

".

Here
or

at

Kalimpong
sect of

is

a small monastery of this Bhotanese

Dook-pa

Lamas.

Our sudden

dip

down from

here

to

cross

the

Teesta

250

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

brought us to the lowest depths we had yet reach-

river,

ed, since leaving Darjeeling.

feet

The

river here

was only 700

it

above the
river

sea,

and

in this

deep tropical gorge

was

a fine

flowing

swiftly,
it

but

much

less

tumultuously

than where

we crossed
it

by

that awful cane-bridge.

Here
and

we crossed
passed up

by an elegant
right
for

iron suspension bridge,

its

bank,

under shady foliage that overits

arched our
Great
the

path

about a mile, to

junction with the

Rang-eet

river

the

so

called

" Marriage-place

of
tell.

Rivers",
the

of the

legend of which we have heard

Here

crooked

Rang-eet

joins
its

the

straight-going

Teesta almost at a right-angle, and

reflecting

clear silvery waters

the foliage
till

of
far

its

banks,
their

refuse to mingle with

the turbid Teesta

below

meeting-place. These

two

differently

coloured
for

streams

flow side

by

side in the

same bed, unmixed

water, too,
is

some hundred

yards.

The Teesta

colder.

Along
forest,
in
till

the

Rang-eet,

our path

led

us

through lovely
it

we reached

that point

where we had crossed

to our
first

the

canoe,

and thence we ascended

day's

staging-house at Badam-tam, amongst the tea-gardens.

Many
much

acres of tea-bushes through which

we passed were

shrivelled

up with a rusty

blight.

The

tea-planters suffer

in this in

way by having rudely

disturbed the balance

forest

of Nature,

removing the great variety of rank

for
it

growth,

and substituting
tea.

only

one kind of

plant,

namely
as

Thus the
moulds,

parasitical insects, beetles

their

and mites,

well

as

finding

natural food gone, have

THROUGH
turned their
"blights".

BRITISH
to

BHOTAN TO DARJEELING
the
tea,

253

attention

and cause devastating

One
is

of the
the

most serious of these, the "Mosfeet elevation.

quito-blight",
It is

commonest under 4,500

like the

due to an insect somewhat

well-known blood-

sucker,

which pierces the young shoots of the tea-bush

their
juice.

and sucks up

Another
and
all

is

caused by a mite

known

as

"red-spider",

these pests require very

active measures, dosing with insecticides, liquid

to repel their ravages.

and gaseous,

great

swarm of

locusts

swept over us as we rode up

to

next day (7th

November)

Darjeeling.
air,

They came

in

such clouds as to
roads,
places.
trees

darken the

and they covered the

and

fields

everywhere,

some inches deep

;

in

They

were about three inches in length

and the

Nepalese villagers rushed about, gathering them

fuls

in basket-

for

food,

as they

ate

them

like

shrimps, with great

after
all,

relish.

So

it

was probably these

insects,

that

formed the diet of John the Baptist, and not the bean-pods
of the same

name

for the locusts thus

swarming up from

India were the Egyptian species [Acridium peregrinum and

a few A.

Succincturn)

and these are

in

said,

when

salted, to

be a favourite food of the Arabs

long journeys.
plague
desert
I

Northern Africa during

39

afterwards

learned
noticed

that this particular

of locusts
of Sind

was

first

in

June 1889,

in the

and Western Rajputana, over a thousand

laid

miles

off,

where they

eggs

in the sandhills.

These eggs

hatched out there into young locusts which acquired wings

about August, and then they swarmed

and the

flights

of

^54

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

young
locusts

these

spread

in

myriads

in

all

directions,

covering the whole of India, making their

in the north, to

way

to the Punjab

Madras and the Deccan

in

in the south,

and
to

to Bengal

and Assam

the east, doing

much damage
is

the crops. In the arid Punjab, where vegetation

cious,

so pre-

the

troops were

turned out to

destroy them, and

In this

rewards were offered for their destruction.

way

in

one station alone (Kohat) twenty- two tons of these insects

were

killed in a single day.

They
stripping

did

little

damage

in

well-wooded Sikhim, beyond

many
even

of the trees and tea bushes bare.

to

They

penetrated

Tibet.

More than one

trustworthy

traveller told

me

that the

dead
ft.)

insects lay several feet

to the east of the

deep

on the Tang pass (15,700

blackening the snow for
of locusts

Dongkia,

many
in the

miles.

And,

curiously, a plague

was predicted

Tibetan astrological horoscope

of this very year, as a

Lama

proudly pointed out to me.

a locust {A.

succintum).

Natural size.

CHAPTER

VIII

TO THE EASTERN PASS OF THE JELEP, AND THE SCENE OF THE LATE WAR

No

come from far Tibet, the mystic land no tidings yet For many a month are sent No more the tinkling bells ring clear On Lingtoo's heights, by Bedden's mere, On lelep's pass no step resounds,
travellers

From

No smoke

at

even upward bounds

traders' tent.

From weary

C. Macaulay's

Lay of Larhen.

As
spring,

soon as the snow cleared from the uplands

I

in the

set off for the Jelep pass,

on the
Pekin.

direct overland

trade-route

by way of Lhasa

to

This,

too,

was

the scene of our late war with Tibet, of which

many

traces

were

still

visible.

An
the

easy

canter of about half an hour, one morning in

middle of April, carried us up from Darjeeling, over

dotted

Jalapahar,

with

its

white

barracks

of the military

sanatarium and artillery batteries, and gave us as we rose,

256

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Thence we descended
",

magnificent views of the snows.

to

Jor-bungalow, or

"The Two Cottages

the seat of a Tibetan

I

colony, where about a

month previously

had seen these

year.
in

people joyously celebrating their belated

the
ancient

new

Like
the

Romans, they begin

their

new year
life

spring,

when

the winter season of suspended

has pass-

ed away, and when

energies
fusion of
is

the

fulness of Nature's

reawakening

delightfully

exhibited

in

the

wondrous proin the fine forest

blooming orchids and magnolias

of Rang-iroon, that

we now

entered, on the dripping

damp

northern slopes of Senchal.

This magnificent

forest,

which has been preserved by

government, gives us some idea of the luxuriance of the

virgin
forest
hills

that
;

once

covered

Darjeeling

and

its

sur-

rounding
since

but which has been ruthlessly swept

visit. It

away

Hooker's
miles,

stretches

for

several hundreds of

square

more or
to

less continuously,

from the top of

about

Senchal

down

the

upper

limit of cultivation, at
it

6,000 feet;
miles.
Its

and our road runs through

for

about ten

giant oaks, chestnuts

and magnolias are thickly

aerial orchids, ferns

draped with moss and wreaths of

and

festooning climbers and parasitic plants, which hang in great

tufts

and pendants, waving over the blue hydrangeas of

the undergrowth.

Some

of the branches of these trees are

perfect gardens in themselves. In the soft drapery of moist

moss that thickly clothes these branches, and

fine

in the

beds of

mould from the decaying leaves

to

that

fills

their crevices,

are

be found not only luxuriant clusters of exquisite

ORCHID AND MOSS-COVERED OAK-FOREST.

7

RANGIROON FOREST
orchids (PleurotJialis
plants,
etc.)

259

and many kinds of other epiphytic

but

even

large

woody shrubs and

evergreens

(Vaccinia

etc.)

with a

variety

of flowers and foliage.

is

A
tree

gorgeous feature of the

of crimson

forest, at this season,

the blaze

blossoms
just

of the
for

Magnolia Campbelli, a
the
forest
like
its

which
Here,
high,

has
in

flowered
it

first

time

in

Europe.
feet

its its

home,

is

monarch over 80

and

huge

flowers,

those of the cotton tree

below,
leaves.

appear curiously on

bare branches before

its

White magnolias

also

abound,

scenting

the

air

with their fragance.

feet

Delicately pink hydrangeas 18 to 20

ferns

high
sixty

are

common, and

are so numerous that

this forest

over

species

may be

found along

road

within a few miles.

The

glimpses

of the

snows,

framed

in this rich forest

foreground, were very varied, and there vistas comprised

the

deep

valley

of the

Rang-eet,

and

to

our

left

Darfas-

jeeling in the middle distance,

and Kanchen-junga more

cinating than ever.

And we

passed several mounted Tibetans

and Chinese, with

strings of laden pack-ponies, also several

detachments of our troops going and coming, which reminded

us that

we were on

the trade-route to Tibet, and on a line

forces.

of march held

by our

After
clearings

winding above a mineral spring, and past a few

of the herdsmen

who supply milk

to Darjeeling,

and who are Bhotanese of the Moo-sepa

from the forest
at the

clan,

we emerged

open slopes of Lop-chok, or "The

us breakfast,

cool stone," where

Achoom promptly brought

260

AMONG
the
little

THP:
with

HIMALAYAS
its

in

rest-house,

wide views of both the

Teesta and Rang-eet valleys.

Thence

a steep descent,

by rapid

zig-zags, led us

through the
",

trim tea-gardens of Pashok, or "

for

The Giant-bamboo Jungle

here

begins the zone of this valued

bamboo (Dendroin

calamus Hamiltonii), whose stout stem, 7 to 9 inches

diameter,
supplies
the

Lepchas with

their large jugs

and

cooking-pots.
at

Further
feet

down we

re-entered the forest, and

about 4,000

below Darjeeling, reached the stagingwhich generally

house (3,300

ft.)

in a semi-tropical forest,

resembled that of Badam-tam,

vious journey.

the

first

stage of our preshrill

Here we heard again the

chirping of
river

the

cicad insects,

and the subdued roar of the great

below.
stalked

Near the house amongst the undergrowth of thick

arums, spotted
old-world
like

serpents,

were a few of that

is

curious

type of
fern,

tree, the

cycad, which

some-

what between a

a palm and a pine.

bridge,

The descent
to

to

the Teesta

next morning, had

ride.

be done on foot as the road was too steep to

the

On

way down through

river,

the Sal

woods

to the tropical

forest

bordering the

we

got occasional glimpses of

its

the river, and a fine bird's-eye view of

;

junction with the

Rang-eet and we sighted a marsh-deer or Sambhar, (Lepcha,

Sa-ving,)

of

which

the

species

found

in

these

hills

are

decidedly smaller than those of the outer plains.

At
710

the bottom of the gorge, the mighty Teesta,

ft.

now

only

above the

sea,

thunders down, carrying a tropical

its

climate

and vegetation up along

banks thus

far within

TO THE EASTERN PASS OF THE JELEP

the mountains.

261

We

soon reached the iron bridge which we

in

had previously crossed

in

coming from Kalimpong.

village
is

Here,

this

deep hot gorge, quite a large

the
increase
in

springing
that

up

since

the

military

traffic

has

followed
that

our

little

war with Tibet.

the
line

And now we

realized

we were on
in

of communications

of a small

army

the

field.

The road was thronged

and
endless
strings

with small

detachments
coolies, laden

of troops

of transport

mules and pack-ponies going, and empty ones

returning with their drivers, and droves of cattle and sheep

for slaughter

for the commissariat.

The mouth
trains

of the

bridge

was

quite

blocked by the

of transport

bullock-carts

that

had come directly

plains of Siligoori,

up the Teesta valley from the Indian

to

avoid

the

needless

climb
of

up

to

and

descent

from

Darjeeling.

The
to

block
the
for

carts

here

was

especially

great

owing
built

bridge having, through an oversight,

foot-passengers,
it.

been no

only

and so narrow that

to

cart

could

cross

These vehicles therefore had

be unloaded,

their

wheels unshipped, and both their loads

and the
together

bits

of the carts carried over piecemeal, and put

and

reloaded

at

the

other

side

all

of which

meant a chronic block of the

of the bridge.

traffic at this

narrow throat

The frequency and

here
this
is

severity of the "Derbyshire

neck"

remarkable.

Most of the
and whilst
to

residents suffered from

I

disfiguring
rest-house,

swelling;
I

was

at breakfast at

the

was surprised

see that several of the

262

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

and
the

goats

domestic
place

fowls,

as

well

as

some of

the

ponies
villagers

of the

had the same large

swellings.

The

blamed

particular

springs in the neighbourhood,

which they said gave goitre to every one who drank that
water.

Probably the complaint

that crop

is

connected with the lime;

stone-rocks

out

hereabouts

but

had already
in the

found that

most of the goitre-causing springs

sub-

montane
of iron,
blood,

plains,

contained in addition to lime an excess

which we know produces readily fulness of the

and thus

swelling

of this

large

vascular
for

and

unsupported gland of the neck might be accounted

physical principles.

on

At
the

the entrance to the bridge a warning placard caught

It

eye.

bore the very necessary military notice to

:

safeguard this slender vibrating structure

this

" Troops crossing

all

bridge

are

not

to

keep step."

And

along the

bridge

were

tied

countless

parti-coloured

streamers

and

fluttering prayer-flags, the offerings of the

Tibetan passengers

to

the

spirits

of the water.

helped myself to a few of

are seldom to be

these

flags

for

my museum,
and

as curios

had

free, gratis

for nothing.

Once

across this bridge

we were again

in British

Bhotan.

In the steep ascent to

Kalimpong we followed

at first the

new
here,

cart

road which had been

after

made
to
is

since our last visit

but

a time

we took

the short-cut, which,

rising over

3,000 feet in five miles,

always hot work to

climb, and tries the breath of the pedestrian.

Our troops
in

found

it

especially

trying

when they were pushing on

"

TO THE EASTERN PASS OF THE JELEP

1888 to fight the Tibetans.
British soldiers
is

263

On

that

occasion one
after toiling,

of the

said to

have exclaimed,
feet

under

broiling

sun,

up some 2,000

in

two

miles, " I've

heard that Tibet was a ta&/e-\and, so these must be the legs

we

are climbing

Beyond Kalimpong,
road,

after

several miles of hot shadeless

forest at Rissisoom, or

we

rose

into

some

grateful

"The

Three-spur Ridge", where three spurs diverge;

and

descending the northern of these, past Choo-mik, or " The

Spring of Water", where there
is

Lama

temple,

we reached

again Pedong, and encamped not far from the French missionaries
'

chapel, near the solitary "incense-tree" (Sal; in

Tibetan,
resin

Po) which gives

tree
is

its

name

to

this village.

The

of this

largely used as incense in the

is

Lama

temples

of Tibet.

It

found

the ground at the foot

of certain of these trees in Sikhim, in large masses, often

nearly 30
is

40
is

cubic inches in
exactly.

size,

but

how

it is

produced

not yet

known

Pedong
sariat

now
for

a considerable military station and commis-

depot

our small army of troops in Sikhim.

The

mere cost
in this

for

the transport of the rations for our troops,

little

war and the subsequent occupation of

this

mountainous country, must have been enormous.

food

All the
for

was brought from the

part

Indian

plains,
hills,
it

and

the

greater
carried

of the

way, within the

ponies,

had to be

by mules and

and on men's backs.

The

carriage of only one hundredweight for the short distance

from the Teesta bridge to here

is

one

to

two rupees (one

264
shilling

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

and threepence to half a crown), according
porters available.
to the

number of
of coolies
days.

In this

way

these thousands
in

have
as I

been making a month's wages

a few

And

came along

saw scores of these coolies

little

seated by the roadside gambling, with

heaps of rupees
sight to see

changing hands;

and

it

was no uncommon

coolies resting beside their loads, throwing

striking

up rupees and

them against each

their

other,

and gloating over the

sight
solid

and sound of

new-found treasure.
for all this

Yet what enormous

advantage have we yet gained

1

outlay

From
cents,

there,

several

more aggravating descents and

still

as-

and again
final

further descents

awaited us ere

we

reached the

climb to the Pass. These ups and downs

;

seriously obstruct the flow of trade along this route

although

the

map
miles,

distance from Darjeeling to the Jelep

is

only about
is

40

the distance by the undulating road

feet

over 80,

and the ascents must be over 20,000

over
15,0001

and the descents

2,800 feet

descent from

here

to

about

brought us to the Rishe, or " Hillhead

", torrent,

which comes
high),

down from

a high

hill

of that

name

(10,400
at

ft.

and

which we crossed by a strong bridge,

2,030 feet above the sea, and

an elevation of
in

we were then once again

"Independent Sikhim
vated
fields to

".

Thence we ascended through

(-earth)

culti-

Rhenok, or "The Black

Hill"; and

crossing that ridge at an elevation of about 5,000 feet,

we

wound through copses

alternating with

many
to "

fallow fields

strongly scented with rank

wormwood,

The Great

Flat

TO THE EASTERN PASS OE THE JELEP

Stone",
traders'

265

which

gives

its

name

to

a small

hamlet
that

at

halting-place.

The
to

deserted

barracks

we

passed

on

the

way had
artillery,

be abandoned

a few

weeks

previously

by the

on account of a bad epidemic

here

of fatal

fever

that

claimed

many

victims,

as

was

evidenced by the fresh graves with their wooden crosses.

This epidemic was caused, so

my

Tibetan porters alleged,

this

by the sylvan
revenge
for

deities

and water-sprites of

place,

in

some outrage perpetrated on them by

I

our

soldiery; but this "fact" will not,

fancy, be found in the

records of our army.

Pushing on by the good bridle-path that wound through

rank jungle
infested

by venomous pipsee

flies,

we dipped

down
Hut"

to the fine river called

"The Water
after a

of the Lepcha's

(Rongli-chu)y so

named

Lepcha's house at the

in the river after

crossing.

We

had a refreshing bath

for

our

hot march,

and halted here

the

night;

for

although
site

the elevation was only ,2,590 feet above the sea, the

was exceptionally cool and was reported to be

malaria,
at
least

free

from

at

that

season, and here was a stagingriver's

house

prettily situated

on the

bank.

The woodwork
having
spared
to

of this building bore abundant marks of

been
few

tenanted
of the
his

by

the

British

soldier.

He had

beams
initials

and posts
or

in his

eager desire

carve

down

name

to

posterity, whilst

halting

here

with

his

detachments

of troops

that

were

frequently

passing this
Pass.

way

to

and from the

frontier fort,
fish

near the Jelep

Our men caught a few

in the

266

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

but

stream,

they

were

aggravatingly

bony and

rather

insipid to eat.

From

this

place

the

ascent

was

practically

unbroken.
crossing
per-

The road
several

led

up

finely

wooded gorge, and

tributaries, carried us into

open glades where

manent

cultivation

was

possible.

Here were several new

settlements

of the

Nepalese colonists

whom

our govern-

ment was inducing

tracts,

to settle in these hitherto uninhabited

so

as

to

create

a fixed population, and provide a

local

supply of food and labour,

on

this

solitary trade" (Sedong-

route.

Higher up we reached "The Great Se-tree

where,
at

chen),

6,500
is

feet

elevation,

and

in a

temperate
halted for

forest of oaks, there

a rest-house, in which

we

the night.

Towering some 6,000

feet

above

us,

and scarcely two

miles distant, rose, like a black wall, the beetling heights of

Lingtoo,

the

strongest

of the

fortified

Tibetan positions

which had to be taken by our troops, and which we had

to cross in the morning.
It
is

marvellous
position

how
in

our forces were able to carry such

the
face

strong

of a swarming foe, even

is

though badly armed, so excessively steep

not to

the ascent,

mention the

difficulties

of making active exertions

ft-)>

in the rarefied air

of such an altitude (12,617

anc^ the

badness of the track at that time.

Even with

the present
to stop

good

bridle-path, the strings of

baggage animals have

every few dozen yards to take breath.

stockade was
built

The

first

Tibetan

on a ridge

at

9,060 feet high, thickly

TO THE EASTERN PASS OF THE JELEP

covered with dwarf bamboo, beside a small
tarn, called "

267

The

Fine Sheep-pond" (Jcluk-Tso). Here

some of

my

coolies

who had accom-

panied our troops, pointed out the spots

where the Tibetans had

lain in

ambus-

cades, screened

by the

undergrowth and mist,

and the

remains
their

of

some of
were
still

dead

to

be seen

not far from our path.

TIBETAN FORTIFICATIONS AT YATOOKG.

The

steep

ascent up the

cliffy

Lingtoo led us beyond

268

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

bamboos, winding through rhododendrons ablaze with
on which honey-suckers were feeding,

the

blossoms,

and up
the

through
bleak

dwarf junipers (J. recurva) and

silver-firs to

summit,

which

was crowned by the long

after the style of the
1

lines

of

Tibetan masonry

fortifications,

Tibetan
these,
fire

block-house at Yatoong, here figured.

roamed over
kindled a

examining

their

details,

whilst

Achoom

in

one of the deserted barracks, to prepare some tea and hot

luncheon.

The storming
under
little

of this Tibetan stronghold

by our

troops,

General
loss

Graham,
on
our

was

effected

with
that

marvellously
the
natural

of

life

side,

seeing

strength of the position

nable,
if it

made

the place practically impreg-

had been held by any well-armed and disciplined

But the Tibetans were
matchlocks,
arrows,

body of men.
wretched
rusty

only

armed with
slings

and some had merely

latter

and bows and

which

are

still

the native
for "

weapon
is

of the Tibetans. Indeed, the Tibetan

word

gun

"

" fire-arrow "

(Me-dahJ,

and

their

commanders are
More than
the
spells

still

called

"Lords of the Arrows"

(Dah-pdii).
trust

to their

weapons, however, did they

priests,

to

of their

and especially

to the divinations of the

Ne-choong

oracle.

These

spells

they

believed

secured to them, not

only

the

supernatural

assistance

of the

gods

but

also

rendered them individually

of our
rifles.

invulnerable
their

against the shots

And even when

still

men were

being rapidly

shot

down,

the

survivors

did

not lose faith in their

as-

spells;

but afterwards with complacent confidence they

TIBETAN MODK OF WARFARE

serted that something
spells,

269

had gone wrong

in

the casting of their

effica-

but that in the next war they must certainly prove

cious.

Amongst
like

several of these spells found in their

camp,

was one

a windmill, inscribed with the

words " Break

them! Destroy them!"

curious Tibetan

map

of Sikhim

TIBETAN SOLDIERS.

and Darjeeling was also picked up, and a lithograph of

is

it

now

displayed in the Survey Office in Calcutta.

in warfare,

Their code of rules to be followed

quaintly worded,
in
is

though

generally admirable in theory, as seen

manuscript copy
read:

found

in

Sikhim

by Mr. White.

They

270

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

going
to

" Before

war,

the

strength

of

the
is

enemy
to

"should be carefully ascertained, and diplomacy

" exhausted
" should "

be

before

campaign

is

undertaken
loss

and care

be taken that by going to war no

be sustained

by your Government.
should

Anyone coming
received.

with overtures of

" peace

be

well

Should

two or more
left

" enemies
" untried

combine against you, no means should be

to

separate

them, and

if

possible

to bring

one

"over to your side; but

false oaths

should not be resorted

"to, nor the using of God's name. " lazy, sick, or timid in the ranks " not death.
;

See that there are no

but only those

who

fear

Experienced men only should be

sent.

The
differ-

"army

should be divided into three divisions under

" ent officers. " in

Your

horses, tents

and arms should be kept

good

order.

doctor, diviner, astrologer and

Lama
should

"should be appointed.
"
first

On

moving, the tent

for
;

fires

be put out, the wounded be cared

and

in cross-

" ing rivers, order should be kept, and those behind should
" not push forward.

Things found should be returned with-

"out asking or reward.

Any

disputed

booty should be
sentries,

"drawn

for

by

lots.

The General should appoint

"who must

look to the water-supply, and see they become

" not easily frightened.

They should

allow no stranger to
kill

"enter the camp armed; but should be careful not to

"any messenger.

If

a sentry

kills

a messenger coming to
his

"make

peace,

he shall be sent to

home

in disgrace,

"mounted on some
" Again,

old useless horse with broken harness.

fort
is

when a

surrounded, those in

it

should

TIBETAN RULES OF
" remain

WAR
They should
not

271

quiet

and show no

fear.

fire

"off their arms uselessly, and with no hope of hitting the

"

enemy.

The

well within the fort should be

most carefully

" preserved. " arms, " "

If

you be defeated you must give up your

killed.

and those who give these up must not be

kill

Should anyone

one who has given up

scoffed
at

his arms,
If

he

must be derided and

as

a coward.

you

" capture a General or officer of

rank you should bind his

" hands in front with a silk scarf; he should be allowed to

" ride his

own
well;

horse or another good horse, and should be

so
that
in

"treated
" into
his

the
treat

event of your ever falling

hands he

may

you

also

well.

Prisoners
for

" should receive necessary subsistence,

and also expenses

" religious

ceremonies.

Should an army be defeated and

be said to them, but they

" obliged to fly, nothing should

" should

not

be rewarded or receive any presents, even

"though the leader be a great man."

Our
its

artillery

proved too much

into
their

for

them.

When

it

poured

withering shells

midst they broke and ran,

and though they made several stands higher up, they soon
were driven from
their position,

swept over the pass, and

pursued into the valley of Choombi beyond. This charming

Tibetan valley could easily have
small
force

been held, even by a

of police

but our troops were quickly withfor the feelings of China, the

drawn, out of consideration

nominal suzerain of Tibet.

The Chinese immediately on hearing

of this defeat of the

Tibetans, despatched an envoy to Darjeeling to settle this

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

frontier trouble, although they

had hitherto professed

their

inability to influence the Tibetans.

This envoy was Sheng

Tai, the chief Chinese Resident or

Amban

at

Lhasa, and he

was accompanied by a large

suite of Celestials

and Tibetans,

who

astonished us during the past winter at Darjeeling, by

like

appearing

antediluvian

monsters,

dressed in the most

CHINESE ENVOY FROM LHASA, AND SUITE.

The
chief

Mandarin

Secretary to

eral at

of

Troopt

of Lhasa.

Amban.

LIi.tss.-i.

The Amban-Sheng Tai

formidable
use
in

trappings
arctic

to

keep out the

in

cold, such as they

the

winters

Tibet,

including nose-pads,

ear-pads and temple-pads, and huge padded goggles.

And, only a few weeks before our

vention

visit

here, a

con-

was signed between these Chinese and England,

the

which recognised

English

protectorate

over

Sikhim,

defined the boundary in general terms, and appointed a com-

mission

to

facilitate

trade

across

this

frontier.

The

cere-

CHINESE ENVOY FROM LHASA

mony
of
at

273

signing

this

convention

was done with much

pomp

Government House,

Calcutta, before the

Amban

with his Chinese suite returned to Pekin over this demolished

Tibetan

fort,

by the way we had come.

plenipotentiary, the

The Chinese
nation
is

Amban, whose

official desig-

"

Chinese Imperial Associate Resident in Tibet and Military

suite, as shown in the accompanying illustration, was received at the bottom of the grand staircaise by the Under-Secretary of the Foreign Department, and conducted to the top of the stairs where Mr. Cunningham, Foreign Secretary, was waiting to lead him to the Council Chamber, along a passage lined by the body-guard. The Amban wore a dress of blue and black silk, with a richly jewelled belt from which hung a short sword. He and his secretaries and suite all wore

Lieutenant Governor" accompanied by his

their official caps with their buttons of rank.

after

couple of minutes
staff,

they

entered the chamber, the Viceroy and

council

with two

members of
resident

came
to

was presented
the

and the Imperial His Excellency by Mr. Cunningham.

in,

in

procession,

The Viceroy showed

and
all

the

Amban

to

his seat at his right hand,

seats,

other officers took

at

their

two of the Chinese

and four standing apart. Then the powers of the Plenipotentiaries were presented and acknowledged. The door was then closed, while the Convention was read out, and compared in the English and Chinese versions; and after about a quarter of an hour the door was opened, and four copies of the Convention were signed by their Excellencies. The Amban
having places
the
table,

used

a brush like

camel-hair

pencil,

with

plain

wooden

handle.

He

dipped

this in a small

metal dish of Indian ink held

by one of
inscribed

his attendants,

and stooping over the parchment, slowly

two characters, one below the other, and both together not more than half an inch in length. Beside the Viceroy's "Lansdowne" written in a bold hand, they had the appearance of a mistake that had been scratched out. When the copies were signed they were sealed by attendants, and here the stamping of
the red seal of China was
fan, ox

punkah, had

to

done in a moment; whereas the great be stopped, and a number of matches struck
sheltered corners, before the
affixed.
18

under the table and

the British

in

wax

seal of

Government was

274

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

this

From

rugged

crest of Lingtoo, with

its

ruined

fort,

a sweep of fine rolling downs, the upland pastures, stretch

away up
the Jelep.

to the

snows of the Chola range and

the knolls, amongst which

its

pass of
find ourin

At

first

we

selves, are
full

covered with clumps of rhododendrons, now

hillsides

bloom and clothing the

with

almost every

shade

of bright colour, from brilliant vermilion (R. cinnarose, blue

barinnm) to pale
depressions
with purple

and yellow.
rocks

And

the grassy

between

the

lichen-clad

are enamelled

primroses (petiolaris), blue gentians (quadrif.),

pink

and

white

anemones,

buttercups

and other bright

yellow Alpine flowers, already taking advantage of the brief

spell

of sunshine

by bursting

into

blossom

for

even

in

these high altitudes

many

flowers are " born to

is

bloom and
below.
;

blush

unseen", and summer

as sweet as

down

Magnificent views of the

of Kanchen-junga
is

snows, too, are to be got

that

especially fine,
little

from the boldness of

pools in the marshy

the

foreground.

The numerous

hollows which are found here, are considered by Blanford

to

be

traces

of

former glaciers
I

the

dams,

being

little

moraines,

and

he says, "
action
if

had been carefully watching

a

for

marks of
find

glacial

at

lower elevation,

but

could

none

whatever;

any ever existed they have long

rainfall

since

been obliterated by the tremendous

and con-

sequent disintegration and denudation of the surface."

After
a slight descent through a pine forest with
a

some

stunted junipers,
fort of

turn

of the

road reveals the frontier

Gnathong, or "The Black Meadow", so called by the

THE FRONTIER FORTRESS OF GNATHONG

Tibetans,
traders'

275

as

its

dark pine-encircled
this

meadow
of the
others,

is

the

first

camping-ground on

side

snowy
it

pass. a pity

In regard to this name, as in so

that in
spelling
it,

many

is

our map-makers should have gone out

of their

way

to introduce

an

initial

that does not exist

it,

in the Tibetan,

or "T//ibetzan" as they would have

is

for

the native

word
here

plain Na-t'ang.
is is

The
the

fort

perhaps the
held

highest

military
Its

post in
is

world which

by Europeans.
It
lies

elevation

12,030 feet above the sea-level.

a bowl-like valley,
great
distance,

in the

bottom of
at

commanded
that
it

all

round by heights

no

so

is

only tenable against a timid

Tibetans.
Its

and badly armed foe

are,
like

like

the

fortifications

the

barracks

themselves,

of wood,
it

backed

by

shallow earthworks and trenches. Yet

especially

looks picturesque,

as

the

small

stream that meanders

down

the

land-locked valley has been

able
sized
in this

dammed up

to form a consider-

lake,

which gives the troops who are cooped

up

dreary place some recreation, bathing, boating

in

and swimming

summer, and skating

in winter, in addition

to a plentiful supply of water.

Through

the clouds of thick mist which were fast settling

down, we saw as we crossed below the dam, some scores

of

European

soldiers,

and

our

ears

caught

the

cheery

brogue of the jovial Connaught Rangers,

post, assisted

who

held this
;

by some

artillery,

Goorkhas and pioneers

and

soon we experienced the

table
officers,

warm welcome from

the hospi-

who ensconced

us in one of the spare log-

276

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

within
that

huts

the

fort.

It

was amusing,
the
fort

if

not pathetic, to
this

notice

the

streets

inside
"

in

outlandish

edge of the world, were named

Hyde Park Corner ",

" Rotten

Row",
still

etc.;

showing how the Britisher

in his exile here,

clings in loving fancy to the land of his birth.

bitter cold of the winter

The
extra

may be imagined from

for

the

warm

clothing

that

was needed

the

troops in

addition to their ordinary winter clothing.

The

extra cloth-

ing issued on this account to the troops (2,000 British and native

and 930

followers)

employed

in

Sikhim,
1889, as:

is

given

officially

for the year

ending

1st April,

11,000

blankets,

4,100 pairs of boots and shoes,

3,600 cardigan

jackets and

warm

coats, 2,200 sheep-skin coats or poshteens,

and over 8,000

pairs

of worsted socks, as well as 8,500

warm

jerseys and pyjamas.

About 4,000 waterproof

sheets

were also issued, besides mittens, putties or woollen leggings,

turbans,

and warm waistcoats

in

proportion;

650 waterto

proof capes were supplied for the use of

the

men exposed

wet during guard or picket

duties.

The

protection of
forgotten, the

the men's eyes fom

snow blindness was not

force being supplied with

1,200 pairs of goggles.

frontier,

As

is

usual

at

most military stations on the

the natives were especially polite.

there

The

Tibetans, of

whom

were a goodly number here, kowtowed and put out

their tongues in their

most respectful way

fighting

although several
a

of

them were men who were

us

few months
in building,

before, but

who were now

profitably
for

employed

road-making and carrying loads,

which they got good

TIBETAN FORT-BUILDING EXTRAORDINARY

277

pay. This peculiar Tibetan form of polite salutation which

we have
British
officer,

already seen, was not at

here,

first

understood by the

soldiers

one

of

whom

complained

to

his

that one of these "dirty rascals" put out his tongue

at

him,

and "I knocked him down; and when he got up

again

he put out his tongue even more than before, then

I

again

knocked him down."

Next

morning we ascended

to

the Jelep pass,

riding

most of the way.

as the undulating

A
hill

zig-zag led over the

"Derby Downs",
is

to the north of the fort

called, to

commemorate the charge of

driving the Tibetans from the

the

Derbyshire regiment in
ridge above.
feet, that
It

Tooko

was

along this ridge, at an elevation of 13,550

ans built their
last
fight.

the Tibet-

famous wall during the night before the

has

As

been

remarked,

it

seems

scarcely

credible that this wall which

for four or five miles,

was breast high, and extended

in

could have been erected

a single

night.

When
at

our

picket was withdrawn from this

Tooko

ridge

dark one evening, not a Tibetan was to be seen

near, nor

was a sound heard

in the night at

Gnathong, which

was only a mile and a half below, and yet next morning
there

was

this wall

completed, and lined by a

mob

of yelling

thousands.
bullets

Some
still

evidence of the havoc wrought by our

to

was

be seen

in

a few pierced skulls lying

about, and gruesome piles of dead Tibetans showing through the thin graves, trenched open

by the heavy

rains.

From

the pass through this

Tooko

ridge,

we passed over

open grassy downs and moorland, and descended through

27 8

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

little
ft.),

scrubby rhododendrons to a
long,

lake about half a mile

the

Bidang-Tso
(P.

(12,700
Kingii).

fringed

with
is,

ruby-co-

loured

primroses

This lake

as noted

by

Mr.
Just

Blanford,
at

one of the best examples of a glacier-lake.

is

the upper or north-west end there

a horse-shoe
lake,

moraine,

which has formerly enclosed a second

into a

now

converted

marsh.

At

the

south

end

is

second

well-marked moraine,

damming up

the lake.
valley,

A
and
still

sharp

rise

up the craggy, yet swampy Kapap

rise

a sharper
steeper
at

through a snow-streaked
over
frozen

gorge,

and

bit

snow,
sea,

on
the
I
it

foot,

brought

us,

14,390

feet

above the

to

summit of the
found, means.
is

"Lovely Level"

pass, as the

name

Jelep,
for

And
of
all

certainly

it

deserves

this

name,

the easiest
It
is

the

passes

between Tibet and Sikhim.

rela-

tively low,

and can be crossed on horseback both up and

is

down, and

seldom closed by snow

for

more than a few

weeks during winter.

distance.

We

went down the other side some

The view

into

Tibet

from
for

the
here,

top

is

much

finer

than

from the Tang-kar pass;

into

one sees away down

the
lies

bold
its

pine-clad
capital

valley of the inhabited

Mo

river,
it

where

town of Choombi, and beyond

fort,

rise

the heights of Phari the

leading up to the
is

snowy peaks,

most conspicuous of which

the sugarloaf-like cone

ft.),

of the sacred Chumo-lhari (23,940

or

"The

Hill of the

Lady-goddess", the tutelary

of the

spirit

of this valley, as well as

In the

adjoining

Tibetan tableland to the north.

DESIRABILITY OF CHOOMBI AS A SANITARIUM

foreground,
side, is

279

few

feet

below the

pass,

on the Tibetan

a small lake whose waters leap

past
the
site

down through dark

the

fir-woods,

now occupied by

Tibetan

block-house of Yatoong, (figured on page 267,) into the

river,

Mo
of

only about six miles distant, at the flourishing town

of

Rinchen-gong,
at

and

three

miles

below

the

fort
ft.

Choombi,
This

an elevation of not more than 9,400

fine valley of

Choombi, though

at present closed to

Europeans, has been visited by several Englishmen. Manning

passed
missions
this

way

to

Lhasa

last

century,

as

well
in

as the

sent
in

by Warren Hastings
1783.

Bogle's
troops

1773, and
as
all

Turner's

Some

of our

also,

above
testify

mentioned, lately pushed into this valley.

to
its

And

splendid climate and scenery, and the signs of material

well-being

and comfort

there, in such striking contrast to

Sikhim.
ings,

The houses

are said to be well-built stone build-

two

to three storeys high,

;

surrounded by

fertile

meadows

and orchards

and

in the river,
it

good

fishing

is

said to be got.

What

pity

is

that

this

fine residential valley

was

not annexed by us, of doing

so

when we had

the legitimate opportunity

for the

two years ago, as some indemnity

of that
little

enormous
Tibetans

cost

war which the aggressive

cost
to

forced

upon

us.

The

our Government

of that expedition, and the subsequent military occupation

of a position in Sikhim which
it

entailed, can scarcely

have

amounted

to less than a million sterling,

and was probably

far,

much more.
out dead
loss,

Yet

all

this

expenditure, so

has turned

without the slightest prospect of advantage

2 8o

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

any way.

in

And even

China, in view of

all
its

the circum-

stances, could not

have seriously objected to

annexation.

Amongst

other reasons for this annexation in these days

of geographical not
the

boundaries,
a part

is

the fact that this valley

all,

is

geographically

of Tibet at
like

but

lies

within

m-Himalayan
;

water-shed,

Sikhim,

Nepal

and

Bhotan
Bhotan,
the

and
until

it

is

believed to have belonged to Sikhim or

about two

hundred years ago.

Several of

inhabitants

have

told
British

me

that

they would welcome

as

annexation

by the

Government,

they are so

harassed by the Chinese and Tibetan

officials,

who

receive

no wages and who "squeeze" the inhabitants accordingly.

And

the

political
it

as

well

as
Its

the

physical
is

desirability of

acquiring

is

immense.

climate
it

far better fitted for

a sanitarium than Sikhim, for

is

screened from the rains

which

make

residence

in

Darjeeling so unpleasant during

is

those very months

when

a cool sanitarium
is

most needed w
;

and

its

bold Alpine scenery

said to

be scarcely equalled

by the

best parts of Kashmir.

this

Then,
India
to

valley

is

the

only natural trade-route from

is

Central

Tibet, and

therefore of commercial as

well as strategical importance.

The
so

route through Sikhim

by which we have
bristling with endless

come

is

extremely circuitous, so

ups and downs, dipping into tropical

rising
to

valleys
Jelep,

and
only

ultimately
to

the

14,390

feet of the

dip

down
it

again

to the 9,000 feet of this

Choombi
at
all

valley, that
its

is

indeed remarkable that any trade

finds

way by

the present route through Sikhim,

POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF CHOOMBI

or

281

"The

Crested Country," a peculiarly appropriate name.

On
the
is

the other hand, as a reference to the

natural
this

map

will

show,

and

direct

route

from India to Central Tibet

up

Mo

or Torsha river from the plains of Jalpaigoori,

the

British

district

which adjoins Darjeeling on the

east.

Here
all

are no trying ridges to cross, but one simple gradient

the way, through a productive country that would carry

a remunerative railway, and over which trains could easily

run

from

India

via

an extension of the existing Bengalin

Doars or Rangpur railway, into Choombi

a few hours.

The advantages
forcibly,

of this route struck Sir Ashley

Eden

so

when he was
in

crossing this river on his mission to

:

Bhotan

1864, that he wrote

"If the country had been

into Tibet

in

any hands but those of the Bhotanese, a road

have been taken up
this

would

(Mo) valley, and would have opened

plains, avoiding all snoiv-passes"

communications with the

an
India,

important record which seems to have been forgotten.

this

Between
a

Choombi

valley

and the plains of

it

British
this

corner of Bhotan intervenes,

is

true.

But

doubtless

could

be easily acquired from the impecunious

already ceded
territory
is
;

Bhotanese,

who have
much
in

to

us,

for

nominal
this

sums, so
small

of their

and especially as

tract

question

so sparsely populated, and has

its

already been

shorn of most of
it is

marketable timber and

of
little

india-rubber trees, so that

now

value to the Bho-

tanese themselves.
I

advocated these views

I

at

the

time
shall

of the late war;

and

believe

that eventually

we

have to take over

282

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Once we have got
little

Choombi.

the railway there, there will

it

be relatively
the

physical difficulty in extending

up to

Tibetan plateau, and to the great central

if

river, the

Tsang-po,

necessary.

For Tibet

is

certain
its

to

become

of considerable commercial importance

rich gold-fields,

perhaps

the
so.

richest

in
it

the
in

world,

are

alone sufficient to

make

it

And

lies

to India

much more

closely

than to
crisis,

Russia.

On

the disintegration of China, or other

demanding the occupation of Lhasa, an Indian army

could reach that city from

Choombi

in

about a week's march

lies

whereas between Kashgar and the Pamirs

impassable
desert which would take

an almost

many months, indeed

The
easiest route of all

the greater part of a year, to cross.

to

Lhasa would, of course, be up the Tsang-po or Dihing

from Assam.
living in

river

The cheapness of
plateau

Choombi and
all

in the adjoining

of Tibet

is

remarkable, and
in

the

more

so

when
the

compared with that

Sikhim.

was

told
is

by some of
generally
it

natives of this valley of

as "

Choombi (which
for

known

To-mo

",

after

an edible tuber,
traveller,

which

is

famous),

that

an ordinary native
with

who

purchases his proin

visions

money (though
sell

in

some places

Tibet the

people do not

goods
i
1

for

money, but only barter them),

2

can

live

on
to

about
the

/2

to

annas
so,

(or
it

pence)
costs

a day,
in

compared

annas

or

that

the
car-

neighbouring
riage
is is

British

territory

of

Darjeeling.

And

still

cheaper.

The ordinary means

or

of transport
i'/ 4

by ponies,

mules

yaks,

that

carry

about

to

CHEAPNESS OF LIVING IN CHOOMBI

2 cwts.,
for

283

human

porterage

is

deemed degrading

in

Tibet.
all

The

cost of the carriage of one

maund^\ %

ofacwt.,)

the

way from Choombi

to Gyantse, the large

is

mart of
said to

Central Tibet, six or seven days' march distant,

be only about four annas (fourpence)

all

the

way

In this

march, two days are usually taken from Choombi to Phari

fort,

where the customs are

days'

levied,

and Phari

is

ordinarily

five

march from Gyantse, seven from Shigatse, and

thirteen

from the holy city of Lhasa, the Mecca of the

Tibetans;

though

met

at the Jelep a

man who had

left

Lhasa only eight days previously. The trade-duties are said

to

amount

to four annas (pence) a

head going, and three

annas returning, in addition to about one-tenth of the value

of the goods imported, and this
is

often taken in kind.

The

Nepalese levy heavier duty on their Tibetan

frontier, as

much

as

five

rupees

(over

six

shillings)

per head, and

about ten per cent of the value of the goods, except gold,

which
its

is

always passed free of duty so as to encourage

Silver,

import.
to

on the other hand, whilst

it

is

freely
is

exported
strictly

Tibet,

and

usually

of

base

quality,

forbidden to be imported from Tibet into Nepal.

this Jelep pass,
left,

Returning from
off to the right

we saw

other tracks going

and

to the neighbouring passes,

between
Chola
to the
this

the jagged

snow-streaked

peaks
feet

of this

so-called
left,

range

to

Pemberingo, 15,000

on our

and

Nathu,
last

Yak and Cho

passes on our right.

Following

track over the moors for a short distance,

we reached
lake, fringed

the wild gorge of the diamond-shaped

Nemi

2 84

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

firs,

with

beyond which,

after

about two miles, the track

goes up to the Nathu pass, where a limited view of this

Choombi
through
lakes,
is

valley

is

obtained.

About
with

three miles farther on,

picturesque
steep

valley

a
a

succession
fine

of

little

the

Yak

pass

with

view
is

of the

Choomolhari peak. The Cho or Cho-La pass

long, steep

and tedious, and commands a

restricted view.

This range

consists of a pale-coloured gneiss with a remarkable

low

dip,

so that the peaks are

somewhat
mist that

flattened.

Through the
musical
tinkle

thick

now

set in,

we heard

the

of

ox-bells,

and met several yak-herdsmen

;

on our way back

butter from them.
the

to

Gnathong
are

we bought some milk and

like the

They

nomads
graze

herdsmen of
on both

Lachoong

valley.

They

their

cattle

the Tibetan and Sikhim sides of the frontier.

In the sum-

mer they
passes,
crops,
falls,

drive their cattle across the Jelep

and adjoining

into

the

Choombi

valley,

where they grow a few

and

in

autumn they

recross the passes.

As

the

snow

they descend into the lower valleys of Sikhim, where

they
latter

have
is

scanty

crops

of barley and buckwheat.

is

The made

a hardy cereal of the dock family, which

;

into

poor girdle cakes

it

is

called pJiyo

by the Bhotiyas,

pru by the Lepchas and pha-phar by the Nepalese.

One
going

of the
to

few pedestrians we met was a

carrying
It

Sikhimese
of

Choombi,

heavy

load

Murwa
this

seed of his
seed,

own growing.
in
;

was said that a load of

]

which

Sikhim brings only Rs. 4

/2 ,

sells

for Rs.

in

Choombi

and

this

amount,

if

invested there in

LEGENDS OF THE JELEP

Tibetan
for
salt,

285

buys about 2

/2

cwts.,

which

sell in
1

Darjeeling

about Rs. 30

good stroke of business

Some
as
I

of the legends of these passes were related to

me

descended to Gnathong: how that the wizard-saint, Loin Tibet,

pon Rimboo-che, the founder of Lamaism

over
this

passed

way

to introduce his religion into Sikhim,

and the
entered

devils of these

mountains conspired against him.

He

by

the Cho-la, hence called " Jo-la"', or the "Pass of the

to

Lord",

which he thus gave

is

his

name; on

the east side of

(zooti)

that pass, a rock

pointed out as "the throne"

to the pass,
is

on

which he
surprised

sat;

and close
she-devils

a spot where he
beings,

some

cooking

human

and

two masses of columnar rock

of the
stones
that

there, are alleged to

their

be two

supported

colossal

cooking-pot.

He, too, created the pass through that ridge on which the
Tibetans built their long wall

the

Tooko

La, or " Up-torn

Pass", by tearing up the rock there to crush an obnoxious

demon,
all

whom
who

he buried

in

the Bidang lake near by.

And

these lakes are tenanted

allure the

by mermaids,

sirens

and dragon-

spirits

unwary

to destruction.

The names
abouts,
I

of these mountains, places and rivers heregive us great insight into the

find,

way

in

which

primitive

people have

coined their names for places, and

to us
little

given names which

In

now convey

or no meaning.

England and most parts of Europe, where so many

different

waves of

races

have swept into

the country in

ancient times,

and so

little is

known

of the language and

customs of the aboriginal natives who were thus displaced

286

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

it

or driven out,

is

not easy
rivers,

now

to find a

meaning

in

the

names of many of the

mountains and places.

Here,

however, the aborigines,

still

who gave

the original names, are

in

possession,

and

as they themselves

have occupied
recently,

much

of their country

only

comparatively

the

reasons for their name-giving have not yet been lost sight
of.

But there
for

is

no time to lose

in investigating this sub-

ject,
is

the

language of the real aborigines, the Lepchas,

extinct.

fast

becoming
any
full

They have not a

written language,

nor has

vocabulary

of their language ever been

that they

published.

Thus the names

have given

to the

places and rivers might, through

unintelligible
I

much

longer delay, prove

lost.

by

their

meaning becoming

had,

therefore,

in this research, to

prepare a vocabu-

lary for myself

by taking down the words phonetically from

the lips of the elder Lepchas, and to hunt for the precise

shade of meaning of each word.

And

then

had

to elicit

by enquiries

at

each spot, the special reasons as to

why
Here

that place or river

I

had received

its

particular

name.

41

shall

only mention that while

all

the oldest

names

in this

part of the Himalayas are of

Lepcha

origin, there are also

many Tibetan names which have been bestowed by

immigrant
also

the
are

Bhotiyas
in

who
lower

settled

here

and

there

now

the

ranges

recently
for

occupied
places

by

the

Nepalese,

several Nepalese

names

already

bearing aboriginal
ones.

names, not to mention several English

of
the
hills

So

that
to

several

and

rivers

have
syno-

now

come

possess

three

different

names

or

HOW
river

PLACES GET THEIR NAMES

287

nyms, according to these three ethnic groups.

Thus, the

which the Lepchas

call

"The Great

Straight-going

Water" {Rang-nyoo-Oong), and which

Pure Water" {Tsang-Chu),
palese,
is

the Bhotiyas call

"The

called

by the Hindooized Ne-

"The Three Currents"

its

{Teestota or "Teesta"), on

account of
in
its

stream breaking up into three main branches

course through the plains.

will

It

already have been noticed,

how remarkably
;

de-

scriptive these native

names
that
is

are, as a rule

and they usually

roving Lepcha

embody

information
of the

useful
in

to the

aborigines

forest,

or,

the

case of a trade-route
to the Tibetan traders

such as

we were now
it.

traversing,

who
very
of

frequent

The names
feature

usually

well
site

express
or river;

some
e.g.,

obvious

physical
especial

of the

rivers,

an

tortuosity,

steepness,

impetuosity,
;

shallowness or otherwise of a course or channel

tains,

of mounsites,

their

shape,

appearance,

etc.

of village

the
soil,

stony,

precipitous,

meadow-like character, quality of

jungle-product, conspicuous tree, etc.

Thus, most of the names of places along

halting-places,

this

road denote
or

or

stages

presenting

rock-shelter,

clearing
pasture.

in

the jungle
sites,

with

water

near,

and occasionally

These

being

on

lines

of communication
into

and always near a water-supply, occasionally develop

villages.

The names were probably

travellers,

first

given by Tibetan
priests

merchants or other

such as

or

monks;

and the process of such name-giving probably arose through

a pioneer merchant or other traveller, narrating the stages

288

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

of his journey, and his successors adopting his stages and

nomenclature.

Such a

traveller

might be supposed

to describe

how on
to the
call

going from

"The

Tomo-tuber" country {Choombi)

(or

"Country of Rice"
Sikhim, for
food),
it

"

Den-jong" as the Tibetans

is

one of their chief granaries

for this staple

and on crossing "The Lovely Level

Pass " (Je-lep-la\

the

he

passed

"The

Saints'

Mount" (Ku-phu) and

"Uptorn

Pass" through the ridge (Tooko-la), and reached "The Black

Meadow "

(Gna-tJiong),

where he halted. Next day he proceed-

ed down "The Steep Descent" (Ling-tu, or properly Loongtu) to

"The Big

.SV-tree

Clearing" (Se-dong-cheii). Next day,

continuing his descent past "

The Big

Pigs

'

Wallow

",

(Pha-

dom-chen) he crossed

"The Water"

(Chi) at the Lepcha's

house (Rong-li) and ascended to "The Big Flat Stone" (Dolep-chen),

where he halted. The following day he crossed "The

Black Hill" (Rkenok) and

"The Mountain-Head Torrent"

"The
Incense-tree Clearing"
at

(Ri-she-Chu) and ascended to

(Pe-dong).

Next day he lunched

"The Big Spring" "The

(Choo-mik chen), and crossing the ridge at the junction of

"The Three
Fort", or

Hill-tops" (Risisum), reached

as the Lepchas call
to
it

Governor's
etc., etc.

"pong"

(Kalim-pong)

On
the

returning

Pedong,

proceeded eastwards along

fine

frontier

of Bhotan.

charming walk through a

temperate forest led over the exposed crest of Labah, or

"The Windy

Site" (6,600

ft),

down

to

Ambiokh

(2,920

ft.).

On

the way,

we saw

the tracks of wild elephants, and the

to the trees as they passed.

damage they had done

Large

BHOTANESE FORT
herds of these

289

animals roam hereabouts, and are said to

10,000 feet on the flanks of Lingtoo

ascend as

high as

and every year numbers are caught by the Indian Government, in the unreclaimed forest of the adjoining plains below.

Near

my
its

tent in

the

forest,

at

Ambiokh, rose the

pic-

turesque ruins of the old Bhotanese fort of Daling (3,350),

that gave

name

to this part of Bhotan,

which was known

to the Bengalees as the Daling- Dooar, or " pass." This fort,

which occupies a very strong

position,

is

perched, as

its

name

"

The Rocky

Site " implies,

on the precipitous edge of

It

the gneiss-rocks, which rise here at a very high angle.

was stormed by our troops

already
jungle
referred
at
to.

in

our war with Bhotan 1864,

overlooks the great Terai

This

fort

the

foot

of the Himalayas, and the sea of outever-shifting channels of

stretching

plains,
rivers.

seamed by the

the

great

We

saw that the

impetuous

torrents

which had hurried down from the cloudy mountains into

the sunshine,

now formed

majestic rivers that creep slug-

gishly along their winding

as they

way over
hills in

the plains, depositing

go the debris of the

such enormous quantities,

that the river-beds

try

become

raised

above the surrounding coun-

and force the

rivers to seek

new

channels, oscillating for

many
that

miles on either side.

is

One

of the largest of these rivers

{Jal-daka),
miles,

we saw
it

thus called

"The Hidden Water"

disappears

because
flowing
I

sinks

down and
the

for several

underneath
this

porous gravel and loose detritus.

descended

Terai jungle by following a path past

the

"cow

station" {Goora-bathan) of

some Nepalese

herds19

290

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

These shallow passes or entrances from the plains
the
hills

men.
into

are

here

called

by

the

Indians, Doo-ars,
as the

equivalent to

and having

the

same Aryan root

Saxon "door".
Doo-ars
land,
4:

Several others of these shallow valleys or

have been ceded to us by the Bhotanese as wasterichest tea-land in India.

it

and now form some of the

here,
is

The jungle

so thick and dense that

was not

practicable or wise to as
I

go very
to ride
;

far

from the path, especially

had no elephant

for

on the sandy bank of one

of these streams, amongst tracks of rhinoceroses and deer,

I

came

across

the

fresh

foot-prints

of

tiger.

Here

got several birds of Malayan type, including two fine grey

pea-pheasants with gorgeous iridescent spots on their wings

and
tailed

tails,

Bhotanese

partridge,

and the great racket{Dissemnrus para-

Drongo, a

sort of bird-of-paradise

diseus).

Jungle fowl were common.

These ancestors of our

common
in

domestic fowl are said to have been domesticated

India

and China before 1400

as

B.C.,

and introduced
as

into

Europe amongst the Greeks

shrill

early

600 B.C.

The
sharp

clarion

call

of the

wild

bird

is

much more
The

and staccato
butterflies

than that of the domestic.

insect
life
is

variety of
in

and other

even greater than

Sikhim, also the rankness of the vegetation, for the rainfall

in

this

outer

tract,

to the

east of the Teesta

is

and

in

the basin of the Brahmapootra,

almost double that of the

corresponding parts of Sikhim.

The
the

semi-aborigines
plains

who

inhabit

the

"

Doo-ars

"

and

adjoining

of the

Brahma-pootra, the river be-

THE KOCH OR COOCH TRIBE

yond,
not, as
writers,

291

are
is

in

many ways an

interesting people.

They do

stated

by Colonel Dalton, Mr. Risley and other

belong to the dark negro-like aborigines of India,

the

Dravidians; but they are a distinctly Mongoloid race,

a branch of the

"Kooki"

that seems to have entered Bengal

from the

east,

by way of the eastern

valley of the Brahma-

KOCH OR
pootra and not,
I

COOCH

TRIBE.

think,

from Tibet. They have become so

much Hindooized by
lost

contact with Bengalees, that they have

not only their

own language, but even

the

their

tribal

name,

and

are

now known by

Bengalee epithet of

Koch, or "the Terai" (people), just as their kinsmen across

the Brahma-pootra are called " Kochari" or "Cachari", an
identical term.

Most of them, however,

title

prefer to call them-

selves

by

the Hindoo
affiliate

of "

Raj-bans i"

or

"The Royal

Race", to

themselves on their nobler kinsmen, the

292

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

of

reigning chiefs
etc.,

Koch

or Cooch-Behar, Tipperah, Hajo,

in

lower

Assam and
are
to

Bengal.

A
in

few of the

still

more

aboriginal

tribes

be found

the deeper parts of

the

forest,

these

are the

Meek

or Boro, and the Dhimal.

All of these people have a curious form of inheritance on

the mother's side, instead of the father's, as
traces of this are also, as
is

usual

and some

we have

seen, to be found amongst

the Lepchas.

These sturdy, industrious people of the Koch

tribe enjoy

remarkable immunity from the deadly malaria of the Terai

and adjoining

plains.

This

is

owing,

in

some measure,

think, to the high platforms or plinths

their huts,

on which they

raise

and

to their clearing

away
of

the rank jungle from

dwellings,

the

immediate

neighbourhood

their

where

their trim plots of tobacco cultivation, their unveiled

in brightly striped skirts,

women

and the

straight ridged huts along-

side a few areca-palms, contrast pleasingly with the squalor

and rank setting of the hog-backed huts of Bengal.

In

cultivated
in

clearing

here

came upon a
field

young

leopard

broad daylight, skirting a

It

of sugar-cane
in-

only about a hundred yards away.

tently
for

was peering so
it

into

the

dense

cane-thicket that
just

did not see

me
into

some minutes, and

tall

as

it

was
it.

disappearing

that

growth,

sent a shot after

Immediately there

rose

a dreadful outcry
lay

from a village which, unseen by

yards

me,

few dozen
I

beyond where

had

fired.

Thinking that
to

must have shot some person,

and was relieved to
find that

rushed up

the

village,

no one had

LEPCHAS DISAPPEARING WITH THEIR FORESTS

been
hurt, but that the excitement

293

was owing

to a herd of

wild pigs which the leopard had been stalking, and which

on hearing

my
not

shot

and seeing the leopard, had bolted

pell-mell through the village, scaring the inhabitants.

I

should

advise the
hills

anyone
as
I

to

return

to

Kalimpong
short-

directly

across

did, for the

seeming

cut

turned out

deceptively to

be much the longer and

circuit

more

fatiguing route,

on account of the
hill-people

and badness

of the tracks.

These

have even

less true con-

ception

of distance

than

the people of the plains.

They

under-estimate distances, so that in their

bittock " the latter usually turns
half, and, curiously,

"two

miles and a

out to be

much

the bigger
is

they often
hill,

tell

you
it

that a place
is

double

the distance going up

to

what

coming down.
set-

On

the way,

passed through several flourishing

tlements

of the Lepchas.

The

families

averaged four to
;

five children,

and several numbered seven or eight

statement that this race
is

so that

the

current

is

dying out through

real

sheer

inanition

scarcely correct.

The
is

reason

for

their disappearance in British Sikhim,

the disappearance

or "conservation" of their forests, which

great

by

cutting off in

measure

their sources

of food, forces

them

into the

unreserved tracts of Bhotan and Nepal.

their

They

are also losing

their

identity

by the extensive absorption of

and Limboo
that
tribes,

women
much

into the Bhotiya

with

whom
race

they freely
is

intermarry,

as

they find

their

own

so

despised by the more civilized tribes.

Two

of these

Lepcha

girls,

after

a good deal of per-

294

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

us

suasion, sang

some songs

to the

accompaniment of

bamboo

flute,

and a Malayan harp

poker-work
of a

like a Jew's harp,

all

decorated

with
of the

plaited

basket-pattern.

As none
before,

Lepcha songs have ever been recorded

I

and they are unlikely to survive much longer,

lips

have noted down a few of them from the

people,

of these

and translated

them with the

aid

of Mr.

Dorje

Tshering, and one of us has rendered their simple melody

into

European notation.
of these idyllic songs refer not only to the of
love,

The words
primitive

passion

but

even

to

the

inscrutable

mystery of the origin and destiny of man.

last

And

in this

respect

it

is

pathetic to notice
associate

how

these Lepchas or

Rongs

specially

themselves with their ubiquitous

for

bamboo, whose stout stem supplies them with huts

shelter, with fuel,

bows and arrows

and pans
flutes
:

its

larger joints afford

water-jugs, cooking-pots
bottles,

its

smaller joints bestow

smoking-pipes and
its

its

branches make a springy

couch

bark supplies ropes to span their raging torrents,

also baskets

and umbrellas

and

its

tender young shoots are

eaten as food.
exist

Indeed, the Lepchas believe they could not

without their beloved bamboos, and no wonder they

glory in having been "born of equal age with the bamboos."

A-CHU-LE
A SONG OF THANKSGIVING.

i^^^^^^^fifW
A-chu-le

kal

tak-bo-ram

LEPCHA SONGS AND MUSIC

295

Kt
1
nan ya
tr*
it
-

tang

sa.

Lyang Ta she ram ya nan

-

it

tang

sa.

T=T
Zor-sak dam ku-lang ming tarn a
-

^
re
-

ka.

Sham-man-mi

zon.

Ia

b=P=

=3=
it
-

? ?
-

^
ka.

to

tsat

Gyi po-bong po-mik

it

duk

kang

sa

*^-

?^Tfl^
-

4^3r
gam

Mo-tan-chi Rong-kap ka yu

O Joy! In the olden time the Head-Father-Spirit made the earth, (He) the Sky-Existing-One made this earth, He clothed the stony bosom of this tearful earth with fertile fields.
When
At
the
that

men were made and the jointed bamboos and the trees, same time were we, the sons of the (one-) mother-flesh
jolly

Rongs.

43

Joy!

The mulberry

trees

were made with the

rice

and other

vegetables,

The running rivers were made with their fleeing fishes, The fleeing sky-birds were made with the worms and insects, And the rainbow was made by our old first great-grandfather, (But) our troubles were made by our old first great-grandmother!

The

plaintive wail of these wild tunes reflects the stern

surroundings that tinge the lives of these poor people with

sadness.

You seem

to hear in their ancient airs the

moan

X)6

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

of the wind sweeping over their rugged rock-cave or lonely

hut
glen.

in

the

forest,

or

the

sough

of the storm

down

the

The simple melody

the

of this ancient tune shows traces of

very old
to

pentatonic scale,
I

says Sir Sourindro

the
score
;

Mohan
in

Tagore,
regard to
ballads,

whom

showed
"though
it

and he adds

this scale,
is

is

observable in the Scotch

it

the scale in use

amongst Chinese, Japanese,

and Siamese".

The next
spinster,

three

songs

are

love-laments, the

first

by

and the others by languishing swains.

U-LA-DUNG DUT:
A LOVE-LAMENT.

^
-

la

dung dut

sa 'lam lop

la

na

tel

nom

go

lop

l=i

S
go.

:,

-#

-0-

-#

la nat'-el

nom go nom

Nyel

bli diit sa

shellop-la

na

t'el

nom

f
go
lop
la

=3
go

na

t'el

nom

nom

go.

(am) a maiden like an unopened bud,

like a pretty

supple shuttle, spinning

staff.

like a whirling
I

am

a maiden standing like a twirling spinning thread,

like a bright

golden

tassel,

standing (forlorn) behind.

FEPCHA SONGS AND MUSIC

I

297

am

a maiden like a tender coiled

bud

Shiing like a sorrowing bird,

loudly lamenting like the Tak-mok bird,
I

feel

very sad, very sad!

The

reference, in the

above and

in the following song, to

the "respected sisters standing behind", relates to the custom

of the

girls

of the

family of standing behind the guests,

as waitresses to replenish their drinking-cups.

THE PANGS OF LOVE.

Eh Yeh!
Listen!
I feel

very sad, very sad.

maidens behind,
is

My

heart

pierced through and

my

breath

is chill,

Alas!

I feel

very sad.

great head-father,

maker of

Fate,

Pray
1 feel

tell

me my

luck.

very sad.
only but a

am

Sham-man

youth, a

mere boy!

Why
I feel

have you troubled

me

so?

very sad, very sad!

O fair one with the flowing hair! O fair one with the straight-parted locks Why have you charmed me so? O fair one with the neat parted hair O old great-grandmother Nyezong, the joiner of our breath O old great-grandfather Fadung, praised be your names
!

But why have you created

me
sorrow
?

To

suffer such heart-breaking

Other songs sing the praises of

their

legendary

chiefs, called

Tekong-Tek and Fadung Ting, and

Nal and Nye-zong No,
in
all

their wives

Nye-kong

of

whom

are deified and invoked

worship.

Down

again in the Sal-tree forest, in the tropical gorge of

298

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Teesta,

the
the

we saw one
butterflies

of the great breeding-grounds of

myriad

that
till

swarm over Sikhim.

middle of June, the

At

this

season,

May, and on

the

tender

leaves of the great Sa/ trees were literally alive with voracious
caterpillars,

whose droppings

fell

on the dry leaves

;

underneath,
this

with a noise like a brisk shower of hail

all

and

was going on

day long,

for several miles deep, in

tri-

a forest that belts the Teesta and Rang-eet and other

butaries
for

some hundreds of
species,

miles.

These

caterpillars

seemed mainly of two

to birds,

and both were

distasteful

which explains
I

their presence in such

overwhelm-

ing numbers.

collected several of these larvae

fowls, which,

and offered

them
trial,

to

some

however, rejected them after a

bills for

with disgust, and went on wiping their

somecoral

time afterwards.
colour
;

One

of the

species

was a bright

and the other greenish with longitudinal

it

stripes,
fluid.

and when disturbed

It

exuded a bead of malodorous

tall

broke

its

fall

from the

trees

by

letting itself

down

by

a long silky thread.

its

Continuing down the right bank of the Teesta, to

affluent

dark-

"The Black Stream"

"the
height

[Kali-jhora),

and then ascend-

ing

towards

of the

great bent-going river"

{Mahaldi),

we

reached, at the " Foot of the Hill" {Rishaf), the

great Cinchona plantations on the eastern flank of Senchal.

In
this

dense,

damp, dripping
its

forest

the Cinchona plant

finds a climate like that of

home

in the

Andes of

Peru.
visit.

The Government
The
successful

factory here

was well worthy of a

cultivation

of this

Peruvian bark, and the

DARJEELING-THE PLACE OF THE THUNDERBOLT

invention
Sir

299

of cheap

methods of extracting

its

quinine, byprice

George King and Mr. Gammie, have reduced the

of this drug to almost nominal rates, and so prevented this

valuable aid to
into the
life

in the fever-stricken tropics

from getting

hands of commercial monopolists.

18 miles
forest,

A
fine

ride of about

by the new road, up through

moss-covered

brought us again to Rangiroon,

to

by
ing,

which

we had gone, and thence back

justified
its

Darjeel-

which now

name

as "

The

Place of the
in

Thunderbolt". For, whilst the lower ranges were bathed

bright
sunshine,
its

mass of thunder-clouds hung over the

town, hiding
of thunder

houses from view, and the rattling peals

first

of the

burst of the rains, echoed up and

down
the
1

the valleys.

And

here in the drenching downpour of

20 inches of

rainfall,

and the clinging dampness of

to live in a

the next few

waterproof,

summer months, one has almost

escape being soaked
like

to

by the

rain,

through

and through
is

sodden sponge.

Darjeeling, however,

going to make some capital out

for a

of her misfortune in

this respect,

movement
its

is

afloat to light the

town by

electricity

generated from

excessive rain-supply.

CHAPTER

IX

ALONG THE NEPAL FRONTIER TOWARDS EVEREST, TO SANDOOK-PHU AND FALOOT

ETC.,

To

see

Mount Everest from

closer quarters,

and the rhodo-

dendron

forests in full

bloom, we set out for Sandook-phu

and Faloot, going northwards along the spur which tends

southwards from Kanchen-junga,
Darjeeling
for

about sixty miles, towards

and the Indian

plains,

and which forms

the

natural boundary between Sikhim and Nepal. This journey

can now-a-days be done with very much more ease than

in

Hooker's time,
the

for

an excellent riding-road
with

now

runs
rest-

along

Nepal

frontier,

comfortable staging
the
nearest

houses en route; and Tonglu,

peaks,
to

of the higher

which took Hooker three long and laborious days

reach

by a bad native track from Darjeeling,

is

now
all

one day's easy ride of about twenty-three miles, and

the

way along

the cool crest of the spur.

So,

taking advantage of a spell of clear weather at the

slight
fall

end of March, when a

of snow on the nearer

THE NEPAL FRONTIER TOWARDS EVEREST

ranges had swept the
their features for
hills

301

from the haze

that

had hid
the road

some weeks, we cantered along

rock
forest

to

Ghoom,

past the large

of gneiss,
to

and thence on

foot

we threaded

the

fine

the staging-house of

Jorpokri, on the frontier of Nepal.

This
that

ferny

and

moss-grown

forest

resembled somewhat
it

of Rangiroon,
in

and a walk through

crisp
air

was especially

exhilarating

the

of early

spring.

Here and
where

there

we passed

fluttering prayer-flags, tied to twigs

water-kelpies

haunt the mossy burns; and we met strings

along with huge
to

of

sturdy

Nepalese trudging
that

baskets of
the

provisions

they were carrying

or from

Dar-

jeeling market.

These hardy Nepalese are of many

though of Mongolian blood, they are
externals

different tribes;
all

and
the

now adopting
ruling
tribe

of

Hindooism,
set

since
this

their

the

Goorkhas

have

them

example.

This ruling race of Nepal, or the "Goorkhas" as they

call

themselves,

after
44

the

name

of

their

former

headlittle

quarters at

Goorkha,

in the

Central Himalayas, were

over a hundred years ago a small band of military adventurers, the

descendants of a few quasi-Rajpoots, or members

caste,

of the

Hindoo warrior

who had emigrated from

India

and
with

settled at the

town of Goorkha, and had intermarried

there.

the

Mongoloids

Seizing

advantage

of the
at that

breaking up of the old powers and petty dynasties

time,

when

India and the principal states of Asia were in

for

transition,

they carved out

themselves a

little

kingdom

302

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

And
name
their

there.

attracting to their ranks the

more warlike members

of the other tribes, by giving them the honour of their

tribal

own
they

of

"Goorkha", and a share

arms
for

in their spoils,

carried

victorious

nearly

a thousand miles

through the length and breadth of the Himalayas, covering

A GOORKHA.

the

country

with

blood.

They invaded Tibet

in

1792,

and

were spreading

beyond Nepal, northwards towards

(in

Cashmir, and southwards into Sikhim

September 1788)

and the
defeated,

Indian
in

plains,

until

they were
British

hemmed

in

and

18 14,
to

by the

troops

under General
that

Ochterlony,

whose

memory was

erected

great

GOORKHAS AND THEIR PLUCK

tower of victory, which
at Calcutta.
is

303

the most conspicuous

monument

Now-a-days
from modern
the
title

these
politics,

Goorkhas have
though
their

almost
is

disappeared

name

still

famous as

of

some of the bravest of our

their ranks.

native regiments,
troops,

which are recruited from

As mercenary

they have fought so gallantly under British

ing

officers, coveris

themselves with glory,

in

that

their

name

almost a

household word
to
settle
in

England.

And
in

they have been induced

British
territory, in
in

large

numbers
to

the
Sik-

Kumaon Himalayas
him
to

the north
in

of Nepal,

and

the

south-east,
as

order to supply recruits to our

Indian regiments
colonists.

well as to secure

them

as industrious

The pluck and good comradeship

of the Goorkhas has

been attested on many occasions, both when they fought

with
in

us

and against

us,

and

myself have experienced

it

the

Burmese and
after
in

Chitral wars.

So long ago

as

1790,

when,
forces

returning from Tibet, they were assisting our

the

storming of Bhartpur, the chronicler of that

Smith, says:
witness

campaign,

Captain

"It

was an

interesting

and amusing and

kindly

sight to
feeling

the extreme goodfellowship

with

which the Europeans

each other.

and the

Goorkhas

mutually

regarded

six-foot-two
'little
it

grenadier of the 59th would offer a cheroot to the

Goorkhee,' as he styled him

the latter would take

his
tall

from

him with a
rade

grin,

and when

and patronising com-

stooped

down

with a lighted cigar in his mouth, the

"

#>4
little

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

mountaineer never hesitated a moment
with
the
in puffing

away

at

it

one just received, and they were conse-

quently

patted

on the back, and called

writes: "The

'

prime chaps.'

And when
Marshman,

they were pitted against us

the
historian,

as our foes, Mr.

Goorkhas were

not only the

most

valiant, but the

in

most humane foes we

to

had ever encountered

be the most
however,
faithful

India,
their
in

and they also proved

to

engagements."
their

They

can,

be savagely cruel

own

country, where
children.

they often gave no quarter, and killed

It
is

women and

probable that

in

addition to the admiration which

for

we

cannot help

feeling

their bravery, the

Goorkhas have
unswerving

won
good

our

sympathy and confidence by

and they on
their part

their

faith,

seem

to reciprocate our

sentiments.

As an

instance of their desperate courage

may

be cited the

deeds

of

Colonel

Bahadur Gambar Singh,

when

assisting

our troops at Lucknow, during the Indian

mutiny.

At

that time he

was only a

private, but

on one

occasion he captured three cannon single-handed, and killed

seven mutineers. This deed of daring was performed with

only
his
45

knife

or

kookree,

and he received twenty-three

wounds.

Politically,

although within the British "sphere of influence",

like
its

and acknowledging,
such as

most outlying Mongoloid

states,

Burma, by

periodical embassies, the nominal

is

suzerainty of China, the state of Nepal

absolutely inde-

pendent
closed

in its

government.
of
its

And

it

has

all

along jealously
all

the

interior

country against

Europeans,

POLITICAL POSITION OF NEPAL

305

not excepting even our political residents, from the illustrious

Brian

Hodgson downwards.

Its

government

is

of the auto-

cratic, oriental kind.

The present Prime

is

Minister,

who

is

the

real

de-facto

ruler,

called

" Ma/ia-ra/a/i", or

Emperor,

THE RULER OF NEPAL

Sir Bir

Shumshere, K. C.

S.

I.

while the king

is

called Adi-rajah, or " Primordial

is

King

".

This minister,

who

also father-in-law of the present king,

in

won
cated

his at

position
Calcutta,

by a coup detat
I

1885.

He was

edu-

have heard, and has proved himself

306

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

ruler, introducing

an enlightened
reforms.

several

useful

European

We
many

are

now

passing, on their

way

to

and from Darjeeling,

representatives

of the various Mongoloid tribes of

KIRANTI OR JIMDAR TRIBE OF NEPALESE.

Aged
Nepal.

31.

Those who have adopted the externals of Hin-

dooism,
dress,

who crop
are

their hair

and wear the Indian Rajpoot

as

broadly
,

classed

the

Nepalese

proper

or

"

Pahariyas"
the

i.e.,

Highlanders. These comprise, in addition

tribe, the

to

Goorkhas proper, the Khas

(see portrait

Mangar

or

Magar

on page 309) of the lower ranges, and the

THE TRIBES OF NEPAL

Gooroongs, a

307

nomad

pastoral tribe of the uplands

:

and also the

the Newars,

following #<w-Goorkha tribes

First of these

come

who were

the semi-aborigines and the ruling race of Nepal

until displaced

by the Goorkhas.

They

are

more

civilised

than the Goorkhas, and form the chief clerks, traders and
artisans,

and some of them

still

adhere to their old religion,

Goorkhas. Somewhat

Buddhism, despite the

ridicule of the

resembling the Newars, but more purely Mongoloid and less

civilised, are

the Kiranti (or Kirat or Kichak) tribe of the

wilder valleys of Eastern Nepal.

distinctly

The Limboos,

still

more

Mongoloid and intermarrying with the

Kiranti,

we

have already seen.

And

in addition to several others, there

are those semi-Tibetans, the

Moormi

or "

Tamang Bhotiyas ",

who

also

have adopted the habits and dress of the Hindooized

Nepalese.

But as yet, the

very
lightly

Nepalese allow their caste rules to

sit

upon them.

Hindoo's caste,

in

practice,

usually resolves itself into what he will eat

and drink, and

yet

what he

will

not.
their

The Nepalese, however, have not

habits
in

much
drink

altered

these

respects,

but eat and

things

that

are

tabooed

by every
at

strict

Hindoo.

Thus,

most of the Goorkhas,

home, eat

buffalo-flesh,

sheep and pork, and are very skimp with their ceremonial
ablutions.

The Newars and

;

the other above-mentioned tribes

eat also goats and fowls

and the highest Nepalese take water

from the hands of the pork-eating Bhotiyas, a thing that

would

scandalize

the

lowest

out-caste

Hindoo of

India.

Though

small in stature, these Nepalese have big hearts;

308

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

in

and

many ways resemble

the bright joyous temperament

of the Japanese, of the

latter.

though lacking altogether the refinement

Naturally vigorous, excitable and aggressive,

they are

very law-abiding, driven as they have been to

obedience by the draconic

rulers.
trifling

punishments of their Goorkha

for

The people
offences, as
;

are

hanged or decapitated
in

very

was the case

this

England not so many

to purify the

decades ago
race

and

doubtless

must tend

by preventing

the

perpetuation of imperfect types

Certainly in Nepal, these heavy punishments have

made

the

people afraid to commit crime.

are

But though the Nepalese

they

becoming
to

plodding
the dead

cultivators,
level

Have

not

yet

degenerated

of the

present day caste-

bound Indian
vary

cultivator.
in

In appearance the various tribes

considerably,

proportion

to

the

extent

of their
it

admixture with Aryan blood.

Scratch a Russian,

is

said,

and

you'll

find

the Tartar;

but the Nepalese, even with

this

their thin veneer of

Hindooism, do not require

operation

to reveal their Tartar character.

The

features of the great

majority are markedly

little

Mongolian, with oblique eyes, and

or no moustache.

They

are

generally
full

undersized,

but tough and wiry as

it

whipcord,
to
in

and so

of energy that

is

quite

common
hill

see

old people
to

scampering nimbly up and down

walking.

preference

Their rough exposed

life

so

furrows
of the
crorillas.

their features that the flat wrinkled faces of

some

older

men,

as

in

our

illustration,

almost suggest

THE TRIBES OF NEPAL

All

309

dress in the

same Hindooized
dress
is

style,

and none wear

pigtails.

The men's

not by any means picturesque.

MANGAR NEPALESE. Aged 65.

It
is

that of the
It

Hindoo Rajpoots of the Northern Himaof cotton

trousers
it

layas.

consists

and puny

jackets,

originally white, but so dirty that

is

remarkable to find

310

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

at
all

any

approaching
girdle

this colour.

And

into their

bulky

towel-like

they

thrust

their

peculiar

curved knife,

the

Kookree, of which the

leather sheaths are sometimes

richly

encased

in

ornate silver-work.
in

Their head, closely

cropped

except
on one

the wilder tribes,

is

whose matted

hair

reaches to the neck

perkily
soldiers.

covered by a small pork-pie cap, worn

side, after the

manner of our smart cavalry

younger men beautify them-

And most

of the

selves

by

sticking large flowers behind their ears, and the

insert plugs of gold into holes drilled

more wealthy ones

through their front teeth.

The Nepalese women,

bright
in

as

we have

seen,

have

often

and pleasant
close-fitting

faces,

and are picturesquely dressed

bodice

and

kilted

skirt,

with

bright

coloured girdle
is

and sash; and a gaudy

over
their

silk

handkerchief

thrown

negligently

head.

They overload

themselves with massive jewellery; enormous gold or silver

ear-rings,

nose-rings,

bracelets,

anklets,

finger-rings,

and

necklets
or

of huge

size,

made of
strings

coral or thinly beaten gold

massive
waist.

silver,

or

of coins

reaching

down
all

to

their

Indeed,

most of the

women wear

their

wealth as well as that of their

husbands on their necks

they

and faces

and whenever they get hard up

pawn

or sell their jewellery.

Their position

is

decidedly
married

free,
life,

quite

as

much

as in

Europe. Bhotiya
is

Indeed
sisters,

in

like

their

Lepcha and

they are much the better halves. Marriage

affair

with them almost always an

of the heart.

Young

NEPALESE MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

men and maidens become
courtships

311

acquainted with each other, and

are

and

real

love-matches

the rule.
is

Whereas,

with
the

the

Indian

plains-people
it

everything

arranged by

friends,

and

is

seldom that the bride and bride-

groom

see each other before marriage.

as

The Nepalese

are

monogamous
unless

a rule, and seldom take a

second wife

they are not blessed with a family.

in

They

are un-

compromising

their

punishment of

infidelity,

and are

allowed by the laws of Nepal to cut

with
their

down

their aggressor

Kookree.

In

British

territory,

however, where
hands, they have

they cannot take the law into their

to be content with a fine only.

own

All

these tribes agree in the one respect, that personal

is

cleanliness

rather

at

discount

amongst them.

Like
nor

most mountaineers, they seldom use water

for ablution,

do they often change

suit

their clothes, but sleep in the

same

at

night.

While the Bhotiyas are certainly the most

immoderately dirty of these hillmen, perhaps the Nepalese

are

the

cleanliest

on the

whole,

though

most of these
daily cere-

satisfy their religious scruples

by performing the

monial bath that

is

prescribed to professing Hindoos,

lips

by

merely touching their

with water, and one or two rubs

with a few invisible drops of water on the finger-tips, without undressing.

dress and

You must

not,

however, with your European

known

nationality, attempt to enter their houses un;

ceremoniously, as you would a Lepcha's or Bhotiya's

in

for

such matters they put on

all

the airs of the most pre-

judiced of high-caste Hindoos, and would bluntly ask you

3 i2

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

withdraw,

to

although

your

pork-eating

Lepchas

and

Bhotiyas and native Christians have the run of the house.

For your
necessitate

intrusion, if

it

were noticed by outsiders, would

the

throwing

away

of

all

their

cooked food,
But
these

and even the burning and rethatching of

their hut.
for

you

lose

little

by not entering

their

houses,

resemble, as a rule, those of the very meanest class of Hindoos,

and have not

the

redeeming

interest of those of the un-

pretentious Lepchas.

With

their thin

veneer of Hindooism, the Nepalese have

dialect, called

adopted a Hindoo
tiya),

" the
like

hill

speech " (Parba-

and

it

is

throughout Nepal

what French used to

is

be on the Continent, and what Hindustanee or " Oordu "

in

India.

It

forms the chief

medium

of

communication
each of

between the heterogeneous

which has
of this
its

tribes peopling Nepal,

;

own

peculiar language or dialect

all

but by means

common

Parbatiya speech

are able to converse

with one another.

They

are great believers in witch-craft, like the

Lepchas

or Bhotiyas,
fall
ill,

and regularly employ

exorcists

whenever they

instead of a medicine-man, as they attribute disease

evil spirit
call

to

an

who must be

driven out.
{Bijooas),
like

These exorcists
as

they

"the

spell-throwers"

they

cure

by charms and enchantments; and,

their
cattle

the Lamas, with

magic they ward

off

dangers from the people, their

and

crops

and on the middle of the road on the

village,

outskirts of

more than one

we passed

a small heap

of bits of cloth, and rice, an old shoe and reeking embers,

NEPALESE EXORCISTS
as a peace-offering

313

by these
sick

exorcists to the evil spirit

after
etc.,
it

who

had possessed the

person,

had been driven

out by their beating of drums,

elsewhere.

and bidden to depart

Their
less

ascetics

are

somewhat more decently

clad,

and

hideous,

than those of the Indian plains.

We

passed
in the

a party

of them coming

down from

their

penance

wilderness of snows, to taste the luxuries provided by their

lay patrons at Darjeeling. Their faces were ghastly,

smeared

over as they were with ashes.

The personal

titles

of the Nepalese are peculiar, in that

the proper personal

used,

name

of the individual
friends.

is

scarcely ever
is

even

by

their

nearest
it
is-

This

not
all

done,

apparently,
are

because

deemed unlucky.

As

men

brothers, they are usually addressed simply as "elder

[dajti),

brother"
or they
all

and the women are called "elder sister";

called

may be
are

by one
to

or other of certain

titles,

of which

considered

be more polite than the

proper name of the individual. These tribes do not appear

to have
like

any totems, or beasts specially sacred

mountaineers
others.

to the clans,

the

of

Central

India,

as

found by V.

Ball

and

In our walk, after passing the old Lepcha custom-house [Jagat) and

"The Pen
name

of the Pigs" {Soongri-tar), those animals

so dear to the Nepalese,

that gives
its

we reached

"

" The Dried-up Tarn

village {Sookee-

to a considerable

market

pokree) of the Nepalese, where

of Limboos,

we met

a marriage procession
like Scottish

preceded by pipers who skirled

3i4

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Thence, we ascended through the woods to the
at

bagpipers.
rest-house
tasted

"The

Pair of that

Tarns"

{Jor-pokree),

where we
for us.

the

good things

Achoom had

provided

Here we were serenaded by a wild-looking, unkempt mu-

A HILL MUSICIAN.

WORSHIP OF FROGS RARE ORCHIDS

kept up a
these

315

nocturnal
the

chorus of murmurs.
just

The

natives of

parts,
in

Newars

mentioned,

worship

these
46

animals

the belief that they send rain to their crops.

also

And

here

were tree-frogs with a

bell-like

call,

who

capture insects, as do the lizards,

by darting out their tongue

on which
the
pity,

is

a sticky secretion to which the insects adhere

is,

however,

that not only are vermin thus cap-

tured,

but lovely species of butterflies that would gladden

the hearts of entomologists.

Next day our path

led

us

through a grand old forest

of stately oaks and magnolias that stretched out high over

head,
their giant

arms draped with a thick mantle of

lichens,

vel-

vety
ropes

moss

and

and garlanded with

Magnificent orchids

ferns

and

of twining

creepers.

clung to

their moist
fantastic

mossy bark, with flowers of many colours and

shapes.

One

of them

is

sweet-scented

like the

climbing orchid of Brazil, which yields vanilla.

The number

and variety of the orchids hereabouts

are

is

prodigious.

They

scarcely

less

numerous than

in

the adjoining Khasia

fully

Hills,

where

Sir

Joseph Hooker discovered

250 kinds.

For some of the rare kinds of the "aristocratic orchid"

fancy prizes have been offered by devotees
of the
cult.

The Englishman announced

that

recently

and

authoritatively,

"

1,000
lost

is

the reward attached to the re-discovery of

the

long

Cypripedinm Fairieamim.

popular

de-

scription of its leading 'points'

astic
its

may encourage some

enthusi-

planter to the search,

may

induce him to follow out

is

romance of botany,

unless, indeed, the plant

extinct

316
in
its

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

native habitat, wherever that

may

be.

The

flowers
;

are

produced singly and are exceptionally attractive

sepal
is

the
the

dorsal
base,

large

and white, yellowish green

at

beautifully

streaked with brownish purple; the two

necktie-like petals are similar in colour, fringed with black

hairs,

deflexed and curiously curved at the ends

is

the pouch

of the "lady's slipper"

a dull purple, suffused with dull

brown and veined with green

Cypripediums.
it,

one

of the prettiest of the

for

Big sums have been spent in the search

offer

and the

of

Messrs.

Sander

is

surely
to

sufficient

earnest
that
in
'

of their confidence,
will

and they ought

know

best,
hills

it

yet be found, probably at the foot of the

in

Assam, probably
want
it
'

Bhotan (probably
orchid

in Sikhim).
is

The

long-felt

among

growers

a blue orchid.
all

Curious
tints

is

that while the flowers are arrayed in

the

of the rainbow, every conceivable gradation of colour,

is

tones and shades innumerable, blue

almost unrepresented.
is

There
in

is

a legend that a blue Habenaria

to

be found
it

Sikhim, somewhere beyond the frontier; that

has been

found,

and that

it

has a place in the great orchid herbartrust

ium bequeathed

in

to

Professor Reichenbach to be
will,

kept sealed for twenty years, the contents of which

however,

be ultimately given to botanical science an

illustrated

in the

stately Reichenbachia,

work

in folio.

work

which

is

understood to be

in course of preparation

on the

Orchids
Botanical

of Sikhim, by the learned Director of the Royal

Gardens,

Calcutta,

Sir

George King, may give

some clue

as to the whereabouts of this rarity.

Queen

of

EXTERMINATION OF ORCHIDS
its

317

class

is

the Ccelogyne cristata, in great vogue in

is

cultifeet,

vation.

It
it

plentiful

above Darjeeling,
about
fifty

at 8

9,000
ago.

whence
flowers

was

introduced

years

The
much
lip.
it

are

pure white, two to three, sometimes as

across,

as

four

inches

with a batch of yellow on the

One seldom
those
sale

fails

to

meet with good specimens of

in

baskets of miscellaneous orchids that are offered for

in

Darjeeling,
as
it

products

of a
It
is

vandalism that
a
great

is

as

wanton
too

is

wholesale.

delusion, only

commonly experienced,

to

attempt to cultivate these

flourish quite fashionably

plants in the plains.

They may
they
second.

one

cold

season,

but
a

can seldom muster sufficient

courage to endure
strength
the
in

They

will

expend

all

their

producing
effort

new

leaves

and have none

left for

supreme
hills

of flowering,

unless

they are sent to

to

the

to

recuperate.

One

hesitates

compute the

number of thousands of
stroyed
in

plants that are thus aimlessly de-

each year,

lost

not only to cultivation, but to

science, for not a few species are being rapidly

and surely

exterminated."
jeeling
sale

It

is

to be

hoped that the

authorities of Darthis

and Sikhim may discourage and prevent

whole-

and woeful waste of these "glories of

floral creation."

Some

of the giant acorns [Quercus lamellosa et annulate!)

strewing our path, exceeded two inches in diameter.

Winding down

this

forest,

over veins of

brittle

white
the

quartz rock amongst the dark grey gneiss, saddle {bhanjan,

as the Nepalese call
it)

we reached

in the ridge at a

crumbling

cairn

or

Mani

(6,500

ft.),

where we halted

for

318

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

;

lunch

and then zig-zagged up through a burned

forest,

THROUGH A GLADE OF FEATHERY BAMBOOS.

where
the

array

of

tall

charred

stems stood weird and

uncanny-looking.

Thence we ascended through a glade of

RHODODENDRON-TREE FOREST
feathery

3i9

bamboos, through more gnarled oaks, and, more

dwarf bamboos, relieved
still

steeply, through dense thickets of

by the

peach-like blossom of the

leafless

paper

laurel

{DapJine papyrifcra),

from

whose tough bark the natives

RHODODENDRON
TREES.

make
ft.

their Japanese-like paper,

to a ridge, at

about 9,000

elevation,

where there burst upon our view the gorgeous

forest in full

rhododendron
This

bloom.
to

glorious

sight
is

is

be equalled nowhere else

of the rhododendrons.

in

the world, for this

the

home

The

whole

hill-side for

miles was aglow with the brilliant colours

320

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

of the rhododendron flowers. These ranged through almost

every hue, from the bright vermilion of cinnabarinum, the

blushing scarlet of fulgent, to the crimson of arboreum and

barbatum; the rose-red of nivale and Hodgsoni, the purple

of virgatum, the yellow of Wightii, the bluish of campanulaturn,

to the

cream of Falconerii and the white of Dalhousii,

and
argentum.

anthopogon

The

variety in form and size

of the plants was equally great,

trees
like

many

of them were huge

great

oaks

(as

seen

in the illustration

on pre-

vious page), and the profusion of their fallen petals carpeted

the ground deep with fiery flakes like rosy snow, recalling

somewhat the aspect of Japan during the gay

festival

of

the Cherry-blossoms. Ascending through this gorgeous mass

of colour and along a path lined with pink primroses {P.

denticulata),

we reached
as
it

the

rest-house of Toom-ling, or
at

"Tonglu"

is

called

on the maps,
in

10,074

ft.

We

spent

the

afternoon

the

rhododendron woods.

Hooker has described and

hereabouts.

figured about 24 species found

The

first

that

we met on
It

the

way up

is

parasitic species (R. Dalhousii).

grows upon and covers

with

its

beautiful

large

bell-shaped white blossoms, often

seven inches
oaks

in length, the highest

branches of the highest

the
large
tree-

and

chestnuts.
(R.

After

it,

appears

rhododendron
coloured

arboreum)

and then the more brightly

beautiful

forms.

strikingly

specimen

is

the

creamy flowered R. Falconeri, which grows about

feet high.
Its

thirty

large leaves are covered with a rusty

its

down
flakes,

underneath,

and

pale

pink

bark

peels

off in

'

RHODODENDRON FORESTS
giving
the

IN

FULL BLOOM
fleshy

323

smooth

silky

stem

strikingly

and

naked
it.

appearance,
argentuni

as

no moss or orchids can cling to

from
its

R.

differs

this

last

in

its

having a
;

silvery

under-surface

and
its
ft.

flowers pure

white

whilst
is

R. Campbellia, with

bright orange

downy

leaves,

only

found above 10,000

for

Several have sweet-scented flowers,

example,
leaves of

R. DalJiousii, Edgworthii and Wightii; and

the

some of

the dwarf species are aromatic

and

are burnt as incense

relish

by the Lamas.

We

did not, however,

log-fire,
Its

the

rhododendron-tree as fire-wood for our

irritating

as

its

smoke was most

and malodorous.

dark

heart

wood

is

used

for

making the handles of kookrees

ate the petals

and other knives.

of this and

Our Lepchas cooked and

species
;

some other

the cinnabarinum, however,

they said was poisonous, and often killed sheep, as Hooker

has noted.

The

sunrise

over the

snows as seen from the summit

fine.

of this mountain was very

Especially graceful as viewed

from here
as

is

the

outline
call
hill
it

of Kanchen-junga, or
for

Kanchen
is

we

shall

now

brevity;

but

Everest
it

not
is

visible, as

the dark

of Sandook-phu shuts

out, nor

the range of view so wide as that to be seen from our next

stage, Sandook-phu, to which accordingly

we now

set out.

The road descended gradually

the

to 8,250 feet, passing on as the

way

a yak-grazing station
it,

Ghairi-bans,

Nepa-

lese call

where some half-breed yaks or Zo were kept;

village of

and here we met a whole

Nepalese emigrants
to settle

who had

left their native hills

and were en route

324

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

in

permanently

some tea-gardens near

Darjeeling.

The party

numbered about a hundred

children;

individuals,

men, women and

many
at

of the

latter
'

were scarcely able to walk,

;

toddling

their

mothers
all,

heels

and the dust of

travel

was thick upon them on the march.

as they had been about a

week

Beyond a deep saddle on the

vious
deer,
to
visit
I

ridge,

where on a pre-

had seen a pack of wild red dogs hunting a

all

we emerged

of a sudden from the denser forest on

the

open grassy slopes of Sandook-phu.

Here
ft.

at

tarn of dark peaty water [Kala-pokree], at 10,130

above

the sea,

we
the

halted for lunch.

Here
stretch

grassy
the

slopes,

which,
for

sprinkled
ft.,

with

pines,

up to

summit

about 2,000

are thickly

covered with the deadly nightshade or aconite plant; and

it

is

from
its

this

feature,
wit,

believe, that this

mountain dein

rives

name

to

Sandook-phu, which means

the

Bhotiya or Tibetan language "

or Aconite."
to

The

Hill of the Poison-plant

So abundant
of these

is

this plant here,

and so deadly
all

the

cattle

pastoral people, that

this

the sheep
their

and

cattle passing

over

mountain are muzzled by

drivers.

And

at the foot of the

mountain are great heaps

of these discarded

bamboo

muzzles.
is

The

curious

circumstance

also

noted here regarding

this or

this poison,

which Marco Polo records of

a similar

plant in Mongolia
cattle

namely,
that

that

it

only affects fatally those

that

are

newly imported from the plains or lower

those
are

levels;

whilst

bred

in

the locality do not

THE POISONOUS ACONITE

appear to
suffer.
t7

325

This

is

believed to be owing to the native

sheep learning to avoid the poisonous leaves or to shun

the youngest leaves, which are the most virulent
difficult to
;

but

it is

see

how they can

entirely succeed in doing this

It is, I think,

where the poison grows so abundantly.

probable that they get habituated to
in small quantities,
it,

more

by eating the drug

as opium-eaters

do opium, and as snake-

charmers are believed to render themselves and their performing animals immune to serpents'

venom, by the

re-

peated injection of small doses of the venom, a method

which

had many years ago ascertained by experiment to

48

be somewhat prophylactic against snake-bite.

Much

of the aconite of commerce, that finds

is

its

way

to

Europe, and which

opaths,
is

so largely used now-a-days

;

by homoe-

gathered on this mountain

in the

and

have found the

for

Bhotiyas
transport

autumn, digging up the roots wholesale

to

Calcutta.

They pay

a small fee to the Rajah

of Sikhim for this privilege, and they get from the native
dealers at Darjeeling about fourteen shillings for three-quarters

of a hundredweight of the dried roots.

species

There are several

of the

plant growing here, including the greenish

A. palmatum and the deeper blue, the virulent A. ferox

that
is

exported for

its

poison,

and which Hooker says

is

merely a variety of "the monkshood" {A. napellus) of our

gardens at home.
49

The men dig up

its

roots in late
juices,

autumn
its

after the plant has withered

and when

its

on which

activity mainly depends,

have mostly returned to the

roots.

This root

is

also

extensively employed throughout the

326

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Himalayas
to

Eastern

poison

the

arrows

that

are

used

I-A.WaddM.Oti

POISONED ARROWS. Half actual size.

after big

game and

in warfare,

as our troops found in the

POISONED ARROWS-SNOWSTORM
expeditions against the Sikhimese, and also the
tribes of

329

Abor and Aka

Assam. These arrowheads are

to

sliced with valvular

crevices

hold the poisonous paste, or

made of barbed

pieces so cleverly pieced together, that any attempt to drag

them out of the wound, causes the

more deeply.
cooked
flesh
It
is

splinters to penetrate

noteworthy that the Lepchas eat the

of the

game

that they have killed

by these

poisoned arrows, without any bad

effects to themselves.

Snow
the

lay

in

patches on the path as

of the

we

zig-zagged up

northern
pines,

slopes

mountain,

through clumps of

silver

and

it

covered the summit with an almost

continuous sheet, over which, in the bitter wind,

our

we made
front

way

to the rest-house.

Here we found the

room
that

invaded by a

pile of driven
in
it

snow over a yard deep,

in the door.

had been blown

were soon
limbs,
lit,

through a chink

Fires

but

took us some time to thaw our frozen

in

while

Achoom was busy

tempest

the

kitchen,

and we

needed our warmest wraps.

Outside,
furiously.

the

baffled

still

howled and whistled

threw their splintered

The

storm-tossed

pines

arms about and sighed, poor

blast.

things, in the piercing wintry

But

at night the

wind died down, and the view of

After the storm
air

the snows in the moonlight was sublime.

"the mute
still

Was Music

slumbering on her instrument."

From

a background of almost inky blackness, the graceful

white-robed

peaks

and icy horns of the

in

Kanchen-junga
air.

range gleamed out clear and colossal

the dry frosty

33

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

ice-spangles

The

on the dark pines and rhododendrons

sparkled like diamonds in the pale

moonbeams;

whilst in

the fore-ground, fringing the ice-covered lakelet, the frozen

" everlastings " projected from the snow, bright

and pure

picture in frosted silver.

The
stretch

sunrise

over the snows was magnificent, and the

latter

of these

much wider than

that

seen from

Senchal, extending perhaps for nearly 200 miles.

We

were

up early to the topmost of the three nipple-like peaks of

the

craggy summit, to see

this

famous view.

As

the eye
it

wanders over the vast amphitheatre of dazzling peaks

is

at

once arrested by the great towering mass of Kan-

chen-junga;
altered

and the

first
it

thing

that

strikes

you

is

the

outline of both

and

its

group of peaks, as com-

pared
gling

with
lines

that

seen from

Darjeeling.

The long

strag-

of

its

outlying snowy peaks and ridges, the

as seen from the south-eastern aspect

tent-like

Kabru,

etc.,

from
cluster

Darjeeling,

are

now

foreshortened,

and the peaks

which towers up

closely together under

Kanchen

',

majestically

over

all.
is

This dazzling mountain, almost the

magnificent, even as seen from here,

highest in the world,

in its

dark setting of pines, and without the deep intervenIt

is,

ing valley of the Rang-eet.

less in

after

all,

only 852 feet

height than Everest

itself.

The Everest
that hid
its

group, no longer shut out by the dark ridge

peaks from view at Senchal, soars up through

far

banks of clouds
of
valleys.

to

our

left,

and beyond a deep gulf

lies

This group, however,

much lower on

the

EVEREST GROUP RISING ABOVE THE CLOUDS FROM SANDOOK.-PHU V I2,000 FEET).

EVEREST FROM SANDOOK-PHU

horizon than Kanchen', being so

333

much

further

away

about,
the

90 miles

whilst

the
is

latter
visible.

is

about 43 miles.
base
is

Only the
behind

peak of Everest

Its

hid

shoulder of a great armchair-like snowy mountain, the

"Peak

No. XIII.

"

of the Survey (see p. 342).

Scarcely less magnificent than this view up towards the

snows

was the view

looking

downwards

to

the

plains.

Some

ten thousand feet below us, the rising mist and clouds
sea,

formed a vast woolly white

whose

tide of rolling bil-

lows surged in amongst the mountains, of which the dark

rugged ridges stood out against the fleecy foam, as bold

capes and headlands and dark
clouds.
islets

in this

sea of curling
fleecy

And

as

we

gazed, some

of these

clouds

surged over us and crept slowly,

the

like

"sheep of the sky" as

Lepchas
which

call

them,
settle

upwards

to the

snowy

pinnacles,

on

they

down

in

flocky masses, veiling the

peaks

against the staring mid-day sun.

these

Towards evening,

however,

clouds disappear, probably condensed into

snow

in

the colder

atmosphere,

and

then

we

get again

clear views at sunset.

The

track to the next peak led along the undulating crest

forest,

of the pine
brightly

through patches of rhododendrons blooming

trees after a few

amid the snow, past some juniper

hills

miles

and the ranges of the

got more and more rugged

and rocky, as we approached the everlasting snows. Amongst

the patches of rhododendrons

by the way
I

got two

Monal
pig,

pheasants and one blood pheasant; and

also tracks in the

saw a wild

snow of

deer, goat-antelope,

and a bear.

334

AMONCI THE HIMALAYAS

pine forests, however, seemed to harbour
stillness
little
I

The
and

life,

their

at

times

seemed uncanny

as

walked

through them a long way ahead of

ally

my

men, and especi-

so

near the
pines

ridges,

where there were many gaunt

dead

splintered

struck

by

lightning,

and gnarled

trunks and writhing roots tortured into weird shapes by the

icy
blast.

As

was climbing up the ridge

Cliff

called Sabarafter

goom, or "The

of the

Musk-deer", so called
in Tibetan) sight.

those animals (Sa-bar in

Lepcha and Lao

I

which

used to frequent this ridge,

saw a ghastly

Athwart

the path, stretched on the snow, lay a Nepalese frozen to

death.

Several jackals

and an animal

like

a hyena sur-

rounded the dead body, beside which were the embers of

a small
fire,

and not

far off lay the

It

deceased's basket

filled

with his food and belongings.

perished through the cold
;

was evident that he had

that he had arrived here benight-

ed

after

the

snowfall had ceased, and, unable to proceed

lit

further,

had

a small

fire,

and had been betrayed

into a

sleep which proved his last.

struggle.

There was no evidence of a

His foot-prints

in the

snow

led

up

to here,

and

the jackals had evidently

I

come only a few minutes

before

appeared on the scene, for they had gnawed only one

arm,

and were searching

at their

in

his

basket

when

disturbed

them

unholy

feast.

Hurrying onwards out of the cutting blast that swept

over this exposed crest (11,640
pine forest on
Fok-loot,
to
ft.),

we emerged from

the

the

treeless

slopes

of Faloot, properly

or

"The

Peeled

Summit"

as the

Lepchas

call

it,

A NEPALESE FROZEN TO DEATH IN THE SNOW.

"

SNOWY RANGE FROM FALOOT

for
it

337

looks

from the forest-clad ranges below,

as

if its

summit were "peeled" of trees; and

seeing
its

my

Tibetan porters on

bare grassy snow-streaked slopes, sent up a shout

"

of joy,

and exclaimed,
like

Now we
!

are again in

a treeless

country
It

our

own Tibet

was a long and cold zig-zag up

nestling

its

sides to reach the

its

rest-house
(11,810

on the leeward
I

side of

windy top
before

ft.),

and

arrived

about

an

hour

my

porters, with a perfectly ravenous appetite, but with nothing

to satisfy

it

except some Indian corn and capsicums, which

was the only food that the caretaker of the house possessed.

He made

up

for

me some

of the Indian corn into

a sort of porridge-like mess, but the capsicums proved excruciatingly

hot.
I

was foolhardy
I

enough,

on

his

recom-

mendation, to eat two when

cold. Their effect

was almost paralysed with the

for

was instanteous, and

hours

my

blistered

tongue reminded

me

of this fiery food.

The
sunrise
to

sunset on the snows was almost as splendid as the

had been. As the crimson

western
soared
the
laced
horizon,

ball of the

sun dipped

the

the

snowy
purple

pinnacles,

gleaming

fiery

red,
filled

out

of the

sea

of pearly haze

that

dividing

valleys,

up into a sky of deepest

shafts

turquoise,
gold.
in

here

and there with

of burnished

Then followed

a swift kaleidoscopic play of colours,

fiery

which the glittering

peaks faded to crimson, pale

far

rose,

and a cold steely grey that seemed to carry them

spectral-like, into another

away,

world.

bear had mauled badly a brother of the care-taker of

338

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

eye and the side of his
face.

this desolate hut, tearing out his

Such shocking mutilations are not very infrequent, and explain

why

these people dread a bear even

more than a
hills

tiger

or

leopard.

Not long ago

breathless

in

these

same
tent,

an excited
the

Nepalese
that

came

to

my
for

with

news

large
his

bear

and

its

two

cubs

had mangled two

several

men

of

village,

and

had

days

been

chasing others, so that they were afraid to go about; and

hearing

that

European

traveller

had

arrived,

he had
if

come
I

to

beseech
all

me

to

go

to their aid, promising that

would go,
slaying

the villagers would turn out and assist

animals.

me
go

in

these
I

As

it

was then too

late to

that

evening

started early next morning, with

my

shot-

gun and
their

shells
It

and a few of

my
On

best coolies

armed with
village,

knives.

was a long and hot way to the

reaching
it,

down many
built

miles of ravines.

a powerfully-

man was
its

led slowly out to me.

His head was swollen

his

to

twice

size,

and both eyes and

two cheeks were

his

torn out,

and

their tattered shreds

in

were hanging down

I

neck,

and he was groaning

agony.
I

had no narcotics
laid

with

me

to relieve his pain, but

had him

down and

bathed his poisoned and inflamed wounds with tepid water.

I

was then told that he was the

his

village blacksmith,

and
to

that

children

had

for

some days been complaining

him

that they

had been chased by

these bears while herd-

ing his cattle, and yesterday one of his children had been

overtaken and clawed in the back by one of the young

bears.

Whereupon

the

indignant blacksmith,

relying

on

MAULED BY A BEAR
his
in

339

great

physical

strength,

and he was indeed a Vulcan

to

physique, went

unarmed

the bears

'

den and there

he shouted to the bears to come out. The old bear rushed

out,

and

in

an instant
seen,

inflicted

on him the

terrible

wounds
villagers

that

we had

and so

terror-struck

were the

at the sight of these proofs of the

power of the

bears, that

although
to

had come

at their special invitation, they refused

go with me

to attack the bears.

their huts

The wives pushed

their
it

husbands inside

and barred the doors.

And

was some time

ere

my men

could force open the doors of

several of the huts

and drag out some of the men.

With

these

and

my

informant of yesterday

and a few others

who showed
The cave

less

cowardice

went

off to seek the bears.

lay about a mile from the village, at the junction

cliffy

of two streams, amongst

deal

rocks overgrown with a good

of brushwood.

took up a position about a hundred

yards off and sent the beaters to throw in stones, but the
bears
sign,

seemed

to be not at

home.

At
I

least they

gave no

and did not appear even when

the

approached to the

mouth of
hillsides

cave and fired into

it;

and we scoured the

for

some distance without finding them, though

I

the trees bore fresh marks of their claws.

sent the poor

to relieve his

wounded man some opium from my camp

pain,

and advised

his friends to carry

'

him

into the nearest

hospital,

about four days

I

journey distant, but from sublearnt that he

sequent enquiries there,

had never come

he must certainly have died.

The view from

this

peak of Faloot, or

" Fa-le-loong " as

340 the

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Tibetans

mispronounce the Lepcha name, gives much

nearer views of the

ating

Kanchen

'

group, of which the culminthirty miles distant.

peak

is

now only about

" in
is

And
left.
it

the horn of "Jannu

Everest,

Nepal stands grandly up on the

scarcely visible from here, as

however,

is

hid

by

that great arm-chair-like

snowy

crater, the "

Peak No.

XIII " of the Survey Department.

To

see Everest

we must

go

further north along this ridge, or return to Sandook-phu,

latter place the

from which

top of

its

peak comes

into

view

over the shoulder of

peak,
as
is

this

much more imposing

arm-chair

shown

in

the

previous illustration and in the

annexed sketch by Colonel Tanner.

as
it
is,

And
is

this view, small

is

one of the very best that

to be got of

it,

outside
at
is

Tibet and Eastern Nepal, which unfortunately are

Indeed, so inconspicuous
to

present closed to Europeans.

Everest

from
access

any point of view

(in

which Europeans
plains, or in

have

had

Sikhim or the Indian

it

Central
of the

Nepal),
older

that

is

extremely doubtful whether any

regions were ever able to

travellers

in these

distinguish Everest at
tain.

all,

or as a pre-eminently high
its

moun-

For even from Sandook-phu and

(it

other available

points of view

is

not visible from Tonglu or the Kakani

its

ridge above Khatmandu), owing to

interior,

great distance in the

in front

behind the outer snowy peaks that tower

of

it,

its

enormous height

is

not apparent, and this was

only revealed by the

scientific

measurements of the Indian

Survey Department.

When

the

great

trigonometrical

survey

of India had,

EVEREST AND
about
foot

ITS

NATIVE NAMES

345

the of

year

1850,

extended their triangulation to the

from
this

the

Himalayas,

newly

gained

base,

measurements
frontiers,

were made to the snowy peaks beyond the

it

and

was discovered, between November 1849

in

and January 1850, that

and 86
to

Tibet at 27

59.3' north latitude

54.7' east longitude

from Greenwich, a peak rose

the enormous height of 29,002 feet, or 8,840 metres

the highest measured elevation on the earth.

The Surveyor-General

of that day proposed to the Royal

this giant
office,

Geographical Society of London to give

tain

mounGeorge

the

surname of
to

his

predecessor in

Sir

Everest,

whom

the great merit belonged of organising

the Survey of India on a scientific basis, between the years

1823-43.

protest against this

naming was

raised

by Mr.

Brian Hodgson, on the plea that the Nepalese had already

given

to

this

mountain the name of " Deva-dhunga"

"

or

"God's Seat", and

Pass".

Bhairava Langur", or

"

The

Terrible

At

the meeting of the Geographical Society held on the

1857, to discuss this objection, and at which Sir
it

nth May,

George Everest was himself present,

ful

was shown to be doubt-

whether any of the alleged native names could be really

all.

applied to this particular mountain at

therefore

The name "Everest"

and
it

was given
in the

to this king of mountains,

has

appeared

English maps ever since.

On

the continent,

however, one of the vague Indian mythological names, obtained

by H. Schlagintweit from
for a

the Hindooized Nepalese of

to

Khatmandu,
tical

mountain which he supposed

is

be iden-

with the

Everest of the Survey,

usually assigned

346
to
it

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

namely,
has

" Gauri-sankar"', one of the

titles

of the con-

jugal
it

Indian god Shiva, the Destroyer, and his wife.

But

is

not generally

known

that

the identity of these two

mountains

been

conclusively

disproved

by

General

Walker, the

late

Surveyor General of India, and by Colonel

Tanner, his deputy.

Owing

to the curvature of the earth,

and

the

interposition

of other

ranges,

it

is

physically

impossible to

see

Everest either from Khatmandu or the

Kaulia or Kakani peaks, whence H. Schlagintweit believed

he saw

it

and got

his local

name

" Gauri-sankar ".

As

for

Kanchen-junga,

which
it

Schlagintweit says was also visible

is

from that position,

shown

to be " fully

one hundred

miles beyond the most remote point visible from that locality."

And

Colonel Tanner has directly proved that the " Gauriis

sankar" of Schlagintweit
the Survey, but a
tain.

certainly not the

"Everest" of

much
"
I

smaller and totally different moun-

He

writes

have now before

me

the panoramic
for

profiles

and angular measurements of Major Wilson,

resident in Nepal,

some time

who observed from

'

Sheopuri,
',

a point on the Kaulia ridge. Schlagintweit's

Gauri-sankar

the

'

Everest

'

of successive

(political) residents in

Nepal

was pointed
measurements
23,447
feet,

out
I

to

Major Wilson, and from

his angular
'

am

able to identify that peak as

No. XX',
(see

more than a mile lower than Everest,

in point

map
it."

on

p.

349) and

of distance very far short of

What
mountain
the

then

is

the native

name
it is

of the highest measured

in the world, for

always desirable to preserve

vernacular

names of great

mountains?

The

native

NATIVE NAMES OF EVEREST

names which have been given
are
to distant

347

Himalayan peaks

misleading and

confusing,

and especially so are the

Nepalese names.

The Nepalese, who seldom themselves

in their

go near the peaks, are very loose

these mountains, and the

nomenclature of
to

names which they apply

and
not
individual

them

generally

indicate

ranges

mountains,

except
are

in a

few instances, where the peaks, unlike Everest,

more
the

accessible

and are frequented by Hindoo devotees.

Of

many

natives of Eastern Nepal of

it

whom
"

asked the
"

name

of Everest, not one ever called

".

Deva-dunga

or

" Gauri-sankar

This latter

name

for a hill

they had never

heard

of,

though many
in

hills

were called Deva-dunga or

"God's seat". But

regard to Everest they had no specific

called
it,

name

for

it all.

They simply

in

common

with
or

all

the

other high
lagiri,

snowy peaks, "The White Mountain",

is

Dhan-

which

the popular generic

name
of

for all the

is

snowy

peaks: " Himalaya", or

"The Abode
to the

Snow",

a classic
is

term which

is

unknown

common

people, and

only

used by Brahmans and the learned.

Nor had these men

peak

any
" No.

specific

name even

for

that

striking crater-like

XIII,"

which towers over Eastern Nepal and which

has been pointed out to Colonel Tanner by the Bhotiyas

as "

Khumba-lung,"

after
it

the

valley

at its foot;

although
it,

these Nepalese

knew

well

by headmark, and likened

aptly enough, to a white-shrouded

woman
who

in

a sitting posture.

On
for

the other hand, the Tibetans

inhabit the country

around

Everest

and

who ascend

this

sacred

mountain
it

purposes of worship, as high as they dare,

call

and

34

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

other neighbouring mountains
to

the

by names which do not

seem

have been hitherto published, or only partially or

so.

incorrectly

The

highest range of

snowy peaks

in this

region

in

question, and including the Everest

to

group, was

pointed

out

me by

Tibetan native of Khumbu, the

province of North-Eastern
the south, as

Nepal bordering

this

range on

"The

Five Icy Horns of

Khumbu" (Khumbupart of this

Gang-nga-Ra-waJ.
that
is

Whilst the highest

range,

to

say what
"

we have

called the

"Everest group"

and including

Peak No. XIII", was

called

by him

Lap-chi-

Kang, or "The Outer-Glacier Pass"; and the culminating

peak,
i.e.

Everest, was called Jomo-Ka7ig-kar, or "

The Lady

White Glacier".

These

latter

two names have already been

mentioned by Baboo Sarat C. Das as the cognomen of the

Everest range and
that this range
is

its

highest peak. But

my

informant said
in con-

properly the "

Lower Lap-chi-Kang,"

tradistinction to the

Upper Lap-chi-Kang, which he

in

said,

was

much
this

higher,

and lay

Upper

Tibet, almost due north of

Everest group, but was not visible

from

Khumbu

or

any part of Nepal. There seems no doubt

seen
in

as to this nomenclature, for

have

Tibetan books "the Upper Lap-chi-Kang " noted as

a high mountain, as well as the Lap-chi-Kang on the Nepalese

frontier;

and

in

the vernacular topography of Tibet,

which has been partly translated by the above-named Baboo,

the peak of Jomo-Kang-kar comes second in the
list

of the

highest mountains, and

in these

is

described as lying in this locality,

followed in

words, which

may be

my accompanying

MAP OF THE ENVIRONS OF MOUNT EVEREST

ENVIRONS OF EVEREST
sketch-map.

351

"To
in

the

east

of

the

Kirong

district

lies

Nalam, (Nyanam)
the
the

the vicinity of which are

Gung Tang,
Toipa cave,

birthplace of the translator

Rva;
;

also the

hermitage of saint Milarapa

and Chu-bar, the place

lie

were Milarapa died,

all

these places

on the Tibet-Nepal

boundary. Close to them are the hermit-monasteries of Phelgya-ling

and Tar-gya-ling,

in

the

neighbourhood of that

grand and very lofty snowy mountain called Jomo-Kang-kar,

and

at the foot of

Lap-chi-Kang, on the top of which dwell

the five fairy sisters of long Life, the Tse-ring-chenga, the

patrons

of St. Milarapa.

At the

foot of Lap-chi-Kang,

on

the Tibetan side, are five glacial lakes, sacred to these five
fairies,

and each

differs

from the other

in the
lies

colour of

its

water.

To

the north of these monasteries

.

Kyema lake, one

Travelling north-

of the four great glacier lakes of Tibet

ward from Nyanam, one

arrives at the foot of a lofty

mountain

named

the

Gung-Kang

pass,

which

is

guarded by the twelve

spells of

she-devils called

Tan-ma, who were bound by the

"The

Lotus-born
(this
. . .

One"

(the founder of

Lamaism)

to prevent

the entry

way) to Tibet from India of the enemies of

After crossing the

Buddhism

Gung Tang

pass and going

.

northwards, you arrive at the district of Tengri (Dingri)

Chinese guard with Tibetan militia

This description
is

is

posted at Tengri."

generally confirmed and amplified by

this

a curious

Tibetan picture of

mountain,
I

for

a copy of
indebted to

which, as well as some notes on Everest,

am
I

Mr. A.

W.
5I

Paul, C.

I.

E.

The Tibetans,

as

some years
five celestial

ago noted,

worship Everest as the abode of the

352

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

are supposed
to confer long

nymphs above named, who

life

cult

which

is

also

common

to

the
its

Chinese and

Japanese.
glaciers

The Tibetan
for

pilgrims ascend

sides

up

to the

worship,

and they also

visit

the

tomb of the
the

great

high-priest

of these deities of long-life

In
this

namely,

popular Saint Milarapa.

saint
is

picture the

tomb of the
and the
hamlets
of this

shown on the southern

temples

flanks of Everest,
'

various
there.

and hermitages and shepherds

view of the

This

bird's-eye

lower slopes

little-known mountain gives interesting details of the tracks,

rivers

and bridges, and

is

inscribed with the

is

name of the

places.

The summit of Everest

artist as

depicted conventionally

by the Tibetan
their
tips

ending

in five

snowy horns with

cloud-capped.
is

In the vista to the north of this

(a

mountain

written

Na-lam

colloquial form of

Nanam

or

Nyanam),
in the

in the

top left-hand corner, and

" Dingri District"

top right-hand corner, which with several other

fix its

known

names

topographical position.

52

Until, however,

we

obtain access to the Lap-chi-Kang range

identifications of the

and directly confirm these

the
spot,
it

peaks on

would be premature

to consider

what should
is

be the ultimate designation of the peak which

to our cartographers as

now known
it

"Everest"

whether or not
Schlagintweit

should

be called by the hybrid term " Kang-kar-~Everest."

The form
reputed
treasured

of Everest has

seldom been delineated. The which

is

drawing
at

of

it

by H.
Office

the

India
as

was made from the peak

of

Tonglu,

whence,

Colonel

Tanner points

out, this

SHAPE OF THE PEAK OF EVEREST

mountain
Faloot;
is

355

not even visible, nor

is

it

scarcely visible from

"

and we have seen that the " Gauri-sankar

is

of the
al-

Nepalese
together.
its

different

and

much

smaller

mountain

The

usual authentic picture of Everest represents

it

peak as seen from Sandook-phu, a point from which

ioo miles distant. This has already

is

been shown

in the

preceding illustrations (pp. 331 and 342), and

in the telescopic

EVEREST AND

"

PEAK

XIII "

{Distance of Everest about 126 miles,

from BANGURA TRIG. STATION. and ''Peak XIII" about 11S miles)

drawing
that

by Colonel Tanner.
fanciful

And

here

it

is

to

be noted,

the

pictures

purporting to have

been made
in

from somewhat the same point of view, contained

the

book

entitled

" Indian

Alps

",

are quite unworthy of con-

sideration, as portraits of this or

any other of these peaks.

The shape
further
to

of the

peak of Everest, as seen from points

in

the^west
details

the

Indian plains,

is

sharper and

shows

more

than

from

Sandook-phu.

The

ac-

356

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

profiles

companying two
from
give

of such

views of

it

reproduce

Colonel Tanner's careful telescopic sketches, as they

its
I

outlines

much more
it,

distinctly than the

photographs

which
the

took of
of the

when

traversing that line of country at

foot

Himalayas,

from the north of Lucknow

along the border of the Nepalese Terai to Sikhim.

The

Himalayas of Central Nepal as seen from the Someshwar

range on the Gandak river are beautifully

shown

in

the

annexed drawing by Colonel Tanner.

Withj-egard to the statement by Baboo Sarat Das, that
"its

summit"

is

"a rounded dome", Colonel Tanner

"
is

writes

that the
is

Baboo
.

not an explorer

his note

on Everest

worthless

The

sharpest peak as seen from the south,

whence

my

sketches have been made, would from the north,

C.

whence Baboo Sarat

tain,

Das supposed he saw

the

moun-

bear nearly the same outline. However, supposing that

from the Tibet plateau to the north of Everest the mountain

assumed a somewhat rounded aspect,

it

still

must be

remembered
25,000
ft.,

that the round-topped peaks, averaging

some

situated on the north spur of Everest,

would most

probably intercept the view of the highest peak from the

Baboo's point of view, and by him be mistaken for
It it."

so happens that

visited in clear

weather the very

His point

spot whence the

of view

Baboo saw the view

at all

in question.

was not

north as Colonel Tanner believed,

but the
the
it

Semo

pass, or in

Lepcha

"

Sema-rum

",

to the west of

Kang

La, about sixty-five miles E.S.E. of Everest, and

profile

will

be seen from the

and description of that view,

MOUNTAINS HIGHER THAN EVEREST

which
I

359

give in Chapter XI, p. 420, that the peak supposed

to be Everest

by him

was certainly not

There
also
I

that mountain, but

the lower " Peak No. XIII. "

give a sketch of the

precipitous north-eastern face of Everest hitherto unfigured,

and

refer

to

several

other,

as

yet

unidentified, sacred

mountains

of

Tibet,

said

to

surpass

Everest

in

height.

Unfortunately, the travellers

who have

of late years visited

far to the

Tibet have traversed a line of country too

to

north

throw

light

on

this

question

of the mountains in this

region,

which are alleged to be higher than Mount Everest.

to the possibility of
53

As

anyone ever ascending Everest,

a celebrated climber
gradually
the
rarity

says, " Considering

(of the air) increases
it

how much more

between 20,000
levels,
in the
it,

and

30,000 feet

than

does

at

inferior

have
world

every confidence that the

will,
if

highest

mountain

Nature has not forgotten a ladder to

be some

day trodden by human foot".

CHAPTER

THE SOUTHERN PEAKS AND GLACIERS OF THE KANCHEN-JUNGA GROUP

frosted peaks of Chola gleamed Broken and bare and bold. On the glittering crest of Kanchen' streamed The sunlight clear and cold. The fleeting clouds brief shadows flung On mighty Jannoo's brow, or hung On Pandim's forehead near.

The

C. Macaulay's

Lay of Lachen.

The
the

southern glaciers of the Kanchen-junga group, and

outlying

peaks of Kabru, Pandim,

etc.

have been ap-

proached, on the few occasions they have been visited, usually

by way of
eet,

the long and deep tropical valley of the Rangits

with

all

attendant
I

discomforts

of heat, bad roads,

to

and

insect-pests.

decided,

therefore,

try

the

track

along the cool ridge

from Sandook-phu, as there was a

for

good road and rest-houses

without
thrice

two stages beyond that

tropical
forest,

point,

any dipping down

into

and only
last

apparently

had part of

this

ridge

beyond the

SOUTHERN PEAKS OF THE KANCHEN' GROUP

361

staging-house been traversed by Europeans, and the greater

part of
it

not at

all.

Leaving Darjeeling, on the 14th September, 1896,

drizzle like a mild

in

Scotch mist, that scarcely wetted us as

we

went,

but brought the colour to our cheeks, and that

cleared up every
effects,

now and then

to give us

charming cloud
to Jor-pokree rich variety

we found

the walk through the

delightful
in

woods

and Tonglu more

of dark greenery

than ever.
dells

The

the

mossy

and ferny grottoes

dripping

under the giant moss-covered

trees, luxuriant in the

dampness of
velvety

this

season,

was relieved by the bright and

oink

begonias,

delicately

and

blue

hydrangeas,

orange gingers, and giant-stag moss which clambered over

the bare
cliffs

of gneiss.

We stopped often by the wayside to

pick the black brambles, and higher up the red raspberries

and barberries that overhung our path, keeping a sharp

look-out
for

the

leeches.

And

every here and there the

like vines,

wild

cucumbers, trailing gracefully

covered the

shrubby undergrowth of polygons with a profusion of bright

yellow blossoms.
bers
trict

No

less

than two species of these cucuma former official of this

dis-

have been named

after

it

is

something, perhaps, to be famous even from a

gastronomic point of view.

It

was

still

showery

next day,

and

windy,

as

we

pushed on to Sandook-phu through the rhododendron

which now was
holly,
in

forest,

seed

and we passed frequent clumps of

brilliant

wild rose

trees

bearing

scarlet

hips,

bar-

berries blue

and yellow, rowan trees with bunches of rusty

362

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

And when we emerged
Sandook-phu we
treeless grassy slopes of

red berries, and juicy red currants.

on to the almost

found them blue with the flowers of the deadly aconite.

As we ascended
us

this

mountain, the rain stopped and gave

hills,

good views of the neighbouring

snows.
In

but no sight of
in again,

the

the

afternoon

the

rain

set

and

MY TAXIDERMISTS AT WORK.
with heavy wind continued
ing
all

night and next day, confin-

us to the rest-house, where

etc.

we found

plenty to do in

drying the skins of birds

shot on the way.

Our
at

coolies,

mostly Tibetan
pastimes and

Bhotiyas,

amused themselves

various

games of

strength,

including pitching at a
this last

mark and putting the

to

stone.
I

At

game,

in trying

out-throw

my

men,

strained the muscles of

my

back

badly, and was in agony for

some

hours.

We

were amused

SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN

to
find
in

363

the

faces

of

these

beardless

sons

of

Tibet
eye,

and

Sikhim,

despite

their

Mongolian
to

cast

of the

several
features

absurd resemblances
clearly

Europeans.

One whose
to
call

suggested

Lord Ripon we used

a

"His

Lordship";

and

another,

young Lama, broadfull

jawed and

deep-chinned,
spirits,

was
that

so

of unvarying good

humour and high

him "Pat".

we

involuntarily christened

We
the
that

marched

to Faloot next

morning

(the

8th), as the

weather

was clearing and giving splendidly

crisp views of

snows.

The

following morning

we witnessed
the

at Faloot

striking

aerial

phenomenon,
thin

Spectre

of

the

Brocken.

Wreaths of

mist
the

were

rising

and

floating

around us as

we ascended

summit of

this hill to see

us.

the sunrise, and a denser cloud of fog

hung below

On

the surface
jected
centric

of this
rising

last

misty veil our shadows were proin con-

by the

sun as silhouettes, surrounded

widening

circles

by

first

dazzling
finally

white

halo,

then a rim of

brilliant

rainbow,

and

a secondary

paler rainbow band.

As we moved

this apparition
it

moved,

and

it

stopped when we stopped. Altogether

that

seemed so

supernatural

Kintoop and the other man,

who was

carrying

my

camera, threw themselves on the ground and

spells,

muttered a prayer and some

that

and Kintoop declared

and that

he had only seen

it

once
an

in his life before,

the
I

Lamas say

that

it

is

omen

of great good fortune.

took two photographs of

spoiled.
It

it,

but the plates got accidentuntil the mist

ally

lasted

about half an hour,

364
lifted.

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Our
clothes were

bedewed with the

prismatic

mist,

and

this

may have
the
light.

contributed to the
I

decomposition of

have seen

it

several times

when camping

at

the foot of the Himalayas, and in every case the sun was
low, and there

was a rainy
in

mist, both

between myself and

the

sun,

and

the opposite direction, where the spectre

appeared.

Beyond Faloot,
to

the road zigzagged over the ridge

down

rocky tarn amongst the pines, where we got a bold

I

foreground to the snowy range, and here

shot a wood-

cock and a solitary snipe.

hill

Thence we rose over the bare

so
called

of Pang-ka

(12,130

ft),
it.

from the Pang-ka

pasture grass which covers

This
after

hill

is

erroneously called on the

this

maps

" Singalelah"
to the

Hooker, who has also applied

ridge
It

name

whole

of this

that runs
is

Trom Kanchen'
difficult to find
little

to Darjeeling

and

the plains.

always

the proper

names

of these uninhabited and

frequented places, as Hooker

himself notes

and

it

is

especially so

when

the traveller

does not

know
are

the language, and the

men who

supply his

information

not natives

of the

neighbourhood.
I

The

name intended by Hooker's

le-/ho'\ or

informant, was,

fancy, " Singis still

"The
for

Slope of the Alder-tree," which

the

the

Lepcha name
the
call

low-lying

and

insignificant part of

ridge

at

our next staging-house, which the Nepalese

" Ckozv-banjan."

As

that,

however,
is

is

depression

rather
as

than

hill,
it

and there
is

no
that

such
the

native
latter

name
name

" Singalelah,"

pity

THE MISCALLED "SINGALELAH" RIDGE

should
of

365

be

retained

for

this

important southern offshoot

a
well-defined

Kanchen-junga,
:

which

forms

waterinto

parting

as

the

streams

on
its

its

western side drain

the

Ganges, and those of

eastern watershed flow into

the " Kanchen'-

the Brahmaputra.

better

name would be

Senchal " spur.

On

the

cold

northern

slopes
to

of this

grassy

hill

the

rhododendrons
tangle, through

creep up

the

very summit in a dense

which the road descends and winds through

some pine

forest strewn with

columnar

cliffs

of gneiss inter-

spersed with bands of white quartz, like cyclopean masonry.

We

sighted

a leopard and a wild boar, and passed the

Serotv
ft.,

tracks

of the

deer {Nemorhcedus bubalinus) as

at the

we

dipped to 10,320

gap of Chow-banjan

(the " Chia-

bhanjan" of the maps), or "The Pass of the Edible Mushrooms", as

this

name means

in the

Nepalese.

These plants

are especially abundant here on the decayed trees.

They
their
in

are called

by the Tibetans, Shaino, or "the hats", from

resemblance to Chinese caps.

basketfuls

Our men gathered them

relish,

and ate them cooked, with

tasteless.

but

we found

them tough and

The
although
built

wooden
it

rest-house
relatively

here

was
for

in
I

ruinous
it

state,

was
five

new,

had seen

being
it

only

or

six
in

years

before,

and already

was

tumbling to pieces
the

this rotting climate.

By

spreading

doors

down over
with

the

least

holey part of the rotten

holes,

floor,

riddled

ominous gaping

where previous

occupants had sunk through,

we managed

to secure a corner

366
for

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

our
chairs,

though we had to

shift

these frequently to
us.

prevent them bodily disappearing with

A
the

pass to Nepal leads

down from

here to the west, to

;

lower valley of Nepal, which Hooker threaded

to hear

and

was surprised
to

from some Nepalese who had been

visit,

Darjeeling
to

on a prolonged
a

that they

would each
return
to

have

pay

considerable

poll-tax

on

their

Nepal, and have to undergo a ceremony of drinking water

with

an
lost

official

in

order to restore their caste, which they

foreign territory
:

had

by entering

a sort of a re-initiation

into their tribe.

Few Europeans have

along the ridge
54
;

ever

passed

beyond

this

point,
at right
I felt

for the

road from here goes

down

angles on the Sikhim side to Pemiong-chi monastery.

some anxiety
because
pass this

as to

the track
Sherwill,

beyond

this place,

not only

Captain

W.

who

in

1852 attempted to

way

to the snows,

had

to turn

back as he reported

that his further progress

was barred by a deep precipitous

not cross,

valley
existing

which

he

could

but

also

because the

maps were not very

correct for this locality

I

and
got,

did not show the route by which

was

to go.

had

however, for
in this

my

guide the headman of the highest village

part

of Sikhim,

Yampoong, who assured me

that

though the track was very rough and became more and

more rugged as we approached the higher ranges,

still

it

was practicable
that

all

the

way up

to the

snows

and he added

no European had ever been over the greater part of

the route by which

we were

going.

THE SOUTHERN RIDGE OF KANCHEN'

I

367
for

pushed on from here on the morning of the 20th

snows,
in

the

very light

marching order, taking Kintoop

and a few picked

coolies carrying light loads slung

up

in

blankets and waterproofs, and with two very light tents, as

there are no

more rest-houses nor

villages.

horribly uneven sheep-track led up the ridge, amongst

shrubby rhododendrons and copses of wild rose bushes, and

a few alders, which lower
give this hill-side
its

down

are found in numbers, and

It

name

of " Sing-le."

was

like

walking

over spikes the greater part of the way, for miles; as the

rugged rock here

is

a stratified gneiss that has been thrown

,

up

at a

sharp angle of about 45

with a dip to the N. E.,

further sharpened

and many of these knife-edges had been

by the

splintering action of the frost, so that this constant

stepping from knife-edges to spikes

tedious,

made our

progress very

and cut through the boots of many of our men,

laming them badly.

When we
boo (11,780
ascent,

had gone beyond the peak

ft.),

called

Tim-dim-

with
the
I

its

tarns,

and begun the next steep

my

guide,

headman, complained of giddiness

too was
attacked.

and

sat

down,

and

There was no
and

headache, nor shortness of breath, but a

everything

faint feeling,

seemed

to

swim and tremble before

my

giddy

eyes, and closing

not,
I

them did not

relieve this sensation. It could

air,

think,

have been altogether due to the rarefied

feet.
It

for

the actual elevation was only about 12,000

was

per-

haps

in

some measure owing too

ur rapid ascent,

combined

with the dazzling glare of the highly micaceous gneiss rock,

368

VMONG THE HIMALAYAS

that glanced brightly in the blazing sun. For, after a short rest

and a drink of water,

carrying

(as

always had a

man

with

me

my

water-bottle)
I

and donning

my

dark goggles, a

pair of which

gave to the guide, we were able to proceed.

the narrow precipitous ridge

Our toilsome progress along

grew monotonous, owing

to the repeated stiff ascents

;

and

descents, and halts to recover breath

and the great clouds

only

lifted

now and then

to give us glimpses

away down

into the heart of Nepal.

The
under
hill

track
cliffs

ran

along the Nepalese side of the

E.,

frontier,

formed by the dip to the N.

called

and past the

of

"Lambi",

on the map "Lampheram" (12,830),

cliffs

and, at the fourth mile, along some

at

of gneiss with caves

the

deserted

grazing-station

called

Naya, whence the

into the

stream called the

"Tawa"

drains

down

Yang-wa,

misnamed "Changthap" on
Pass

the map.

Across the Senden

we encamped
Hill,

at

rock

on the southern base of

Migo

twelve and a half miles from Chowbanjan, by

my pedometer, which was trustworthy. On the way we met a few of that nomad
herdsmen, the Gooroongs, a

tribe of

Nepalese

shifting people, here to-day

and

away to-morrow, who

I

live in

rude bowers of leafy branches.

for

bought

sheep from them

along, one of

our larder,

and as

it

refused to

come

my

coolies,

although already
it

heavily laden and exhausted, agreed to carry

his load
;

in addition to
it

and he staggered along the precipices with

tied

atop of his basket, quite happy in the prospect of receiving

the lion's share of
it,

which had been promised to him.

'

THE SOUTHERN RIDGE OF KANCHEN'

369

We

had been marching

till

all

day
in,

long,

though making
it

slow progress,

darkness set

and with

rain,

when

we reached an overhanging rock

halted
tent
as
for

in the forest,

where we
for

the

night.

My men

built

up a ledge

my

there

was no

level ground, for the hillside sloped

down

precipitously for
;

some thousands of

feet at

an angle

of about 70

and they themselves nestled under the rock.

the harassing march, they
to pitch
last,

And though wet and weary by

all

cheerfully

worked away, helping one another

the tent, to bring firewood and to fetch water, which

as

we were near

the

top of the ridge, was about half a

I

mile

down
baggy

the mountain.
tent
to

too had some discomforts, for

it

my

leaked badly as

could not be pitched

I

properly,

and

keep myself dry

I

had

to

throw water-

proofs over
to shake

me

as

reclined,

and

to get

up now and then

my

wraps to turn out scorpions and other insects

than
I

more

irritating

interesting.

And more

than

once

during the night

heard a tree blown down by the storm,

with a crash like a pistol report.

In

the

morning

it

was freezing hard, and there was a

glorious sunrise.

Fresh snow had powdered the Dui pass,

about

four miles distant, and

sight,

Kabru almost hid Kanchen

cone of Chumo-lhari
in

from

and the

great
crisp

Tibet

appeared
I

marvellously

and near; and lower down,

aloft

saw the monastery of Tashiding perched

its

upon the

top of

isolated conical hill

hill

above the Rang-eet. Ascendft.),

ing the grassy

of Migo (13,250

the view

was much

grander, though Everest was

now completely hidden behind

24

37o the
crater-like
cliffs

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Peak No. XIII.

The

track led

down

past

the

of Nego, a good halting-place with a small stream

valley, over
slates or

and splendid view. Thence obliquely down the

giant
flags

flags

of fine-grained

gneiss

like
flat

hardened

of paving-stones,

lying almost

with scarcely any

dip,

we descended

till

we

struck the foaming

Yang-wa thence
;

the

path ascended a

fine

valley of pines, where

had a

shot at a

Monal pheasant, and thence up over a bleak

moorland covered with dwarf juniper bushes, and dwarf

"

peak
like

xm "

from migo

(13,250).

rhododendrons
rocky
defile,

bog-myrtle.

Still

further
tall

up

bare

weirdly

dotted

with

the

cones of the
ft.),

giant rhubarb,

we ascended

to the pass of

Ghara (14,000

amongst the crags of which,

my

guide said that he has

shot the rare Himalayan giant wild sheep, the Ovis

(in

ammon
as well

Sikhimese

" Sha-pik"),
(in

and the snow leopard,

as

musk-deer
This guide

Sikhimese "/,#-<?").

is

a fine, dignified, elderly man, a

good specimen
off his

of the

hardy Sikhimese Bhotiya.

He

has taken

boots

and walks barefooted on the

stones.

He

shoots a

YAMPOONG AND
good deal

ITS

YAK-HERDS
when

371

here, especially in the winter months,

the

cold drives the animals

down from

the

snowy

passes,
sale.

and

he sends the skins and horns to Darjeeling for

can shoot pretty straight too,
for,

He
gun

yesterday, with

my

he shot two partridges and a flying squirrel on the way.

He

points out as

we

go, certain plants, and discourses

on

their

healing

virtues

one

of

them applied externally and

broken
limbs,

internally
" better

was so valuable
than
all

for

that

it

was

the

hundred and eight great remedies

a large
if I

put together."
coloured
turquoise.
stone,
It

He gave me
and asked

piece

of turquoiseit

me

thought

was

really

was evidently quartzite covered over with a

thin coating of that brilliant verdigris-coloured copper ore,

" malachite. "

On my

telling

him

this,

he said that a great

mass of

this

green rock towered up a hundred feet high

village.

about a mile below his

From
side

this pass

we continue northwards along

over open bare

the Sikhim

of

the

frontier,

undulating pasture

land,

often without any track, until

ft.,

we

reach "
its

The Tiger
when

Pass" {Tag-La), about 14,350

with

large tarn,

we

curve round to the east, immediately under the snow-

covered Dui Pass, over which we

the

now

should go.
is

But

at

pressing invitation of our guide,

who

the

headman

of this place and

to
his

who

says that no European has ever been

I

village

before,
it

descend tc

his

Yak farm
off

at

Yam-

poong,

although

is

about a mile down

our route,

and

am

glad once more to be again amongst the yaks

and

their

Tibetan herdsmen.

372

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

is

Yampoong

summer

grazing-station for yaks,

and
limit

lies

on the open undulating grassy slopes above the

trees,

of

and considerably below the

excellent pasturage and
It

line
is

of perpetual snow.

It affords

well watered
flats,

by peren-

nial streams.

contains several marshy

a sort of silted

up

"corries."

When

the

winter
farther

sets

in

the

yaks

are

driven to
Ringbi.

warmer quarters

down

this valley of the

The
is

village contains only three houses, the largest

of

which

the

headman's.
shingle
roof,

It

is

two-storeyed

stone
is

building

with

and the

upper

storey

occupied by our host and his family.

stantial

Ascending the subfire

winding

stair,

found a huge log

blazing on
it

the stone hearth in the middle of the room, and around

were the members of

cook,
a

his family.

These made way

for

my
his

brother

of

Achoom, who quickly took up

boil

position there,

and commenced to

some water

for tea,

preparatory to his culinary operations for a more substantial

meal;

and the best corner of the room was cleared

I

for

me.

had

to

sit

on the
;

floor of

rough-hewn
I

logs, as

there was no chair or stool

but what

missed most was

a table,

it

being by no means easy for a European to eat

;

off the floor, sitting level with one's food

and the smoke

of the
neither
I

fire

caused

my

eyes to smart badly, as there was

chimney nor window.

gave the headman some of

my

infused tea, sweetened

with sugar

and tinned milk,

tin
;

(as

the

yaks were not yet

it,

milked) in an empty soup

and
each

after tasting

he handto

ed

it

round

the

family

for

member down

the

TIBETANS OF EASTERN NEPAL

lowest
little

.373

menial to take a

sip,

for these

people share their

tea,

comforts freely with each other.

This sweetened

SHAR-PA BHOTIYAS.

which was certainly different from their own salted and buttered
cious;

brick

tea,

was unanimously pronounced

to

be

deli-

but a few spoonfuls of

my

scanty store of whiskey

374

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

I

which

gave them, was declared to be much more

so.

They

were eating cakes made of buckwheat, what acid and

presents.
bitter to the taste.
I

harsh and sometrifling

gave them a few

The Yak-herds

are
for

Nepalese Tibetans, that

is

Tibetans

who have
in

settled

some generations

in

Eastern Nepal,

the

provinces

called

Shar-Kambu and Waloong, and

they are
voiced

known
like

as "Shar-pa Bhotiyas."

They

are big, deep-

men
Their

the

Tibetans in

general,
little

and dress
in the

like

them.
style.

women

usually dress a

Nepalese

They

often wear their hair in a loose knot, and not

;

done up

into a pigtail

and

their dress

is

a coarse woollen

cloth, a kind of tartan,

coloured blue, red, green and yellow.

the

Whilst dinner was getting ready, and as

weather

was
at

clear,

ascended the

hill

some

distance to get a peep

the

eastern

slopes of the

Kanchen' range, which have

several travellers

been
I

visited to

some extent by
for

whereas
miles

was now bound

snows.

the

unexplored western slopes of

these

The mighty Kanchen', under twenty

distant,

was almost hidden from view by the bold southern

end of Kabru, which rose up only about thirteen miles

off,

and Pandim about twelve.

last

These two
of

mountains as well as the eastern glaciers

here
in three to four

Kanchen

'

can be reached from

days, via Jongri and the Guicha pass.

Several Europeans

have
there

visited the former since

in

Major James Sherwill's journey

him,

1861,

and they,

like

took the most direct

road to Jongri, namely, up the hot valley of the Great Rang-

ACCESSIBILITY OF GLACIERS
eet
river

375

to

its

source
the
just

amongst the

glaciers;

and

this

is

now

certainly

much

best and quickest route, since a

good riding-road has

tery,

been made to Pemiong-chi monasenables the

glaciers to

on

this

route,

which

be

reached comfortably

in five to
lie

seven days from Darjeeling.

And
that

as

these
in

glaciers

amidst

some of the grandest

I

scenery

the

whole of the Himalayas,

to

have no doubt
visit

many

visitors

Darjeeling

will

gladly

them

when they

realize

how
ft.),

accessible they
is

now

are.

Jongri (13,140

which
this

a small

summer

yak-station
it

of two houses,
is

like

place

Yampoong, from which

E.,

distant

about

eight

miles

N.

was
it

visited

by Ur.

Hooker, who so admirably describes both

thither from Pemiong-chi monastery.

and the journey

He

likens the view of

Kanchen

'

from thereabouts to the view of Mt. Blanc from

Chamonix, but he was prevented ascending beyond Jongri

by the snow
(not

in the

depth of winter. Major James Sherwill

the other route) was the
first
'"

W.

S.

who attempted

traveller to visit

and describe the

in

glaciers of this valley.

He

visited

them

November, and says that the path led

up the
river (Praig) to the

through the
glaciers of

grandest scenery

Kabru
visit

at the grazing-station of
in

Aluktang, which
'

the

Lamas

the

rains

to

worship Mt. Kanchen

"The grandeur
the

of the surrounding snow-clad mountains and

wildness

of the

scenery of the valley of the Ratong

I

(Praig)

surpasses

anything of the kind

have elsewhere

witnessed in the Himalayas.

On

looking directly north up

the valley, Kanchen-junga rose majestically above everything

376
else.

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Between
us

and

it,

thrown completely across the

distant,

valley

and only two miles

was seen a stupendous

moraine, a thou-

sand

feet

high,

which forms the

conspicuous
ject

ob-

seen

from
Im-

Darjeeling.

mediately on our right,

rose a long

range of perpetually snow-clad mountains,

running parallel with the valley,

culminating in the glacier-flaked peaks

of Kabui

Kang

(19,450

ft.),

and to the

north Ting-ching-Kang, to the west of

PANDIM
from Tong-Shyong-Tam.

which

rose

the

formidable
ft.

peak of

Pandim,

22,015

in height, at the
to,

base of which rests the glacier above alluded

other masses of debris
confusion.

and many
in

washed down from above,

its

wild

To

our rear, winding

course

down

the broad

PANDIM AND GUICHA GLACIERS

valley,
forests,

377

the

hills

on

either

side

covered

with

dense

fir

was the noisy foaming Ratong."

for

Pandim proved too formidable

two trained Swiss guides.
attack
it

Mr.

Graham and

his

He

says that they purposed " to

it

from the north, but, on reconnoitring, we found

I

quite impracticable.

do not know of any more formiit

dable peak.
other three

On
are

the

west side

drops sheer, while the

guarded by the most extraordinary over-

hanging

glaciers,

which quite forbid any attempt .... the ('The Uplifted Nose')." The name
"

same applies

to Narsing "
it

"Pandim"
Minister",

or
as

Panden
is

means

in

Lepcha,

"The

King's

considered to be an attendant on the

King of mountains, Kanchen'.

To resume

the ascent to the Guicha pass, Major Sherwill

:

goes on to say
debris

"

Having ascended the immense mass of

forming the moraine, probably at an elevation of

ft.,

15,000

we found

ourselves, to our great surprise, standing

glacier.

on the top of a stupendous

ice

This huge mass of

and debris descending from the Pandim mountain extends

across

nearly

the

valley,

where

it

is

met by, and abuts

its

upon,

another glacier equally vast

at

in

dimensions, and

formed

the

base
the

of (Kabru

and) the other snow-clad

of the
valley,

mountains
together

on

western

side

the

two

forming a complete barrier across the valley and

it

choking

up

to

the height of a thousand feet or more.

the
is

The moraine forming

moving
blocks
ice

retaining

wall

to this

mass of

and debris

composed of rounded and angular

gneiss, intermixed with pieces

of highly

contorted

378

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

micaceous
schist,

of syenite,

coarse

granite

quartz

with

GLACIER AT THE OUICHA PASS.

tourmaline crystals, white and pink quartz often containing

veins

of crystallized felspar, and coarse gravel and debris.

KABRU AND PANDIM GLACIERS

Proceeding
wilderness

379

onwards,
of blocks

the of ice

glacier

presented

perfect

invariably

covered

with

the

stones and debris brought

down from

the mountain above

the

by

avalanches,

with

deep crevasses through which

sound of running water was heard.

valley,

little

way up

the

beyond where the

lake.

glaciers

meet,

we observed
were

small

Although the surrounding

all

hills

literally

covered with glaciers of

with

sizes,

and the valleys overhung

masses

of

ice

and snow,

we observed only one

ice

avalanche,
the
hottest

but frequent loud cracking of the

part

during

of the

day ....

Mounting over the two

glaciers

and proceeding by the lake 500 yards long by

100 broad,

we ascended another immense

glacier

moraine, which

confined a third

on the west side of the valley

on
the

descending

from

Kochirang-Kang,
ft.).

south-eastern

shoulder of Kabru (24,015

nearly

This one appeared to begin

on a

level

with the top of the mountain range, at

feet,

probably
side,

20,000

then

descending by the

mountain

came sweeping along

in

the valley in a curve about a

mile

length,

the

more elevated portion being formed

in

of masses

of ice

covered with snow, rising

steps one

above the other, and the lower portion presenting a sea

of broken

masses of

ice

covered with snow and debris.

ice

more stupendous mass of

to

and snow
from
the

it

is

scarcely

possible

conceive.

Descending

glacier,

we

proceeded

for a mile, occasionally

along the dry smooth bed

ft.,)

of the Ratong, (past a silted-up lake, Chemtang. 15,250

and

over

frozen

snow,

when we

arrived

at

the

fourth

'

380

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

last

and

great glacier, equal in extent to the others."

On

reaching the
at

northern

extremity of this glacier, he arrived

the

Gukha, or "The Locked pass"

has
it,

so

called, as the

legend

because

it

was locked against man by the

spells of a saintly

Lama.
this

The view from

Major
Sherwill.

Guicha pass
found
'

is

thus described

by

"

We

ourselves

standing

on the

watershed

between

Kanchen

and the Pandim, Kabroo,

and Junnoo ranges

elevation

to the south
ft.

and west.
16,430),

We

were

at

an

of about 18,500

(?

and had we pro-

ceeded

farther,

we should have had

to descend into

what

appeared to us a perpetually snow-covered valley. Kanchen

stood apart,

unconnected with any of the high mountain

south.

ranges to the

The

nearest spot not covered with

snow
a

in its

southernmost spur was probably not more than

distant, the stratification

mile

and a half or two miles

Its

of which was clearly visible.

gneiss,

formation

is

probably of

not

of a

contorted type, and which has a dip of

20

to 25 to the east. Others

its

may

determine the
but
'

interest-

ing point of
fact

geological

structure,

this

important

was

elicited

namely,

that

Kanchen

is

detached from
group, and that

the other mountains forming the

Kanchen
into the

'

none of
as

its

waters find their

way

Great Rang-eet,"

Hooker supposed.

The
this

south-eastern
visited

glacier

of Kanchen'

to

the north of
31st,

pass was

by Mr. W. Graham on March

1883.

He
feet,

writes:

"We

crossed the pass, rather over

to a level bit of grass land

16,000

and descended

first

KANCHEN-JUNGA

SOUTH-EAST FACE
feet).

from Tong-Shyong (17,000

KANCHEN-JUNGA, STRUCTURE, AND GLACIERS

containing
five

383

small

tarns,

and then a further descent

to

the great glacier, which flows almost due east from Kanchen'.

Right

above us

rose

the

towering

crags

of Siniolchum

(PSimvovonchum), behind us lay Kabru and Pandim, so

that

we were

absolutely surrounded

by the snowy

giants."

EASTERN GLACIER OF KANCHEN-JUNGA

from Tong-Shyong (17,000
feet).

The stupendous

glittering spire of the south-eastern face

is

of Kanchen' as seen to the north of this pass,

beautifully

shown on page 381 from a photograph by Mr. White, who

also

took the other

fine

photographs here reproduced to

illustrate this region. Its south-eastern glacier is also seen.

These photographs show that the great precipice below

this

southern pinnacle of Kanchen' (27,820

ft.)

is

likely to

384

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

prove an insuperable obstacle to any attempted ascent from

the

south

but the

north eastern

slopes

by way of the
feet", look

Zemu

glacier or across the

;

"Gap, 19,300

more

hopeful

and

in the

opinion of Mr. Freshfield these photois

graphs show that there

than
there
that
is

here possibly a route not steeper

up

Mont Blanc from Chamonix.

a "

Here,
the

too,

obviously

Grand Plateau

"

at

base

of

the final crest.

Mr. Graham, describing Kanchen

of view, says, "
I

'

from a climber's point

do not

call

it

impossible, but improbable

in the highest degree.

The peak

runs east and west like

a wall, the two aretes being the most frightful imaginable.

From
as
it
it

the south nothing but a

is

fly

could
places.

make

the ascent,

overhung

in

two or three

From
a

the north

is

one continuous slope of rock and

ft.

ice at

mean angle

of 50 and more than 15,000

of rise".

The
the

north-eastern

glacier

of

Kanchen
is

'

which descends

Zemu

valley already referred to,

is

about sixteen miles

long, which

the longest in Sikhim.

The
main

geological position of
axis

Kanchen

'

is

obviously in the
lies

of the

Himalayas, although that mountain

considerably to the south of the line of water-parting between

the Tibetan plateau and India, and on a spur which runs
at
its

right

angles

to

this line,

so that even the drainage of

northern
Still

slopes

flows

directly

down

into

the

Indian

plains.

Kanchen', nevertheless,

may be
true

regarded as

lying

upon,

and forming part

of,
its

the

main axis or

back-bone of the Himalayas, and

position to the south

KANCHEN-JUNGA AND AXIS OF HIMALAYAS

of the
its

385

present

water-parting
finding

may be accounted
its

for

by

northern

drainage
left

way through
of the

a gap in

the

main

axis,

by
;

interruptions

force

which

elevated the

Himalayas

while the basin to the north has

become

further

deepened by erosion of the Tibetan plateau.

rivers,

Thus several of the great Tibetan

Gandak, Kosi and Arun, appear
of the Himalayas [vide

such

as

the

to pierce the

main chain

my map

on

p.

349),

and even the

Tsang-po

itself

and the Indus turn round the ends of the

range to escape into the Indian Ocean.

In the

upheaval of the Himalayas there appear to be

three main lines of elevation running

more

or less parallel.

The middle

of these lines or axes, the so-called " Central

Himalayas", contains the highest peaks, and runs through

Kanchen by Jannu
'

to Everest etc.

The

line of the "

Northern

Himalayas" bounds the southern

side of the

Tsang-po and

Upper Indus

valleys

immediately north of which the ranges

7>;z^- Himalayas " (see p. 349).

have been named the "

line
ling,

The

running through Tonglu, including Senchal and Darjee-

Tendong, Lingtu
".

etc.,

forms the " Southern or Outer

Himalayas
stone
hills,

And

the small outlying detached range of sand-

the " Siwaliks", running from

to Sookna, have

Dehra Doon by

Someshwar

been called the " Sz^-Himalain referring

yas". Such nomenclature should be remembered

to the different portions of these
tains

enormous ranges of mounif

which collectively go by the name of the Himalayas,

avoid unnecessary confusion or ambiguity.
structure

we would

The rocky

or

formation of the back-bone of

25

386

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Himalayas,
of
as

the

seen

in

Kanchen

',

seems to consist
in

mainly
crests,
latter

white

granitic

rock

and quartz

the loftier

and of

crystalline schists in the lower,

through which

numerous veins and sheets of molten granite and

have

gneiss

been extruded.

Some

of the peaks, such as

"No. XIII and

",

are suggestively like extinct craters, and

the numerous hot

springs in

the higher ranges attest the

present existence of latent volcanic activity in these regions.

The

highest peak of Kanchen-junga and

ft.)

the true summit,

of

(28,150

is

called
it

by the Tibetans "The Repository

seems to me, has arisen from the

Gold." This name,

pretation
literal

inter-

of the

popular

name

of this

mountain

in too

and mythological a manner.

is

The name Kanchen-

junga

Tibetan and means,

literally,
it

"The Five

Repositories

of the
its

Great Glaciers," and

peaks.

is

physically descriptive of

five

When, however,

the patron saint of Sikhim

this

wrote the manual of worship for

mountain-god he con-

verted these five "repositories" into real storehouses of the

god's treasure, and the god himself was represented as a form of the Buddhist God-of- Wealth, as
this
is

figured at page 217. In

way

the loftiest crest, which was most conspicuously gilded

by the

rising

and setting sun, was made the treasury of gold

till

the southern peak which remained in cold grey shade

it

whitened

in the rising sunlight

was made the treasury of silver,

treas-

and the remaining peaks were made respectively the

uries of gems, grain

and holy books

the chief objects worth

treasuring, in the opinion of the religious Tibetans.

The worship

of this mountain-god. which dates back to

WORSHIP OF MT. KANCHEN-JUNGA

long before
the

387

Buddhist period,

is

celebrated with great

It
is

pomp

every

year throughout Sikhim.

of the devil-

dancing or Shamanist kind.

in the

The Lamas

dress themselves
religion, the

costumes of the pre-Ruddhist Tibetan

so

called

"Bon", and
as

carry

out the

ritual

of the devil-

dancers,

seen

in

the

accompanying photograph, where

WORSHIP OF THE GOD OF KANCHEN-JUNGA.

our friend, the young

entertained
us,
is

Lama
in

of Phodang

who

so hospitably

seated

state to receive the offerings

etc.,

from the people, of money, jewellery

cost of these ceremonies.

to defray the

The Lepcha name of

this

mountain

is

Kong-lo-chu, or

"The Highest Screen

or Curtain of the Snows."

388

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

was from Jongri,
too, that

It

Mr.

W. Graham made
to

his

famous ascent of the peak which he believed

be Kabru,

and also of the Kang-La

pass.

Leaving Darjeeling on the 23rd

March, 1883, with a Swiss guide, he reached Jongri on the

29th,
miles,

and

calculated

that

in

that

distance

of

forty-two
ft.

as the

crow

flies,

the road ascended 23,000

feet
in

and

descended

some

16,000

vertical

height to reach

Jongri (13,140 ft).

In

the

second

visit

in

September he climbed Jubonu

writes:

(21,400

ft.).

Of
1883,

this

he

"Early

on the
lies

30th

September,
diately
suitable

we

started for Jubonu,

which

immea

east

of our
well

camp.

At

2 p.m.

we had reached

place,

above snow-line, and camped

there.

Height by aneroid was 18,300, and though absolute reliance

cannot be placed on such uncorrected observations,
that
at
I

think

least

18,000

may be

taken
i.e.

as correct.
at 4-30,

We

got

off at earliest

dawn the next day,

work
in at

and

settled

down

to

our

once,
order,
is,

leaving the coolies behind.

The snow was

at

good

and Kauffmann led the way

great pace.

He

believe, generally admitted to

be the he

fastest step-cutter living,

and

this

day and afterwards

fairly

surpassed himself.

The

glacier

was crowned with

steep rocks which formed the edge of a noble amphitheatre

formed by Jubonu and Nursing.

We

were now on the

couloir.

peak

itself,

and proceeded to cut up a steep snow

till

This gradually got steeper,

the rocks.

we were

forced to take to

With the exception of one

place, which greatly

resembled the celebrated Chimney on the Matterhorn, we

ASCENT OF JUBONU AND KABRU

got
rose

389

along very well

till

we reached
us.

the final crags, which

some 300

feet

above

We

now

turned northwards

along the
the rocks.

slopes

of the

glacier

which swept down from

Fortunately there was an incipient bergscJirund,

in this to the

and we passed along

short

north side, whence a

of neve led us to the

but exceedingly

steep

slope
II

summit, which we reached at

a.m., without a halt.

in the

This

was incomparably the hardest ascent we had

laya,

Hima-

owing

to the great steepness of the glacier

work."

His celebrated ascent of the peak, which he believed to

be

Kabru,

24,015

feet

the

ascent

of which,

if

proved,

would be the highest point hitherto reached by any mountaineer

has
is

been disbelieved by the Indian surveyors. His

described

ascent

thus

by himself:
the

"On

the

third of

October we

examined

carefully

east

of Kabru,

and

made

all

preparations for an assault.

On

the 6th

we

finally

started,

and made our way up the eastern glacier of Kabru.

banks we met with immense quantities of Edelweiss,

On Up
us

its

the climber's flower, and success was prophesied accordingly.

the highest moraine
right
I

have seen,
cliff

fully

800

ft.,

brought

under the east

of Kabru.

There was only

find

one route to the higher slopes, and that we could not

in

the mist.

Heavy snow

fell,

and we camped where we

were.
it.

Next day we found our opening, and worked up

three went on ahead, and pushed straight up the
ridge,

We

face

of the

intending,
at

if

possible, to

camp on

the

summit.

This
off

we reached

midday, but found that we

in the arete,

were cut

from the true peak by a chasm

39 o

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

that

so

we were on
coolies
slope,

detached buttress.

We
north

descended,
along the

met the
steep

ascending,
finding
at

and
last

turned
a

snow
to

small
tent.

ledge just big

enough

accommodate the Whymper

I

" This was,

tainly
coolies,

think, the highest

camp we

had, being cer-

18,500

ft.

The

night,

however, was mild, and the

who were very

as
at

tired, preferred to stay up, instead

of

descending

before.

We

were off next morning at

4-30,

and found
first

once

all

our work cut out for us.

The
half-

very

thing was the worst.

A
to to

long couloir like a

funnel,

crowded with rocks, had

loose,
just

be passed.

The snow
the
greatest

was

lying

ready

slide,

and

possible care

had

to

be taken to avoid an avalanche. Then

a snow incline, and so to the
ft.

a steep ice slope led us to

foot

of the

true

peak.

Here we had nearly 1,000

of

most
ten

delightful

rockwork, forming a perfect staircase.

At
ft.

we were

at the top of this,

and not more than

,000

above

was the

eastern

summit.

short snack,
is

and then
ice, at

came
angle

the tug of war. All this last slope

of 45 deg. to nearly 60 deg.
frost,
it

pure

an

Owing

to the

heavy

snow and the subsequent

was coated three or four

inches deep with frozen snow, and up this coating

I

we

cut.

am

perfectly aware that

it

was a most hazardous proceedit

ing,

and

in cold

blood

should not try

again, but only in

in the time.

this state

would the ascent have been possible

led
all

KaufTman

the

way, and

at

12-15
ft.

we reached
above
all

the

lower summit of Kabru, at least 23,700

sea-level.

"The

glories

of the

view were beyond

compare.

MR.

GRAHAMS ASCENT OF "KABRU"

who had
world.
'

39*

North-west, less than seventy miles, lay

I

Mount Everest, and

it,

pointed

it

out to
in

Boss,
the

never seen
it

as the
be,'

highest
replied;

mountain
'those
far

That
to

cannot

he

are

higher'

pointing
in

two peaks which

towered

above the second and more distant range, and

I

showed over the northern slope of Everest.

but

was astonished,

we were

all

agreed that

our judgment, the

loftier.

unknown
course,

peaks,

one rock and one snow, were

idea rests

Of

such an

purely on eyesight; but looking from

such a height,

objects

appear

in

their

true

proportions,

and we could distinguish perfectly

between the peaks of

known measurements, however

ever,

slight the differences.

How-

we had a

short view, for the actual

summit was conft.,

nected with ours by a short arete, and rose about 300

of the steepest ice
I

have seen.

We

went

at

it,

and

after

an hour and a half we reached our goal. The summit was

cleft

by three gashes, and

summit was
little

into

one of these we

got.

The
and

absolute
rose
ently
it,

more than
above us

a pillar of ice,
still,

some

thirty of forty feet

but, independ-

of the

extreme
time.

difficulty

and danger of attempting

left

we had no

bottle

was

at our highest point,

and we descended. The descent was worse than the ascent, and we had
give
there
to

proceed

backwards,
last

as

the

snow might
the rocks and

way

at

any moment. At
a

we reached
and

fixed
at ten.

huge Bhotiya

flag,

finally

turned into
difficult,

camp

The ascent was dangerous

rather than

but without the new snow the

difficulties

would have been

enormously increased.

'

392

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

this

Commenting on
to

ascent,

Sir

Martin

Conway

writes

me: "The
in

question
is

of Mr. Graham's ascent of a big

mountain
sensations,

Sikhim

a very difficult one.

his

His recorded

and those of

companion, are not compatible

ft.

with
It

his

having reached an altitude exceeding 20,000

officers

was the unanimous opinion of the Indian

and

members of the Survey with whom he conversed

after his

shortly

ascent, that his observations

were not consistent

with
the

an ascent of Kabru.

The

natives

who saw him on

mountain said that

it

was not Kabru he climbed, but

I

another and
aneroid

much lower
about

peak.

believe he stated that his

read
do,

24,000 feet on the top.

not
is

Knowing

as

we now
aneroids
that his

and as at that time was

at

known, how

behave

high altitudes,

this

a further proof
feet
less

peak must have been many thousand

feet
in

than

24,000

height.
veracity.

All

this

implies

no attack

upon Mr. Graham's

and

He
for

carried no instruments,
position.

made

no

observations
the

He

merely
is

believed

that

peak climbed was

a mistake in such
position
is

Kabru. Nothing
a case.
It
is

easier than to

make

only

when an
by a
either

observer's

determined and confirmed

his

series

of observations,

and

altitude

measured

by trigonometrical measurement
barometer,
has
been.
that
it

or observations with
to

mercurial

is

possible

be

sure

where
difficult

he

Mr.

Graham
it

doubtless
in

climbed a
opinion,

and high peak,

but

cannot,

my

have been Kabru or anything

like

the

altitude of

Kabru.
(a ridge

Your suggestion

that

it

may have been

Kang-tsen

EXPERT OPINION ON GRAHAM'S ASCENT

of Kabru,
sideration."

393

2,000

ft.

less in height)

is

well

worthy of con-

Colonel Tanner,

who

has specially studied the forms of

the higher peaks of the

Himalayas, says, " Your Kang-tsen

appears to have

the sharp knife-edge crest

I

demanded by
in the light

Graham's account, and

think

it

very probable

thrown on the neighbouring topography by your photograph,

that Kang-tsen
is

what he ascended. He would never have

omitted to describe the wonderful table-land which occupies

the summit of Kabru, had he ascended that position after the
fearful

climb necessary for surmounting

its

awful sides." This

table-land
ner's

on the top of Kabru

at p.

is

seen in Colonel Tan-

drawing
is,

395

and, curiously, this characteristic

in the

feature

find,

denoted

Lepcha name

for "

Kabru

",

which means
This point
visit

"The
is

Straight Snow-level" (Nan-tam-chii).

further referred to in connection with

in

my

to

Kang-la Pass and Kang-tsen,

the next chapter.

CHAPTER

XI

TO KANG PASS FOR THE WESTERN GLACIERS OF KANCHENJUNGA AND FOR JANNU NEPALESE JEALOUS

EXCLUS1VENESS

Whilst something
of the
eastern

is

thus

known of
glaciers
is

the general features

peaks

and

of the Kanchen-junga

group, almost nothing practically

as these
lie

known

of the western,

within the jealously guarded territory of Nepal,

visited

which has not been

the

by Europeans.
travelled
to
in

For Hooker,
Eastern Nepal,

only

European who has

passed

somewhat too low

to

down

see

them,

and Mr.

Graham, whose claims

ed,

have scaled Kabru are disputbrief

has

recorded

only

the

and general note above

quoted.
In

my

attempt to see a

little

of this

western side of

the peaks,

the
is

distant telescopic profile of which,

by

Col-

onel Tanner,
difficulty

given on page 395 a guide

to

experienced

much

in

getting

show me over the pass

THE PASS OF THE DEVIL

to

395

the

Nepalese

side

of the

range,

as

the

natives

of

these parts dread the pains and penalties that the Nepalese
rulers inflict

on

all

who impart

information, or assist Euro-

peans

in

gaining information, concerning the country or the

Ultimately, however, a Tibetan trader from
in

people.
(the

Waloong
to

Walloon-choon of Hooker)
at

Nepal,
the

who chanced
tracks
well,

be

Yampoong,

and

who knew

was

prevailed

on by Kintoop,

for a small present, to

guide us

to,

*/w, *-W/Wh-$'>^

A.

Highest

KANCHEN-JUNGA FROM THE WEST. B, B Kabrn. crest of Kanchen'.

1
.

over,

and keep above the inhabited part of the Nepalese

valleys.

On
in

the 22nd September, 1896,

this

set out

from

Yampoong

company with
his

guide

who

was rugged and hard,

like

own rugged

hills,

and the headman of that village,

riding,

seven coolies under Kintoop, and three yaks, of which two

were

for

the

baggage or

and one as meat

for the

camp.

The

ascent of about two miles to the bare rocky " Pass

of the Devil" {Dai-Ld) was easy walking, over great sheets

of
gneiss
like

paving-stones,

as

this

stratified

rock
a

was
rude

almost horizontal here.

We

passed on the

way

396

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

for

trap

snow-leopard.

It

was baited with the leg of a

stone-flags of the place,

yak,

and constructed of the large

on the principle of a school-boy's box-trap of bricks and

slate

for

catching

birds.

Only

here, the falling door

was

a massive paving-stone, weighing about a quarter of a ton,

and intended
Just

to crush the beast to death.

below the pass was a rocky tarn called ''The Lake

of the Tigress"

{Tag-mo Tso); and

in

its

legend related that

its

the
devil

tigress

which lived
its

cave on

banks was the

who gave
tiger,

name

to the pass. It

was no ordinary
and
it

earthly

but

a fiend in

that form;

killed all

the yaks
arrived,

and people who came here,

and

until a saintly

Lama
now

by

his

spells

banished this devil, and

every passer-by puts a stone on the cairn in the pass, to

commemorate

this

happy
the

event.

On
past

penetrating
several

pass

(14,900
giant

ft.),

our track

wound

plants

of the

rhubarb and the woolly

aromatic balls of Saussurea, along the eastern shoulder of

the

ridge

for

about
veins

miles,

over flags of gneiss per-

meated

by

of

quartz,

amongst blocks of coarse

cliff call-

crystalline grey granite,

and under an overhanging

ed
ite

"The

Falling

Rock" {Dang-bydbir), which was

a favour-

haunt of wild sheep, according to

off the

my

guide.

Here

went

track

to

see on the

left

a wild tarn, nearly

1

a mile in length, called "

The Loch

of Everlasting Life " {Tse

pag-med
Nepalese

Tso),
call
it

and reputed

to contain fabulous

gems

the

"The Lake
corner
to

of

Good Luck"
north,
at

{Luckee-pokree).

Rounding

the

the

Oma

Pass

THE OMA PASS AND BRIGANDS

(15,320
ft.),

397

we came suddenly

into snow,

and a magnifi-

cent view of the Kanchen' range burst on our eyes. Kanchen'

with

Kabru seemed

quite

near, the top of the latter was

;

within

twelve miles' distance

I

but they were

for
I

fast

clouding

over ere
ankle

got

my

camera ready,
riding

had sprained

my
I

slightly,

and was

on the spare yak.

Still

CROSSING OMA PASS ON A YAK.

secured the accompanying photograph

of the
in

Kang

pass.

steep

descent of about 3,000

a

feet

three miles, led

down through

gloomy gorge

lined with landslips, to the

deserted yak-station of Gamo-tang.

This precipitous gorge was infested a few years ago by

a

gang of Tibetan brigands.

traders

They murdered and robbed

laboriously

the

and

others

who

threaded the

398

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

neck of
this

narrow
them,
left

gorge

by
out

rolling

down

rocks upon

and

then

rushing

and despatching

any

still

alive.

They had

emissaries resident at Darjeeling

traders
'

who

kept

them advised not only of the

movements,
;

but also of the police

it

who were
efforts

sent on their track

and

required

the

conjoint
for

of the

military police of
to

Nepal and Darjeeling

some years

disperse
I

them.

Only a few were captured, and these were hanged.

self

my-

had seen the

tree

on the Nepal

frontier
little

where one of
thinking that

them was hanged about a year

I

before,

should ever

visit
still

the scene of their exploits.

at liberty,

Several of

the band were

and the headman of Yampoong,

who pointed

out their former eyrie, high up on the crags,

their

and the places of

ambuscade, said that travel hereabouts

account,

was

still

unsafe
to

on

this

and that when he and

others

had

go

this

way, they armed themselves and

formed a big party.

From

this

dark

defile

of the brigands

we emerged on
"

to a pretty mountain-girt dell,

Gamo-tang, or

The Level
water of

Mead"
the
little

(12,550

ft.),

through which the

crystal

Rathong
with

river

rushed noisily over a pebbly bed,

fringed
tent

trailing

willows

and sedges.

pitched

my

on the bank of the stream, near the deserted hut of

the yak-herdsmen, of which latter

my men

took possession.
in

This

small

meadow was

charming spot
cliffs

the bright

sunshine.

On

all

sides

bold rugged

rose above the

pine woods, up to snow-tipped peaks. Below these patches

of snow, the face of the dripping rocks, wet with the melt-

'

GAMOTANG AND
ing
light.

ITS

LOST TALISMAN

399

snow, glittered

and gleamed

like mirrors in the sun-

And

a curious wintry effect was produced

slid

by

several

cascades that
granite
pines, a
cliffs,

and tumbled down the white quartz and

forming broad white streaks, beyond the dark

feet in length.

thousand

This pretty meadow,

settlement; and

now

so desolate, was once a thriving

my

friend of

Yampoong

pointed out traces

in

of the
his

fields

of buckwheat day,

which had flourished here

grandfather's

but

now were overgrown by

the

young pine woods.

was owing
lously

The

prosperity of the place, said he,

to a holy milk-white bull-yak that

had miracuIt

appeared and roamed over these

hillsides.

was

reputed to be an incarnation of the mountain-god Kanchen

himself,

and

it

acted as a luck-commanding talisman, like

the Mascotte.
all

When

this

lucky yak deserted these haunts

sorts of disaster followed.

The Nepalese invaded Sikhim.

amongst the yaks, and
dead beasts, and

Then
all

a deadly pestilence broke out

the

people

who

ate the flesh of the

they comprised nearly everyone in the village, died. There-

upon the
devil
for

survivors

fled,

in

the belief that

place.

malignant
returned

had taken possession of the

years,

No one
is

many
a

and even now the spot

only occupied

as
I

grazing-station for a few

after

weeks

in the

summer
that
I

time.

went

some partridges and pheasants

heard

calling in the thick cover,

and got one partridge.

killed,

During

my
the

absence the young yak had been

portions

and amongst

reserved

for

me, were the tongue and the

delicacies.

heart,

which are esteemed especial

4 oo

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

the
fear

At night
our
at
little

of the

brigands weighed heavily on

fires

camp.
so
as

All lights and cooking

were put out

dusk,
to

not to reveal

our position, and Kintoop

came

my

small tent with two trustworthy

men

as sentries.

They mounted guard with

their knives, at the

door inside

the tent, as the temperature outside

point.

was below the freezing

it

In
I

this

rough exposed

life,

is

needless to say

that

had

for

some days given up

the vulgar habit of

undressing before retiring for the night.

My
my

bed consisted

of a blanket spread over springy pine-branches, and under

my
gun.

pillow

and alongside

me were

laid

revolver and
laid
it

But when Kintoop drew his ugly knife and

beside

down

him on a corner of
he should,

my

couch,

felt

some

misgivings
the

lest

in a night-mare,

mistake

me

in

dark

for

one

of the

dreaded
I

robbers.

The

night,

however, passed without mishap.

slept soundly, fatigued

by the day's marching, and was only awoke once or twice by the high wind shaking the
tent.

At daybreak
slight

the temperature registered 3

fallen,

Fahr. of

frost,

snow had

and the tent was frozen

stiff

as

cardboard. So cold was the wind that a young eagle

fell

dead

a few yards from

my

tent, the

shaggy coats of our yaks

glistened with a thick coating of ice spangles,

and one of our

;

men seemed

to

have caught acute inflammation of the lungs

I

he was delirious with high fever.

gave him some medicine,

and Kintoop had to leave one of our already small party to

look after him, or as Kintoop grimly put
it:

"to feed him

and

sacrifice to the devils for him,

and

if

he died to bury him."

SNOWED TO DEATH
Fording the
towards
to
its

4i

stream

on

boulders

and following

it

up

source at the Chabab pass, over which

we had
half,

cross into Nepal,

we

rose, in
trees,

about a mile and a

up out of the region of

through stunted bushes of

ft.).

juniper to the deserted yak-hut of Bogto (13,350

The

grassy shoulder on which

river,

it

lay,

about 600 feet above the

was somewhat suggestive of an old moraine, though

in this valley
;

no glaciers now existed

nor did the stream

evidently contain any glacier water from sources higher up.

In
this

lonely

hut

of

Bogto,

was

told,

the

young

daughter of a wealthy Sikhimese, with her maid, had halted

about sixteen years ago on their way to Tibet, about a

month

later

in

the

season than

we had come.

heavy

snow-storm not only prevented them from proceeding, but

cut
off their

retreat

as

well,

and the unfortunate damsels

of their bones were
still

died here

of starvation.

Some

strewn about the place, and their skulls had been made,

by

my

guide, into

drums

for

summoning
valley,

the devils.
flushed

Pursuing

our

track

up the

we

several

Monal
as

pheasants, which

characteristically flew

downwards,

we passed through
cutting

the stunted junipers, pruned low

by

the

wind,

and we emerged on the bleak uplands.

to

Here bears were

be found,

it

was

said,

but few or no
that

wild sheep, on account of

there.

some poisonous grass

grew

We

passed

several

tempest-swept tarns variously

coloured red, black, and green, and

named

accordingly.

They

were the reputed abode of Caliban-like

bare lochs a few butterflies
still

spirits.

Near these
last
26

hovered over the

few

402

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

of summer,
at

flowers

an elevation
the

of over 14,000

feet.

The most numerous were

Spain"
(Fritillary).

silvery spotted "

Queen of

The

opposite

side

of the valley, rising steeply with

its

knife-edge ridge, was called "

ri-nag-pd),

The Black Tiger

Hill "

{Takits

and certainly

its

long undulating outline and

crest

picked out with snow did suggest a reclining

the

tiger.

The body of
covered
the

beast was formed by the black lichen-

granitic

gneiss,

which was broadly striped with

white

veins

of granite

and

by the shoots of

the

disintegrating

granite

crags above.

And

a columnar form-

ation of the rock outlined the shoulder, haunches

and paws.

The
Bogto,
glacial

valley suddenly opened out, about four miles above

into

broad

rounded

rocky basin,

evidently of

formation,

and

surrounded by an amphitheatre of
;

rugged snow-streaked peaks

on the one side the Kanchen'

Senchal ridge, pierced by the Chabab pass about 2 miles

off,

and on the other a spur of Kang-La and Kabru, which

peak towered close above
bleak
us,

latter

on our

right.

This
blocks

rocky

basin

was strewn with great white

of quartz and light grey granite, the white patches

of which,

uncovered

by bronzing

lichens,
in

must give

this

landscape a snowy wintry aspect even

summer.
under the white

weird

lake

lay

in this wild setting,

horn of the Kang-La snows to our

right.

It

was

called "

The

Enchanted Lake of the Peacock's Tail" (Tso Dom-dong-

md)

and from
large

its

blue transparent depths there gleamed

of brilliant
turquoise.

several

spots

This peculiar

ENCHANTED LAKE BELOW KANG PASS

appearance,

43
to
its

which

gave the lake

its

name, was due

the great blocks of dazzling white quartz which studded

dark-blue bed.
in

It

was evidently a " Corrie

",

or a lake formed

the

dammed-up end of

the latest moraine of a glacier

THE ENCHANTED LAKE OF THE PEACOCKS TAIL

(TSO DOM-OONG-MA.)

which had come down from the Kang-La peaks, but which

had now disappeared. The evidence of

was
such
as
is

glacial action here

rarely

met with

in

the Himalayas.
left,

The

smooth
abutted

face
into

of the

projecting

cliff

to our

which had

the glacier, was scooped out, scratched and

4o4

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

scored in characteristic fashion for a considerable distance,

about twenty feet above the present

level.

The

spirits

of this haunted

lake

were, of course, worthey, were dragons

shipped by

my
as

men. These

spirits, said

who

occasionally
or

appeared to
mild

men

in the

form of furious

bull-yaks,

mermaids who

siren-like allured the

lonely traveller to a cruel death.

So

whilst

my men
ft.

were
I

praying to the

deities

of the

lake

and the mountain,

loch
is

tasted the sweet crystal water.

The

14,600

above

the sea, about half a mile in length, somewhat triangular in shape, and into
its

further

narrow northern end

fall

several

thin cascades from the melting

snows overhead.
its

Edelweiss

and other

allied

woolly flowers bloomed on

ft.)

bleak banks.
stiffish

The pass (15,950

for

was reached by a

climb

about a mile, over great masses of sharp splintered

;

rocks

yet

none

of us

suffered
air,

here the slightest incon-

venience from the

rarefied

although the altitude was

considerably more than that of

pass,

Momay

below the Dong-kia

the cairn

which had

tried us all so

much.

The view from

at the top

was not very extensive owing

to the clouds that

were
with
side;

drifting over us.

The summit was

fall

rugged knife-edge,

the

most precipitous
this

to the western or Nepalese

and

also

was the character of the peaks and

ridges

both north and south of the pass.

fell

The weathering
the Nepalese

rocks of the uplifted crest

side,

away abruptly on

leaving jagged

columns and towering pinnacles that

looked

like castellated battlements

and needle-shaped

spires.

Thin snow lay

for over a

hundred yards down the Nepal-

THE KANG PASS FROM THE WEST

ese side, in the cold northern shade. the
precipitous
slope,

405

Thence we descended
mile

picking our

way over about a

Here
it

of massive

blocks of sharp splintered rocks.

to

was

marvellous

see

how

the

laden yaks

lumbered

along

over

these

rocks,

and skirted precipices that were formi-

dable enough for the unladen

human

pedestrian.

The yak

frequently had to spring up on to ledges, like a goat, and

poise

itself

with

arched body,

and

all

its

four feet close

at other times

together, before taking another spring

and

the

patient

beast circumvented
In

sharp

curves
is

by

a series
lie

of wriggles.

deep snow, such as

this

said to

here

from November to April,

difficult

passage must be

much more

on account of the steepness of some of the slopes

of crumbling loose rock; but the story of the glaciers and

crevasses which had been reported here
veller

by the Indian

tra-

Baboo Sarat

C.

Das

is

unfounded.

From

the western foot of this rocky pass the

view up
needles

towards the Kang-La was grand.

Several

huge

traced with snow, soared into the air like cathedral spires

and between these, several long shoots of stones from the

splintering

granite
full

and quartz rocks of the ridge above

two thousand
feet or

swept down for

more.

We

crossed a short distance below the bottom of these

stone-shoots

(14,650
after five

ft.)

to

the

other

side

of the valley,
spur,

and thence,
the
valley

weary miles round a

river,

we gained

of the

Yaloong

and then commanded

which spread out

extensive views

down

into Eastern Nepal,

before us like a map, in that remarkably clear atmosphere.

4o6

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

Everest
",

The

group,

with

its

most

prominent

peak

"No. XIII

stood up boldly about sixty miles away, though

perspective from our elevated point of view
to be far
river,

in the distant

these peaks

seemed
of the

below
I

us.

And

through the

deep

cleft

Arun

could see to the north of

further in the

the Everest group

interior

some other snowy peaks

including

of Tibet,

some which were

it

alleged to

be higher than Everest.

And

was now evident that the

Everest range, like that of Kanchen-junga, seemed off the

main axis of the Himalayas and the margin of the great

Tibetan plateau, and appeared as a spur running south, and
at

right angles to that axis.

it

At

the northern end of this

is

spur where

adjoins the Tibetan plateau of Dingri

the

Tang-La, or "Terrible pass" (Bhairav-Langur), which Hodgson identified with Everest, which, however,
farther to the S.
is

fifty

miles

E.

This upper part of Nepal of which we got such extensive

views

is

so

little

known, even
divisions,

in regard to its
I

broad
in

territorial

and

tribal

that

have embodied

the sketch-map on page 349

supplied

some of

the brief information

tract to the south of

by

my

guide.

The upland
Arun
river

Everest, lying between the

and the

glacial "

milky

"

Kosi
river,

(Doodk-Kosi,
is

corruption
or

of the

Tibetan Dud-tsi)
its

called

Khoomboo
is

Khumbu, and

inhabitants

are Bhotiyas, that

of Tibetan stock.
half,

The purest

of these

occupy the northern

which

is

called " .S/*dr- Khumbu ".

is

The southern
" S/iar-pa" or "

half or

"^/^-Khumbu"
tribe,

peopled by the

Sher-pa"

whom we

have already seen,

EASTERN NEPAL AND WESTERN TIBET

and

407

who

are

slightly

Hindooized

by contact with

the

Kiranti

tribe

of the lower ranges and with their Nepalese

still

neighbours,

but they

retain their Tibetan dress.

The

Bhotiyas on the west bank of the Doodh-Kosi and between

the San-Kosi, in the lower ravines of
to

Rong-Shar

also

seem
of

be called "Shar-pa".
other

The approximate
I

distribution

the

Bhotiya

tribes

have also indicated, namely,

the Shugu-pa, Shing-sa-pa, Tok-be-pa, Waloong-pa, as well

as the Kiranti

and Limboo countries.

the

In
I

regard

to

adjoining part of Tibet to the north,

also

got from

my

guide

some

interesting

geological
fortress

scraps of information, as he

had resided near Tinki

Fossils,

and travelled
southern
the

much

thereabouts.

so

rare on the

slopes of the

Himalayas, are not

uncommon on

northern.

short distance north of Tinki, across the

is

Arun

(there called the " Ya-ru"),

a great deal of chalky

fossiliferous

limestone,

and also beds of yellow and red

ochre, which the people use for decorating their houses. Also,
still

further north

beyond Sakya, or

"

The Yellow Clay

",

at

Jang-lache on the south bank of the Tsang-po, garnets

are found

embedded

in

a chalky formation, and rock-crystal,

of which he had some specimens in his amulet-box.

close
to to

And
and

the

north

of fort Shikar (Shel-kar), between

sites

the

west of the two

is

above mentioned, are very

large fossil shells. This

interesting with reference to the

Eocene nummulitic limestone

found

by

Hooker

on

the
pass,

margin of the Tibetan plateau above the Dongkia

and evidently a deposit similar to those found

in

Ladak,

4o8

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

would appear
to

so that this land

have been raised

in

very

early

times,
as

and the nummulitic sea which seems

to

have

run

gulf up the Indus valley to Ladak, as Godwinfar

Austen has showed, probably extended thus

with
guide,
in

southwards,

open
like

ocean to the

east.

As

to the gold mines,

my

most

superstitious

Tibetans, was very reticent

giving information as to these supposed treasure-houses

of the malignant earth-spirits.

these

He had been

near some of

on the borders of the snows, and said they were

strongly guarded by troops, and the miners only occasionally

worked.

They

offered sacrifices to the spirits

and then

rushed to the lodes, and after a few hours rushed back

again
i.e.

laden

with their treasures.

is

Mica (Tibetan Nam-do,

"sky-stone")

quarried in considerable quantities near

Tinki, about six or seven miles

below the

line of

perpetual

snow.

The Tibetan

rock-salt

which forms such a large

is is

trade with Nepal and Sikhim,

lakes.

got directly from the great

The ordinary
whilst

rusty sort

gathered on the shores of

is

the

lakes,

the

purer kind

picked

up

in

large

crystals

on the wet margin of the water.

We

then turned northwards,

down

into a sort of "devils'

in its

punch-bowl", and passing above the very small tarn

bottom, called

"The

Spoonful of Water" {Choo-lok-nyd), at

feet,

an elevation of 14,100
of rocks, over which

we entered
for

gloomy

valley
till

we clambered
which
the

about a mile,

we

reached

point

at

small

stream that flowed

for a

under
yards
;

the

rocks

shewed

itself

on the surface

few

and here we encamped under

a great boulder about

TIBETAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION

40
feet

409

high,

that

had

fallen

from the ridge above.

The

wildness of this scene was forbidding.

The

valley for miles

pell-

around seemed a vast quarry of stones hurled down

mell.

And
a

overhead,
blast

the

snowy peak of Kang-La

glacier
air

sent

down
our

bitter

of icy-cold

on

us,

which
to

scant

shelter

and

poor

fire

of faggots

did

little

relieve.

This

place

was the source of the Nepalese

,

river

called the "

Cho-Gan-ga" a branch of the Tambra or Tamru.

a

Yet,

even so desolate

region

as this,

is

guarded by

the jealous Nepalese.

So

far,

we had escaped encountering King of Sikhim

1892

their patrols, but these latter captured the

not far from here

when he

tried to flee to Tibet in

for since our last reference to him,

visit to

on the occasion of our

the Jelep pass, several political developments have

occurred.

The King, brooding over

Sikhim
in

his fancied

wrongs,

fled

from

1892, and tried to reach Tibet

by

this track

we

are following; but

was captured by the Nepalese and handed

Then,
after

over to the Indian Government.

having been about three

kept a State-prisoner in Darjeeling

years, he

district for

was restored
to

this

year (1896) to his throne, and

returned

the

new

capital at

Gantok, which has grown

to a considerable-sized village. His son

still

and

heir,

however,

remains without any education worthy of the name.

" Sikhim-Tibet

Meanwhile the
trade

Convention"

to facilitate

with
of
like

Tibet and to demarcate the boundary, a Con-

vention

which such great things were expected, has

ended,

most of our other arrangements with China,

in

4 io

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

The boundary
pillars

fiasco.

were not allowed to be

at

set up,

and the opening of a nominal trade mart

Yatoong
no

below the Jelep pass was discounted by the

Tibetan trader was allowed to
settle

fact that
still

there,

and

more

vexatious restrictions were imposed on traders than before

the

war.

For

this

block of Tibetan trade and this policy

of an exclusion more rigorous than ever, the Chinese excuse

themselves by alleging that

priests

it is

all

the doing of the

Lama-

of

Lhasa.

But
at

it

is

the

Chinese themselves unof

it

doubtedly

who
a

are

the

bottom

all,

and they

merely
are
all

make

cat's-paw
to

of the Lamas.

The Tibetans

not

unfriendly
the

Europeans, and the Lamas least of

wish

trade

to be tied up, as they themselves are

the chief traders of the country.

China, on the other hand,

itself,
its

wishes to keep the Tibetan markets to

consolidate
at
its

as well as to

political

power

there,

and

sinister influence

Lhasa

in

instigating

the Tibetans against us on every

clearly

opportunity

has been

manifest

from the time of

Hue onwards.
So evident, indeed, was
this influence in

regard to this

Sikhim-Tibet question that a casual

visitor to Darjeeling,

Count
"
"

d'Alviella,

remarked

it

many

years ago.
la

He

wrote

On

sait

que, d'apres les Autorites du Thibet

fermeture

de cette province aux etrangers est due exclusivement a

le

" des ordres envoyes de Pekin par

"

Gouvernement Chinois.
aux Anglais que
e'est

Pekin, au contraire, on repond

le fait

" uniquement

des

Lamas

et des fonctionnaires Thi-

"betains;" and he quotes a

letter that the

Chinese resident

CHINESE INTRIGUE IN TIBET

at
fell

413

Lhasa sent

to

the king of Sikhim in

1873, and which

:

into our hands. In this letter the Chinese said

"

Your
our

"state
" wishes

of

Sikhim

borders

on

Tibet.
are

You know

and our policy.

You

bound
Yet
it

to prevent the
is

" English from crossing our frontier.

entirely

your
for

" fault

thanks
in

to

the

roads

which

you have made

"them
" If

Sikhim

that

they have conceived

it

this project.

you continue

to act thus,
fulfil

will

not be good for you.

obligations,

" Henceforth " the

you must

your

and obey

commands

of Grand

Lama Rimboche and

recognised
it

those of the

"twelfth Emperor of China."

Yet notwithstanding

this

deceit
this

of

China,

diplomacy was again tried with

over

very question,
the

and under cover of

for

their old

excuse

blaming
suffering

Lamas

everything the Chinese, without

any

sacrifice

themselves, have obtained important concessions, considerably

strengthened their grip and prestige over Tibet, prevented

us

obtaining

any

solid

recompense

for

the

great cost of

the late war, and have postponed more distantly than ever
the

opening up of that country to Europeans, and

its

the

development of
of
gold,

undoubted trade
in

possibilities in the

export

wool,

etc.

exchange

for

British

and Indian

goods.
critical

The
again,

situation,

however,
that

must
it

eventually

become

and

in

event

would
its

be

far better

to

throw over China altogether with

deceit and false

promises, and deal directly with the Tibetans.

A
the

" national party "

is

arising in Tibet in rebellion against

I

grinding yoke of the Chinese.

had the pleasure of

414

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

spirits in this

meeting one of the leading

has the
heart.

movement which

moral and
This

political

progress of their country at

to Darjeeling in the train of

gentleman came

the Chinese Commissioners, on the boundary question, and

he

is

now

the chief lay-Governor at Lhasa.

THE LAY-GOVERNOR OF LHASA, AND

It

SUITE.

was he who stopped M. Bonvalot and Prince Henry

on
1

of Orleans
fully

their

way towards Lhasa, and

at a point

week s journey from

that city instead of the one

day's journey as claimed

In
talking

by them.

of the

Chinese,

when

mentioned that our

troops
like

had held Pekin, he treated the matter as a joke,

official

the

whom

Mr.

Blanford

met, and exclaimed

YOUNG NATIONAL PARTY

IN

LHASA

415

"Perhaps your general reported that he had occupied Pekin,

but
quite

he

certainly

never

got

there,

for

such a thing was

impossible!"

so

successfully

have the Chinese con-

cealed their indignity from the Tibetans.

But
sations

cannot here refer to the

that
I

many

interesting conver-

had with
if

this enlightened,
lives,

kindly man,

who
in

seems destined,

he

to play

an important part

the history of Tibet.

As we came along

this desolate track

towards Tibet by
fled,

which the unfortunate King of Sikhim had

my men

had been keeping an outlook

for a

box of precious jewels

which, according to a bazaar report, had been lost here by

the king in his
flight.

Morning broke
a

fiercely cold
I

with

Fah. of

frost,

and
to

keen wind raged.

the

was up two hours before daylight

see

sunrise from the western side of the peaks.

trail

The

traders'

to

the

north led
of

over a pass bearing the

La), or
ft.

characteristic

name

"The Cold Pass" (Se-mo

call
it,

Semarum
At
no
the

as the
I

Lepchas

at

an elevation of 15,370

summit

was again disappointed

glaciers

to find absolutely

trace

of the

and crevasses reported here by

at this

Baboo Sarat
no snow
tips

C. Das.

There was

season not only

it

in this pass,

but none visible from

except the

of the Everest group, which showed over the ranges

to the west,

and the distant snow-streaked ranges of Kamthe

bachen.
the

To

north

and east

all

the

snowy peaks of

Kanchen' range, including the Kang-La, were hidden

ft.

from view by a precipitous ridge which rose about 300

416

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

This point, which had
I

above the north side of the pass.

not been

reached

by the Baboo,

hurriedly scaled, with

just rising,

Kintoop and two of

my

men, as the sun was

view,

and

then

got

magnificent

not

marred

by

single cloud.

The

wildness

and

majesty of

this

panorama was

awful.

The western
rose

side of the

Kang-La, or "Pass of the Glaciers"

in cold

up about two miles away

lying

grey shade, and

could see
their

within

it,

its

snowfields and glaciers with

ice-falls,

and the outflowing milky grey streams that

feet

ploughed down the bare grey granite valley, over 4,000

PROFILE OF KABRU, JANNU ETC. FROM SEMO PASS.

almost sheer below me, for

of the shivered
cliff.

was on the knife-edge ridge

giddy height
I

From

this

saw, above

and

to the north of the tooth-rocks of the pass, the

Kang-

La Nang-ma,
which
but
is
is

or
a

"The

Interior of the Pass of the Glaciers",

all

not

pass at

as

has

hitherto

been

stated,

only, according to
neve,
this,

my

guides, a cul-de-sac or basin of

snow and

where no
rose

traffic

ever goes.

Above

the

knife-edge

peak of Kang-tsen on

the southern base of Kabru, which, for the reasons already

stated,
in
I

believe to be the peak which Mr.

Graham ascended

mistake for Kabru.

And

certainly

it

appeared from here

the

to

be

the

most prominent peak;

for

long ridge of

27

THE KANG PASS AND WESTERN GLACIERS

"

419

Kabru

" (properly

"Kaboor")

fell

away lower

in

the per-

spective, over the bare cliffy shoulder of the opposite side

of the

valley,

which

latter also unfortunately

blocked out

from

my

view, not only the bases of

Kabru and Jannu, but

also the peaks of

Kanchen-junga

itself.

The

tip

of the

tremendous southern

cliff

of Jannu, or
it,

"Juona", which Hooker, who had a near view of

ed at 9,000
from the
feet

estimat-

and

in

appearance
its

like that of

Mont Cervin
in the rising
it

Riffel,

gleamed with

warty knobs
called
",

sunlight, over the dark ridge.

Jo,

My men
Great

Kanchen-

or

"
it

The Lord

of the

Glaciers

apparently

because

was the most dominant peak

it,

visible.

As
it

to the

possibility of climbing
east,
is

Mr. Graham,

who saw

from the

says

"

think

it

is

possible from the east, but there

least

an enormous glacier
before

at

twenty miles long to be

traversed
it

reaching the arete, and even when there

difficult.

would be very

From west and

south the peak

is

obviously impassable."

West of Jannu,
lion's tooth

sharply
to

serrated

snowy peak

like

was called

me "The

Glacial
is

Goddess of Me-

dicine",
It

{Man-lha-L a-mo Kang) and

to

an object of worship.
Whilst,

seems
it,

be

the

"Choonjerma" of Hooker.
tip

behind

showed up the snowy

of a higher peak, which

was

called

Tang-tong-Kang, apparently the " Nango " of

west,

Hooker.

Further

beyond

this,

were the snows of

still

Yangma and
west were the
peaks.

Tashi-raka, bounding Tibet; and

tips of the

further

Khoombu and

Everest group of

The northern

cliffy

face of Everest

was very bold

420

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

in

and precipitous, as shown

but
the

the

accompanying sketch

rounded northern spur seen by Colonel Tanner

at

from Sandook-phu and estimated

about 25,000

feet high,

was not
ranges
in

visible,

it

must have been hidden by the rocky

my

middle distance.

The compass-bearings
S7

of

these peaks are detailed in the appendix.

Kang-La, or "The Pass of the Glaciers",

is

perpetually

MR. GRAHAM'S ASCENT OF "KABRU"

will

421

now be more
p.

intelligible
it

from

my

foregoing photograph

on

417 and the key to

on

p. 416.

He

wrote:
the three

"The
best
pass,

next day (30th March, 1883,)

we took

men and proceeded west

which leads into Nepal.
ft.,

to the foot of the

Kangla
is

The summit

of the pass

some 17,000

and

is

crowned by a noble saddle

glacier,

whilst on either side rises a sharp rock-tooth

some 1,500 ft.

higher.

We

turned

to the right,

to the

foot of the glacier,

which flows
junga.

in a beautiful

stream south-west from Kanchenin

Here we encamped on the moraine

one of the

grandest amphitheatres imaginable.

Due

east rose Kabru,

2^,015

ft.,

its

western face almost like a wall, corniced with

glacier

hugh masses of

and snow, from which thundered

',

an incessant volley of avalanches. North-east rose Kanchen

its

grey precipices even

now but

lightly

touched with snow.

cliff,

North, Jannu

showed

its

awful southern

while west,

rose a great peak of

snow and

rock, great actually, though

its

small
night
8
(?)

and easy as

compared with

neighbours.

The

was the coldest we experienced

Fahr.

in the

Himalayas
thermo-

being the

minimum reading
Imboden and
I

of the

meter. Early next morning

the peak on our west.
It

started to ascend

was a hard and

half,

interesting scramble

of

some

five

hours and a
offered

rock and snow alternately.

difficulty,

Only one place

any serious

and

at

10.15

we were
clouded,

at

the

summit.

Though

the

western view was

'.

we had a noble view

of the north-west of Kanchen

Both by aneroid and by comparison with surrounding peaks,

we

estimated the height at rather over 20,000

ft."

422

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

I

The foregoing sentences which

taken in

have placed

in

italics,

connection with Mr. Graham's description of the

in

peak which he ascended

the

belief that

it

was Kabru

appear to indicate Kang-tsen both

aspect, rather than Kabru.

in direction

and physical

Mr.

Graham

is

not the only one

who

has claimed to have

ascended Kabru. The patron saint of Sikhim, Latsun Chembo,

is

said to have miraculously reached that

peak over two cengorge beneath us

turies

ago.

And

the

wild bare rocky

bears the ironical

tsal),

name of" The

Pleasant Garden " [Nam-gah-

because, says the legend, that saint lived "happily"

in a

hermitage here, when he was composing the

ritual for

the worship of Kanchen'.

this

He
pass

is

said to
in

have dwelt under

called Kant-pa

western

side

of the

a cave

Kha-brag, and near the " Monkey 's-back Rock" (Preu-gyabtak), so

named with
monkey.

reference to

its

outline, as suggesting

a sitting

My
the

panorama
of

also

included
in the

some ominous smoke from

deep valley below, where a
I

village

Tseram

Nepalese guard was stationed.

had hoped

to

have been

able to reach the upper glacier valley of Yaloong, and so

right

up

to the great western glacier of

Kanchen
I

'

without
that, in

sighting

any Nepalese

villages; but

now,
I

found

order to get round the opposite spur,

close to

must descend quite

the

guard-post

of Tseram,

where there was a

;

strong probability of

my getting

discovered

and the

political

complications certain to ensue in such an event were more

than

I,

as a

Government

official,

could

risk.

It

was exas-

NEPALESE RIGID EXCLUSION OF EUROPEANS

perating,
after

423

undergoing so many hardships

for

in

reaching

thus

far,

and penetrating
not

more than

thirty miles over

a track

previously traversed by any European, to be

stopped

within

one and a

half day's journey, from

bits

what

must be one of the grandest

of the Himalayas, namely,

its

the south-western glacier of Kanchen-junga within theatre

amphi-

of magnificent peaks, ranging from the precipitous

ft.),

Jannu (25,300

round by Kamba-chen (25,780

'

ft.)

and the
ft.).

curving crests of Kanchen

It
is

(28,153

ft-)

to

Kabru (24,015

to

be hoped that the existing prohibition to travel

in

these grand regions

may soon

be relaxed, as so

many

interesting geographical

and geological problems there await

so
as

solution

and

especially

the

country that

is

thus

closed
in

against

Europeans more absolutely than any other

except Tibet,
its
is

the

world,

yet within our "sphere of

is

influence ",

and

Government

on the

friendliest

terms

politically with the British.

Until
this
I

commenced

to

descend from the sharp crest of

tremendous precipice on which we had been clinging,

realised

had not

how

insecure our pinnacle had been.

I

It

was such a knife-edge that

had

to

be held by

my men
it

when

stretched out to

take the photographs; but

was

only when about to descend that the rottenness of the rocks

was so apparent. These

fissured

latter

were so deeply gashed and

of the

by the shivering
as
to

action

hot sun

on the
splinters.

frozen granite,

be almost a wall of loose

pieces broke off and
fell

As we descended, some
yawning abyss below.

into the

In fact not a single bit of this rock

424

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

be trusted.
Before
leaving
the summit, the a
tiny
cairn

could

young
on the

Lama

who
for,

with

Kintoop had

built
it

topmost pinnacle and decorated

dress
;

with rags torn from their

likely ever

said they, no

human being had

been

there

before

stopped

behind to blow a farewell blast on

to

human

thigh-bone

the

spirit

of that

monarch of

mountains, Kanchen-Junga.

As we
of the
after

retraced our steps

down

the

Semo

pass, several

beautiful
cry)

Tibetan snow-cocks {Hrak-pa, so named

their

were

calling
left.

amongst the rocks of grey

granite and quartz

on our

Lower down, we came on

ententes), of

a
I

covey of blood-pheasants {Ithagenes

which

shot a brace as they scampered upwards over the stones.

Their bright coloured plumage, mottled crimson and green,

is

admirably adapted to conceal them amongst the green

in

and crimson lichen-covered rocks

their

bare mountain

home.

On

returning to our bivouac of the previous night,

my
gun
his

collector

brought

me

splendidly

plumaged Monal
his

pheasant in

one hand, and the shattered fragments of

in the other,

and dolefully explained that as he

burst.

fired

gun

it

had

He was
I

relieved when, instead of

receiving the expected scolding,

escape.
their

congratulated him on his

into
is

These men cram so much powder and shot

old

rusty

muzzle-loading guns, that the wonder

that fatal accidents are not

more
to
fall

frequent.

Slight
that
to

snow then began

from the murky clouds

were quickly banking up overhead, so that we decided

in case

push quickly over the Cha-bab pass that day,

RETURN FROM THE RANG PASS

a heavy snowfall might cut off our retreat

425

in that direction.

But the
beasts

baggage-yak was

nowhere

to

be found

these

when unloaded
in

are turned loose to forage for their

food
the
it,

the

scanty

tufts

of grass

and herbage amongst

high and low for
in

rocks.
to

The yak-herd
whether
it

after looking
fallen
it

see

had not

over a precipice

the neighbourhood, decided that

to

probably had gone back

left

seek

its

companion who had been

it

behind at the

Cha-bab pass, where and sure enough

that
this

had been lamed by the sharp rocks

for as

had happened,
the

we approached

pass

we heard through

snowy fog the musical

tinkle of their bells,

and found them quietly herding together

near

the

foot

of the pass,

much

to the joy of the yak-

herd

who had

himself been carrying most of the absent

beast's burden.

The pass was now powdered

for

with a

freshly
too,

fallen

snow
fallen

about a mile from the top

side,
It

little,

had

on the other
cock's
dell of

as far as the weird lake of

"The

Pea-

Tail

".

was dark ere we reached the verdant

in

Gamotang, embowered
grateful

wooded

hills,

and presenting

such

contrast to the bleak regions from which

we had come.
fire

Here we were pleased

to find a blazing

in

the

herdsman's hut, and a large heap of firewood

coolies

collected

by our two

who had been

recovering.

left

behind,

of

whom
In

the sick one was

now

the

morning, which rose bright and sunny,

that

went

after

some pheasants
I

were calling

in the

woodlands,

and

got two

fine

Monal cocks and

four partridges as

426

AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

morning's
so

the

bag.

These gorgeously plumaged Monal,

in

which are
snared

abundant

the mountains hereabouts, are

and

slaughtered wholesale by the natives, for the

skins,
latter

sake

of their
In

which are sent down to Calcutta

place
as

for

export.

the

many

as a thousand skins

are offered for sale at one time.

My men

were

delighted

at

the

prospect of returning

homewards from these wild

with light hearts,

regions,

and started up

hill

and

lighter

loads as

we had eaten up

almost
the

all

our stores.

And

as

we

re-crossed "

The

Pass of
cliffs

Devil",

where the white snow among the black

in

was weeping away

tears,

the

young Lama

collected

bunches of juniper and the aromatic rhododendron leaves

to

burn as incense before the

altar of the great

Buddha,

as a thanksgiving offering for our safe return.

Some
the

zest

was added

to our threading of the track

down
when

lower slopes on the Nepalese side of the ridge,

in the places

we saw

where we crossed the thawing mud,

between the rocks, the fresh footprints of a bear who also

was evidently going along

us;

this track, a short

way ahead

of

but after about a mile they disappeared amongst the

rhododendrons, whence the brute doubtless had a peep at

us as

we

passed.

We
It

spent the night in the shallow cave of

little

Nego

(13,170
rock,

ft.).

was

more than an overhanging ledge of

and

could have afforded scant shelter from rain; but the night
fortunately

was dry,

with

little

wind,

though very

cold.

From my

corner of the cave, the figures of

my men

seemed

BACK TO CIVILIZATION
weird and spectral-like as they
or
flitted

429
in the

about
lit

gloom,

crouched over the camp-fire which

its

up

their features
in

with

lurid

glare.

It

is

only by being placed

such

close relations to these natives that one fully realizes their

many good

traits,

and how very human they are

after

all.

Their hearty good humour under hardships, their willing

and untiring energy when work

comradeship,
with

is

heaviest,

their

good

and generous sharing

all

of their few comforts

each

other,
in

this

redeems them from much of

what they lack

civilization.

The next day brought

tains,

us through fine forests and

fresh store of
life

moun-

back to our larger tents and a

provisions
;

much

needed

and

in

this

free open-air

amidst

magnificent scenery,
quaint experiences,
time,

we go on
till

gathering fresh trophies and

are

our tents

struck

for

the last
civi-

and we return

to the

tyranny and comforts of

lization.

And

as

we

bid farewell to our trusty Tartar servants

our genial

fellow-travellers

and
silver

our

train races us

down

from Darjeeling, and the

recedes

vision

of Kanchen-junga
realize

from our view, we regretfully

that these

wanderings have become a memory of the past.

APPENDIX
NOTES TO THE TEXT
Dr.

Hooker was

the

first

European

to

explore and survey Sikhim and the

Eastern border of Nepal scientifically, and he did this work with such
fulness of

knowledge

that his

book [Himalayan Journals by

(Sir)

Joseph

D. Hooker, M.D., 2 Vols., 1854,] must always remain the leading authority

on the botanical and physical

to that portion of

history of these regions.

Of

other books
is

referring to parts of these regions, the Gazetteer

of Sikhim

restricted

Sikhim which

still

remains under native

rule,

and

it

consists of detached official reports

upon a few

topics, the greater portion

tribes,

being
the

my

contributions

on the religion of one of the

and on

birds of this section of the Himalayas.

Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton's

Account

of

Nepal

(1820)

and

Brian

Hodgson's

Essays
:

contain

miscellaneous notes of interest to students of ethnology

Sir

William

Hunter's Imperial Gazetteer^ and Account of Bengal

statistical

embody some
refer

information in regard to Sikhim; and Sir Clement Markham's

Tibet

and

Mr.
to

Saunders'
a

compilation

on

the

Himalayas

incidentally
the

few of the passes and general physical features of

in

mountain ranges thereabouts. Colonel Gawler published

to

1873 a

few notes on his military expedition

Pioneer" gives
in

Sikhim

in 1871

and "

Lady

her Indian Alps a vague account of a short ramble

in the outer ranges of the

same country. The

political reports

on Sikhim

by Messrs. Edgar and Macaulay, containing some observations of general

interest,

were not made public.

following the current map-forms of the names,
the chief
I

Whilst generally
spelt to

have

some of

names nearer the vernacular form,

yet in a

way

be pronounceable by English readers, and recognizable by the natives

of the current forms are not. Thus u Kanchtn" Rang-eet" for "Ranjeet", " C/wong-laug" for "Kinchinjinga"

themselves, which

many

junga"
for

"Cheungtong", "Sana/ook-p/iu"

for

"Sundakfu"

etc.

W.

T. Blanford, F.R.S., in Bengal Asiatic Socy. Jour. 1871,

p.

393.

4,^2

APPENDIX
The name
Dative

4.

of this place, "Siligoori", I find,

tribe

means
it

in the patois of the

Koch

"The Stony
the

Site", for

is

the outermost point at the surface of the

which

pebbles

from

Himalayas appear

upon

muddy
5.

Delta of Bengal.

These are the Hindooized aboriginal Chandals. and those members of

tribe

this

who have been

also

proselytized to

Mohammedanism,

the Nashyas.

There are

some Mongoloid Koch, and

in the recesses of the forest

on the bank of the Mech

those semi-aborigines divides the Terai or
6.

river are to be found a few survivors of

their

who have given

name

to this river,

which

Morang of Sikhim from

that of

Nepal
for this country

This,

think,

is

the etymology of the Nepalese

as
to
it

name

(namely

"SiLiim" and not "Sikhim"

is

sometimes misspelt in

English books). The word seems to

or Parbatiya Sikhin, "

me

be derived from the Nepalese

The

Crested'",

which well denotes the leading feature

its

of the country as seen from Nepal, where

transversely to those of Eastern Nepal

mountain ridges running form a

bristling
it

seem

to

series

of

crests.

The

aborigines,

the Lepchas, however, call

call
it is it

Nelyang or

or
7.

"The Place of Caves ", while the Tibetans "The Country of Rice and Fruit", as
Edwin Arnold's Light of
Everest,
after

Den-Jong or Demo-jong,

a granary for bleak Tibet.

Sir

Asia,
the

II,

42

43.
mountain

8.

Colonel

whom

great

was named, when

Himalayas,

organising the Trigonometrical Survey of India, recognised the disturbing

influence

of

the
to

local

attraction
it

exercised

by

the

and

endeavoured
the
sixty

minimize

by

placing the northernmost station for

observation

of his great Indian arc of meridian at Kaliana, over

Still

miles from the Himalayas.

he found a discrepancy existed

between the length of the arc

observed.

as

measured and as astronometrically

this questioii

Archdeacon

Pratt,

who took up

about 1852,

showed
than
this

that

the disturbing effect of the

Himalayas was much greater

to estimate the

had been supposed, and he attempted

local
attraction,

amount of

and published

his results in the

Transactions of

the
9.

Royal

Society for i860

62.
etc.

Proceedings Royal Geographical Society, 1884, pp. 429

10.

"Twenty

Years'

Climbing and Hunting

in the

Himalayas"

in Alpine

Journal about 1880.

11.

1889.

12.

Eleusina crocana.

APPENDIX
13.

433
in the
schists.

For geological
Indian
the

notes

on

this

part of

Sikhim see Mallet's paper

lie calls these slates

Geological

Survey Reports.
after
a

and

"Daling"

series,

place

of

that

name

in the east

of the

Darjeeling
14.

district.

This custom,

as

have shown elsewhere (Jour. Bengal Asiatic See.

III.

1898),

seems

survival

of the matriarchy or molhership of the clan, which

this tribe.
in the ballad.

appears to have heen prevalent in

15.

The less-known Hindoo The proper form of

find
this

title

of Pati or '-.Master" was used

is

16.

Nepalese name for them

Lap-die",

which

means

the '-vile speakers"- for the Lepchas, unlike their Nepalese

neighbours,
fashionable

adhered

to

their

own

vernacular and did not adopt

as did the Nepalese.

tin-

Hindoo
latter

dialect of the

Goorkhas

and

hence these

applied this contemptuous

name

to

them. This tribal

to

name is curiously paralleled in the Canon Taylor {Words and Places^

case of the K
p.

Welsh ". According

67) this

is

a similar derisive term

applied by the neighbouring Saxons and meaning the "Jabberers''.

17.

The

other Kazis in addition to this one of Lasso, are Vangthang, Gangtok.

Rhenok, Dallom, Barmiak, Tashiting. Song, Living, Mating, Simik, and Pendom. The word Kazi seems to me to be borrowed through the
Nepalese

from the Mahomedan

A'adi.

rulers of India,

and

to

be the Persian

word A'azi or
the ^

a magistrate, a

name
(

familiar to the readers of

Arabian Xighls".

Other

titles

thus adopted by the Nepalese are

Sttbah, a governor;

and Jung Bahadtn

King's Chiefs".

Prave Warrior"). These Kazis

are called by the Photiyas L"ihipi\ or --Ministers ", and by the Lepchas

Pano-Sadatn-bo, or
of

The subordinate
the

officials in

order

precedence are the military

village

officer,

Ding- f on or Mak-pon; the

Ta-so or .Ity.ih-bo); and

larger

headman, Gytt-mi

in

(Lepcha

the smaller village

18.
J.

headman, Gya-pon or Pi-pen.

a Visit
to

W. Edgar's Report on
Calcutta.

Sikhim and the Tibetan Frontier.

1874.

19.

In the Pioneer of

March

7th.

1895.
species,
is

20.

The
(

description of this

new

named
thus

after

me by

Mr.

W. Ogilvie
0/
the

rrant

of the

Pritish

Museum,
with

given

in the Bulletin
p.

British

Ornithological Club and reprinted in the Ibis 1894,

G.
pectoralis^

424:--

"Like

but

the rufous collar almost obselete; the

superciliary stripe grey, not while: ear coverts pale buff, witli blackish
shaft-stripes instead of black, or black streaked with white:

and the
it

tail
is

rather

narrowly

tipped

with

ashy:

whereas

in

G.

pectoralis

28

4.S4

APPENDIX
broadly
feet."

tipped

with

white. Habitat.
is

Rimgeet
Museum

(Rangit) Sikhim.

4x00
are in

The
{Vide

type
(i.

specimen

in

the British

Museum, and
p.

three other

skins

pectoralis sp. "Gazetteer

of Sikhim'\

231.)

my
21. 22.

large collection in the Hunterian

of Glasgow University.

Malay

Archipelago* 204 (5th edition. 130) with figure.

Major Sherwill has

described

the

mechanism of these bridges

in the

Journal of
23.

the Bengal Asiatic Society, also Hooker.

Details of his dynasty are given in

my 'Buddhism of

Tibet" and

in

the

Gazetteer
24.

of Sikhim.

p.

24

etc.

This expedition was under Colonel Gawler

afore-cited.

who

details

it

in his booklet

25.
26.

In Tibetan Dorje-fag-mo.

W.

T. Blanford's

Mammalia of

British India. \V. B. Tegetmeier in Field,

September
27.
28.

4th, 1897.

Ceremonial Institutions.
In Tibetan Sang-nag cho-zin.

29.

Hooker's Journals,
Captn. \V.
S.

II,

p. 48.

An

eye-sketch of the plant was figured by

Asiatic Society, 1853, p. 618.

Sherwill in
a

Jourft. Bengal
coin
I

30.

The water blackened

alkaline

silver

in

three minutes

and was

faintly
it

to litmus paper.

And

found on analysing a sample that

had

the following chemical composition:

Total
.

solid matter including

free Sulphur, Iron,

Lime and

Silica.

16-38
2-08

grains per gallon.

..

Calcium carbonate
Chlorine
,

,,

.,

'14
free

55

55

35

Ammonia,
do.
Nitrates
31.
32. ^^.

0-0014

albuminoid

00008
traces.

and Sulphates
II.

Himal. Journals,
Jo-dud-lse, which

p.

116.

may

also

mean

the honourable ambrosia".

J. Ball,

On

the origin of the Flora of the

European Alps by

Proc. Royal

Geographical Society, I. (1879), PP- 564588. A. Wallace in Darwinism, p. 401, and Thistleton Dyer in Trans. IJnnean Secy. July 1856. p. 121.
34.

Proc. Roy. Geog. Socy., 1884,

p.

416.
p.

35.

Jour. Bengal Asiatic Society, 1871,

407.

APPENDIX
36.
Sil-bo is the written form.

435

37.

great

ca'.tle

eptdem'c was reported from Upper Tibet under the name

in

of "Chunneah", also foot-and-mouth disease (AVu/r/ia), as detailed

the report of the Indian Cattle Plague of 1871.

38.

Published

in

the

Indian Daily Xews, 1891, and reproduced

1892, p. 613, etc.

in

part

in

the Proc. Roy. Geog. Society for Sept.

39.

Report on

Locusts

by
is

E. Cotes,
derived.

in

India

Museum

.Voles,

from which

also the illustration

40.

The remarkable
Himalayas,
precipitating

local
to

differencies

in the rainfall in this portion of the

due
the

the

intervention
are

of

elevated

mountain

ridges

rain-clouds,
I

detailed in the following table, for

the data of which

am

indebted to the Meteorological Reporter of the

Government of Bengal.
Rain/a

436
42.

APPENDIX
at

These 'Dooars" are usually estimated

18 in number, of which 11 lie

on the
Buxar

frontier

of Bengal, where this Dooar of Daling and that of

chief.

are

the

The

other

seven

are

on the corresponding

frontier of

Asam.
of the tribal prefix "
the

43.

This

is

a
to

literal translation

MolanchV and seems

to

me
tribe

be

vestige
articles

of
in

former

matriarchal

organisation of this

(see

my

the Berlin Ethnological Journal, 1898,

III,

and

Bengal Asiatic Socy. Journal, part

44.

1898).

See

map on

p.

349.

Their eponymous patron

saint

is

Goorkha-nath,

a form of the Indian

god Shiva,

the Destroyer.

45.

For further instances of

in

their valour, see a

paper by Captain E. Vansittart

Jour. Bengal Asiatic Socy., 1895.

46.

Detailed in

my

paper on "Frog Worship" in Indian Antiquary, 1893.

I.

47.

Yule's Alar co Polo,

writes

220.

"On

the road from

is

Kashmir towards Tibet",

Feiishta (Brigg. IV. 449), "there

a plain on which
all

no other

vegetable grows but a poisonous grass that destroys

taste
it,

the cattle that

and therefore no horsemen venture and

to travel that route." In the

is

North-Western Himalayas the plant Andromeda ovalifolia

for

notorious

poisoning sheep

goats, while those living in the locality are

4).

exempt (H.
regard
to

Cleghorn, Jour. Indian Agricult. Socy., XVI,

a plant of the same order (Ericacea) Mr. Marsh

attests the like fact

And in "Man and

Nature", 40,

regarding the Kalmia angusiifolia of

affiliated to

New

England.

Some

of the

Himalayan rhododendrons

the Ericacea are also poisonous.

48.

My Monograph "Are Venomous

in regard to "

Snakes Auto-toxic?" Calcutta 1887

which anticipated the line of enquiry followed by Calmette and Frazer

Antivenene".

49.

Seven

species are found in the Himalayas, of

which

at least

four occur

in Sikhim.

The most
in his

Hamilton
very

ferox was described by Dr. Buchanan"Nepal". A. vncinatum is confined to Sikhim and is

deadly, A.

rare, its

stems turn.
feet,

A. luridum
dull

is

found

at a

higher elevation,

about 14,000

and has

red flowers. A. faltnatum has kidneyat elevations

shaped leaves
8

and greenish-blue flowers and grows

of

10,000
to

feet.

The two

species hetero-thyllum

and lycoctonum are

yields the " alees"

confined

the

Western Himalayas.

The former

drug of the Indian bazaars.

APPENDIX
50.

437

This sketch-map gives a correction in detail to the larger

map

(appearing

on

p.

349) and

is

derived from Native Explorer M.II.s report which was

the original

not available

when

map was

prepared. This explorer also

reports that the track from Dingri passes to the south of the Palgo lake.

See also note No. 52.

438
and
Mr.
j).

APPENDIX
possibly

"A
as

Lady Pioneer".
{Records

Baboo

P.

N. Bose

accompanied
India,

White
etc.)

geologist

Geological Survey

XX1Y.

46

55.

In Jour.
in

Bengal

Asiatic Socy., 1862, p. 457 etc.

The words and

sentences

brackets have been added by me, in order to render the narrative

intelligible.

more
56.

In Jour. Royal Geographical Socy.

loc.

cit.

57.

The bearings from the cliff above the Semo or Semarum pass, which on my map should be marked three-eighths of an inch N.N.W. from the
end of
S.

my

route as given therein, were:

Peak of

Khumbu Kang-nga-rawa

282
293

W.

.,

Peak Xo. XIII

Everest

296

Middle Peak of

Lamo Rang

353
io.5

53

Jannu
Rabur,
S.

E.

Peak

47
68.5

Rang-tsen (N. Peak)

Rang La-Xangma Rang La Peak

77

98

INDEX

INDEX
Abor
tribe, 95, 329.
of, 99,

Aconite, poison
of, 435-

324; species

Annexation, English policy of, [48. Antelope, Tibetan, 225. Antivenene, my researches on,
325, 435-

Air,

rarefied,

185,

187;

alarming
of,

effects of, 207, 221.

Apricots, 167.
Ararat, a Sikhimese Mt., 111.

Alpine vegetation, 186; origin

220, 433.

Alps compared with Himalayas, Altar in Lama-temples, 155.

Altitude,

1,34.

Arrows, chief weapon of Tibetans, 210; poisoned, 99, 326.

Arums,

260.
149.

and boiling point, 187; estimation of, by native explorers,

190; vegetation of high, 220.
243, 272.

Arun

120; and Limboos, Assessment, primitive, 106.

river,

Amban,

Atmosphere, pressure of, Avalanche of rocks, 198.

187, 221.

Aneroid, rapid rise of, 24; uncertainty of small, 192, 392.

Ayu Yaks,

169.

Badamtam, 68, 74. Bamboo, bridges of,

260; jugs, 74; uses

Bhotan, 246; chiefs

123, 131; giant,
of,
of, 249,

of,

259;

forts, 243,

247; people 289; British,

294.
136, 162.

243. 245-

Band of Buddhist temples, Bap pheasant, 113.

Barberry, 182.
Bath,

Bhoteas, see Bhotiyas.

Bhotiyas, 45, 93 ; of Sikhim, 93, 103 dress of, 103; women, 46.
;

curious

hot,

239;

in

hot

Bis cobra, 82.

springs, 202.

Blanford,

W. T

viii,

58.

Bazaar of Darjeeling, 48. Bear, black Himalayan, 24,

Blindness, snow-, 179.

77,

426;

Blistered feet, 141.

by, 338; great yellow, 223. Beer, Himalayan, 74; in Tibet, 212.

mauled

Beggars, 26; call of, 48. Bhim Tal lake, bursting

Bogto, legend of, 401. Bones, sash of carved human, no; trumpet of human, 424.
Bonvalot, M., 414.

of, 201.

442

INDEX
Buddhas,
Buddhist,
living, 140.

Boodhist, see Buddhist.

Boundary commission, 410, 411. Brahmaputra river, problem of, 66.

Brambles,
23, 91.

priests, 45, 47, 75, 76; temple, 68, 136; bloody sacrifices,
74-

Brick-tea, 248.

Burhel wild sheep,

Butterflies,

113, 216.

Bridges, cane, 123, 131; cantilever, 166; rope, 124; snow, 234; delay-

at great altitudes,

ed by broken, Buckwheat,
284.

161.

Brigands, 397, 400.

breeding ground of, 298; micking dead leaves, 114. Buxar, 247.

402; mi-

Campbell,

Dr.
39;

A.

Founder

of

Choombi, 150; hot springs

view
of,

in,

189;

introduced teaplant, 39; imprisoned by SikhimDarjeeling,

ese, 149.

into

N.W.,

188;

traverse

228.
33, 278.

Choomolhari peak,
difficulties, 369.

Camping under
mechanism
of,

Choonabati,
Chorten,

23.

Cane-bridge, crossing a rotten, 173;

127.

Choongtang monastery,
64, 69.

161, 230.

Canes, rattan, 166. Cantilever bridges,

Cairn, of

167.

Chortennima misplaced west on map, over Chabuk pass.

dead

fellow-traveller, 194,

Chough

crow, 204.
365.

195; worship of the, 115.

Chowbanjan,

Caravan, our, 63. Cattle murrain, 228, 434. Cave, bivouac in, 426, 427 ; long,

Chowries, 168. Chumulari, 33, 278.

121.

Cinchona

plantations, 298.

Chabab

pass, 404, 424, 425.

159.
113.

Citrons, wild, 129.

Cliffs, crossing,

Chakoong,

on ladders,

159.

Cham-dong pheasant,
Cheebo-Lama,
141.

Cloister in monastery, 139.

Clouds
Sikhim, 151,

rising, 3, 80.

Chief, reception by, 102, 143.

Coal, 22.

Chinese, intrigues
410, 413
;

of, in

Cold of snow-passes, 189, 194,208,400.

Colours, usefulness of specific, 122.

deceit of, 413; minister of Lhasa, 243, 272; (Anglo-) con-

Conch-shell bracelets, 173.

vention, 273; passports, 150.

Cooch
140.

tribe, 291, 292, 431.

Chola pass, 283, 285 etymology, Chola range, 13. Cholamoo, 225.
;

Cooking

in

camp,

88;

at

great

altitudes, 187.

Coolies as porters, 52, 63, 64.

Chomiomo, Chomnaga,

31, 231.

Copper mines, 101, 242 dread of, 101.

;

140.

Corries, 403.

INDEX
Cosi, see Kosi.

443
50.

Cost of travelling
Cradle, Nepalese,
107

in

Himalayas,
of,

54.
9.

Cotton, cultivation

84; tree,
in

Csoma, the Hungarian, Cuckoo, 29. Cucumbers, wild, 361.

Curio-sellers, 42.

17.
of,

Crime, punishments
;

Nepal,

in Tibet, 213.
41.

Currants, wild, 180, 362. Cymbals in temples, 155.

Cryptomerias,

D'

peak, 235, 386. 31, 234.

31.
fort,

Devil,

of hot springs, 203; of the

of,

'

houses, 97; paintings ship of, 74, 154.

73; wor-

Daling

289.

Dewan,

142.

Damsang
Dandy,

fort, 243.

Dharma
Dhimal Dihong
Dikchu,

Rajah, 249.
tribe, 86.

40.

Dhaulagiri, 347.
river,

Daphne
148',

Darjeeling. Cession

bark, for paper, 155. of, to English,

problem

of, 66.

founding of, 38, 149; extension, 149, 1 50- growth of,38; journey to, 227; expense of living, 53; market, 42 name, 50, 299; people
;

river, 133, cane-bridge, 131.

Dimo

yaks, 169.

Dingri, 351, 406.

Dipper, 206.

of,

28,

44;

rainfall at, 299, 434;

;

situation, 27

view from,

28, 29.

Divorce amongst Tibetans, 108. Dogs, wild, 324.

Death of

fellow-traveller, 193, 194.

Dongkia

pass,

31,

165,
of,

175,

Deb

Rajah, 247, 249.

birds, 78.

game
Dooars

at,

225; peak

31

224; cold at,

Decoying

194, 209.

Deer, barking, 77; Sambhar, 260. Deluge, legend of, no, 115.

290, 435;

annexation
31.

of, 247.

Doobdi monastery,

Denjong, 431. Denudation, 37. Desgodins, Father, 244.

Dookpa

Bhotiyas, 45, 249.

406.

Dragon-lizard, 81.

Dudh-Kosi river, Dui pass, 395.

Earth-sculpture, 37.

Empire-building, 147.

Edelweiss, 186, 389, 404. Eggs, significance of present

of, 87.

Equipment Etymology

for travel, 5S, 60, 61.

<>!'

place-names,

144-

444
Everest, Colonel,
4.31.

INDEX
of ascending, 359; axis of range of, 406; peaks higher than, 359,
391, 406.

Everest, mount. Discovery

of,

345;

345 its native names, 348; its environs, 349, 351, 436; inconspicuousness of, 340;
;

how named,

346,

340,
its

view from Sandook-phu, 331, 333, 342, 343; from Senchal, 33;
form, 352, 419, 420; possibility

Exorcism, 312. Expense of travel in Sikhim, 51. Explorer K. P., 6367, 226; U. G.,
121;

M.

H., 436.

Face, blackening
Fairs, 70.

of,

179.

Forests, tropical 18; stillness of at

Faloot, 334, 337; view from, 340. Feet, remedy for blistered, 141.

noon, 84; semi-tropical, 76; of temperate zone, 24, 256, 257.

Fortifications,

Tibetan,
268.

267,

271;

Ferns, 14; edible, 241; tree- 24, 73. Festival, Nepalese, 69, 79; Tibetan,
256.

storming
Freshfield,

of,

Fossils, 407, 408.

D.,

on

possibility

of

Feudal government,
Firs, 181.

105.

scalingEverest,359; also Kanchen,

384.

243; with bamboo weirs, 117; with push-nets, 6, 7. Flora, origin of Alpine, 220, 433.
Fishing,
6,

81,

Frogs, as food, 98; worship Frost-bite, death from, 224.

of, 315.

Frozen

in snow, 334.
141.

Flutes, 63, 294.

Fyoomgang,

Fly pests,

121.

Game

in uplands, 113, 114,399,424.

112, 398, 425.

Gneiss, 82, 367, 395.

Gamotang,

Gnathong, 274;
at,

fort

at,

275; cold

Gangtok, 241, 409. Gaurisankar, not Everest, 346.

Gazelle, Tibetan, 225.

276.

Goats, wild, 113, 167.

Goitre, 156, 261;
262.

amongst animals,
;

Geological formations, 72, 37, 82; of Kanchen-junga, 384, of 385; Tibetan plateau, 407.

Ghoom,

25.

Gold, mines in Tibet, 408 dust from Tibet, 248; import to Nepal, 283. Goggles, 179, 272, 276.
Gooral, 167.

Glacial action, traces of, 205, 275, 403. Glaciers, lowest limit of, 205, 206;
smallest

on southern

slopes, 205

Kanchen-junga, 380, 381, 393, 421, 423; direct route to, 375.

of

Goorkhas, origin of, 301; nonHindoos, 302, 308; aggressiveness of, 148, 302; bravery of, 303. Gooroong nomads, 307, 368.

INDEX
Gora pass, 198, 226, 228. Government, of Bhotan,
Grass, giant or elephant,
247
;

445
Q.

of

Grazing-stations,
208.

174, 372; highest,

Nepal, 304; of Sikhim, 105, 147.

Graham, Mr. W. Climbing in Sikhim,

380; ascent of 'Kabru', 389; M. Conway on, 392; Colonel Tanner on, 393; peak probably
54,

Great Rung-eet, see Rang-eet.

Guicha

pass, 3

direct route to, 375

Sir

glaciers of, 378; view from, 380.

Guides, want

of, 54.

ascended, 393, 421, 422

H
Hailstones, large, 116.

Ha-pa Tibetans,

174.

Hare, piping, 206.

Hoffmann, Mr. T., ix, 233. Hooker, Sir Joseph, journals of, vii, 430; imprisoned by Sikhimese, 149.

Harman, Captn. Researches of, on Tsangpo river, 66; death of, from
frost-bite, 224.

Hornbills, 157.

Harpa Tibetans,

174.

Hot springs, in Choombi, 189; at Momay, 216; at Yoomtang, 202;

to

Harvest home, 69. Hastings, Warren, missions of

Tibet, 231, 279.

medicinal virtues of, 202; analysis of water of, 203, 443.

House
;

gods, 97.
of,

Himalayas. Attraction of sea, 34 axis

of,

Human-bones, sash
trumpet
of,

carved no;

385 ; surpassing height of, 1 (diagram), 34; the true, 215; 'Outer',

424.

Humming

birds, 78.
50.

Nepal, 356; of N.W. Provinces, n; of Panjab, 9;

385;

of Central

Hungarians as Tartars,
Hunter, Sir

W.

of Sikhim,

9,

10.

Hypsometer,

W., 430. suggestion

for

im-

Hodgson, Brian,

305, 430.

proved, 190, 191.

Ice caves, 233. Ice climbing, 54, 388, 390. Incarnate Buddhas, 141.

Incense resin, 263 Iron ore, 22.

twigs, 426.

Jackals, 335.

Jakcham,
Jalapahar,
of, 38.

31.

Jalang bridge, 129.

25,

Jannu, 3, 31, 416, 419. Jelep pass, 254, 278; legends Jew's harp, 294.

of, 285.

255;

Lepcha name

Jhooming,

116.

Jigatzi, see Shiga-tso.

446

INDEX
Jubonu, ascent
of, 388.
9,

Jimdar tribe, 306. Jong fort, 108.

Jong-pon, 210, 232.
Jongri, 375, 388.

Jungle, tropical,

18;

Sounds
of,

of,

76; noontide stillness from, 241.

in au-

84; food

Jorpokree, in spring, 314; tumn, 36 r.

Junnoo,

3, 31,

416, 419.

K
Kaboor, 419. Kabroo, see Kabru. Kabru, 3, 31, 330, 379, 393- from Kang La,4i6; from below Tangkar pass, 183 from the west plains, 395; ascent by Mr. Graham, 389; Sir M. Conway on, 392; Colonel Tanner on, 393; peak probably mistaken for, 393, 421, 422. Kachin tribe, 95. Kala pak-tang, 229. Kala tso, 229. Kakani ridge, 346.
;

Kang

(La) pass, 331, 416, 420,421;

416.

Nangma,
Kang-tsen,

Kang-chen, see Kanchen-junga.

3, 31,

392, 393, 416, 417.

Katmandu,
Kazis, 102;

112, 340, 346.

list

of,

432.

Kedoom, 167, Kham, 146.

Khamba-jong,

193.

175, 232.

Khas tribe, 306. Khatmandu, 112, Khoomboo, 406. Khumbu, 406.

Kinchinjhow,

340, 346.

Kaleej pheasant, 113.

31, 114, 231.

Kalimpong,

247, 262

annexation

of,

245, 249; mission at, 243.

Kinchinjinga, see Kanchen-junga. King, of Bhotan, 247 ; of Nepal, 305

of

Kambajong,
rise

175, 232.
2,

Sikhim dynasty

restored by

Kanchen-junga,

3, 31,

on, 29; from from Sandook-phu, 330; glaciers

386; sunSenchal, 30;

English, 148; appearance, 145; as priest, 146; palace of, 141; flight,

(western) 395, 423; direct route to, 375, 388; S.E.

of,

^eastern)

234,

Kintoop,

409; restoration, 409. explorer of Tibet,

54,

65, 226.

face, 381; possible ascent of, 384;

Kiranti tribe, 121, 306, 307.

geology
of,

of,

384; 386; worship

of,

Kitam,

84.

216, 217, 386, 387;

Lepcha name

Koch

tribe, 291, 292, 431.

387.
31, 114, 231.

Krait snake, 240.

Kanchen-jow,

Kurseong,

23.

Lachen, pass, 160;

of,

valley, 230;

Lay

231.

Ladders across cliffs, 159. Lakes formed by landslips,

198, 201.

111, 112,

Lachoong,

pass, t6o; river, 160, 165; village, 171, 180.

INDEX
Lamas,
living
in
25, 47, 75,

447

135, 140, 154; as

;

Lepchas,

Buddhas, 141 intrigues by, Sikhim, 151, 176; battle amongst

163.
23,

44, 63, 78, 93; women, 99; character, 93; dress, 94, 99, 100; environments, 93; matriarchy, 99;

rivals, 242; revolt against,

tribal

Landslips

73; of rocks, 198.

of,

Lanok

valley, 236.
69, 79.

names, 92, 423; distribution, 243; temples, 156; dying out, 293; knife, 95 ; music and songs, 294.
railway
to,
\

Lanterns, feast

Lete, valley, 176.

Lapchi Kang, 348. Larch, Himalayan,

Laterite, 22.

Lhasa,
180.

281,

282; lay-

Law-code of Tibetans, 106. Leaf, mimicry by butterflies, 114; by locusts, 240. Lebong, 73. Leech-bites, remedy for, 141.
Leeches, voracious,
and, 133.
130; nicotine

governor of, 414 Chinese minister of, 243; Manning's route to, 279. Life, Lamas' regard for, 164, 213.

Limboo

tribe,

119, 120, 307, 349.

Limestone,

22,

82

on
at,

Tibetan
152, 226;

plateau, 407, 408.

Lingtoo, Tibetan fort

storming

of,

268.

Loads
Chola, 285
;

for coolies, 52, 55.

Legends
;

Gamotang, 399; Ge, 196; Rang-eetandTeesta, in Tendoag, no.

of,

Locusts,

plagues,

253, 254;

eaten

by Nepalese, 253. Luck, Goddess of Good,

69, 396.

Leopard, 122; snow-, 396; trap for, 396; use of markings of, 122.

M
Macaulay (Colman), mission
210, 231.
of, 150,

Matriarchy, 99, 292, 432. Meat, raw, eaten by Tibetans, 222.

Madder,

wild, 85.

Mech

tribe, 6, 292.

Magar

tribe, 306, 309.

Magnolias, 259, 315.

Mahanadi
Mahaseer,

river, 5.

81.

Medicinal herbs, 371. Men, fairy wild, legend Mermaids, 404. Mica, 20, 407.
in, 121.

of,

223.

Mainom
of, 85.

mt.,

no, 117; caves

5,

Migo peak,

370.
19.

Malaria, deadlv,

6,

81, 83; limit

Migrating plants,

Mikado
wild, 119.
of,

as priest-king, 147.

Mangar, 306, 309.

Milarapa's hermitage on Everest,35 1.

Millet beer, 74;
114,

Mango,

ode

to,

76.

Markings, usefulness

122.

Mimosa,
of,
1

9.

Marmots,
Mascotte,

219.
a,

Mines, copper, 101, 242 ; native dread

01, 408.

196, 399.
154.

Mass

in

Buddhist temples,

Mimicry
240.

in butterflies 114; locusts

Mastiff, Tibetan, 170.

M
Momay,
208, 216.

INDEX
Mountain, railway, 5, 13, 22 sculpture, 37 worship of, no, 115, 216,
; ;

country, 93. Monal pheasants, 113, 401.

Mon

Monastery, Buddhist, at Ging, 73; at Tumlong, 137; our quarters in,

i35. 139-

347, 35 1, 386. Mt. Blanc compared with Himalayan

peaks,

(diagram), 34, 185.

Murwa
of,

beer, 74, 135;

ode

to,

76.

Monba, 92. Money, absence

92.

Music, of Lepchas, 294; of Tibetans, 314; in temple, 136; beggar's

call, 48.

Monks

in temple, 154.
57.

Months for travelling, Moormi, 45, 307. Morang, 431. Morik tribe, 92.

Musk,

248.

Musk-deer, 334. Mystic spells, 87.

N
Naga, tribes, 95; dragons, Naini Tal lake, 201.
219.

Eastern, 349, 406; Himalayas

356.

of,

Nakoo

pass, 236.
101.

Nepalese,
character

20,
of,

21,

44,

301

304;
17, 21,

Namehi,

303;

women,

Names
285.

of places,

how

coined, 144,

44,

310; dress of, 45, 49, 310; Bhotiyas, 46 invasion of Sikhim, 171
\

Nangna

pass, 236, 237.

Narseng, 31, 377. Native explorers, altitude observations of, 190.

colonization of Sikhim, 39, 152, 243. Nettle, cloth of fibre of, 85; deadly,
119.

Newar

tribe, 307

bankers, 242.

Nego

cave, 370, 426, 427.

121.

New
of,

Neh Mendong,
Nepal,
political
;

position
of,

304;

ruler of, 303

closure

422, 423

Year of Tibetans, 256. Nicotine and leeches, 133. Nomads, 174, 284. North Western Himalayas, 9,

11, 84.

Oaths,

in Tibet,

107;

by dipping
of
titles,

hands

in yak's blood, 163.

list

Orchids, epiphytic, 24, 79, 257, 259; home of, 315 rare, 316 extermin; ;

Offices in Sikhim,

432.

ation

of,

317.

Om
Oma

Mani Padme Hoong,

pass, 397.
trees, 19, 85.

25.

Ordeal, Trial by, 107. Orisons in Buddhist temples, 136.

Orange

Ovis

ammon,

219, 225, 370.

INDEX

449

Packing up, 52, Pagla Jhora, 23. Pakyong, 242.

Pahariyas, 306.

55, 58.

Phodang monastery,

135,

136, 139.

Palace of Sikhim, Palm, rattan, 128.

141.

Phosphorescence, 182. Photography, glass plates v. films, 83 native dread of, 85. Picturesque, Eastern ideas of the, 36.
Pig, wild, scare by, 293.

Pandim,
to,
;

31, 376, 377; direct route

;

Pigeon, snow-, 181.

Pines, Cheer, 84.

375 glaciers of, 375, 378 ascent impracticable, 377.

Pangji pass, 436.

Pipon, 157. Pipsee flies, 121.

Plains,

Pangu

pass, 436.

view

of,

from

hills,

14, 33.
alti-

Panjab Himalayas, 9, 10. Paper laurel, 155, 319.

Partridges, snow-, 204, 206.

Plants,

migrating, 19; of high

99, 326.
;

tudes, 220.

Poisoned arrows,

Pashok, 260. Pass of Chabab, 403; Chola, 284 Dongkia, 31, 225 Dui, 395; Gora 198; Guicha, 31, 377; Jelep, 278 Kang, 416, 417; Oma, 397; Pata 227; Pangu, 436; Seeboo, 114 Tangkar, 191; worship of spirits of, by Tibetans 115; closed
;

Poisonous, aconite, 324, 435

185; grass, 401, 435.

air,

Polyandry

in Sikhim, 197.

Ponies, Tibetan, 40, 196, 248. Porterage, 27, 52, 63, 64, 264.

Pradakshina rite, 115. Prayers in Buddhist temples,

Praying-barrel,
109;

15s.

-cylinders, 25,

guard, 204. Pata pass, 227

47, 143; -flags, 26, 68; -water-mills,

;

lake

of,

228.

157

-wheels, 25, 47, 143.

50.

Peaches,

19,

167.

Preparations for journey,

Peak XIII,

331, 3^3, 342, 347, 353,

355, 37, 420.

Presentation scarf, 161, 172, 176, 208. Presents, to Lamas, 140 from people,
;

Peak XX,
Pedong,
245, 247-

346, 349.

119;

to officials, 154; to people,

158.

244,

263;

annexation

of,

100,

Pressure
31, 116, 176.

of atmosphere,
ear, 24.

24,

187,

Pemiongchi monastery,
Perpetual snow, line

221

on

of,

187.

Property
tribes,

amongst
105.

Indo-Chinese
107, 213.

Phaloong

glaciers, 206.
;

Pheasants, 113, 204, 401 snow-, 424.

silver-, 159;

Punishments for crime, Pundim, see Pandim.

Queen of Sikhim,
drist,

145; as polyan-

Quinine, cheapening

of,

298.

197.

45o

INDEX

R
Railway, mountain,
to
59,
13,

20,

22;

Ratong

river, 498.

Choombi

valley

and Lhasa,

2S1, 282.

Rainfall, to; in

Sikhim and Choombi,

Rattan palms, 128. Reception, at Buddhist temple, 162 by Sikhimese chiefs, 102, 142.

434; in Bhotan, 290; in Darjeeling,

299,

434; in relation to glaciers,

205, 206.

Rajah, of Bhotan, 247 ; of Nepal, 305 of Sikhim, 145 ;ofKuchBehar, 292.

Rhenok, 264. Rhododendron, forest of, in bloom, 320; in Chola range, 270; as trees, 319; poisoning by leaves of, 323. Rhubarb, giant wild, 185.
Rivers, erosion by, 37, 289. Rocks, erosion of, 37, 206 ; splitting

Rang-eet

river, 34, 80,

10

crossing

in canoe, 83; fishing in, 82; junc-

tion with Teesta, 250, 251.

Rang-po river, 117. Rangiroon forest, in, Rangliot, in. Rang nyo-oong, in.
Rarefied
air,

256, 257.

by frost, 201. Rong, tribal name of Lepchas, no, 295, 435.

92,

Rong
of,

Shar, 349, 407.

256, 257.

Rose, wild, 361.

alarming effects
23, 91, 361.

Rungaroon, in,

1S5, 207, 221.

Rung-eet, see Rang-eet.

Raspberries,

Ryot

river, 133, 134.

Sacrifices,

bloody,

by

Buddhist

Season for

travelling, 57.

priests, 74.

Seeboo
49.
13,

pass, 215.

Sakya monastery,
Sal
forest,
of, 263.

15;

incense-resin

Semo pass, 415, 437. Semoram pass, 415, 437.

Senchal,
256.
29,

355; view from, 29

;

39;

Salt,

trade in Tibetan, 98, 248, 285,

meaning of name, 39
Serbo pass,
215.

forest on,

408, 420.

Salutation,
172, 279.

Peculiar Tibetan,

171,

Sambhar

deer, 260.

Sand-grouse, 225.

Sandook-phu, in spring, 324; in autumn, 361; the name, 324; view,

327, 33, 333-

Serpents, 77, 240. Service in temple, 154. Sharpa Bhotiyas, 46, 373, 374, 406. Shales, 22, 82.

Sheep, Tibetan, ging salt, 113.

158, 211; wild, dig-

Scarf presentation, 161, 172, 176, 208. Schlagintweit on Everest, 345, 352.
Scorpions, 369.

Shell bracelets, 173. Sherpa Bhotiyas, 46, 373, 406. Shigatse, 175.

Screw pine,

18.
of,

Sea, attraction

by Himalayas,

35.

Shingsapa Sibo river,

tribe, 407.

198, 226; glacier in, 227.

INDEX
Sikhim,
149,
9,

451

10,

84; annexation of,

of,

Someshwar range and snows,

Sonada,
24.

357.

152; birds

431; Chinese

intrigues

in, 93, 150, 151,

410,413

Songs, Tartar, 18,76,87 ;Lepcha, 295.

King and Queen

of,

145; flight

Sookna,

13, 385.

of King, 409; slavery in, 103, 149; Tibetan invasion of, 93; tribes
of, 43-

Spectre of Brocken, 362. in Tibetan warfare, 269. Spells, 87

;

Spiders, gorgeous giant, 240.

Siligoori, 2;

meaning of name,
235.
13, 364.

431.

Silok-vok, 101.

Simvovonchu,

Spinning, 100, 296. Spirits of mountains, no, 351, 386; of passes, 115; of rivers, no, 262,
265, 301; of lakes, 401, 404; of hot springs, 189, 202.

Singalelah range,
Siniolchu, 31, 234.

Singpho or Kachins,
Siwaliks,
9,

95.

Springs, hot, 189, 202; analysis of

v/ater of, 202, 433. Stag, the Sikhim, 204.

385.

Slaves in Sikhim, 103, 149. Snakes, 77, 239; my researches on

Strawberries, 23.

venom
Snow,

of, 325, 435.

;

Sub-Himalayas, 385.
-bears,

line of perpetual, 187

223 ; -leopard, 396 ; -partridge, 204 -pheasant, 424; -pigeons, 204; sunstroke in snow, 190, 194; -storm,
224, 401.

Sunbirds, 78. Sunrise on snowy range,

29, 386.

Sunset on snows, 337. Sunstroke in snows, 190, 194.

Swing

at fair, 69, 71.

Snow-blindness, 179.

Taboo,

97, 313.

Tea
lost,

service in temples, 155.

river, in; Tibetan name of, Lepcha name of, 129; junc-

Talisman,

legend of the

197.

Teesta
129;
tion

Tanner, Colonel, sketches by,

ix;

on Everest, 346. Tangkar pass, 176,

with Rang-eet, 250; bridge

180, 188, 189.

over, 123, 260.

T'ar, wild goat, 113.

Tartars, Tibetans as, 212; Hungarians, as 50.

Tashiding, 116, 368.

Temple, Buddhist, at Darjeeling, 68; at Choongtang, 162 at Ging, 73; at Phodang, 135, 137 band of, 136. Tendong, legend of, no; worship
;
;

Tashihumpo Governor gend of, 196.

Taxidermists, 63, 362.

of,

232;

le-

of, 115; caves in, 121. Tengri town, 351, 352, 406.

Tcheeboo Lama,

141.

Tent, frozen, 192. Terai, annexation

iness of, 5
;

Tea-plant. Introduced to Darjeeling

of, 149; unhealthvegetation of, 9, 18, 289.

by Dr. Campbell,
of, 6,

39, 73

blights

Theebaw
Thlonok

as priest-king, 147.
valley, 236.
of, 144, 432.

250, 253
;

other leaves used

248.

as tea, 100

Chinese brick-tea,

Thrush, new species

15-

>

'.

Tibet,

annexation

of,

viii,

282;

Tinki

fort, 407.

frontier delimitation troubles, 152,

Toloong

valley, 156, 158, 233

sepul-

409; national party in, 413; trade with, 218, 259, 410; treaty with,
401 ),

chre of the Kings, 156. Tonglu, 300, 320, 361, 385.

411;
151,

i5>

410;

Chinese intrigues in, invades Sikhim,

Toon

tree, 84.

Torture of criminals in Tibet, 213.

Trade with Tibet,

Tibetans,
93 ;character, 212, 213; dress, 104; food, 222; fortifications, 267; guard, 193, 207, 20S; mastiff, 170; ponies, 40,
23, 25, 43, 46,

150, 248, 259, 410.

Train,

5,

9,

13,

20.

Tree-ferns, 24, 73. Trees, upper limit of, 182, 206.

Tribal re-initiation, 366.

196, 248; saddle, 196; salute, 277;

Tsang, government
158.

of,

232; sheep,

sheep, 158, 211; soldiers, 269; warfare rules, 270;

weapons, 210,

268.

Ticks, 122.

Tientsin treaty, 150. Tiger-hill, 33; see Senchal.

Tsangpo river, problems of, 66. Tsoontang. 163. Tumlong monastery, 133 our cloister
;

in,

139.

Timber

for Tibet, 206.

Tungra

pass,

176.

V
Valleys, glacier-formed, 206, 403.

Vegetation of high altitudes, 220; of damp temperate zone, 24, 257.

Vipers, 240. Volcanic action in Himalayas, 386.

W
Waloong,
395.
210.

Wine of

country, 74, ode to 76.

Weapons of Tibetans, Wheel swing, 69, 71. White, Mr. J. C, ix, 233,

Witchcraft, 312.

Woodpeckers,
236, 242,383.
of,

immense

variety

119.

Wild men, legends of hairy, 223. Wild yak's horns as drinking-cups

212.

Worship of Everest,

348, 351; of

Kanchen-junga, 386; of Tendong, no, 115.

Yaks, 168 meaning of name, 179; climbing agility of, 173, 405 milk
,

Yams,

wild, 98, 241.

371.

Yampoong,

of,

174,

284;
of,

riding,

223,
of,

397;
163;

Yangma

tribe, 371.

disease

228; sacrifice

Yatung, 267, 279;

rainfall of, 434.

wild, 225.

Yoomtang,

204.

Valoong

river, 405.

Zemoo

glacier, 233.

Zones, climatic,

9,

73,

182.

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