20 RELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 



abundance of novelty within 20 yards, there was no difficulty, 

 with such a pursuit as botany, in getting through the day. 

 Observing the track of sheep, we sent two Lepchas on the scent, 

 who, after being absent the whole day, returned from some miles 

 west in Nepal, with two sheep and as many lambs. The shep- 

 herds were Goorongs of Nepal, who were grazing their flocks on 

 a grassy mountain top, from which the woods had been cleared ; 

 probably by fire. These to the Lepchas were a great boon, but 

 the Hindus would not touch the flesh, and several more sick- 

 ening during the day, we had the tent most uncomfortably full.* 



Our inability to obtain a view was extremely disappointing, 

 the mountain commanding a superb prospect. It embraces nearly 

 100 miles of the snowy range, from the far west in Nepal to Kun- 

 chin-jinga due north and its five sister-peaks, varying from 20,000 

 to 28,000 feet, and from which an uninterrupted succession of 

 snowy ridges sweeps round to the east. The culminant jioints 

 rise, several to 22,000, and many to upwards of 19,000 feet. 

 Chamalari, in Tibet, rears its head above the eastern amphi- 

 theatre of snows at a distance of 80 miles. S. E. are the sub- 

 Himalayas of Bhotan, and all between are the billowy mountain 

 masses of Sikkim. South, the eye sliould have ranged over the 

 plains of India, the courses of the Teesta, the Konki, the Cosi, 

 and the innumerable smaller streams which debouche on the 

 plain. 



During the whole of the 22nd, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., the 

 thermometer never varied 6*5 degrees, ranging from 47*5 

 in the morning to 54°, its maximum, at 1 p.m., and 50*7 at 

 night. At 7 the following morning it was the same. A ther- 

 mometer sunk 2 feet 6 inches in deep vegetable mould and clay, 

 maintained for two days the constant temperature of 50*7 (alt. 

 10,000 feet — May). In spite of the heavy rain and fog, the dew 

 point was always below the temperature, at which I was sur- 

 prised, for more drenching weather could not well be. The 

 mean dew point was 50*3, and consequent humidity 0"973.f 



These observations, and those of the barometer, were taken 

 some 60 feet below the summit, to which I moved the instru- 

 ments on the morning of tlie 28th. At a much more exposed 

 spot the results would no doubt have been different. A thermo- 

 meter there sunk to the same depth as that below stood at 49 • 7 ; 

 or one degree colder tlian 60 feet lower down. 



The summit of Tonglo, by my barometrical observations 



* This was a most convenient hill tent kindly lent us by Major Crommelin 

 ofDarjiling. It can be carried on one man's shoulders, and accommodated 

 two persons with a little management. 



t As expressed by the quotient of the tension at the temperature of the 

 dew point divided by that of the air. 



