IX VARIOUS PABTS OF THE GLOBE. 21 



taken simultaneously with those of Calcutta, g-ives the height 

 10,078-3 feet; Col. Waugh's, by trigonometiy, 10,079-4 feet. 



May 23rd. — We spent a few hours of alternate fog and sun- 

 shine on the top of the mountain, vainly hoping for the most 

 modest view. The air, wliich was always foggj', was alternately 

 cooled and heated, as it blew over the trees, or the open space 

 we occupied, sometimes var^'ing 5° and 6° in J hour. Whenever 

 a lull occurred the fog was sensibly heated by the sun's rays. 



The number of mosses, Hepaticce and Lichens, growing near 

 and on the summit, is very remarkable. Tliere were various 

 species of ferns, and a small Agaricus grew on decayed twigs ; 

 lichens infested the naked branches of the rose, berberry, and 

 cherr}\ The trunks of both the Rhododendrons, owing to their 

 smooth papery bark, and the bamboo, are remarkably free from 

 cryptogamic vegetation. 



Having partially dried the tent in the wind, we commenced 

 the descent, which, owing to the late torrents of rain, was most 

 fatiguing and slipper}^ ; it again commenced to drizzle at noon, 

 nor was it till we had descended to 6000 feet that we emerged 

 from the region of clouds. There I met Avith a species of Balano- 

 phora * pushing through the soil ; it is a new species, monoicous, 

 the earliest flowering of any in Sikkim, and may be distinguished 

 from its congeners by its cyathiform involucre round the middle 

 of the pedicle. 



By dark we arrived at Simonbong, having descended 5000 

 feet at the rate of 1000 feet an hour, and here we were kindly 

 received by the Lama, who gave us his temple for the accom- 

 modation of the whole party. We were surprised at this, both 

 because the Sikkim authorities had falsely represented the Lamas 

 as very averse to Europeans, and because he might well have 

 hesitated before giving ingress to a promiscuous horde of some 

 thirty people into a sacred building, where the little valuables on 

 the altar, &c. were quite at our disposal. He made but one 

 request, that the Hindus should not smoke their hookahs inside. 



Simonbong is one of the smallest and poorest Gumpas (or 

 monasteries) in Sikkim ;■!■ unlike the better class, it is built of 



* The pretty -wooden cups, in universal use throughout Sikkim and Tibet, 

 are made of knots produced by Balanophorce, generally on the roots of maples. 



t There are upwards of twenty Lama establishments in Sikkim, num- 

 bering eight hundred monks. Many of these are of excellent masonry, 

 Chinese in architecture, gorgeously decorated, and, for so poor a country, 

 richly endowed. During my more recent travels in Sikkim I have visited 

 many, been an inmate in the monasteries, and met with the greatest kindness 

 and hospitality from the good fathers. As the first European who had ever 

 lived with the monks, this was the less to be expected. Dr. Campbell, who 

 afterwards joined me, and in whose delightful society I visited others, records 

 the same opinion of these good-natured people. 



