IN VAIUOL'S I'AUTS Ol" THE QLOlili. lo 



flowers {C(Aogyne WaUichii), grows on the trunks of all tlie 

 great trees, and attains a higlier elevation than most other 

 epiphytical species, for I have seen it at 10,000 feet. A very 

 large, broadly cucnilafe spathed Arisfctna first appears at 8000 

 feet, and is abundant thence to the top of the mountain, where 

 smaller kinds are found at 10,000 feet. 



It is to be remarked that Lvijiiminosa: are all but unknown in 

 tliis part of Sikkim aljove GOOO feet, except the Parochclu.s com- 

 munis, which however I did not see on this accent. This total 

 absence of one of the largest and most ubir|uit(jus natural orders 

 through 4000 feet of elevation is most remarkable, and charac- 

 terizes much of the Himalayan range of Sikkim. I know 

 of no parallel case anywhere on the globe. In the equally 

 humid fcnests of South Ciiili and Fuegia the order is extremely 

 rare, but species do exist, and the whole flora of those countries 

 is nmch poorer in numl)ers than this. Grasses are also extremely 

 scarce above 4000 feet and below 10,000 feet, always except- 

 ing the bamboos, which by their giant dimensions may be fanci- 

 ftdly supposed to compensate for the want of many herbaceous 

 species : or it may perhaps be stated better thus : — where the 

 proportion of trees is very great, both in nunjber of species 

 and of individuals, arboreous grasses replace the herbaceous 

 sjtecies of less jungly regions. 



A loathsome tick infests the small bamboo, and a more hateful 

 insect I never encountered. The traveller cannot avoid these 

 coming on his person (sometimes in great numbers) as he l>rushes 

 through tlie forest. They are often as large as the little finger 

 nail, get inside one's dress, and insert the proboscis deeply with- 

 out pain, liurif-d head and shoidders, and retained by a barbed 

 lancet, it is only to be extracted by main force, which is very 

 painful. I have devised many tortures, mechanical and clie- 

 mical, to induce these disgusting intruders to withdraw the pro- 

 boscis, but in vain. 



Leeches* swarm at below 7000 feet ; a small black species 

 above IJOOO, a large yellow-brown solitary one behjw that. They 

 are troublesome, but cause no irritation. In August and Sep- 



* I cannot but think that the extraordinary abundance of these Annelides 

 in all the grazing-grounds of Sikkim may cause the death of many animals. 

 Some marked nmrrains have followed very wet seasons, when tlie leeches 

 swarm more than ever ; and the disease in the cattle, described to me by the 

 Lepchas as in the stomach, in no way diflers from what leeches would pro- 

 duce. It is a well known fact that these creatures have lived for days in 

 the fauces, nares, and stomachs of the human subject, causing dreadful suf- 

 ferings, and death in the latter case. I have seen the cattle feeding in places 

 where the leeches so abounded that fifty or sixty were frequently together ou 

 my ankles. 



