2 BELATION BETWP:EN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 



is very surprising: on an average our Lepcha loads weighed 

 100 to 120 lbs. On our return we had the curiosity to weigh 

 the then sodden tent; it was 180 lbs., and had been carried 

 for 10 houi-s both up and down hill in this state. To keep the 

 contents of the basket dry, the Lepcha makes a large liood of 

 bamboo platting, enclosing layers of leaves of Phrynium dichu- 

 tomum; this fits over the head and basket, reaching as low as 

 the hips, but is open in front, and leaves both the upper and lower 

 limbs free. 



In point of climate Tonglo shares the excessive humidity of 

 the rest of Sikkim, though Avhen viewed from Darjiling it is 

 often seen to be clear when all the northern and much nearer 

 eastern and south-eastern mountains are wrapped in clouds. 

 This arises from its position, and its partial protection from the S.E. 

 or rainy wind. It rises as a long saddle, from a great southern 

 spur of Kunchin-jinga, called Singalelah, which, dividing Nepal 

 from Sikkim, extends from the perpetual snows of perhaps the 

 loftiest mountain on the globe to the plains of India. The di- 

 rection of this ridge is meridional. At right angles to Tonglo, 

 and a little south of it, the Sinchul ridge of 8000 feet meets that 

 of Singalelah, the latter bounding Sikkim to the west, whilst 

 the former shuts it off from the plains of India on the south. 

 Darjiling station is on a ridge projecting N. from Sinchul, 

 parallel to that of Tonglo, which bounds the western horizon. 

 Throughout the greater part of the year the S.S.E. wind pre- 

 vails, rising at sunrise, and its vapours are at once condensed 

 on the forests of Sinchul ; billowy clouds rapidly succeed, 

 and rolling over to the N. side of the mountain, are carried 

 N.W., over a broad intervening valley, to Darjiling. There 

 they bank on the east side of the spurs, and this being cleareii of 

 wood, the accumulation is slow,* and always first upon the few 

 clumps of trees. Very generally by 9 a.m. the whole eastern 

 sky, from the top of Darjiling ridge, is a dense fog, the western 

 exposure enjoying sunshine for an hour or two later. At 7 or 

 8 A.M. very small patches are seen to collect on Tonglo, which 



* I have the singulai'ly good fortune to occupy, in Mr. Hodgson's house, 

 the most favourable spot in the station for watching the diurnal march of 

 atmospheric phenomena. My host's house is placed on an eminence 500 feet 

 above the main body of the Darjiling spur, and at its upper or southern 

 extremity. It commands an unimpeded prospect to the N.W. and E., having 

 Kunchin-jinga to the N., and the superb sweep of 80 miles of snow from 

 its summit round by N.E. to E. : to the S.E. Sinchul; and to the W. the 

 Singalelah range, from Kunchin to Tonglo. The station stretches N. in front, 

 as a sharp ridge. I have found it difficult to make old residents, on one or 

 the other side of Darjiling spur, believe that whilst their house on the western 

 slope is enjoying hours of sunshine, the whole eastern side is enveloped 

 in fog. 



