THE HEART OF NATURE 



CHAPTER I 



THE SIKKIM HIMALAYA 



The Sikkim Himalaya is a region first brought 

 prominently into notice by the writings of Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, the great naturalist, who visited it 

 in 1848. It lies immediately to the east of Nepal, 

 and can now be reached by a railway which ascends 

 the outer range to Darjiling. It is drained by the 

 Teesta River, up the main valley of which a railway 

 runs for a short distance. The region is therefore 

 easily accessible. For the purposes of this book it 

 may be taken to include the flat open forest and 

 grass-covered tract known as the Terai, imme- 

 diately at the base of the mountain. This is only a 

 few hundreds of feet above sea-level, so that from 

 there to the summit of the Himalava there is a rise 

 of nearly 28,000 feet in about seventy miles. The 

 lower part is in the 26th degree of latitute, so that 

 the heat is tropical. And as the region comes 

 within the sweep of the monsoon from the Bay of 

 Bengal, there is not only great heat in the plains 

 and lower valleys, but great moisture as well. The 

 mountain-sides are in consequence clothed with a 

 luxuriant vegetation. 



To enter this wonderful region the traveller has 

 first to cross the Ganges — the sacred river of the 



3 



