14 THE TEESTA VALLEY 



these forests are not like woods in England, which 

 contain only three or four species — oaks, beeches, 

 sycamores, etc. In these Sikkim forests we seldom 

 see two trees of the same kind standing next each 

 other. One tree may be more prevalent than 

 others, but there is always great variety in the forms 

 and colours of the stems, the branches, the leaves, 

 the flowers, the habit of growth. There are trees of 

 immense height with tall, strong, straight stems, and 

 there are shrubs like hydrangeas of every size and 

 description. There are climbers as huge as cables. 

 And there are gentle little plants hardly rising 

 above the ground. There is no end to the variety 

 of plant life, and we have an inner spring of delight 

 as we come across treasure after treasure that 

 hitherto we had only seen reared with infinite care 

 in some expensive hot-house. 



And what we see is only, we feel, a stray sample 

 of what there is to be seen. What may there not 

 be in those forest depths which we dare not enter 

 for fear of losing our way ! What other towering 

 forest monarchs might we not come across if we 

 plunged into the forest ! What other exquisite 

 flowers, what insects, what birds, what animals ! 

 What wealth of insect life may there not be at the 

 tops of the trees where the fierce sunshine hidden 

 from us by their leaves is drawing out their flowers ! 

 What may there not be going on in the ground 

 beneath us ! We know that in these forests, 

 perhaps near enough to see us, though their 

 forms are hidden by their likeness to their 

 leafy surroundings and the dappled sunlight, are 

 animals as various as elephants, tigers, leopards, 



