SIKHIM. 



ITS GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND DESCRIPTION. 



The Native State, commonly called Sikhim, is situated in the 

 Eastern Himalayan Mountains, and is bounded on the north and 

 north-east by Tibet, on the south-east by Bhutan, on the south by 

 the British district of Darjeeling, and on the west by Nepal: it lies 

 between 27° 5' and 28° 10' N. Lat., and between 88° 4' and 88° 58' 

 E. Long., and comprises an area of 2,818 square miles. 



The country may be briefly described as the catchment area of 

 the head waters of the river Tista, and the boundary with Tibet is 

 thus laid down in the Anglo-Chinese Convention of the 17th March 

 1890:— 



"The boundary of Sikhim and Tibet shall be the crest of the 

 mountain range separating the waters flowing into the Sikhim Tista 

 and its affluents from the waters flowing into the Tibetan Mochu 

 and northwards into other rivers of Tibet. The line commences at 

 Mount Gipmochi on the Bhutan frontier, and follows the above- 

 mentioned water parting to the point where it meets Nipal territory." 



The continuation of the above range southward as far as the 

 source of the Rummam stream forms the western boundary. 



The Rummam stream, until its junction with the Great Rungeet, 

 and thence the latter river, separate Sikhim from British territory. 



The boundary with Bhutan is ill-defined, but appears to be the 

 Richi-Pangola range up to the plateau south-east of Lingtu, thence 

 a line north-east to the trigonometrical station near Gnatono- and 

 thence a straight line to Gipmochi. The natural boundary should be 

 the river Dichu. 



In the reigns of the earlier Sikhim Rajas their realms extended 

 from the Arun river on the west to the Tegon La range on the east 

 and thus included the Tambur and Mochu valleys. In a Sikhim 

 paper, which recites various old works, it is thus described: — "This 

 sacred country (hBres-mo-kShong, which lies to the south-west of 

 Lhassa) is bounded on the north by the * Mon-Thangla ' mountain 



Note. — A uniform system of transliteration has not been followed throui^hout the 

 Gazetter : the style adopted by each contributor has been reproduced. 



