A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKK12I. 201 



whole surface of the hill is covered by a confused mass of glacier-deposited 

 boulders, where the path is marked at intervals by upright white stones. 

 Very little vegetation, except moss, maintains an existence in this wilderness. 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, in his admirable account of the Physical Geography of 

 Sikkim, thus explains the cause of this barren desolation.—" Glaciers, 

 again, descend to 15,000 feet in the tortuous gorges which immediately 

 debouch from the snows of Kinchinjunga, but no plants grow on the debris 

 they carry down, nor is there any sward of grass or herbage at their base, 

 the atmosphere immediately around being chilled by enormous accumulations 

 of snow, and the summer sun rarely warming the soil." 



Attaining a ridge marked by a rudely-built monument bearing a small flag 

 we descended a steep gorge, down which a stream urged its turbulent course. 

 Its bed was cumbered with gneiss blocks, with many of a fine-grained granite 

 transported from higher levels. This stream effects a junction with two others 

 to form the Rangbi River at a flat expanse called Gambothan. The sheltered 

 situation of this place favours the growth of large pine trees, and copses of a 

 willow, Salix Wallichiana, fringe the river bank. From eastward another 

 tributary flows through a broad grassy valley, which rapidly attains a high 

 elevation, and for a short distance towards the south the united rivers flow 

 calmly through a forest of Abies Webbiana. The most noteworthy plant 

 growing in the desolate locality we had traversed is the gigantic Rhubarb {Rheum 

 nobile) always associated in the traveller's mind with barren precipices where it 

 delights to grow, and where it heightens the weird effect of such scenery by 

 its cadaverous stave-like stems ; for only by closer inspection can the actual 

 beauty of the plant be realized. The only perfect specimens exist ed on 

 inaccessible rocks, as the shepherds collect and devour all they find within 

 reach. 



The elevation of Gambothan, by B. P. thermometer, was 12,400 feet. 

 Leaving Gambothan, a steep ascent was made to the summit of the ridge — 

 13,300 feet in elevation. For half the distance there is a scattered forest 

 of Abies Webbiana, J uniperus recurva, Rhododendron eampanulatum, Prunus 

 rufa and Betula utilis, the upper part being almost wholly occupied by 

 Rhododendron Anthopogon and R. setosum. These when bruised or trodden 

 upon exhale a strong perfume from the superficial glands with which they are 

 covered, aggravating the headaches to which all are subject at high elevations 

 Gentiana stylophora is exceedingly common. Beyond the ridge is the broad 

 open summit of Bokto covered with grass, on which two large flocks of sheep 

 were feeding. From this a descent has to be made into the valley of the 

 Yangsap through dense growths of Rhododendron, Abies Webbiana, Pyrun 

 foliolosa and P. microphylla: beyond is a steep hill almost devoid of vegetation 

 and covered with boulders. The path winds up its right flank to a depression 

 below its summit at about 14,000 feet elevation. There is a fine wood of 

 Juniperus pseudo-sabina, and the shrubby vegetation mainly consists of a 

 Berberis not yet in leaf. Descending somewhat, we crossed two small plains 



