A BOTANICAL TOUR IN S1KK1M. 211 



to appreciate fully the graphic account of this wonderful region which Sir 

 J. D. Hooker gives in such perfect detail. 



My orders forbade the crossing of the Donkia, so I returned to Momay in 

 the evening through a blinding storm of snow and rain. 



As I was anxious to penetrate to the Lachen Valley through the Sebo La, I 

 waited at Momay for a week in order to obtain good weather for the attempt, 

 but the cold south wind drove a thick mist and drizzling rain without intermis- 

 sion, and I was compelled to relinquish the idea. One day I went eastwards to 

 the great glacier of Kinchinjhow. Passing the hot springs noted by Sir J. D. 

 Hooker, and climbing to the crest of the terminal moraine, we walked along 

 the top of a lateral one leading far into the snowy billowy mass of the glacier. 

 I was surprised to find many plants flourishing in such a bleak place. Enophy- 

 ton Mmalaicum was common. It is a white, woolly Labiate with bright blue 

 flowers peeping from under the leaves ; I have never observed it but on dry 

 sandy slopes. The other plants were a minute Saxifraga with extensive run- 

 ners, a small Gentian, Pedicularis of three species, Festuca and Carex. Rhodo- 

 dendron nivale was dead and withered, having probably been killed by the 

 severity of the previous winter, but, strange to say, Potentilla fruiicosa, in its 

 largest and most developed form, and not the creeping variety we should ex- 

 pect to find here, was covered with flowers and foliage and was as much at 

 home amongst ice and snow as it is at the more temperate elevation of 10,000 

 feet. From Momay Samdong I returned to Yeumtong and halted there a few 

 days. I ascended to the glacier on the opposite side, which Sir J. D 

 Hooker failed to reach through the gorge. .Now-a-days there is a cattle- 

 track leading to the high pastures, so that progress is easy. Rosa sericea is 

 the commonest shrub in the pine forest, and Salix Wallichiana and Pyrus 

 microphylla are abundant. Between the summit of the first ridge and the 

 glacier, the path runs along the side of the stream, the rest of the area is 

 too encumbered with boulders to be walked on with safety. Above 13,000 

 feet the forest of Silver Fir is replaced by impenetrable Khododendrons and 

 a few stunted trees of black Juniper. There is little variety in the 

 herbaceous vegetation, the biting air radiating from the glacier being too 

 chilly to suit even cold-loving plants. Podophyllum Emodi yielding red fruits 

 eaten by the Tibetans, Swertia Hooheri, Rheum accuminatum and Cnicus 

 eriophoroides were conspicuous by their abundance and size. 



The weather at Yeumtong was also uniformly wet and miserable, so I started 

 for Lachung on the 20th August. Arriving the same day I stayed to dry my 

 collections and to make arrangements for an excursion through the Sebu 

 Valley to Ghora La ; a part as yet unvisited by any naturalist to my knowledge. 



In his " Himalayan Journals " Sir J. D. Hooker notes " about five miles 

 above Lachung the valley forks, the eastern valley leads to lofty, snowed 

 regions, and is said to be impracticable." A lofty precipice at the immediate 

 entrance to this valley, and on its northern flank, attracted my attention. On 

 enquiry, I discovered that one of my men had ascended to Ghora La, the first 



