9 8 



5 CIENCE- GOS SIP. 



thousands on the hills. They are small species, but 

 most elegant in appearance. Primula sikkimensis 

 covers acres of marshy ground, and sweetly scents the 

 air. Gentians, swerlias and potentillas are countless. 

 Edible rheubarb {Rheum acuminatum) grows in 

 quantities, and numberless plants of Rheum nobile are 

 to be found on the hill sides at about 14,500ft. In 

 the distance they resemble huge heads of the common 

 cabbage. This plant is very remarkable. Its height 

 is from three to five feet, and the infloresence of small 

 greenish flowers is covered by membranous straw- 

 coloured tracts, the whole being more or less pyra- 

 midal in shape. Saussurea gossypiphora is another 

 quaint product of the vegetable world. The large 

 composite flower is surrounded by a mass of white 

 woolly material, the size and shape of an orange, or 

 larger. 



Sir Joseph Hooker does not mention the particular 

 locality of which I write, but he and subsequent 

 collectors have made such a thorough investigation of 

 the flora of Sikkim that I only succeeded in finding 

 two undescribed plants. One of these Lathraea 

 purpurea Cummins, I collected in the Dichu valley. 

 Since that time Major D. Prain, Superintendent of 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, informs me a 

 great number of specimens had been brought from 

 Iongri, a place far distant from my collecting ground. 



Poppies are a prominent feature in the flora. 

 Meconopsis nipalensis is ubiquitous, and has hand- 

 some yellow flowers. M. simplicifolia and Cathcar- 

 tia villosa are also fine plants. Aconites are plentiful, 

 and are said sometimes to cause the death of sheep 

 and goats, as these animals do not recognise that the 

 leaves are poisonous, but horses and cattle avoid such 

 plants. The edelweis {Leotitopodium alpinum) grows 

 in large quantities, but I have never seen it above 

 13,000ft. altitude. Many species of Pedicularis are to 

 be seen, some with a stem a couple of feet high, such 

 as P. trichoflossa, P. megalantha, P. excelsa, etc. 

 Other species, such as P. tubiflora and P. siphonantha 

 are peculiar, on account of the extreme length of the 

 corolla tube. 



Butterflies and moths were very numerous, parti- 

 cularly at lower elevations, and the latter a nuisance at 

 night time. At Gnatong, moths clustered round the 

 windows in the summer. In 1893 a swarm of locusts 

 alighted on the lower parts of Sikkim, and snipped 

 large areas of the jungle of leaves. Some even 

 reached Gnatong. I was told that many were seen 

 dead on the snows of the Kinchinjunga range, at an 

 elevation of about 20,000ft. They had succumbed to 

 the cold when endeavouring to cross this enormous 

 ridge of mountains. 



Gnatong is about nine miles from the Jalep and 

 Pemberingo passes. The hills through which these 

 passes trend, reach an altitude of some 15,000ft., and 

 can be easily ascended. The ragged tops are destitute 

 ofvegetation, except lichens. Therocksbecomecracked 

 by the action of frost and huge blocks roll down the hill- 

 side or precipice, forming masses of boulders. In a 

 particular case I remember, one block must have 

 weighed several hundred tons. This had descended 



a slope for about 1, oooft. On the way down it broke 

 into two parts. A deep rill was left on the hillside and 

 in it could be seen species of plants differing from the 

 normal ones of the locality. These had been carried 

 down from above, in the catastrophe. Salvia 

 campanulata Wall, was one of the plants previously 

 absent, which appeared. It is remarkable that this 

 plant at a high elevation (13,500ft.) possesses a 

 purple corolla marked with yellow ; while in 

 lower situations, yellow becomes the prevailing colour. 



The solitary snipe was not an infrequent visitor at 

 Gnatong. The birds were usually seen in pairs. On 

 one occasion during an expedition our camping ground 

 was in a sheltered spot about 14,000ft. altitude. We 

 saw a great number of solitary snipe, and after dark, 

 we heard their cries around our tent. This place 

 appeared to have been a regular haunt for them, and 

 was no doubt their breeding ground. 



On a similar trip we camped near a place called 

 Pangola 10,720ft. altitude. Here we found foot- 

 prints of an elephant measuring nearly 2ft. long, We 

 traced them for several miles down the mountain 

 ridge, until we reached a bamboo jungle in the Dichu 

 Valley, into which they disappeared. This elephant 

 must have been very large, judging by the marks on 

 the trees against which he rubbed himself to remove 

 mud from his back. He was probably a " rogue." I 

 am not aware that elephants have been previously 

 noted as voluntarily travelling to such an elevation. 

 The lower parts of the Dichu Valley abound in 

 elephants, and we saw many fresh marks of them. 



The birds in the neighbourhood of Gnatong are 

 comparatively few : the monaul, the blood, and 

 tragopan pheasants live in the forests, which consist 

 chiefly of Abies webbiana, at 9,000 to 13,000ft. 

 altitude. The pheasants and musk deer are snared 

 by the natives, by means of a " spring stick," that is 

 a pliable stick with one end fastened in the ground 

 and a noose on the other. A sapling is often used for 

 the "stick." This is bent, the noose placed on the 

 ground and retained by a rough spring made of a 

 flexible branch formed into the shape of a hoop. 

 When the animal touches this, the " stick" is released 

 and the noose secures him by the head or leg. In 

 order to direct animals to these snares a barrier, 

 composed of branches of trees and underwood, is 

 built along the crest of a hill frequently extending 

 many hundred yards. Here and there in the fence, 

 openings are made, and traps placed in them. The 

 unwary deer or bird meets the obstruction, and too 

 lazy to leap or fly as the case may be, walks by the 

 side of the barrier and in attempting to pass the 

 opening, which he soon finds, is quickly strung up in 

 the air and securely held. The shooting is poor on 

 account of this method of destroying the game. 



The streams in the lower parts (5,000ft.) contain 

 many fish, but they are, I believe, seldom more than 

 a pound in weight. The following is the method 

 employed by the natives to catch them. The fishing 

 line is attached to a strong rod at one extremity, and 

 at the other to a piece of rope, the fibres of which 

 have been frayed out. On the line near the rope, two 



