1871.] W. T. Blanford— Journey through SiMcim. 373 



from about 1000 feet above the stream or between 2500 and 3000 

 feet above the sea up to nearly 6000 feet of elevation, the greater 

 portion of the slopes, where they are not too steep, are either ac- 

 tually under cultivation or bear marks of having been so recently, 

 whilst, above about 6000 feet, the head of the valley and a dark 

 stripe on the crest of each spur consist of magnificent unbroken 

 forest. This is the invariable appearance of all valleys in the outer 

 ranges of Sikkim, except where, as around Darjiling / they have been 

 ruined by reckless woodcutting. 



16th. On preparing to start next morning, Elwes found, to our 

 great annoyance, that a very nice mountain aneroid, which he had 

 brought, had disappeared, having doubtless been stolen. This 

 was very unfortunate, for it was our only barometer, and although 

 the elevations in the upper Tista valley were all determined by 

 Hooker, this is not the case on the Chola range. Our route led in 

 a sloping direction down to the Eishet stream, and thence up the 

 opposite side of the valley to Ehinok, which, from Phyudong, look- 

 ed barely two miles distant. We started about 8, which was 

 the earliest time at which we could collect our coolies, for all the 

 hill men, like Burmese and other Indo-Chinese races, and like 

 several of the pseudo-aboriginal tribes of India itself, but unlike 

 the Hindus, always eat before starting. We rapidly descended 

 to the river by a road, bad after the carefully zigzagged paths of 

 British Sikkim, but which was magnificent as compared to the 

 tracks we encountered subsequently. On my way down I captured 

 a snake and just escaped being bitten by it, which made me feel 

 uncomfortable for the moment, for it was a most venomous looking 

 brute. It proved to be Psammodynastes pulverulentus, a snake which 

 appears made to prove that it is by no means so easy to distinguish 

 between venomous and non-venomous snakes as is commonly sup- 

 posed and asserted. Eeally it is not dangerous, but not only has it 

 the flattened head and broad jaw which are usually characteristic 

 of the venomous snakes, but it possesses a pair of long fangs in 

 front of the jaw, so that even after capturing it and examining the 

 teeth, it is difficult to distinguish it from a poisonous species. 



The stream afforded a delightful bath, the water not being so 

 cold as to be unpleasant in the hot steaming valley. There were 



