1871.] W. T. Blanford— Journey through Sikkim. 377 



At Kaphii there were but two houses. In one- of these there 

 was some person sick, and as we could not find a spot on which to 

 pitch our tent, we established ourselves in the other, and our peo- 

 ple esconced themselves beneath the house. 



20th. Leaving Kaphu, the path, so well worn as to prove the 

 very considerable traffic which passes by this route, led rapidly 

 upwards. The weather was fine at first, but everything was soon 

 shrouded in mist, which not long afterwards became rain. We 

 climbed steadily for about four hours, passing from the open forest 

 to an underwood of dwarf bamboo, which became shorter and closer 

 as we advanced. We passed one small marshy open glade with a 

 log hut standing in it, and soon after coming amongst tree rhodo- 

 dendrons, we came to another very small opening, apparently na- 

 tural, in which was a second shed, a roof of logs without sides. In 

 this spot, which bears the name of Jeluk, we determined to halt, 

 although our march had been short, as the coolies had had a steep 

 climb. The afternoon passed in steady rain and mist, and the air 

 was chilly. As Elwes's aneroid had been stolen at Phyudong we 

 could but guess at our elevation ; but the circumstance that we 

 had fairly entered the rhododendron forest with an underwood of 

 dwarf bamboos, and that we had left nearly all the leeches behind, 

 together with the close resemblance of the forest to that on the top 

 of Tonglii led us to estimate our height at about 10000 feet, or 

 perhaps a little more. 



In the afternoon Elwes climbed somewhat higher and came up- 

 on pines and junipers. He also shot a female of the Sikkim horn- 

 ed pheasant, Ceriornis satyra, a very rare bullfinch, Pyrrhopleetes 

 epauletta, and some other good birds. I meantime had met with 

 nothing but one or two common Leiotrichiruz such as Siva strigula 

 and TuMna occipitalis, but Elwes's shikari brought in the rare 

 Cochoa purpurea and 2 male Ceriornis. The pheasants were fine birds 

 though in very poor plumage. All the Darjiling Biitias and 

 Lepchas call them Monal, distinguishing Lophophorm Impeyanus, 

 which is also found in Sikkim, as the blue Monal. 



We pitched our tent in a marsh, leaving the shed for our men, 

 and we had a small platform-like cot or machan of bamboo built in- 

 side the tent upon which to sleep. We also determined to make 



48 



