1871.] W. T. Blanford— Journey through Si/dim. 381 



rather south-eastern side being a dense mass of rhododendron 

 scrub up to an elevation of perhaps 14,000 feet, while the north- 

 western hill side was bare. Here we first caught sight of the 

 giant Sikkim rhubarb, some idea of which maybe gained from Cap- 

 tain W. S. SherwilTs figurein J. A. S. 13. 1853, p. 618* its « pale 

 pyramidal towers," as Hooker calls them, being very conspicuous, 

 scattered over the hill sides more than a thousand feet above, 

 and looking in the distance like white posts. Gradually ascend- 

 ing, we started from amongst the rocks a flock of snow pigeons, 

 Columba leuconota, but birds were not numerous, Calliope pectoralts 

 and Propasser thura being the most conspicuous. 



We slowly ascended to a barren ridge forming the crest of 

 the Jelep pass, at about 13,000 feet or rather more; to the 

 south-east was a little lake amongst higli crags, to the north 

 some steep masses of rocks ; no snow was visible. On the crest 

 of the ridge some 20 Tibetans were posted to oppose our 

 passage ; they were quite unarmed, except with their knives, and 

 remained seated around the pile of stones which marks the 

 frontier ; their Jong or Captain, a round-faced rosy Tibetan, 

 with by no means an intelligent countenance, in the centre. He 

 appeared to take no notice of us, and seemed solely occupied in 

 muffling himself in his huge cloak to keep off the wind, which 

 blew piercingly over the exposed ridge we were on. We sub- 

 sequently learned that the guards, Jong and all, I believe, were 

 merely villagers, who were ordered up to guard the frontier, and 

 singularly enough, neither on this nor on any subsequent occasion 

 did we meet with soldiers such as Hooker describes. 



To the east, the view was poor, everything at a distance being 

 enveloped in cloud. Elwes, who reached the top a few minutes 

 before I did, had a glimpse during a partial break of a broad 

 valley, thickly covered with forest. Immediately beneath was a 

 small lake, around which yaks were feeding. Many flowers grew 

 in tufts amongst the stones on the crest of the pass, and we 

 appeared to be nearly on a level with the giant rhubarb plants, 



* The upper bracts are usually a very much paler yellow than they are 

 represented in Captain Sherwill's figure, and in the distance they look quite 

 white. The upper portion of the spire too is often longer and more cylindrical 

 than in the plate. 



