386 W. T. Blanford— Journey through Sikkim. [No. 4, 



afternoon. The distance can scarcely be more than 20 miles at the 

 outside. In fact the town of Chumbi, the summer residence of the 

 Sikkim Baja, appears to be little more than a day's march distant 

 from any of the eastern Sikkim passes from the Tankra-la,' close to 

 Lachung, to the Jelep-M. If this be the case, it is evident that by 

 far the nearest road from Darjiling to Lachung is via Chumbi. 



26th. From a ridge near our camp, Kinohinjanga was visible in 

 the early morning ; it was the first time I had seen it since leav- 

 ing Darjiling. Our road on starting led over this ridge, and into 

 a large valley in which is a fine lake, the Tanyek-Tso.* 4 It lies high- 

 er than the Nemi-Tso and above the limit of trees. The stream run- 

 ning from it is said to join the Eangchu.f Near this lake 3 monals 

 flew up from the hill side, and settled amongst the rhododendron 

 scrub. As this scrub covers some most difficult ground, chiefly 

 consisting of immense blocks of rock, often loose, and concealed by 

 thick bushes, I sent my shikari after the birds, but he failed to 

 shoot them. 



Another longish ascent led to the verge of a deep valley up which 

 passes the road to the Yakla. Like all the other glens on this 

 part of the Chola range, the southern side is covered with rhodo- 

 dendron scrub, the northern being bare. The scrub abounds in 

 the Scotch parsley fern, Crypto gramme crispa. We descended to the 

 bottom and encamped at a spot called Byutan, most of our coolies 

 joining some yak herdsmen whose black blanket tents were pitched 

 on the slope above us. We were just above the highest trees, 

 consequently above 12000 feet, but I found a toad (Bufo viridisf) 

 and a large slug near our camp. 



The Yak-la is only a few miles from this spot and must be above 

 14000 feet high. It is said to remain open after the Cho-la is closed 

 by snow, but the Jelep-la and Gnatui-la remain passable still longer, 

 indeed the latter is rarely interrupted for many days together. 



27th. At Bytitan we heard positively that the E-ajaJ was 



* The three lakes Bidan, Nemi and Tanyek are not marked in any map. All 

 I believe far exceed in size Catsuperri lake, which Hooker was told was the 

 largest in Sikkim, (Him. Jour., vol. i, p. 363.) 



f The Rinkpo of Hooker's map. 



J I use the term Raja because it has been invariably applied to the ruler of 

 Sikkim, although it is not correct to give a Hindu title to a Buddhist Indo- 

 Chinese chief. I learn from Colonel Haughton that the correct Butia title 

 is Denjong Gydy-bo. 



