1871.] W. T. Blanford— Journey through Sikkim. 893 



and a large present of a goat, fowls, vegetables, rice, &c., and above 

 all the carcase of a pig. This was the third present we had re- 

 ceived in the day ; we were in the most populous and the richest 

 part of Sikkim, and the greater part of the population were Lepchas, 

 who, whether from natural good nature, or greater friendliness for 

 Europeans, were always conspicuous by their efforts to assist us. 

 Throughout the Dewan's estates we found an excellent road cleared 

 for us. We went on to Singtam (where we found another house 

 ready) to sleep. Here the Tista valley becomes suddenly nar- 

 row and steep, and for some distance there is but little cultivation. 

 We should scarcely have reached so far as Singtam, but for the 

 pig, the promise of which brought on the coolies at a wonderful 

 pace, the Nipalese especially, who love pork as much as a China- 

 man. 



Above Singtam, near Nimga, the deep gorge, in which the 

 Tista (here called the Lachen Lachung) flows, first assumes the 

 appearance of a glacier valley, an appearance which is increased 

 at every turn, until above Chungtam, at about 7000 to 8000 feet 

 above the sea, all the sides of the valley are, in places, masses of 

 bare rounded rock with the typical contour of " roches moutonnees. " 



1 must here pause to say that the views of this part of Sikkim 

 in Hooker's Himalayan Journals do not convey by any means a 

 correct impression. Like most lithographs of foreign scenes 

 printed in England, the characteristic features are lost, the dense 

 forest has vanished, and every thing is Europeanized, to coin a word. 

 No one would conceive from the view of the valley below Chungtam 

 in Yol. II, p. 21, that the hills to the right and left of the woodcut 

 are 5000 feet above the stream, and that the valley is really a deep 

 gorge, clad in places with the densest tropical jungle. This, of 

 course, in no way detracts from the excellence of Hooker's de- 

 scriptions of the country and scenery. 



From Singtam to Nimga the road is bad, from Nimga to Chungtam 

 it is worse, being partly over landslips, and for some distance in 

 the bed of the river. A great landslip, about 1000 feet high, 

 from the opposite bank, had converted a long reach of the Tista 

 into a pool opposite Nimga. I found a few landshells, including 



2 or 3 Alyccei and a Diplommatina, but searching for them was 



50 



