1871.] "W. T. Blanford — Journey through Sikhim. 411 



rivers. The weather had greatly improved since wo had been in tho 

 Lachung valley. 



30^. Men had been sent to repair the road, which is never 

 traversed in the monsoon between Chungtam and Lamteng, the 

 village in the Lachen valley corresponding to Lachung. Wo 

 started up the Lachen valley on our way once more to the Tibetan 

 frontier. "We seemed at last to have a spell of really fine wea- 

 ther, and our only regret was to lose such a day in the bottom of 

 the hot Lachen valley. However, we escaped leeches to some 

 extent in consequence, and certainly not because of their paucity. 

 The path soon crossed the Lachen by a cane bridge, and then led 

 over steep banks, climbed by means of bamboo ladders and poles 

 with notches cut in them. Afterwards the road led for miles 

 through marshy flats. The east bank is for some distance rocky 

 and grassy, the west alone being wooded, but forest afterwards 

 appears on both slopes, which do not rise abruptly to nearly so great 

 a height as in the Lachung valley. The marks of glacial action 

 also are much less distinct, although smoothed and rounded rocks 

 appear here and there. About four o'clock, after a tedious march, 

 we reached Latong, where several dirty houses, uninhabited at 

 this season, were nearly buried in thickets of shrubs. One houso 

 was the only place we could find habitable, and this was detestably 

 filthy, whilst there was no place to pitch the tent. All the hills 

 just above us were covered with pine trees. 



October 1st. The road up the valley was very much like that of 

 the day before, execrably bad in places, traversing precipices by 

 means of bamboos and notched poles. The bridges, however, had 

 been repaired. "We twice crossed the Lachen by cane bridges. 

 The greater part of the route lay through dwarf bamboo under- 

 wood, in which leeches were numerous, despite the fineness of the 

 day. At length we came upon pine trees and left the blood-thirsty 

 Annelides behind. The road crossed two gigantic moraines, parts 

 of which were open and covered with grass, and beyond the second 

 we came in sight of a very pretty reach of the valley, looking up to 

 the Zemu fork and presenting an exquisite landscape, although 

 inferior in grandeur to the Lachung at the same elevation. Turn- 

 ing round a corner we came suddenly upon Lamteng, a large village, 



