401 Journal of a trip in the SihJdm Himalaya. [No. 5' 



After having purchased some fowls and partaken of an early break- 

 fast, we started at 8.30 a. m. and after fifteen minutes' steep descent 

 passed the small village of Kasuppyah, consisting of two houses and 

 some clearance for cultivation. The headman was waiting for us 

 with presents of sugar-cane, murwa, eggs, plantains and milk. 



Another quarter of an hour of steep descent brought us to Lin- 

 choogong, a small village of three houses. At 9.30, after a very steep, 

 stony and difficult descent, we arrived at the Ratong, which is here a 

 wild, foaming and boiling torrent, dashing over large blocks of 

 gneiss rock. We halted till 11.30 bathed and washed clothes. The 

 temperature of the water was 48°. 



Dr. Simpson took two photographs of this wild spot, which unfor- 

 tunately were afterwards destroyed. We crossed the torrent by a 

 temporary bridge constructed by the inhabitants of the village of 

 Labeeong, who also brought us presents of rice, murwa and eggs. 

 After a steep scramble of a quarter of an hour, we met the inhabi- 

 tants of the village of Paranting, who brought us hot murwa, and had 

 prepared a place to sit down. They were particularly polite; the wo- 

 men were highly decorated with coral, amber and silver ornaments ; 

 both sexes wore flowers of a pretty blue hydraugea in their ears. 

 Three of the women had jackets made of European long-cloth, dyed 

 blue, but the children, as usual, were quite naked. After a further 

 steep ascent we reached our halting-place at Eksum at 1 p. M. This 

 is the frontier village, prettily situated on a broad plateau surrounded 

 by high commanding mountains, most of which have their summits 

 capped with fir trees, and their slopes richly clothed with deep ver- 

 dure and stately forest trees. A few hundred feet above the village, 

 to the east, the monastery of Doobdee is seen perched on the sum- 

 mit and at the extremity of a separate spur, in a very picturesque 

 position. It is probably of very ancient origin, built by the first 

 Buddhist priests who settled in Sikkim. Eksum derives its name 

 from Ek or Yeuk which means a " labourer" or " workman," and 

 "soom" three, from the first three Bhuddhist ministers who came 

 into Sikkim from Thibet, having commenced their spiritual labours 

 at this place. 



We put up for the night in the house of a villager, the female 

 members of which, on their return from the toils of the field, seemed 

 not at all pleased at finding their house in the possession of strang- 



