An April Climb in the Himalayas. I3S 



the near presence of his Maker.* During the first part of the 

 ascent, I only observed, in addition to a few tits and warblers.,, 

 which I could not identify, the white-throated fantail (Leu- 

 cocerca fuscoventris) and the verditer flycatcher (Eumyias 

 melanops) ; while, higher up, the little chestnut-headed wren 

 (Tesia castaneo-coronata) seemed to be the sole occupant of the- 

 woods. 



The promise of the morning was not fulfilled ; and, ere we 

 had half completed the distance between our starting-point- 

 and our destination, we were enclosed in a fog so thick that we- 

 could hardly trace the path before us. Blindly following the 

 track amidst this comparative gloom, and clambering over 

 trees and slippery banks of moist and greasy earth, we at last- 

 completed the ascent of what we supposed was the highest 

 point of Sinchul, and, sitting down, waited patiently for the 

 atmosphere to clear. It did so, partially, for about ten minutes^ 

 and disclosed, not the grand panorama we had anticipated, for 

 the clouds still lay in heavy masses all round the neighbouring 

 hills, but the disappointing fact, that, instead of being, as we- 

 imagined, upon the apex of the mountains, we had only at- 

 tained to one of the lesser summits, which had been cleared of" 

 trees for surveying purposes. It was too late in the day, and 

 there was too little hope of a view, to induce us to complete 

 the ascent to the highest peak, so, bidding adieu to the place 

 until some brighter season, in the midst of the thick fog,, 

 which had again overspread the country, we descended from 

 our lofty position, and trudged back towards Darjeeling, passing- 

 on our way a black and gloomy-looking little patch of watery 

 which seemed more like a rain-puddle than the mountain-tarn 

 I supposed it to be. 



From the summit of Sinchul, in clear weather, is to be- 

 obtained a wide and marvellous view of the Nepal, Sikkim T 

 and Bhotan Himalayas, presenting to the beholder a great and 

 almost graduated crowd of mountains, extending from the- 

 lesser hills in the valley of the Great Bunjeet river to those 

 matchless tiers of snowy peaks which cluster round the stu- 

 pendous mass of Kinchin-junga, and afford a prospect which,,, 

 for grandeur and sublimity, has no parallel on earth. 



* My subsequent experience of these forests has shown that the scarcity oi 

 birds, on the occasion referred to, was owing chiefly to the earliness of the season j 

 for, by the middle of May, the woods were full of feathered creatures, and fairly 

 ringing with the clear, metallic whistle of the black-headed sibia (Sibia cajpis- 

 trata) . 



