May, 1849. VEGETATION OF CHATENG. 33 



and many other plants/* not found at equal elevations on 

 the outer ranges of the Himalaya. 



Chateng, a spur from the lofty peak of Tukcham,t 19,472 

 feet high, rises 1000 feet above the west bank of the river ; 

 and where crossed, commands one of the finest alpine views 

 in Sikkim. It was grassy, strewed with huge boulders of 

 gneiss, and adorned with clumps of park-like pines : on 

 the summit was a small pool, beautifully fringed with 

 bushy trees of white rose, a white-blossomed apple, a 

 Pyrus like Aria, another like mountain-ash, scarlet rhodo- 

 dendrons {arbor emu and barbatum), holly, maples, and 

 Goughia,\ a curious evergreen laurel-like tree : there 

 were also Daphnes, purple magnolia, and a pink sweet- 

 blossomed S-phcerostema. Many English water-plants § 

 grew in the water, but I found no shells ; tadpoles, how- 

 ever, swarmed, which later in the season become large 

 frogs. The "painted-lady' butterfly {Cynthia Car did), 

 and a pretty " blue ' were flitting over the flowers, to- 

 gether with some great tropical kinds, that Avander so far 

 up these valleys, accompanying Marlea, the only sub- 

 tropical tree that ascends to 8,500 feet in the interior of 

 Sikkim. 



The river runs close under the eastern side of the 



* Wood-sorrel, a white-stemmed bramble, birch, some maples, nut, gigantic lily 

 {Lillum giganteum), Euphorbia, Pedicularis, Spircea, Philadelphus, Deutzia, Iiidi- 

 gofera, and various other South Europe and North American genera. 



f " Tuk" signifies head in Lepcha. and "ch earn" or " cbaum," I believe, has 

 reference to the snow. The height of Tukcham has been re-calculated by Capt. R. 

 Strachey, with angles taken by myself, at Dorjiling and Jillapahar, and is 

 approximate only. 



X This fine plant was named (Wight, " Ic. Plant.") in honour of Capt. Gough, son 

 of the late commander-in-chief, and an officer to whom the botany of the penin- 

 sula of India is greatly indebted. It is a large and handsome evergreen, very 

 similar in foliage to a fine rhododendron, and would prove an invaluable ornament 

 on our lawns, if its hardier varieties were introduced into this country. 



§ Spargawium, Typha, Potamogeton, Callitricke, Utricidaria, sedges and rushes. 



vol. n, D 



