42 LAMTENG VILLAGE. Chap. XIX. 



dazzling snow which is seen from Dorjiling, and which, 1 

 was told, is far beyond Sikkim, in Tibet.* I kept up a 

 constant intercourse with Choongtam, sending my plants 

 thither to be dried, and gradually reducing my party as 

 our necessities urged my so doing ; lastly, I sent back the 

 shooters, who had procured very little, and whose occupa- 

 tion was now. gone. 



On the 2nd of June, I received the bad news that a large 

 party of coolies had been sent from Dorjiling with rice, 

 but that being unable or afraid to pass the landslips, 

 they had returned : we had now no food except a kid, a 

 few handfuls of flour, and some potatos, which had been sent 

 up from Choongtam. All my endeavours to gain infor- 

 mation respecting the distance and position of the frontier 

 were unavailing ; probably, indeed, the Lama and Phipun 

 (or chief man of the village), were the only persons who 

 knew ; the villagers calling all the lofty pastures a few 

 marches beyond Lamteng " Bhote" or " Cheen" (Tibet). 

 Dr. Campbell had procured for me information by which 

 I might recognise the frontier were 1 once on it ; but no 

 description could enable me to find my way in a country 

 so rugged and forest-clad, through tortuous and perpetually 

 forking valleys, along often obliterated paths, and under 

 cloud and rain. To these difficulties must be added 

 the deception of the rulers, and the fact (of which I was 

 not then aware), that the Tibet frontier was formerly at 

 Choongtam ; but from the Lepchas constantly harassing 

 the Tibetans, the latter, after the establishment of the 

 Chinese rule over their country, retreated first to Zemu 

 Samdong, a few hours walk above Lamteng, then to 

 Tallinn Samdong, 2000 feet higher ; and, lastly, to 



* Such, however, is not the case; Kinchinjhow is on the frontier of Sikkim, 

 though a considerable distance behind the most snowy of the Sikkim mountains. 



