14 LACHEN-LACHOONG VALLEY. Chap. XVIII. 



After crossing the Teesta by the cane bridge of Lingo, 

 our route lay over a steep and lofty spur, round which the 

 river makes a great sweep. On the ascent of this ridge 

 we passed large villages on flats cultivated with buck- 

 wheat. The saddle is 5,500 feet high, and thence a rapid 

 descent leads to the village of Singtam, which faces the 

 north, and is 300 feet lower, and 3000 feet above the 

 river, which is here no longer called the Teesta, but is 

 known as the Lachen-Lachoong, from its double origin 

 in the rivers of these names, which unite at Choongtam, 

 twenty miles higher up. Of these, the source of the 

 Lachen is in the Cholamoo lakes in Tibet • while the 

 Lachoong rises on the south flank of Donkia mountain, 

 both many marches north of my present position. At 

 Singtam the Lachen-Lachoong runs westward, till joined 

 by the Rihi from the north, and the Rinoong from the 

 west, after receiving which it assumes the name of Teesta : 

 of these affluents, the Rinoong is the largest, and drains 

 the south-east face of Kinchinjunga and Pundim, and the 

 north of Nursing : all which mountains are seen to the 

 north-north-west of Singtam. The Rinoong valley is culti- 

 vated for several miles up, and has amongst others the 

 village and Lamasery of Bah. Beyond this the view of 

 black, rugged precipices with snowy mountains towering 

 above them, is one of the finest in Sikkim. There is a 

 pass in that direction, from Bah over the Tekonglah to the 

 Thlonok valley, and thence to the province of Jigatzi in 

 Tibet, but it is almost impracticable. 



A race of wild men, called " Harrum-mo," are said to 

 inhabit the head of the valley, living in the woods of a dis- 

 trict called Mund-po, beyond Bah ; thev shun habitations, 

 speak an unintelligible tongue, have more hair on the face 

 than Lepchas, and do not plait that of their heads, but 



