8 TEESTA VALLEY. Chap. XVIII. 



The rains commenced on the 10th of May, greatly 

 increasing the discomforts of travelling, but moderating 

 the heat by drenching thunder-storms, which so soaked 

 the men's loads, that I was obliged to halt a day in the 

 Teesta valley to have waterproof covers made of platted 

 bamboo-work, enclosing Phrynium leaves. I was delighted 

 to find that my little tent was impervious to water, though 

 its thickness was but of one layer of blanket : it was a 

 single ridge with two poles, 7 feet high, 8 feet long, and 

 8 feet broad at the base, forming nearly an equilateral 

 triangle in front. 



Bhomsong was looking more beautiful than ever in its 

 rich summer clothing of tropical foliage. I halted during 

 an hour of heavy rain on the spot where I had spent the 

 previous Christmas, and could not help feeling doubly 

 lonely in a place where every rock and tree reminded me 

 of that pleasant time. The isolation of my position, the 

 hostility of the Dewan, and consequent uncertainty of the 

 success of a journey that absorbed all my thoughts, 

 the prevalence of fevers in the valleys I was traversing, 

 and the many difficulties that beset my path, all crowded 

 on the imagination when fevered by exertion and depressed 

 by gloomy weather, and my spirits involuntarily sank as I 

 counted the many miles and months intervening between 

 me and my home. 



The little flat on which I had formerly encamped was now 

 covered with a bright green crop of young rice. The house 

 then occupied by the Dewan was now empty and unroofed ; 

 but the suspension bridge had been repaired, and its light 

 framework of canes, spanning the boiling flood of the 

 Teesta, formed a graceful object in this most beautiful 

 landscape. The temperature of the river was 58°, only 7° 

 above that of mid- winter, owing to the now melting snows. 



