May, 1849. ASCEND TENDONG. 3 



party at the Great Rungeet river. I had forty-two in all, 

 of whom the majority were young Lepchas, or Sikkim- 

 born people of Tibetan races : all were active and cheerful 

 looking fellows ; only one was goitred, and he had been 

 a salt-trader. I was accompanied by a guard of five 

 Sepoys, and had a Lepcha and Tibetan interpreter. I 

 took but one personal servant, a Portuguese half-caste 

 (John Hoffman by name), who cooked for me : he was a 

 native of Calcutta, and though hardy, patient, and long- 

 suffering, and far better-tempered, was, in other respects, 

 very inferior to Clamanze, who had been my servant the 

 previous year, and who, having been bred to the sea, was 

 as handy as he was clever ; but who, like all other natives 

 of the plains, grew intolerably weary of the hills, and 

 left me. 



The first part of my route lay over Tendong, a very 

 fine mountain, which rises 8,613 feet, and is a conspicuous 

 feature from Dorjiling, wdiere it is known as Mount Ararat. 

 The Lepchas have a curious legend of a man and woman 

 having saved themselves on its summit, during a flood 

 that once deluged Sikkim. The coincidence of this story 

 with the English name of Ararat suggests the probability 

 of the legend being fabulous ; but I am positively assured 

 that it is not so, but that it was current amongst the 

 Lepchas before its English name was heard of, and that 

 the latter was suggested from the peculiar form of its 

 summit resembling that given in children's books as the 

 resting-place of the ark. 



The ascent from the Great Rungeet (alt. 818 feet) is 

 through dry woods of Sal and Pines (P. longifolict). I 

 camped the first night at the village of Mikk (alt. 3,900 

 feet), and on the following day ascended to Namtc (alt, 

 5,600 feet). 



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