June, 1849. CAMP AT JUNCTION OF ZEMU AND THLONuK. 41) 



the boulders rolling along its bed, was my lullaby for many 

 nights. Its temperature at Zemu Samdong was 4 5° to 46° 

 in June. At its junction with the Thlonok, it comes down 

 a steep gulley from the north, foreshortened into a cataract 

 1000 feet high, and appearing the smaller stream of the 

 two ; whilst the Thlonok winds down from the snowy face 

 of Kinchinjunga, which is seen up the valley, bearing 

 W.S.W., about twenty miles distant. All around are 

 lofty and rocky mountains, sparingly wooded with pines 

 and larch, chiefly on their south flanks, which receive the 

 warm, moist, up-valley winds ; the faces exposed to the 

 north being colder and more barren : exactly the reverse of 

 what is the case at Choongtam, where the rocky and sunny 

 south-exposed flanks are the driest. 



My tent was pitched on a broad terrace, opposite 

 the junction of the Zemu and Thlonok, and 10,850 feet 

 above the sea. It was sheltered by some enormous 

 transported blocks of gneiss, fifteen feet high, and sur- 

 rounded by a luxuriant vegetation of most beautiful 

 rhododendrons in full flower, willow, white rose, white- 

 flowered cherry, thorn, maple and birch. Some great 

 tuberous-rooted Arums * were very abundant ; and the 

 ground was covered with small pits, in which were large 

 wooden pestles : these are used in the preparation of food 

 from the arums, to which the miserable inhabitants of 

 the valley have recourse in spring, when their yaks are 

 calving. The roots are bruised with the pestles, and 

 thrown into these holes with water. Acetous fermentation 

 commences in seven or eight days, which is a sign that the 

 acrid poisonous principle is dissipated : the pulpy, sour, 

 and fibrous mass is then boiled and eaten ; its nutriment 



* Two species of Arisa>via, called "Tong" by the Tibetans, and " Sink re e " by 

 the Lepchas. 



VOL. II. E 



