72 .. LACHEN VALLEY. Chap. XX. 



in great alarm: he twisted his fingers together over his 

 stomach to symbolise the nature of the malady which pro- 

 duced a commotion in his master's bowels, and which was 

 simply the colic. I was aware that he had been reduced to 

 feed upon " Tong ' (the arum-root) and herbs, and had 

 always given him half the pigeons I shot, which was almost 

 the only animal food I had myself. Now I sent him a 

 powerful dose of medicine ; adding a few spoonfuls of China 

 tea and sugar for friendship. 



On the 22nd, being convalescent, he visited me, looking 

 wofully yellow. After a long pause, during which he 

 tried to ease himself of some weighty matter, he offered to 

 take me to Tungu with my tent and people, and thence to 

 Kongra Lama, if I would promise to stay but two nights. 

 I asked whether Tungu was in Cheen or Sikkim; he replied 

 that after great enquiry he had heard that it was really in 

 Sikkim ; " Then," said I, " we will both go to-morrow 

 morning to Tungu, and I will stay there as long as I 

 please :' ; he laughed, and gave in with apparent good grace. 



After leaving Tallum, the valley contracts, passing over 

 great ancient moraines, and again expanding wider than 

 before into broad grassy flats. The vegetation rapidly 

 diminishes in stature and abundance, and though the 

 ascent to Tungu is trifling, the change in species is very 

 great. The Spiraea, maple, Pieris, cherry, and larch 

 disappear, leaving only willow, juniper, stunted birch, 

 silver fir, white rose, Arcdia, berberry, currant, and 

 more rhododendrons than all these put together ; * 



1 Cyananthus, a little blue flower allied to Campanula, and one of the most 

 beautiful alpines I know, covered the turfy ground, with Orchis, Peclicularis, 

 Gentian, Potentilla, Geranium, purple and yellow Meconopsis, and the Artemisia of 

 Dorjiling, which ascends to 12,000 feet, and descends to the plains, having a range 

 of 11,500 feet in elevation. Of ferns, Hymenopliyllum, Cistopteris, and Crypto- 

 gramma crispa ascend thus high. 



