76 LACHEN VALLEY. Chap. XX. 



consternation, slid backwards down a turfy slope, pawing the 

 earth with his fore-feet as he went, and leaving me on the 

 ground, amid shrieks of laughter from my Lepchas. My 

 steed being caught, I again mounted, and was being led 

 forward, when he took to shaking himself like a dog till 

 the pad slipped under his belly, and I was again unhorsed. 

 Other ponies displayed equal prejudices against my mode 

 of riding, or having my weight anywhere but well on their 

 shoulders, being all-powerful in their fore-quarters ; and so 

 I was compelled to adopt the high demi-pique saddle with 

 short stirrups, which forced me to sit with my knees up 

 to my nose, and to grip with the calves of my. legs and 

 heels. All the gear was of yak or horse-hair, and the bit 

 was a curb and ring, or a powerful twisted snaffle. 



The path ran N.N.W. for two miles, and then crossed 

 the Lachen above its junction with the Nunee * from the 

 west : the stream was rapid, and twelve yards in breadth ; 

 its temperature was 48°. About six miles above Tungu, 

 the Lachen is joined by the Chomio-choo, a large affluent 

 from Chomiomo mountain. Above this the Lachen mean- 

 ders along a broad stony bed, and the path rises over a 

 great ancient moraine, whose level top is covered with 

 pools, but both that and its south face are bare, from 

 exposure to the south wind, which blows with fury through 

 this contracted part of the valley to the rarified atmosphere 

 of the lofty, open, and dry country beyond. Its north slope, 

 on the contrary, is covered with small trees and brush- 

 wood, rhododendron, birch, honeysuckle, and mountain- 

 ash. These are the most northern shrubs in Sikkim, and 

 I regarded them with deep interest, as being possibly the 



r I suspect there is a pass by the Nunee to the sheds I saw up the Zemu valley 

 on the 2nd of July, as I observed yaks grazing high up the mountains : the 

 distance cannot be great, and there is little or no snow to interfere. 



