142 MOMAY. Chap. XXIII. 



junga in the distance.* The Palung plains, now yellow 

 with withered grass, were the most curious part of the view : 

 hemmed in by this range which rises 2000 feet above 

 them, and by the Lachen hills on the east, they appeared a 

 dead level, from which Kinchinjhow reared its head, like 

 an island from the ocean. f The black tents of the Tibetans 

 were still there, but the flocks were gone. The broad 

 fosse-like valley of the Chachoo was at my feet, Avith the 

 river winding along its bottom, and its flanks dotted with 

 black juniper bushes. 



The temperature at this elevation, between 1 and 3 p.m., 

 varied from 38° to 59°; the mean being 46°' 5, with the 

 dew-point 34°' 6. The height I made 17,585 feet by 

 barometer, and 17,517 by boiling-point. I tried the pulses 

 of eight persons after two hours' rest ; they varied from 

 80 to 112, my own being 104. As usual at these heights, 

 all the party were suffering from giddiness and headaches. 



Throughout September various parties passed my tent at 

 Momay, generally Lamas or traders : the former, wrapped 

 in blankets, wearing scarlet and gilt mitres, usually rode 

 grunting yaks, which were sometimes led by a slave-boy or a 

 mahogany-faced nun, with a broad yellow sheep-skin cap 

 with flaps over her ears, short petticoats, and striped boots. 

 The domestic utensils, pots, pans, and bamboos of butter, 



* The latter bore 241° 30'; it was distant about thirty-four miles, and subtended 

 an angle of 3° 2' 30/ / The rocks on its north flanks were all black, while those 

 forming the upper 10,000 feet of the south face were white : hence, the top is 

 probably granite, overlaid by the gneiss on the north. 



t It is impossible to contemplate the abrupt flanks of all these lofty mountains, 

 without contrasting them with the sloping outlines that prevail in the southern 

 parts of Sikkim. All such precipices are, I have no doubt, the results of sea 

 action; and all posterior influence of sub- aerial action, aqueous or glacial, tends to 

 wear these precipices into slopes, to fill up valleys and to level mountains. Of all 

 such influences heavy rain-falls and a luxuriant vegetation are probably the most 

 active ; and these features are characteristic of the lower valleys of Sikkim, which 

 are consequently exposed to very different conditions of wear and tear from those 

 which prevail on these loftier rearward ranges. 



