150 TUNGU. Chap. XXIII. 



Amongst other luxuries, we procured the flesh of yak 

 calves, which is excellent veal : we always returned the foot 

 for the mother to lick while being milked, without which 

 she yields nothing. The yak goes nine months with calf, 

 and drops one every two years, bearing altogether ten or 

 twelve : the common Sikkiin cow of lower elevations, at 

 Dorjiling invariably goes from nine and a half to ten 

 months, and calves annually : ponies go eleven months, and 

 foal nearly every year. In Tibet the sheep are annually 

 sheared ; the ewes drop their young in spring and autumn, 

 but the lambs born at the latter period often die of cold 

 and starvation, and double lambing is unknown ; whereas, 

 in the plains of Bengal (where, however, sheep cannot be 

 said to thrive without pulse fodder) twins are constantly 

 born. At Dorjiling the sheep drop a lamb once in the season. 

 The Tibetan mutton we generally found dry and stringy. 



In these regions many of my goats and kids had died 

 foaming at the mouth and grinding their teeth; and 

 I here discovered the cause to arise from their eating the 

 leaves of Rhododendron cinnabarinum* ("Kema Kechoong," 

 Lepcha : Kema signifying Rhododendron) : this species 

 alone is said to be poisonous; and when used as fuel, 

 it causes the face to swell and the eyes to inflame; of 

 which I observed several instances. As the subject of 

 fire-wood is of every-day interest to the traveller in these 

 regions, I may here mention that the rhododendron woods 

 afford poor fires ; juniper burns the brightest, and with 

 least smoke. Abies Webbiana, though emitting much 

 smoke, gives a cheerful fire, far superior to larch, f spruce, 

 or Abies Bmnoniana. At Dorjiling, oak is the common 



* The poisonous honey produced by other species is alluded to at vol. i., p. 201. 

 An Andromeda and a Gualtheria, I have been assured are equally deleterious. 



f The larch of northern Asia (Larix Europcea) is said to produce a pungent 

 smoke, which I never observed to be the case with the Sikkim species. 



