182 YEUMTONG. Chap. XXIV. 



I was disappointed at finding the rhododendron seeds 

 still immature at Yeumtong, for I was doubtful whether the 

 same kinds might be met with at the Chola pass, which I 

 had yet to visit ; besides which, their tardy maturation 

 threatened to delay me for an indefinite period in the 

 country. Viburnum and Lonicera, however, were ripe 

 and abundant ; the fruits of both are considered poisonous 

 in Europe, but here the black berries of a species of the 

 former (called " Nalum ") are eatable and agreeable ; 

 as are those of a Gualtheria, which are pale blue, and 

 called " Kalumbo." Except these, and the cherry men- 

 tioned above, there are no other autumnal fruits above 

 10,000 feet: brambles, strange as it may appear, do not 

 ascend beyond that elevation in the Sikkim Himalaya, 

 though so abundant below it, both in species and indivi- 

 duals, and though so typical of northern Europe. 



At Lachoong we found all the yaks that had been 

 grazing till the end of September at the higher elevations, 

 and the Phipun presented our men with one of a gigantic 

 size, and proportionally old and tough. The Lepchas 



October to that of May, vegetation is torpid above 14,000 feet, and indeed almost 

 uniformly covered with snow. From November till the middle of April, vegeta- 

 tion is also torpid above 10,000 feet, except that a few trees and bushes do not 

 ripen all their seeds till December. The three winter months (December, January, 

 and February) are all but dead above 6000 feet, the earliest appearance of spring 

 at Dorjiling (7000 feet) being at the sudden accession of heat in March. From 

 May till August the vegetation at each elevation is (in ascending order) a month 

 behind that below it ; 4000 feet being about equal to a month of summer weather 

 in one sense. I mean by this, that the genera and natural orders (and sometimes 

 the species) which flower at 8000 feet in May, are not so forward at 12,000 

 feet till June, nor at 16,000 feet till July. After August, however, the reverse 

 holds good; then the vegetation is as forward at 16,000 feet as at 8000 

 feet. By the end of September most of the natural orders and genera have 

 ripened their fruit in the upper zone, though they have flowered as late as July ; 

 whereas October is the fruiting month at 12,000, and November below 10,000 

 feet. Dr. Thomson does not consider that the more sunny climate of the loftier 

 elevations sufficiently accounts for this, and adds the stimulus of cold, which 

 must act by checking the vegetative organs and hastening maturation. 



