184 COURAGE OF A LEPCHA. Chap. XXIV. 



in voiui£ fruit, bushes of Cotbneaster covered with scarlet 

 berries, and the brushwood silvery with the feathery heads 

 of Clematis. 



I here found that I had lost a thermometer for high 

 temperatures, owing to a hole in the bag in which Cheytoong 

 carried those of my instruments which were in constant 

 use. It had been last used at the hot springs of the Kin- 

 chinjhow glacier ; and the poor lad was so concerned at his 

 mishap, that he came to me soon afterwards, with his 

 blanket on his back, and a few handfuls of rice in a bag, to 

 make his salaam before setting out to search for it. There 

 was not now a single inhabitant between Lachoong and 

 that dreary spot, and strongly against my wish he started, 

 without a companion. Three days afterwards he overtook 

 us at Keadom, radiant with joy at having found the instru- 

 ment : he had gone up to the hot springs, and vainly 

 sought around them that evening ; then rather than lose the 

 chance of a day -light search on his way back, he had spent 

 the cold October night in the hot water, without fire or 

 shelter, at 16,000 feet above the sea. Next morning his 

 search was again fruitless; and he was returning disconsolate, 

 when he descried the brass case glistening between two 

 planks of the bridge crossing the river at Momay, over which 

 torrent the instrument was suspended. The Lepchas have 

 generally been considered timorous of evil spirits, and 

 especially averse to travelling at night, even in company. 

 However little this gallant lad may have been given to 

 superstition, he was nevertheless a Lepcha, born in a warm 

 region, and had never faced the cold till he became my 

 servant ; and it required a stout heart and an honest one, 

 to spend a night in so awful a solitude as that which reigns 

 around the foot of the Kinchinjhow glacier.* 



The fondness of natives for hot springs wherever they occur is very natural. 



