186 LACHOOtfG VALLEY. Chap. XXIV. 



elevation; and grasses, which, though rare in the damp forest 

 regions, are so common on these slopes that I here gathered 

 twenty-six kinds. I spent a day here in order to collect 

 seeds of the superb rhododendrons * which I had discovered 

 in May, growing on the hills behind. The ascent was 

 now difficult, from the length of the wiry grass, which ren- 

 dered the slopes so slippery that it was impossible to 

 ascend without holding on by the tussocks. 



A ragged Tibetan mendicant (Phud) was amusing the 

 people : he put on a black mask with cowrie shells for 

 eyes, and danced uncouth figures with a kind of heel 

 and toe shuffle, in excellent time, to rude Tibetan songs 

 of his own : for this he received ample alms, which a 

 little boy collected in a wallet. These vagrants live well 

 upon charity ; they bless, curse, and transact little affairs of 

 all kinds up and down the valleys of Sikkim and Tibet : 

 this one dealt in red clay teapots, sheep and puppies. 



We found Meepo at Choongtam : I had given him leave 

 (when here last) to go back to the Rajah, and to visit his 

 wife ; and he had returned with instructions to conduct me 

 to the Chola and Yakla passes, in Eastern Sikkim. These 

 passes, like that of Tunkra (p. 110), lead over the Chola 

 range to that part of Tibet which is interposed between 

 Sikkim and Bhotan. My road lay past the Rajah's resi- 

 dence, which we considered very fortunate, as apparently 

 affording Campbell an opportunity of a conference with his 

 highness, for which both he and the Tchebu Lama were 

 most anxious. 



On the way down the Lachen-Lachoong, we found the 

 valley still flooded (as described at p. 20 and 14G), and the 

 alders standing with their trunks twelve feet under water ; 



* These Rhododendrons are now all flourishing at Kew and elsewhere : they 

 are R. Dalhousice, arboreum, Maddeni, Edgeworthii, Auckland "ti and virgatum. 



