188 SINGTAM. Chap. XXIV. 



At Chakoong the temperature of the river, which in 

 May was 54°, was now 51° 5 at 3 p.m. We did not halt 

 here, but proceeded to Namgah, a very long and fatiguing 

 march. Thence a short march took us to Singtam, which 

 we reached on the 30th of October. The road by which I 

 had come up was for half the distance obliterated in most 

 parts by landslips,* but they were hard and dry, and the 

 leeches were gone. 



Bad weather, and Campbell's correspondence with the 

 Durbar, who prevented all communication with the Rajah, 

 detained us here two days, after which Ave crossed to the 

 Teesta valley, and continued along its east bank to 

 Tucheam, 2000 feet above the river. We obtained a 

 magnificent view of the east face of Kinchinjunga, its 

 tops bearing respectively N. 62° W., and N. 63° W. : the 

 south slope of the snowed portion in profile was 34°, and 

 of the north 40°; but both appeared much steeper to the 

 eye, when unaided by an instrument. 



The great shrubby nettle {TJrtica crenulata) is common 

 here : this plant, called " Mealum-nia," attains fifteen 

 feet in height; it has broad glossy leaves, and though 

 apparently without stings, is held in so great dread, f that 



I took a number of dips and strikes of the micaceous rocks : the strike of 

 these was as often north-east as north-west ; it was ever varying, and the strata 

 were so disturbed, as materially to increase the number and vast dimensions of 

 the landslips. 



f The stinging hairs are microscopic, and confined to the young shoots, leaf 

 and flower-stalks. Leschenault de la Tour describes being stung by this nettle 

 on three fingers of his hand only at the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, and the 

 subsequent sneezing and running at the nose, followed by tetanic symptoms and 

 two days' suffering, nor did the effects disappear for nine days. It is a remarkable 

 fact that the plant stings violently only at this season. I frequently gathered it 

 with impunity on subsequent occasions, and suspected some inaccuracy in my 

 observations ; but in Silhet both Dr. Thomson and I experienced the same effects 

 in autumn. Endlicher ("Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom") attributes the causticity 

 of nettle-juice to bicarbonate of ammonia, which Dr. Thomson and I ascertained 

 was certainly not present in this species. 



