388 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SIKKIM. Appendix E. 



to give an intelligible view of the main features of the whole 

 country.* 



The greater part of the country between Sikkim and the sea is a 

 dead level, occupied by the delta of the Granges and Burrampooter, 

 above which the slope is so gradual to the base of the mountains, 

 that the surface of the plain from which the Himalayas immediately 

 rise is only 300 feet above the sea. The most obvious effect of this 

 position is, that the prevailing southerly wind reaches the first 

 range of hills, loaded with vapour. The same current, when deflected 

 easterly to Bhotan, or westerly to Nepal and the north-west Hima- 

 laya, is intercepted and drained of much moisture, by the Khasia 

 and Grarrow mountains (south of Assam and the Burrampooter) in 

 the former case, and the Rajmahal hills (south of the Granges) in the 

 latter. Sikkim is hence the dampest region of the whole Himalaya. 



Viewed from a distance on the plains of India, Sikkim presents 

 the appearance — common to all mountainous countries — of consecutive 

 parallel ridges, running east and west: these are all wooded, and backed 

 by a beautiful range of snowy peaks, with occasional breaks in the 

 foremost ranges, through which the rivers debouch. Any view of the 

 Himalaya, especially at a sufficient distance for the remote snowy 

 peaks to be seen overtopping the outer ridges, is, however, rare, from 

 the constant deposition of vapours over the forest-clad ranges during the 

 greater part of the year, and the haziness of the dry atmosphere of the 

 plains in the winter months. At the end of the rains, when the south- 

 east monsoon has ceased to blow with constancy, views are obtained, 

 sometimes from a distance of nearly two hundred miles. Prom the 

 plains, the highest peaks subtend so small an angle, that they appear 

 like white specks very low on the horizon, tipping the black lower 

 and outer wooded ranges, which always rise out of a belt of haze, 

 and from the density, probably, of the lower strata of atmosphere, 

 are never seen to rest on the visible horizon. The remarkable 

 lowness on the horizon of the whole stupendous mass is always a 

 disappointing feature to the new comer, who expects to see dazzling 

 peaks towering in the air. Approaching nearer, the snowy mountams 



This I did with reference especially to the cultivation of Rhododendrons, 

 in a paper which the Horticultural Society of London did me the honour of 

 printing. Quarterly Journ. of Hort. Soc, vol. vii., p. 82. 



