146 GREAT RUNGEET. Chap. VI. 



where there is more dry country, its range is about the same, 

 and in the north-west Himalaya, from 2,500 to 7000 feet. 



The Lepcha never inhabits one spot for more than three 

 successive years, after which an increased rent is demanded 

 by the Rajah. He therefore squats in any place which he 

 can render profitable for that period, and then moves to 

 another. His first operation, after selecting a site, is to 

 burn the jungle ; then he clears away the trees, and culti- 

 vates between the stumps. At this season, firing the 

 jungle is a frequent practice, and the effect by night is 

 exceedingly fine j a forest, so dry and full of bamboo, 

 and extending over such steep hills, affording grand blazing 

 spectacles. Heavy clouds canopy the mountains above, 

 and, stretching across the valleys, shut out the firmament ; 

 the air is a dead calm, as usual in these deep gorges, and 

 the fires, invisible by day, are seen raging all around, 

 appearing to an inexperienced eye in all but dangerous 

 proximity. The voices of birds and insects being hushed, 

 nothing is audible but the harsh roar of the rivers, and 

 occasionally, rising far above it, that of the forest fires. At 

 night we were literally surrounded by them ; some smoul- 

 dering, like the shale-heaps at a colliery, others fitfully 

 bursting forth, whilst others again stalked along with a 

 steadily increasing and enlarging flame, shooting out great 

 tongues of fire, which spared nothing as they advanced with 

 irresistible might. Their triumph is in reaching a great 

 bamboo clump, when the noise of the flames drowns that 

 of the torrents, and as the great stem-joints burst, from 

 the expansion of the confined air, the report is as that of a 

 salvo from a park of artillery. At Dorjiling the blaze is 

 visible, and the deadened reports of the bamboos bursting 

 is heard throughout the night ; but in the valley, and 

 within a mile of the scene of destruction, the effect is the 



