May, 1848. CANE BRIDGE. 149 



gravelly bed. Crossing the Rungmo, where it falls into 

 the Rungeet, we came upon a group of natives drinking 

 fermented Murwa liquor, under a rock ; I had a good 

 deal of difficulty in getting my people past, and more in 

 inducing one of the topers to take the place of a Ghorka 

 (Nepalese) of our party who was ill with fever. Soon 

 afterwards, at a most wild and beautiful spot, I saw, for 

 the first time, one of the most characteristic of Himalayan 

 objects of art, a cane bridge. All the spurs, round the 

 bases of which the river flowed, were steep and rocky, 

 their flanks clothed with the richest tropical forest, their 

 crests tipped with pines. On the river's edge, the Banana, 

 Pandanns, and Bauhinia, were frequent, and Figs prevailed. 

 One of the latter (of an exceedingly beautiful species) pro- 

 jected over the stream, growing out of a mass of rock, its 

 roots interlaced and grasping at every available support, 

 while its branches, loaded with deep glossy foliage, hung over 

 the water. This tree formed one pier for the canes ; that 

 on the opposite bank was constructed of strong piles, 

 propped with large stones ; and between them swung the 



bridge,* about eighty yards long, ever rocking over the 

 torrent (forty feet below). The lightness and extreme 

 simplicity of its structure were very remarkable. Two 

 parallel canes, on the same horizontal plane, were stretched 

 across the stream; from them others hung in loops, and along 



* A sketch of one of these bridges will be found in Vol. ii. 



