Mat, 184a RHODODENDRONS, &c. 1«7 



have devised many tortures, mechanical and chemical, to 

 induce these disgusting intruders to withdraw the proboscis, 

 but in vain. Leeches* also swarm below 7000 feet ; a 

 small black species above 3000 feet, and a large yellow- 

 brown solitary one below that elevation. 



Our ascent to the summit was by the bed of a water- 

 course, now a roaring torrent, from the heavy and incessant 

 rain. A small Anar/aUis (like teneHa), and a beautiful 

 purple primrose, grew by its bank. The top of the moun- 

 tain is another flat ridge, with depressions and broad pools. 

 The number of additional species of plants found here was 

 great, and all betokened a rapid approach to the alpine re- 

 gion of the Himalaya. In order of prevalence the trees 

 were, — the scarlet JR//oc/odendro/j arboreum and barbatutn, 

 as large bushy trees, both loaded with beautiful flowers and 

 luxuriant foliage ; B. Falconeri, in point of foliage the most 

 superb of all the Himalayan species, with trunks thirty feet 

 high, and branches bearing at their ends only leaves 

 eighteen inches long : these are deep green above, and 

 covered beneath with a rich brown down. Xext in abun- 

 dance to these were shrubs of Skim ruin Laureola^ Symplocos, 

 and Hydrangea ; and there were still a few purple magnolias, 

 very large Pyri, like mountain ash, and the common English 



* I cannot but think that the extraordinary abundance of these Andidesm 

 Sikkim may cause the death of many animals. Some marked murrains have 

 followed very wet seasons, when the leeches appear in incredible numbers ; and 

 the disease in the cattle, described to me by the Lepchas as in the stomach, in no 

 way differs from what leeches would produce. It is a well-known fact, that these 

 creatures have lived for days in the fauces, nares, and stomachs of the human 

 subject, causing dreadful sufferings, and death. I have seen the cattle feeding in 

 places where the leeches so abounded, that fifty or sixty were frequently together 

 on my ankles : and ponies are almost maddened by their biting the fetlocks. 



t This plant has been lately introduced into English gardens, from the north- 

 west Himalaya, and is greatly admired for its aromatic, evergreen foliage, and 

 clusters of scarlet berries. It is a curious fact, that this plant never bears scarlet 

 berries in Sikkim, apparently owing to the want of sun : the fruit ripens, but is of 

 a greenish-red or purplish colour. 



