Nov. 1848. CAMP ON SAKRIAZUNG. 187 



into the Myong, and whose beds are elevated from 2,500 

 to 3000 feet. 



Though rich and fertile, the country is scantily popu- 

 lated, and coolies were procured with difficulty : I therefore 

 sent back to Dorjiling all but absolute indispensables, and 

 on the 9th of November started up the ridge in a northerly 

 direction, taking the road from Ham to Wallanchoon. The 

 ascent was gradual, through a fine forest, full of horn-bills 

 (Buceros), a bird resembling the Toucan (" Dhunass " 

 Lepcha) ; at 700 feet an oak (Quercus semecarpifolid), 

 " Khasrou " of the Nepalese, commences, a tree which 

 is common as far west as Kashmir, but which I never 

 found in Sikkim, though it appears again in Bhotan.* 

 It forms a broad-headed tree, and has a very handsome 

 appearance ; its favourite locality is on grassy open 

 shoulders of the mountains. It was accompanied by an 

 Astragalus, Geranium, and several other plants of the 

 drier interior parts of Sikkim. Water is very scarce along 

 the ridge ; we walked fully eight miles without finding any, 

 and were at length obliged to encamp at 8,350 feet by the 

 only spring that we should be able to reach. With respect 

 to drought, this ridge differs materially from Sikkim, where 

 water abounds at all elevations ; and the cause is obviously 

 its position to the westward of the great ridge of Singa- 

 lelah (including Tonglo) by which the S.W. currents are 

 drained of their moisture. Here again, the east flank was 

 much the dampest and most luxuriantly wooded. 



While my men encamped on a very narrow ridge, I 

 ascended a rocky summit, composed of great blocks of 

 gneiss, from which I obtained a superb view to the west- 

 ward. Immediately below a fearfully sudden decsent, ran 



* This oak ascends in the N. W. Himalaya to the highest limit of forest 

 (12,000 feet). No oak in Sikkim attains a greater elevation than 10,000. 



