Dec. 1848. LAMA MUSIC. NUMEROUS CONVENTS. 313 



Throughout Sikkim, we were roused each morning at 

 daybreak by this wild music, the convents being so nu- 

 merous that we were always within hearing of it. To me it 

 was always deeply impressive, sounding so foreign, and 

 awakening me so effectually to the strangeness of the wild 

 land in which I was wandering, and of the many new and 

 striking objects it contained. After sleep, too, during 

 which the mind has either been at rest, or carried away to 

 more familiar subjects, the feelings of loneliness and some- 

 times even of despondency, conjured up by this solemn 

 music, were often almost oppressive. 



Ascending from Neongong, we reached that pass from the 

 Teesta to the Great Rungeet, which I had crossed on the 

 22nd ; and this time we had a splendid view, down both the 

 valleys, of the rivers, and the many spurs from the ridge 

 communicating between Tendong and Mainom, with many 

 scattered villages and patches of cultivation. Near the top 

 I found a plant of " Praong," (a small bamboo), in full 

 seed; this sends up many flowering branches from the 

 root, and but few leaf-bearing ones ; and after maturing its 

 seed, and giving off suckers from the root, the parent 

 plant dies. The "fruit is a dark, long grain, like rice ; it is 

 boiled and made into cakes, or into beer, like Murwa. 



Looking west from the summit, no fewer than ten 

 monastic establishments with their temples, villages and 

 cultivation, were at once visible, in the valley of the Great 

 Rungeet, and in those of its tributaries ; namely, Changa- 

 chelling, Raklang, Dholi, Molli, Catsuperri, Dhoobdi, 

 Sunnook, Powhungri, Pemiongchi and Tassiding, all of con- 

 siderable size, and more or less remarkable in their sites, 

 being perched on spurs or peaks at elevations varying from 

 3000 to 7000 feet, and commanding splendid prospects. 



We encamped at Lingcham, where I had halted on 



