CHAPTER XV. 



Leave Yoksun for Kinchinjunga — Ascend Ratong valley — Salt-smuggling over 

 Ratong — Landslips — Plants — Buckeem — Blocks of gneiss — Mon Lepcha — 

 View — Weather — View from Gubroo — Kinchinjunga, tops of — Pundim 

 cliff — Nursing — Vegetation of Himalaya — Coup d'ceil of Jongri — Route to 

 Yalloong — Arduous route of salt-traders from Tibet — Kinchin, ascent of — 

 Lichens — Surfaces sculptured by snow and ice — Weather at Jongri — Snow — 

 Shades for eyes. 



I left Yoksun on an expedition to Kinchinjunga on the 

 7th of January. It was evident that at this season I could 

 not attain any height ; but I was most anxious to reach the 

 lower limit of that mass of perpetual snow which descends 

 in one continuous sweep from 28,000 to 15,000 feet, and. 

 radiates from the summit of Kinchin, along every spur and 

 shoulder for ten to fifteen miles, towards each point of the 

 compass. 



The route lay for the first mile over the Yoksun flat, and 

 then wound along the almost precipitous east flank of the 

 Ratong, 1000 feet above its bed, leading through thick 

 forest. It was often difficult, crossing torrents by culms 

 of bamboo, and leading up precipices by notched poles and 

 roots of trees. I wondered what could have induced' the 

 frequenting of such a route to Nepal, when there were so 

 many better ones over Singalelah, till I found from my 

 guide that he had habitually smuggled salt over this pass 

 to avoid the oppressive duty levelled by the Dewan on all 

 imports from Tibet by the eastern passes : he further told 



