U i SIKKIM HIMALAYA. Chap. XV. 



flakes of hoar-frost in the full moon, which was so bright, 

 that I recorded my observations by its light. Owing to 

 the extreme cold of radiation, I passed a very uncomfort- 

 able night. The minimum thermometer fell to 1° in 

 shade.* The sky was clear ; and every rock, leaf, twig, 

 blade of grass, and the snow itself, were covered with broad 

 rhomboidal plates of hoar-frost, nearly one-third of an inch 

 across : while the metal scale of the thermometer instan- 

 taneously blistered my tongue. As the sun rose, the light 

 reflected from these myriads of facets had a splendid effect. 



Before sunrise the atmosphere was still, and all but 

 cloudless. To the south-east were visible the plains of 

 India, at least 140 miles distant ; where, as usual, horizontal 

 layers of leaden purple vapour obscured the horizon : 

 behind these the sun rose majestically, instantly dispersing 

 them, while a thin haze spread over all the intervening 

 mountains, from its slanting beams reaching me through 

 otherwise imperceptible vapours : these, as the sun 

 mounted higher, again became invisible, though still 

 giving that transparency to the atmosphere and brilliant 

 definition of the distances, so characteristic of a damp, yet 

 clear day. 



Mon Lepcha commands a most extensive view of Sikkiin, 

 southward to Dorjiling. At my feet lay the great and 

 profound valley of the Ratoug, a dark gulf of vegetation. 

 Looking northward, the eye followed that river to the 

 summit of Kinchinjunga (distant eighteen miles), which 

 fronts the beholder as Mont Blanc does when seen from 

 the mountains on the opposite side of the valley of 

 Chamouni. To the east are the immense precipices and 



* At sunrise the temperature was 11£° ; that of grass, cleared on the previous 

 day from snow, and exposed to the sky, 6£° ; that on wool, 2° 2 ; and that on 

 the surface of the si:ow, 0° 7. 





