362 SIKKIM HIMALAYA. Chap. XVI. 



which I was always careful to leave on the right hand in 

 passing, such being the rule among Boodhists, the same 

 which ordains that the praying-cylinder or " Mani " be 

 made to revolve in a direction against the sun's motion. 



This great chait is the largest in Sikkim ; it is called 

 " Nirbogong," and appears to be fully forty feet high ; 

 facing it is a stone altar about fifteen feet long and four 

 broad, and behind this again is a very curious erection 

 called "Song-boom," used for burning juniper as incense ; it 

 resembles a small smelting furnace, and consists of an elon- 

 gated conical stone building eight feet high, raised on a 

 single block ; it is hollow, and divided into three stories 

 or chambers ; in the lower of which is a door, by which fuel 

 is placed inside, and the smoke ascending through holes 

 in the upper slabs, escapes by lateral openings from the top 

 compartment. These structures are said to be common in 

 Tibet, but I saw no other in Sikkim. 



During my stay at Yoksun, the weather was very cold, 

 especially at night, considering the elevation (5,600 feet) : 

 the mean temperature was 39°, the extremes being 19° 2 

 and 60° ; and even at 8 a.m. the thermometer, laid on the 

 frosty grass, stood at 20° ; temperatures which are rare at 

 Dorjiling, 1500 feet higher, I could not but regard with 

 surprise such half tropical genera as perennial-leaved vines, 

 Saccharum,IJri/thrina,\2ix%p bamboos, Osbeckia and cultivated 

 millet, resisting such low temperatures.* 



On the 14th January I left Yoksun for the lake and 

 temples of Catsuperri, the former of which is by much the 

 largest in Sikkim. After a steep descent of 1800 feet, we 

 reached the Ratong, where its bed is only 3,790 feet above 



* This is no doubt due to the temperature of the soil being always high : I did 

 not sink a thermometer at Yoksun, but from observations taken at similar eleva- 

 tions, the temperature of the earth, at three feet depth, may be assumed to be 55°. 



