Jan. 1849. RETURN TO DORJILTNG. 371 



the Kajee of Lingcham, on the way down: he humbly begged 

 me to get him a pair of spectacles, for no other object than 

 to look wise, as he had the eyes of a hawk ; he told me that 

 mine drew down universal respect in Sikkim, and that I had 

 been drawn with them on, in the temple at Changachelling ; 

 and that a pair would not only wonderfully become him, 

 but afford him the most pleasing recollections of myself. 

 Happily I had the means of gratifying him, and have since 

 been told that he wears them on state occasions. 



I encamped by the river, 3,160 feet above the sea, 

 amongst figs and plantains, on a broad terrace of pebbles, 

 boulders and sand, ten feet above the stream ; the rocks in 

 the latter were covered with a red conferva. The sand 

 on the banks was disposed in layers, alternately white and 

 red, the white being quartz, and the red pulverised garnets. 

 The arranging of these sand-bands by the water must be due 

 to the different specific gravities of the garnet and quartz; the 

 former being lighter, is lifted by the current on to the surface 

 of the quartz, and left there when the waters retire. 



On the next day I ascended Hee hill, crossed it at an 

 elevation of 7,290 feet, and camped on the opposite side at 

 6,680 feet, in a dense forest. The next march was still 

 southward to the little Rungeet guard-house, below Dorjiling 

 spur, which I reached after a fatiguing walk amidst torrents 

 of rain. The banks of the little Rungeet river, which is only 

 1,670 feet above the sea, are very flat and low, with broad 

 terraces of pebbles and shingle, upon which are huge gneiss 

 boulders, fully 200 feet above the stream. 



On the 19th of January, I ascended the Tukvor spur to 

 Dorjiling, and received a most hospitable welcome from my 

 friend Mr. Muller, now almost the only European inhabitant 

 of the place ; Mr. Hodgson having gone down on a shooting 

 excursion in the Terai, and Dr. Campbell being on duty 



