1849.] excursion from Dar filing to Tongld. 441 



ague.* The tent being too sodden to carry, we had no choice but to 

 remain where we were, and there being abundance of novelty within 

 20 yards of the tent, there was no difficulty, with such a pursuit as 

 Botany, in getting through the day. Observing the track of sheep we 

 sent two Lepchas on the scent, who after being absent the whole day, 

 returned from some miles west in Nepal, with two sheep and as many 

 lambs. The shepherds were Goorongs of Nepal, who were grazing 

 their flocks on a grassy mouatain top, from which the woods had been 

 cleared ; probably by fire. These to the Lepchas was a great boon, 

 but the Hindus would not touch the flesh, and several more sickening 

 during the day, we had the tent most uncomfortably full.f 



Our inability to obtain a view was extremely disheartening, the moun- 

 tain commanding a superb prospect. It embraces nearly 100 miles of the 

 snowy range, from far west in Nepal, to Kunchinjinga and its five sister- 

 peaks, varying from 20,000 to 28,000 ft., and from which an uninter- 

 cepted succession of snowy ridges sweeps round to east. The culminant 

 points of this rise several to 21,000, and many to upwards of 18,000 

 ft. Chamalari, on the Thibetan plain, rears its head above the eastern 

 amphitheatre of snows, at a distance of 80 miles. S. E. are the sub- 

 Himalayas of Bhootan, and all between the billowy mountain masses of 

 Sikkim. South, the eye should have ranged over the plains of India, 

 the courses of the Teesta, the Konki, the Cosi, and the innumerable 

 smaller streams which debouche on the plain. 



During the whole of the 22nd, from 7 a. m. to 11 p. m., the Ther- 

 mometer never varied 6° 5 degrees, ranging from 47.5 in the morning 

 to 54°, its maximum, at 1 p. m., and 50.7 at night. At 7 the follow- 

 ing morning it was the same. A Thermometer sunk 2 ft. 6 inches in 

 deep vegetable mould and clay, maintained for two days the constant 



* It is a remarkable fact, that both the natives of the plains under many cir- 

 cumstances, and the Lepchas, when suffering from protracted cold and wet, take 

 fever and ague in sharp attacks. The disease is wholly unknown amongst Euro- 

 peans residing above 4000 ft., similar exposure in whom, brings on rheumatism and 

 cold, even in constitutions predisposed to the former, by repeated attacks of fevers 

 in other climates. 



t This was a most convenient hill tent, kindly lent us by Major Cromelin of 

 Darjiling ; it goes on one man's shoulders, and accommodates two persons with a 

 little management. 



