488 Routes from Barjeeling to Thibet. [Nov. 



Routes from Barjeeling to Thibet, by A. Campbell, M. D. Superin- 

 tendant of Barjeeling. 



In March last, I had the pleasure to forward to the Society an Iti- 

 nerary from Darjeeling to Lassa, which appeared in the April No. of 

 the Journal ; I would not so soon again be a contributor of conjectural 

 information regarding this portion of the Himalaya if any thing at all 

 was known to the Society of its geography : or if circumstances did not 

 preclude the obtaining of precise information by the travels and obser- 

 vations of competent geographers. So it has been however, and the 

 Sikim division of the mountains, with the contiguous border of Thibet, 

 is as yet almost unknown to the public. This will, I am sure, be ac- 

 cepted by the Society as a sufficient excuse for the presentation of these 

 Routes. 



They have been compiled with a good deal of trouble from native 

 travellers. The rude diagram annexed, exhibits the line of 7 routes from 

 Darjeeling towards Thibet. Five of these pass all the way through 

 Sikim to the Thibet frontier, and cross the Snowy range to the east of 

 Kunchinjinga.* The remaining two run through Sikim to the s north 

 and westward of Kunchinjinga, and uniting at Yamgatcha in the Nepal 

 territory, cross the frontier of that state into Thibet by the Kangla- 

 chema Pass. 



Boundaries of Sikim. — Sikim is continuous with Thibet on the 

 north and east from the western shoulder of Kunchinjinga to the 

 Peak marked Notolah. Its south-east boundary is formed by the 

 Rungoh river, which rises from Notolah and falls into the Teesta, divi- 

 ding it from Bootan ; on the north-west the boundary with Nepal is 

 formed by the Kanglanamoo spur of Kunchinjinga and the continuous 

 ranges of Singalelah, Phugloot, Jonglah and Myong, to the head of the 

 Mechi river ; on the west by the Mechi river and on the east by the 

 Teesta river. The southern boundary is on the plain and continuous 

 with our Province of Purneah. 



Mountains. — The grand feature in the geography of Sikim is Kun- 

 chinjinga ; it towers over all the neighbouring peaks of the Himalaya, 

 and is I believe, one of, if not, the highest mountain in the world. The 

 highest peak is about 40 miles north by west of Darjeeling, and is a 

 * For " Chola route," see Journal As. Soc. for April 1848. 



