408 A Journey through Sikim. [No. 5. 



could not starve them, and he had determined that starvation alone 

 should force him to a retrograde movement. He, therefore, held on 

 till he ascertained from me where the Northern boundary of Sikim 

 really lay, of which \ had no idea when he started, and in virtue of the 

 Raja's permission to visit it he determined to reach it. With indomit- 

 able perseverance supported by the courage and patient endurance of his 

 followers, he succeeded in outstarving his tormentors, for the Soobah, 

 who had endured similar self-imposed privations, and had eaten wild 

 spinage, arum roots, and other garbage until he nearly died of the 

 colic, knocked under, and at last admitted that the Kangra Lama Pass 

 was on the frontier, that he had told lies innumerable on the subject, but 

 would now take Dr. Hooker and his men onwards in the hope of their 

 speedy return to Darjeeling. This he did, but not until the end of 

 July, and from that time Dr. Hooker continued to explore and botanise 

 in the Lachen and Lachoong vallies, and up to the passes, throughout 

 the remainder of the rains, at the conclusion of which I joined him. I 

 am not aware that any other European has ever travelled, and lived in 

 a small tent in the Himalaya all through the monsoon, and it is cer- 

 tainly a very severe trial. He had his reward however in great collec- 

 tions of new plants made where no European had ever trod before, in 

 making scientific observations of the confines of Thibet at very high 

 elevations in an unusual season of the year, and in adding much to our 

 Geographical knowledge in that unknown quarter. It was the necessity 

 for ascertaining the real cause of the obstructions he had met with 

 from the Raja's Officers that led to my journey in that direction, and 

 indeed I was little loath to undertake it when I read Hooker's accounts 

 of the new regions he had visited, and of his views into Thibet from 

 the passes both of which he had resolved to revisit after the cessation 

 of the rains for botanical and other purposes. Having obtained the 

 permission of the President of the Council of India, laid in, and suitably 

 packed up, two months' supplies for my own party and Dr. Hooker's, 

 I started at the worst season of the year for travelling in Sikim, — Sep- 

 tember 23rd, — to join him at Choongtam which is at the junction of 

 the Lachen and Lachoong rivers, and with the hope of being allowed 

 to travel through Thibet from the Kangra Lama Pass to the Doukia 

 Pass, and thence down the Lachong valley to the starting point, 

 Choongtam. We were very fortunate in effecting these objects in the 



