1852.] A Journey thro ugh Si kirn . 413 



opposite side, and the hills of Bootan lower down are bright with green 

 woods, and ripening crops of rice, Indian corn and millet. This is 

 a much better season than the cold weather, when I last travelled here 

 in 1848, for lively and varied scenery. The Tondong Forest, stretching 

 in one unbroken mass from its summit, an elevation of about 8000 feet 

 above the river, to the Teesta, is a noble expanse of varied and majes- 

 tic vegetation. Temi is embosomed in it, and stands about half way 

 between the river and the summit. 



Thermometer at 8 p. m. in the house 72° ; elevation say 4000 feet. 

 Neh-Mendong, 27th. 



Started from Temi at 6 a. m. and arrived here at 2 p. m. Distance 

 most probably 15 miles. Heat intense and overpowering; in the 

 Teesta valley through which the route runs, it was quite stifling from 

 9 to 11, and again from I to 2 ; yet there was a breeze occasionally 

 blowing from the south, but it gave no relief. The eight Lepchas who 

 carried my chair, in which I rode but seldom, were fairly overcome and 

 had to bring up at the Rungoon river to refresh. The vegetation is 

 superb all the way, and its shade frequently protected me from the 

 scorching heat. This is the season to see these jungles in perfection 

 although it is somewhat perilous. It is only in malarious places, and 

 at times when malaria is rife that the mixed tropical and alpine cha- 

 racter of the Sikim forests can be seen in all its glory. Oaks and the 

 Pandanus palm, Chesnuts and the Oopi palm, flourish side by side 

 along Nainfok and Bram. Scitamineous plants of various kinds, and 

 wormwood, each of 1 2 feet high and more, form a common under- 

 wood in the clearer spaces, and all the other plants are of gigantic 

 growth. There is a species of Chesnut hereabout which I never 

 saw before. It has a broad and round leaf with wide spreading 

 graceful branches. The clusters of unripe and light green fruit add 

 to its beauty. It is a very handsome tree.* 



The "Pooah Hemp," Bohmeria nivea, abounds along the road 

 from the Rungpo to this place. The average elevation of the zone in 

 which it flourishes is about 600 feet above the river. On the Rungeet 

 I found the Pooah at 200 feet above the guard-house, i. e. at an ele- 



* The other two varieties of Chesnut which I know, are 1st, the large-timbered 

 Chesnut at Darjeeling with small thick hard leaves, and 2nd, one with along sh'arp* 

 pointed leaf now in flower at Namchi. 



3 G 



