1853.] Notes upon a Tour in the SHchim Himalayan Mountains. 551 



for about three minutes, caressing the part the whole time by raising 

 and depressing their delicate fore legs alternately, as if thoroughly 

 enjoying the sanguineous draught ; when their bodies are distended 

 with blood, they fly away, leaving a small round purple spot of extra- 

 vasated blood, very irritating, and, with some people, attended with 

 considerable inflammation. If the fly is disturbed before it has had a 

 full meal, a small flow of blood takes place, and relieves the bitten 

 part. There are several kinds of peepsas, some are so small that 

 they are barely visible to the naked eye ; this kind however give a 

 most stinging bite, and, although not seen, are felt in a very decided 

 manner. The peepsas range from 2,000 to 8,000 feet. 



A hasty breakfast being despatched, for it was impossible to stand 

 still without being covered with leeches, we proceeded till eleven 

 o'clock, when, being fully drenched by a smart shower, and by crush- 

 ing through the wet underwood, we halted, lit a fire and dried our- 

 selves ; our legs, arms and bodies smarting from leech-bites and from 

 the abundant wounds of the formidable stinging nettles which sting 

 through the strongest clothes. 



During our halt, our Lepcha guide made a breakfast of roasted 

 spinach that he had collected in the murrooa fields in the morning. 

 Rolling the spinach up in some large leaves he thrust the bundle 

 into the hot ashes, where it remained ten minutes ; he then withdrew 

 the bitter feast and consumed it, adding raw but crushed stinging 

 nettle tops as a sauce to the whole. It would require more boldness 

 than most people possess to induce any stranger in the hills to 

 attempt to put any portion of such a formidable-looking plant as 

 the Sikkim stinging nettle into his mouth for transmission to the 

 stomach. The leaves are armed with innumerable sharp spikes a 

 quarter of an inch in length ; not only are they spread over the 

 whole of the upper surface of the leaves, but they also appear on the 

 point of each tooth of the deeply serrated edge of the leaf, and upon 

 the leaf stalks and stem of the plant. Each spike at its base is 

 provided with a small white bladder or gland containing the poison. 

 The plant attains the height of four feet ; with a leaf upwards of a 

 foot in length. Their wound causes much pain, and sometimes 

 violent sneezing and fever ; one kind in particular mentioned by Dr. 

 Campbell, and named the " mellumba," produces running at the eyes, 



4 A 



