552 Notes upon a Tour in tlie SiJcJcim Himaldyali Mountains. [No. 6. 



nose, sneezing, fever and sometimes death. In addition to the 

 above pungent food, my Lepcha consumed young and tender fern 

 tops, a white fungus found upon trees, a sharp acid plant; and several 

 other leaves and roots. A Lepcha affirms that he cannot starve as 

 long as he is on the hills ; this appears to be true, as he makes almost 

 the whole vegetable kingdom subservient to his appetite. 



Left the fire at 1 p. m<, at 2 p. m. we were on the summit of 

 Rutto, a wooden mountain ; after rather a level walk of two hours, 

 we halted for the night at 4 p. M. a few paces from the left bank of 

 the source of the Bishi, which stream falls into the Great E-ungeet 

 river. The Barometer gave our elevation 8,030 feet, Thermometer 67° 

 at 4 p. m. or just beyond the region of the leeches. Just as we had 

 got our small tent up, heavy rain commenced to fall which continued 

 during the greater portion of the night, penetrating our small tent 

 and wetting our bedding. A good supper and a sound sleep refreshed 

 us, nor did we much care for the sprinkling we got during the night. 

 Near our tent was a tempting L'hap, or cave, formed by an overhang- 

 ing mass of gneiss rock ; but as it was not found large enough for us 

 and our fifteen Lepchas, we cleared away the jungle, pitched the tent, 

 slung the barometer and turned in for the night. I felt satisfied that 

 our Lepchas were enjoying no worse fare than ourselves ; they had 

 two tents furnished by me for their protection ; we had no servants 

 to cook for us, no beds, no comforts, beyond a good layer of ferns to 

 lie upon, and a blanket to cover us. A strong decoction of coffee 

 morning and evening, with a handful of bread rusks and a slice of ham 

 or bacon, forming our entire food during the twenty -four hours. 



Lucifer matches, flint and steel, and several other modes of pro- 

 curing fire being utterly unavailing in these damp mountains, the 

 Lepchas were never at a loss to supply us with that necessary ele- 

 ment, so conducive to comfort and life ; for upon halting, our merry 

 guides and coolies produced fire by causing one vertical piece of dry 

 wood that was sharpened almost to a point to revolve rapidly in a 

 mortise cut in another horizontal piece of wood ; both pieces of wood 

 were highly dried and smoked at their homes and exactly resem- 

 bled two round rulers. The rapid revolution of the upright piece of 

 wood upon the horizontal piece, produces by friction a dry sawdust, 

 which, after a minute's working round and round, catches fire. The 



