1853.] Notes upon a Tour in the Sikkim Himalaya}* Mountains. 553 



wood resembles willow and is procured from a shrub that grows in 

 the hot valleys and generally from the banks of the mountain tor- 

 rents. Two men work the upright piece of wood, the other is placed 

 upon the ground, or more generally upon the large Lepcha knife. 

 The upright stick is seized between the palms of the hands, and 

 made to revolve rapidly first to the right and then to the left, the 

 pressure used causing the hands to descend from the top to the 

 bottom of the stick ; upon the hands reaching the lower stick, the 

 second man commences from the top ; and so on, in quick succession, 

 until fire is produced ; one mortise or hole produces fire four times, 

 when a new one is made, the old one being worn through. 



5th August, 1852. — Started at 8 a. m. in a North "Westerly direc- 

 tion, and in three quarters of an hour we were upon the summit of 

 Heeloo, about 8,500 feet (Heethloo of Hooker's map), at which spot 

 were boundary stones separating two small estates of Sikkim. From 

 this spot we commenced a rapid descent, which soon brought us 

 again upon our tormentors the leeches, which swarmed upon every 

 leaf, upon every stone. In an hour I had received fifty bites upon 

 the ancles and legs ; and allowing that only one in ten that managed 

 to get upon my person bit me, I must have had five hundred of 

 these troublesome and loathsome animals upon my person within 

 an hour. 



The leech of the Himalayan is first met with at 4,000 feet eleva- 

 tion, it is of a small black species, and, when young, is as thin as a 

 needle and about an inch in length ; when full grown it is still very 

 small not measuring more than two inches in length, even when 

 gorged with blood — at 5,000 feet their numbers increase ; but at 6 

 and 7,000 feet up to nearly 8,000, they swarm in myriads, every leaf, 

 bush and stone being covered with these annelides. Erom 8,000 

 to nearly 10,000 there is a hiatus, at which elevation these animals 

 are not found, but from 10 to 11,000 feet, another species is found, 

 but not very abundant ; it is of a snuff brown colour with a black 

 line down the back and a white stripe down each side of the body. 

 This is not such a blood-thirsty animal as the black one, but is more 

 sluggish. 



The Lepchas affirm that the leeches spring from the bushes on to 

 the traveller ; this is a mistake, they fall upon a passer-by from 



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