1853.] Notes upon a Tour in the Sik/rim Himalayan Mountains. 561 



the unfortunate, because misguided, Rajah of Sikkim, about L'hassa, 

 the grand Lama, the pass of Tumbok into Nepal, which we ex- 

 pected to reach the next day, and upon a variety of other subjects. 

 The Sirdar showed with much amusing importance sundry Tibetan 

 looking letters, stamped with the Rajah's vermillion seal, forbidding 

 Cheeoong Lethoo, Sirdar of Singaleelah, to allow any one to pass 

 either up or down the Tumbok pass ; we told him it was impossible 

 to retrace our steps, the fatigue we had undergone ascending and 

 descending the steep mountains, amounting to 10,000 feet of descent 

 and 17,500 feet of ascent in five days, the innumerable leech-bites 

 we had received, amounting to several hundreds on each leg, the 

 intolerable heat of the valleys, and the constant wading through the 

 icy cold streams and from never being clothed in dry clothes had so 

 knocked us up, that we were determined to enjoy a little of the cool 

 breezes on the summit of Singaleelah ; we informed him that if we 

 found we could not get along the crest of Singaleelah we would re- 

 turn by the Kullait ; this cheered him up amazingly ; but when I 

 told him that if I succeeded in cutting my way along the crest I 

 should return by Pemionchi, his countenance fell ; he begged of me 

 not to risk my safety in going upon Singaleelah which, he declared, was 

 a land of rocks and desolation, and a spot not fitted for man to 

 wander in. Poor Cheeoong Lethoo sat the picture of despair at our 

 obstinacy, and with the determination of a true Mongol he kept on 

 passing and re-passing over his beardless chin and that with rapidity, 

 a handsome pair of flat brass L'hassa beard-plucking pincers, orna- 

 mented with Tibetan characters, a violent jerk now and then pro- 

 claiming that a stray hair had actually been secured and rooted out ; 

 and to ascertain this comforting fact, the edge of the pincers were 

 passed over his lips ; the fact being satisfactorily settled to Chee- 

 ong's satisfaction that he had actually captured a solitary hair, 

 another search was immediately taken in hand. 



Amongst his other papers the Sirdar produced a picture about 

 one foot in length, painted upon fine linen. It was from L'hassa, 

 the drawing representing a great number of gods and goddesses, 

 rivers, mountains, and a variety of confused and mystical subjects ; 

 on the back of the picture were the revered words " Om, a, boom" in 

 large bright vermillion letters. The picture, the Sirdar affirmed, cost 



4 b 2 



