618 Notes upon a Tour in the Sikkim Himalayah Mountains. [No. 7. 



upon the Singaleelah slopes I discerned several white objects like 

 men ; I sent off a Lepcha for one, and it turned out to be a mountain 

 rhubarb plant, one of the handsomest botanical objects I ever remem- 

 ber to have seen. It consists of a conical assemblage of buff-coloured 

 leaves of great beauty elegantly crimped, and edged with pink ; the 

 whole growing upon a substantial stem, upon which and hidden by 

 the graceful leaves are bundles of flowers and triangular seeds some- 

 what resembling mignonette — the plant measures forty-five inches 

 in diameter at the base of the cone, and is about the same height. 

 The Lepchas call it " Chookoor Dong;" the stem is eaten by the 

 Hill people, it is extremely acid and astringent. 



August 12th, 1852. "Woodcocks were heard overhead at day- 

 break. Further south upon the summit of Singaleelah there are a 

 considerable number of these birds. 



Started at 6 a. m. Thermometer 41°, our road was up a narrow 

 grassy gorge in the mountain ; some of the snowy peaks were seen 

 peering over the tail of Kubra on our left, about five miles distant — 

 a few hundred feet rise, brought us to the top of the Kanglanamo 

 pass, a gap in the crest of Singaleelah, affording during the summer 

 months a means of communication between Sikkim and Nepal. This 

 is the pass, so I have been informed, by which Dr. Hooker endea- 

 voured to force his way from Nepal to Sikkim, but was prevented 

 by the deep snow. The pass I calculate to be 12,600 feet, but I 

 did not take the height. 



The rocks on the crest of Singaleelah at the pass are of horizontal 

 gneiss, castellated and shattered by the frost, on the right hand 

 side of the pass the rock has been worn into the very image of a 

 man sitting with his hands upon his knees, dressed in a robe and 

 crowned with a Scotch cap with a conspicuous tuft on its top. The 

 whole figure is about fourteen feet in height ; the figure by all 

 parties was declared to be the Rajah of Sikkim guarding his boundary. 



From the pass, the weather being very fine and the air clear, we 

 had an extensive view of the plains, the Teesta river, the eastern 

 snowy range and of Darjeeling, which latter mountain is a fine object 

 from whatever side it is observed. Darjeeling bore south 22° east, 

 Tendong mountain south-east by east ; we were considerably to the 

 north of several of the snowy peaks — we now left the footpath which 



