1853.] Notes upon a Tour in the Sikkim Himalayah Mountains. 635 



see if there was any possibility of crossing ; a spot was at last found 

 half a mile above the junction of the Kullait and Eungeet rivers 

 where some gneiss rocks jutted into the river, diminishing its width 

 considerably. Here our Lepchas, in the space of two hours, threw a 

 strong bridge across the Kullait made of bamboos and saplings 

 retained in position by heavy stones. It was an exciting moment 

 when a man crawling forward upon the supple and bending bamboos 

 overhanging the boiling headlong current below, managed to effect 

 a junction with the opposite bank. 



The rocks in the Kullait are a fine gneiss in company with masses 

 of white quartz. 



A flock of black cormorants flew up the river, as we were sitting 

 on the rocks, watching the bird-eating spiders letting themselves 

 drop from great heights from the branches of the trees overhanging 

 the water, and seizing insects and flies upon the rocks. The move- 

 ments of the spiders were exceedingly rapid and precise, seldom 

 missing their prey. From a living specimen I wound off upon a 

 piece of card a good hank of a beautiful golden yellow web, resem- 

 bling floss silk, which however turned into gum upon getting wet. 



At noon we crossed the Kullait and after repeated halts on 

 account of the suffocating heat arrived at a small level clearance 

 near the summit of Binchinpoong, where there is a Lepcha and 

 Bhotia village of ten houses, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. The 

 name of the village is Yansiinkum, the inhabitants of which had 

 an abundance of good cows, pigs and poultry. I was importuned to 

 prescribe for a man suffering from dysentery ; having no medicine- 

 chest with me was no excuse, for I was implored to make some sort 

 of medicine to effect a cure ; I accordingly had a quantity of worm- 

 wood gathered and pounded and stirred up in brandy, to which was 

 added nutmegs, cinnamon, and cloves, all reduced to powder ; doses 

 from a bottle full of this strange mixture well diluted with water 

 were recommended to be taken three times a day. 



Here, from sheer fatigue and from severe inflammation of my legs 

 and ancles caused by leech-bites, we were obliged to halt a whole 

 day. Let no one who has never ventured into the Himalayah moun- 

 tains imagine that travelling in these mountains is anything but 

 downright and real hard work ; it is seldom a traveller is so fortunate 



4 n 



