636 Notes upon a Tour in the Sihkim Hiinalayah Mountains. [No. 7. 



as to have dry clothes on ; his food is of the plainest quality and often 

 very scanty. Dr. Hooker was reduced to coarse boiled rice and 

 Chili vinegar ; this is poor fare for a man walking up hill and down 

 dale for ten hours a day. 



August 18^, 1852. — Left Yansunkum at 6.30 A. M. and ascend- 

 ed to the summit of Einchinpoong, a few hundred feet above the 

 village — saw several chaitans on the road ; all the hills near Dar- 

 jeeling appear to have been, in some former age, much more densely 

 inhabited than they are now, mendongs and chaitans appearing upon 

 almost every ridge and peak of any note. 



The rocks still mica schist. Passed the village Nam-gon-kum and 

 commenced the descent of Einchingpoong at 9.15 a. m ; crossed at 

 10.40, the torrents ; Eichi flowing from west to east and falling into 

 the great Eungeet, which river we could see turbid and swollen some 

 thousands of feet below us ; commenced the ascent of Singrioong at 

 11 a. M. and reached the summit at 0.45 p. m ; a little to the west of 

 the point of crossing this ridge, stands a conical peak, named Bik- 

 sadong. 



At 2 p. m. commenced the descent of Singrioong and by mistake 

 taking the wrong path, we had to return 2,000 feet up a steep as- 

 cent. The heat was so overpowering, the jungle so dense, the air 

 so quiet that a feeling of faintness crept over me, which deprived me 

 of all strength ; upon reaching the Euttoo stream at the foot of 

 Singrioong where it dashes over a high rock, I could not resist a 

 plunge into the river. It was late in the day, any more ascent, worn 

 out as we were, was impossible, and to sleep in this deep miasmatic 

 valley was almost certain death from jungle-fever. Fatigue and the 

 sight of the cool-stream overruled all scruples, we slept here. A 

 fortnight subsequently, I was in bed delirious from jungle-fever, 

 but I feel grateful that no one but myself suffered from my impru- 

 dence in sleeping in this deep valley. 



On the way down Singrioong passed over one of the travertine 

 lime deposits, common upon this spur, and upon Chakoong to the 

 south. 



In the Euttoo are quantities of rolled and water-worn pieces of 

 blue, pink, and other delicately tinted slates. The rock in situ is 

 gneiss. 



