ASAM AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. 427 



the whole party, who greatly needed rest. Several had severe fevers, and 

 nearly all had swollen ankles and dreadful sores from the bites of the 

 noxious ddmdums and leeches. Our stock of rice, however, would not 

 admit of a halt ; we therefore continued on our descent down the Phungan 

 pass. The ground was sodden as yesterday, but not so bad. Leeches 

 and ddmdums scarcely bearable : we once took the trouble to count the 

 collection of about half an hour, and tore thirty-five leeches from one leg. 

 We went through thick jungles of tree and prickly jointed bamboos, and 

 occasionally came out upon the Phungan, but the steepness of the hills 

 allowed us to see nothing beyond the deep ravine which we were moving 

 down, and the closeness of the trees made it extremely difficult to me to 

 note any bearings of the direction we were travelling in. We crossed 

 five or six rivulets which join the Phungan, having their origin in the 

 snows on the right bank. We halted sooner than we ought, considering 

 our supply of rice. Another of Lieutenant Burlton's men, a very fine 

 young lad, had complained at starting of his weak state, but promised to 

 come on slowly ; however, he did not rejoin us. 



The next morning we made such arrangements as we could, to learn 

 the state of the three now missing. We left two men at the halting place, 

 and sent back two more, with the promise of a reward, if they should suc- 

 ceed in bringing on the unfortunate loiterers. We felt less anxiety about 

 the first two who lingered behind us, as they had but five days' journey 

 to return to the last Singfo village, and if they preferred coming on, our 

 track was now well marked by the passage of so large a party. Our path was 

 better to day than that of yesterday, but the march was equally uninter- 

 esting, confined in a narrow ravine between two high mountains : the only 

 object we ever got a glimpse of beyond it was some towering snowy 

 peak. The direction of our journey was not easily guessed. We crossed 

 the Phungan, to the north bank, half way by wading, and the remaining 

 half by a bridge, which was speedily erected by the Singfos. We then 



