450 MEMOIR OF A SURVEY OF 



are threaded the elliptical rings which sustain the road -way, but this is 

 of two canes only, and there are two only on each side to hold by. 



The Palanseng Gohain and his people, in the morning of the next 

 day, informed us that we were actually upon the base of the Phungan 

 mountain, and here they left us, warning us that it was very uncertain 

 whether we should find water that day unless we could reach the 

 snow. I followed the example of some others in filling the joint 

 of a bamboo, and suspending it by a cane to my shoulders, and 

 we provided for our dinner, by wrapping up some ready-boiled rice 

 in a plantain leaf. We plodded on up the steep ascent till we were 

 heartily weary, resting but little, and guided in our exertion by our 

 anxiety to reach the spot, where our guides had, on a former occasion, 

 found a small pool,— careless of the advance of our people whom 

 we soon left far behind. In our turn we needed, and found encourage- 

 ment from the Singfos, whose hardiness enabled them to be always 

 in the van, and who very little liked the idea of sleeping supper- 

 less. An apple was found on the ascent, of a delightful scent, but 

 astringent to that degree, that it was impossible to bite twice at it. We 

 saw no other novelty. From eight till past three, we continued our toil, and 

 rejoiced to find the pool — it was muddy and filthy, but no matter — it was 

 not dry. But this, with a pot of rice, for which we were indebted to the 

 Singfos, and which we knew how to discuss without the aid of spoons, 

 were our only luxuries — fatigue taught us to forget that we had no beds. 

 The elevation of our halting place was eight thousand six hundred and 

 eighty-six feet above the sea. 



Many of the people had not arrived when we started again in the 

 morning. We soon left behind us both underwood and forest trees — the 

 only remaining plants were the rhododendron, and a bushy ever-green, 

 growing about eighteen inches high, which it was very laborious to push 



