REPORT ON A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM, 1892. 
5 
climate, was represented by numerous individuals scampering 
amongst the Rhododendrons. A great extent of land beyond the 
camping ground is swampy and covered with Rhododendron cam~ 
panulatum 1 he stepping stones across the wettest parts are formed 
of slabs of a slate-like gneis'S which are resonant when struck. Various 
species of Scdiun of the section Rhodiola and the golden Chrysosple- 
niuni alterni folium are common in the clefts of stones, partly siih. 
merged in the water. The ridge above is steep and its black barren 
crags of foliated gneiss- present a most forbidding appearance. 
The following day we marched to Gambothan. Since we lefi 
Phalutour marches had been along the crest of the Singalelah, except 
ing when vve rarely descended to and traversed the Nepalese side 
but here the path after running through the swamp at Alegu, ascends 
steeply and passes to the Sikkim side through a narrow' depression 
guarded on each side by weatherworn cliffs. Grass covers this ascent, 
and the bright blue flowers cf Primula pusillOy P. glabra ^ and DeR 
phiniuni alpiiiumgwe an unique character to the place by their plenti- 
ful presence. In the clefts of a rock we found a small simply 
pinnate Poly podium and a species of Pelloea. 
d he tract into which we emerged wore a different aspect to that 
w'e had just left. Above us tow'ered enormous walls and pljinacles 
of bare rock, intersected by equally stony valleys, all tending towards 
the broad and terraced slope over which we marched wdthout 
difficulty. Rhododendron Anthopogon and R. aeto.sum were the only 
w'oody plants. On the sides of the rocks along the Saxif raga 
imbricata and S. Jacquemontiana grew' in dense moss-like cushions 
spangled with w hite and yellow flowers. The soil is covered w ith 
a thick turf of grass and sedges, amongst which are innumerable 
plants of Primula Stuart; l and a species of Anemone. Beyond this 
first terrace the route led over alternate flats and ravines, and passed 
four lakes. At first the rocks near the path are scattered singly over 
Ihe ground ; further on the wdiole surface of the hill is covered by a 
confused mass of glacier-deposited boulders wdiere the path is marked 
at intervals by upright white stones. Very little vegetation, except 
moss, maintains an existence in this wilderness. Sir Joseph Hooker 
in his admirable acccunt of the Physical Geography of Sikkim, thus 
explains the cause of this barren desolation Glaciers, again, des- - 
cend to 15,000 feet in the tortuous gorges w'hich immediately debouch 
from the snows of Kinchinjunga, but no plants grow' on the debris they 
carry dowm, nor is there any sw'ard of grass or herbage at their base, 
the atmosphere immediately around being chilled by enormous accu- 
mulations of snow, and the summer sun rarely warming the soil.” 
Attaining a ridge marked by a rudely built monument bearing a 
