REPORT ON A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM, 1892. 
silt. This mountain is an object of vvbrship and veneration, and 
votive offerings of prayer printed cloths fluttered on the banks of the 
lake. Between Forked Donkia and the pass is a shivered line of 
crags devoid of snow ; the pass itself is an extremely narrow gap with 
sheer Tocks rising sharply on either ^de. Its final ascent is occupied 
by a glacier which widens out eastwards into an enormous field 
of ice under another snowy mountain. The actual ascent of the 
pass is commenced at a small pool at the end of the glacier. There 
is no permanent path amongst the sTiifting mass of rocks, so we had, 
to make our way as best we could up the lateral moraine of loosely 
poised boulders. Half way up we took advantage of a smalV snow-^ 
field. The last hundred yards was over the glassy surface of the; ice 
in which we cut steps as we advanced. . 
The available standing room on the pass would scarcely suffice 
for ten men, and the descent on the Tibetan side is startling in ks 
steepness. Its surface was covered with a shoot of stones. This 
pass is not practicable for the passage of yaks, and is seldom used by 
foot travellers. On the north a high naked hill pi ojec ted eastwards, 
appearing as a huge pile of stony debris ; on the south a large glacier 
descended. Below lay the broad open grassy valley of the Ridu Chu ; 
beyond ' were a few isolated ropnded peaks surrounding,^ elevated 
plateaux of large extent, and fur4iher back still were mountains of 
the same dull red colour running east and west, while over them 
hung heavy masses of clouds which obscured more distant views. 
The lower part of a snowy mountain,’ said to be Chumulhari, was 
seen in the., far east. 
The district- we overlooked is called* Kaihboo. Medicinal hot 
springs of great repute occur in it. Phari is to the south-east of 
Ghora La, but is hidden behind intervening ranges. 
The vegetation above 15,000 feet in the Sebu valley is very 
scanty, Sedum of two or three species, Sa^cifraga^ Alldrdia^ 
Meconopsis korridula^ Cyananthus^ Gentiahtty Saussurea of three 
species, Ephedray Rhododendron nivalOy and a few other plants, 
principally grasses and sedges form the bulk of the vegetation. 
Rheum nobiie gtoyfs on the surrounding otherwise sterile heights, 
reaching to an elevation of 1 7,000 feet. 
We found b. mtioXly Saussurea (S. t ridacty la) of the 
ascent to the pass, but from thence Upwards not even a lichen was 
visible. This Saussur^a and Antefinaria niuscotdes Bxe supposed by 
the Tibetans to be the most esteemed of their gods as incense. The 
plants used in temples are Rhododendron Anthopogon and R. 
setosum and a Juniper. I could not obtain definite information as to. 
the derivation of the name Ghora.^' I \vas first told that the sacred 
