REPORT ON A BOTANICAL FOUR IN SIKKIM, 1892. 
23 
The first part of the ascent to Chola Pass is very steeps an easy path 
then leads to the next ridge beyond whieh is a srhall arid pretty Jake. 
A second slight ascent brought us to another smad lake, and a pond 
lies immediately beneath the pass. The summit of the pass is round- 
ed, and its surroundings are barren rocks^ On the Tibetan side a 
narrow gorge-like valley descends sharply. Snow hnrf fallen the 
previous night, descending to 13,000 feet. We left Chamanako on 
the 28th, and resumed our joutney along the Cbola Range. The path 
follows the course of the Rutto for half a nflle, the'i crosses it, and an 
ascent to 14,000 feet follows, through a scrub of Rhododendrons. 
At 14,000 feet there is a large hollow covered with Rhododendrons, 
containing two lake^., the larger ovoid in shape, the smaller long 
and narrow* Attaining the ridge beyond, we descended to* the iriver 
Rungpo, passing through on the way .a narrow defile walled with, 
rock. Another ascent through small Rhododendrons again followed, 
after which we descended and struck a path from Guntok. We walked 
along this for a piile, and reached the camping ground named Buthan, a 
large expanse of green turf closed in on the east by a l^arrier-like cliff. 
^During this march we found specimens of Chrysarithemum Atkin^ 
sontf the only example of the genus occurring in Sikkim, some small 
Saussureas with fern-Ilke leaves, Primroses, Parnassia, the Bkaddef- 
headed Saussurea, Senecio amplexicaulis^ and the small Rhubarb, 
Rheum acuminatmn, 
following day we marched to Kapup, a small plafeati under 
Zeyiap La. We ascended to the top of the rocky barrier east of the 
camp. From here we obtained a magnificant view of a long trough- 
like vaUey terminated by a ridge beyond Kapup. The whole scene 
was of a warm brown colour from the herbaceous vegetation killed 
by the late autumn frosts. This valley, which runs southwards, is 
bounded on the north by the main Chola ridge which forms the political 
boundary between Sikkim and Tibet. There was a long gradual 
descent down this remarkable valley, in which dre two marshy lakes 
of considerable extent. Beyond the second lake a deep narrow gorge 
intervenes. This is clothed With Pine forest, and at the end of the 
valley the meeting of two opposite spurs hold back the stream so as to 
form a large lake rejecting the pine woods on its dark tinted surface. 
Surmounting the Ascent from the stream, we emerged on the grassy 
flat of Kapup with a few geattered silver fir trees, small Rhododen- 
drons and shrubby Berherts in its sheltered parts. The Spikenard, 
Nardostachys Jatamansi common, but few plants grew in the 
closely cropped herbage. 
On the 30th September I walked, ta the pass, and returned 
through Kapup to Gnatong. N^o vegetation exists at the pass itself, 
