338 
THE ALPINE AND SUB- ALPINE VEGETATION 
in the shelter of a large "ordar" (leaning rock) we spent the night, 
the men at once forgetting their sufferings in a hearty meal and copious 
tea. 
It snowed all night and all the next day (30th October). We 
descended the north branch of the Chakung Chu as the Lepchas said 
they had heard cf a path from there to Tong. 'I’o go back over the 
passes when it was still snowing was impossible. We did not find the 
path, which was possibly under the snow, but we found traversible 
ground till noon, when the banks began to grow precipitous, and the 
river a series of falls. The snow lay at 11,000 feet and below that level 
the drizzling sleet formed an icy coat on everything. Late in the 
afternoon we came to a large ^ slip ^ and found the river ^hemmed in by 
sheer cliffs, that on the right being so precipitous and smooth that 
there was no hope of passing it, while the river ran deep along its base. 
Cutting trees we made a rough bridge and by means of a rope crossed the 
river and climbed up the cliffs on the other side, by holding on to the 
vegetation growing in the niches of the rocks ; there was no soil. Here 
we were scarcely in better case and just at dark found a small ledge on 
which we could sleep and camped there in a fashion. With alternations 
of sleet and snow we passed a miserable night ; in the morning the 
frozen tents stood erect after their poles were removed. We left the 
tents as they were and started to look for a way out. The men were 
decidedly against going back over the last pass. I was for trying 
to scale a ‘ chimney * which fissured the rock just where our camp was 
and see if we could cross the ridge and get to the S. Chakung Chu. On 
each side of the river the rocks rose in sugar-loaf form, all the upper 
parts being quite bare. But the men preferred to go along the cliff 
ahead and we went slowly on, hammering pegs into fissures, cutting 
down shrubs, and tying notched poles horizontally along the cliff side 
with roots and climbers to make a way. There was little soil except a 
treacherous coating of soaking leaf-mould on the steep slopes over- 
hanging the river gorge. There was rain or sleet all day and a dense 
mist lay over everything. Late in the afternoon we reached a ridge 
from which we could hear fitfully the noise of a stream to the south- 
east which we hoped would be the upper Chakung Chu. We waited 
for some time to see if the mist would clear and give us a look ahead, 
but we had to retrace our steps without a view and in the absence of 
suitable camping ground, had to make the best of our previous night^s 
uncomfortable niche. 
The morning of the first November found us stiff and sore with the 
exertions of the previous day, more especially from the work of hacking 
branches and cutting down trees. Fortunately the snowstorm was 
