4G4 Journal of a trip in the Sikkim Himalaya. [No. 5> 
After having purchased some fowls and partaken of an early break¬ 
fast, we started at 8.30 a. m. and after fifteen minutes’ steep descent 
passed the small village of Kasuppyah, consisting of two houses and 
some clearance for cultivation. The headman was waiting for us 
with presents of sugar-cane, murwa, eggs, plantains and milk. 
Another quarter of an hour of steep descent brought us to Lin- 
ehoogong, a small village of three houses. At 9.30, after a very steep, 
stony and difficult descent, we arrived at the Ratong, which is here a 
wild, foaming and boiling torrent, dashing over large blocks of 
gneiss rock. We halted till 11.30 bathed and washed clothes. The 
temperature of the water was 48°. 
Dr. Simpson took two photographs of this wild spot, which unfor¬ 
tunately were afterwards destroyed. We crossed the torrent by a 
temporary bridge constructed by the inhabitants of the village of 
Labeeong, who also brought us presents of rice, murwa and eggs. 
After a steep scramble of a quarter of an hour, we met the inhabi¬ 
tants of the village of Paranting, who brought us hot murwa, and had 
prepared a place to sit down. They were particularly polite; the wo¬ 
men were highly decorated with coral, amber and silver ornaments ; 
both sexes wore flowers of a pretty blue hydraugea in their ears. 
Three of the women had jackets made of European long-cloth, dyed 
blue, but the children, as usual, were quite naked. After a further 
steep ascent we reached our halting-place at Eksum at 1 p. m. This 
is the frontier village, prettily situated on a broad plateau surrounded 
by high commanding mountains, most of which have their summits 
capped with fir trees, and their slopes richly clothed with deep ver¬ 
dure and stately forest trees. A few hundred feet above the village, 
to the east, the monastery of Doobdee is seen perched on the sum¬ 
mit and at the extremity of a separate spur, in a very picturesque 
position. It is probably of very ancient origin, built by the first 
Buddhist priests who settled in Sikkim. Eksum derives its name 
from Ek or Yeuk which means a “ labourer” or “ workman,” and 
“soom” three, from the first three Bhuddhist ministers who came 
into Sikkim from Thibet, having commenced their spiritual labours 
at this place. 
We put up for the night in the house of a villager, the female 
members of which, on their return from the toils of the field, seemed 
not at all pleased at finding their house in the possession of strang- 
