18G2.] Journal of a trip in the Sikkim Himalaya. 467 
Jongli is tlie name given to an extensive tract of yak pasture land, 
situated at the foot of Gubroo, on the southernmost spur of that 
mountain, including all the land to the south of Gubroo, contained 
between the Itatong and Chuckchurong rivers, of which Mon Lepclia 
is an integral part. The elevation of the pasture land averages 
from 12,000 to 16,000 feet, the latter being the greatest height 
at which yaks are grazed during the summer months. The spur is 
broad and undulating like a swelling table-land devoid of forest. It 
is richly covered with good grass, intermixed with a low and scrubby 
rhododendron and the dwarf and an aromatic kind. It is the graz¬ 
ing ground of about eighty yaks belonging to parties in Nepal and 
Sikkim, and is capable of affording pasturage to many hundreds 
more. The yak herdsmen have erected three substantial huts ot 
stone with shingle roofs. They reside at Jongli during the summer 
and rains, but when the cold sets in in November, they descend to 
winter quarters in lower and warmer elevations. The entire pasture 
ground is well watered by numerous perennial streams, most of which 
were frozen up at night during our stay at Jongli. It is situated 
above the region of tree rhododendrons and firs. During our as¬ 
cent we passed through all the flora met with at Sinchul and Tonglo. 
At 12,000 feet we lost the ferns. Having passed through firs, birch, 
rhododendrons, junipers and a kind of heather, dwarf and aromatic 
rhododendrons, barberry, primrose, &c., we entered the undulating 
and grassy flats of Jongli. On the road, not far from our last halt¬ 
ing place, we met a wild looking man of the woods, whom our ser¬ 
vants introduced to us as the Llama of Jongli. He stated himself 
to be eighty years of age. He looked more like a Gorilla than a human 
being. A more comical weather-beaten and hale old gentleman I have 
never seen. He had a very hoarse voice and a large goitre to boot. 
He had just left Jongli for his winter quarters, which he had taken 
up under an over-hanging piece of gneiss rock in a fir forest. 
After tiffin at 2.30 p. m., MacPherson and I set off for the 
summit of what we considered to be the highest of the Jongli moun¬ 
tains. After two hours of very fatiguing climbing and suffering from 
shortness of breath, headache and nausea, we reached the top and 
found it to be 15,120 feet * Thick clouds setting in, we were disap- 
* This hill affords capital pasture for the yaks, being covered with good grase 
and juniper bushes. The latter all assume the same inclination as the slope 
3 p 2 
