Leaving Simonbong, we descended to the Little Rungeet,
where the heat of the valley was very great; 80 degrees
at noon, and that of the stream 69 degrees; the latter
was an agreeable temperature for the coolies, who
plunged, teeming with perspiration, into the water,
catching fish with their hands. We reached Dorjiling
late in the evening, again drenched with rain; our
people, Hindoo and Lepcha, imprudently remaining for
the night in the valley. Owing probably as much
to the great exposure they had lately gone through,
as to the sudden transition from a mean temperature
of 50 degrees in a bracing wind, to a hot close jungly
valley at 75 degrees, no less than seven were laid
up with fever and ague.
Few excursions can afford a better idea of the general
features and rich luxuriance of the Sikkim Himalaya
than that to Tonglo. It is always interesting
to roam with an aboriginal, and especially a mountain
people, through their thinly inhabited valleys, over
their grand mountains, and to dwell alone with them
in their gloomy and forbidding forests, and no thinking
man can do so without learning much, however slender
be the means at his command for communion. A
more interesting and attractive companion than the
Lepcha I never lived with: cheerful, kind, and
patient with a master to whom he is attached; rude
but not savage, ignorant and yet intelligent; with
the simple resource of a plain knife he makes his
house and furnishes yours, with a speed, alacrity,
and ingenuity that wile away that well-known long
hour when the weary pilgrim frets for his couch.
In all my dealings with these people, they proved scrupulously
honest. Except for drunkenness and carelessness,
I never had to complain of any of the merry troop;
some of whom, bareheaded and barelegged, possessing
little or nothing save a cotton garment and a long
knife, followed me for many months on subsequent occasions,
from the scorching plains to the everlasting snows.
Ever foremost in the forest or on the bleak mountain,
and ever ready to help, to carry, to encamp, collect,
or cook, they cheer on the traveller by their unostentatious
zeal in his service, and are spurs to his progress.
Illustration—TIBETAN AMULET.
CHAPTER VIII.
Difficulty in procuring leave to enter Sikkim — Obtain permission to
travel in East Nepal — Arrangements — Coolies — Stores — Servants
— Personal equipment — Mode of travelling — Leave Dorjiling —
Goong ridge — Behaviour of Bhotan coolies — Nepal frontier — Myong
valley — Ilam — Sikkim massacre — Cultivation — Nettles — Camp
at Nanki on Tonglo — Bhotan coolies run away — View of Chumulari —
Nepal peaks to west — Sakkiazung — Buceros — Road to Wallanchoon
— Oaks — Scarcity of water — Singular view of mountain-valleys —
Encampment — My tent and its furniture — Evening occupations —
Dunkotah — Crossridge of Sakkiazung — Yews — Silver-firs — View
