occur, in the
Kambachen valley (elevation 11,400 feet). p.260
Fig. 21. Brass box to contain amulets, from Tibet.
p.270
Fig. 23. Pemiongchi goompa (or temple) with Chaits
in the foreground.
p.286
Fig. 29. Costumes of Sikkim lamas and monks,
with the bell, mani,
dobje, and trident. p.291
Fig. 30. The Do-mani stone, with gigantic Tibetan
characters. p.294
Fig. 31. Implements of worship in the Sikkim
temples. p.314
Fig. 32. Chaits at Tassiding, with decayed funereal
cypresses. p.316
Fig. 33. Vestibule of temple at Tassiding. p.319
Fig. 34. Southern temple, at Tassiding. p.320
Fig. 35. Middle temple, at Tassiding, with mounted
yaks. p.321
Fig. 36. Chair, altar, and images in the great
temple at Tassiding.
p.322
Fig. 37. Ground-plan of southern temple at Tassiding.
p.323
Fig. 38. Interior of temple at Pemiongchi, the
walls covered with
allegorical paintings. p.329
Fig. 39. Doobdi temple, with young and old funereal
cypress. p.337
Fig. 40. Summit of Kinchinjunga, with Pundim
on the right; its black
cliff traversed by white granite veins. p.347
Fig. 41. Image of Maitrya, the coming Boodh.
p.357
Fig. 42. Stone altar, and erection for burning
juniper ashes. p.361
Fig. 43. Facsimile of the vermilion seal of the
Dhurma Rajah of
Bhotan, head of the Dookpa sect of Boodhists.
Opposite p.372
Fig. 44. A Mech, native of the Sikkim Terai.
Sketched by Miss
Colvile. p.406
Fig. 45. Mech pocket-comb (of wood). p.408
HIMALAYAN JOURNALS.
CHAPTER I.
Sunderbunds vegetation — Calcutta Botanic Garden — Leave for
Burdwan — Rajah’s gardens and menagerie — Coal-beds, geology, and
plants of — Lac insect and plant — Camels — Kunker — Cowage —
Effloresced soda on soil — Glass, manufacture of — Atmospheric
vapours — Temperature, etc. — Mahowa oil and spirits — Maddaobund
— Jains — Ascent of Paras-nath — Vegetation of that mountain.
I left England on the 11th of November, 1847, and
performed the voyage to India under circumstances
which have been detailed in the Introduction.
On the 12th of January, 1848, the “Moozuffer”
was steaming amongst the low swampy islands of the
Sunderbunds. These exhibit no tropical luxuriance,
and are, in this respect, exceedingly disappointing.
A low vegetation covers them, chiefly made up of a
dwarf-palm (Phoenix paludosa) and small mangroves,
with a few scattered trees on the higher bank that
runs along the water’s edge, consisting of fan-palm,
toddy-palm, and Terminalia. Every now and then,
the paddles of the steamer tossed up the large fruits
of Nipa fruticans, a low stemless palm that
grows in the tidal waters of the Indian ocean, and
bears a large head of nuts. It is a plant of
no interest to the common observer, but of much to
the geologist, from the nuts of a similar plant abounding
in the tertiary formations at the mouth of the Thames,
and having floated about there in as great profusion
as here, till buried deep in the silt and mud that
now forms the island of Sheppey.* [Bowerbank “On
the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the Isle of Sheppey,”
and Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,”
3rd ed. p. 201.]
