combed their long hair over their eyes and faces.
It is from fresh-fallen snow alone that much inconvenience
is felt; owing, I suppose, to the light reflected
from the myriads of facets which the crystals of snow
present. I have never suffered inconvenience in
crossing beds of old snow, or glaciers with weathered
surfaces, which absorb a great deal of light, and
reflect comparatively little, and that little coloured
green or blue.
The descent was very laborious, especially through
the several miles of bush and rock which lie below
the summit: so that, although we started at 10
a.m., it was dark by the time we reached Buckeem, where
we found two lame coolies, whom we had left on our
way up, and who were keeping up a glorious fire for
our reception.
Illustration—MAITRYA, THE SIXTH OR COMING
BOODH.
Ratong river below Mon Lepcha — Ferns — Vegetation of Yoksun,
tropical — Araliaceae, fodder for cattle — Rice-paper plant —
Geology of Yoksun — Lake — Old temples — Funereal cypresses —
Gigantic chait — Altars — Songboom — Weather — Catsuperri —
Velocity of Ratong — Worship at Catsuperri lake — Scenery — Willow
— Lamas and ecclesiastical establishments of Sikkim — Tengling —
Changachelling temples and monks — Portrait of myself on walls —
Block of mica-schist — Lingcham Kajee asks for spectacles —
Hee-hill — Arrive at Little Rungeet — At Dorjiling — Its deserted
and wintry appearance.
On the following day we marched to Yoksun: the
weather was fair, though it was evidently snowing
on the mountains above. I halted at the Ratong
river, at the foot of Mon Lepcha, where I found its
elevation to be 7,150 feet; its edges were frozen,
and the temperature of the water 36 degrees; it is
here a furious torrent flowing between gneiss rocks
which dip south-south-east, and is flanked by flat-topped
beds of boulders, gravel and sand, twelve to fourteen
feet thick. Its vegetation resembles that of Dorjiling,
but is more alpine, owing no doubt to the proximity
of Kinchinjunga. The magnificent Rhododendron
argenteum was growing on its banks. On the
other hand, I was surprised to see a beautiful fern
(a Trichomanes, very like the Irish one) which
is not found at Dorjiling. The same day, at about
the same elevation, I gathered sixty species of fern,
many of very tropical forms.* [They consisted of the
above-mentioned Trichomanes, three Hymenophyllae,
Vittaria, Pleopeltis, and Marattia, together
with several Selaginellas.] No doubt the range
of such genera is extended in proportion to the extreme
damp and equable climate, here, as about Dorjiling.
Tree-ferns are however absent, and neither plantains,
epiphytical Orchideae, nor palms, are so abundant,
or ascend so high as on the outer ranges. About
Yoksun itself, which occupies a very warm sheltered
flat, many tropical genera occur, such as tall bamboos
