ers, however, they soon became reconciled and appeared to take considerable interest in our culinary operations.

Our host had been a cripple for twenty-two years from the effects of a hatchet cut, but this did not deter him from soliciting medicine to cure him. The females all left before we turned in for the night, but mine host remained and drank whiskey toddy which made him very restless all night. We had most of us become very bad sleepers, and very little disturbed us, so what with mine host passing in and out and the fighting and incessant squeaking of young pigs under the floor, we got very little sleep.

As this is the last village towards the snow, the coolies wanted a halt which was not conceded. Before starting we purchased three maunds of rice, four fowls and some eggs, and distributed some glass beads and buttons amongst the members of our host's family, and presented a metallic snuff box to the Doobdee Llama, from whom we bought a yak for 12 Rupees. We left Eksum at 9.30. The first part of the road was good, but it soon became very bad. It lay along the side of an almost precipitous hill, where a false step would often have precipitated the traveller many feet headlong down the kudd towards the Ratong, the roaring of whose waters below was very audible. At 11 A. M., we passed the beautiful water-falls of Barabarong, dashing headlong down a precipice over immense blocks of gneiss in situ. The water was clear as crystal.

The ascent on the opposite side was very difficult: we were sometimes obliged to scramble upon all fours, at others to mount by steps cut in upright posts, or along saplings slung over precipitous parts. In a few places the yak herdsmen have cut foot-steps in the solid rock for the convenience of travellers, who would often find it difficult to proceed without such assistance. The hills are very precipitous, as is the case in all the back ranges near the snow in Sikkim. The range on which we were, was thickly covered with forest trees and underwood, it was only occasionally we obtained a peep at the noble capped mountain across the Ratong. We encamped in a very jungly place in the midst of forest, at a spot called Joaboo, near a small mountain torrent. We wished to go on a little further to Neebee, but were prevented, for want of water at that place. Although the whole distance was not more than seven miles, the march was a fatiguing one for the baggage coolies who arrived late in the evening. We all

assisted in cooking dinner. Cooking has become quite a pastime with us. We are now at an elevation for that troublesome and loathsome parasite, the Himalaya tick, which we have found rather abundant.

Started at 8.46; and after going over five or six miles of difficult road, reached the Ratong which is here the same foaming, boiling torrent. We crossed immediately above a water-fall, over three very primitive constructions which served for bridges. The bed of the river at this spot has an elevation of 7,790 feet, and we found the temperature of the water to be 42°, too cold for bathing. After a very steep and fatiguing ascent of four or five miles, we reached our halting-place at Chockachaine at before 2 P. M. There is a pool of indifferent water here, and a hut erected by the yàk herdsmen who often reside here during winter. The height of the encampment, as ascertained by boiling water, was 10,300 feet. The hill sides were perfectly covered with forest trees and tangled underwood, the same as yesterday. As we ascended, the changes in the flora were very remarkable. We were now in the region of rhododendrons, of which we observed several kinds; also of oaks, whose acorns were scattered along our path in great profusion, holly; walnut, chesnut, long and short-leafed scarlet barberry; many beautiful varieties of ferns; mosses pendent from trees, besides other kinds, including the stag moss so well known at Darjeeling; creepers of all kinds and sizes, epiphytical and parasitical plants of various kinds; and towards the end of our day's journey we were well amongst tall firs. We saw a few leeches, but found the ticks most abundant and voracious.

Thermometer at sunrise 28°, but not so cold to the feeling. We ascertained that all the yàks had left Jongli and were in the vicinity of Chockachaine. We sent a man to drive the yàks to our camp for inspection, but we quitted before his return. Left at 8 o'clock and after a steep ascent reached Mon Lepcha at 11.15 A. M. and Jongli at 1 P. M. From Mon Lepcha the road is easy, but we found the first part of the road very trying, all of us suffering more or less from shortness of breath and headache. There are no huts at Mon Lepcha: it is the name given to the locality, which is a feeding ground for yaks at an elevation of about 14,000 feet. Dr. Simpson took some photographic views of the snow which is very imposing from the spot. Between this and Jongli we passed several frozen rivulets.

Jongli is the name given to an extensive tract of yàk 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 Ratong and Chuckchurong rivers, of which Mon Lepcha 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 yàks 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 grazing ground of about eighty yàks 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 of 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 ascent 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 halting place, we met a wild looking man of the woods, whom our servants 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 mountains. 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

pointed in the principal object of our trip, which was to endeavour to trace a practicable route by which to reach the snow peaks in that direction. The surrounding hills were totally obscured, and in commencing our descent, the guide wanted to take us down the wrong side of the hill; but preferring to trust to our compass we were not misled.

With splitting headache and quite knocked up, we reached our hut at 5 P. M.

The night was very cold, but being well provided with warm clothing, we were all right; but the coolies, although well-housed, suffered a good deal.

The thermometer at sunrise stood at 18°. The small streams were all frozen. At this early hour the snow appeared so close that it seemed to tower above us. The sky was cloudless and the cold very keen. After breakfast we went on a reconnoitring expedition to the summit of Thonja, a hill immediately to our front, at the foot of Gubroo, in the direction of Kanchunjingah. It is a fine grassy mountain affording excellent pasturage, about 14,500 feet high. Dr. Simpson took some beautiful photographs of this wild region.

When on the crest of the hill, which is precipitous to the north side, we witnessed a very beautiful and perfect sun bow. It was seen in a mist a few feet down the precipice and remained visible for a long time. We reached our hut at 2 P. M., some of us feeling very queer from the rarified state of the atmosphere, having headache and nausea. On our return we flushed two covies of birds at from 12,000 to 13,000 feet, closely resembling Ptamagan, probably the Tetragallus Himalayensis" of which I have since seen some specimens in the Society's Museum. I shot one with a bullet which immediately concealed itself under the rocks, and occupied us a long time getting it out. In the evening the men who had been sent down in the morning to bring up the yàk purchased from the Doobdee Llama returned, bringing a fine black animal with an uncommonly bushy tail, about the size of a Highland bull.

The morning was very fine, but the night had been intensely cold. Shortly after sunrise the thermometer stood at 17°. The first object

of the hill side caused apparently by the strong blasts of wind which constantly blow up the hill.

that attracted my attention was our black friend the yak, who had turned white during the night, his long shaggy flanks being entirely covered with a coating of ice.

After taking an early cup of cocoa, some of the party started on another exploring expedition.

After proceeding about three miles, sometimes along yak tracks, and at others along the grassy slopes of the mountains and over dwarf rhododendron, we found ourselves on the verge of a deep precipice which entirely cut us off from a snow spur which we desired to reach on the other side of the gorge. It would have taken us hours to reach the bottom of this valley and the remainder of the day to ascend the opposite side; so we relinquished the object we had in view at starting, and decided upon ascending the perpetual snow clad peak of Gubroo instead. After partaking of breakfast near the Gubroo lake, a fine clear and deep sheet of water 130 paces square, situated in a picturesque spot at the foot of the mountain to the south-east, we commenced the ascent of Gubroo which we found very trying from its steepness, and the great elevation causing shortness of breath, nausea, and violent headache. We reached about 16,500 feet, when I found it impossible to proceed any further, in consequence of an oppression in the head and a feeling like that of seasickness. The Gubroo range, as seen from Darjeeling, presents a black, rocky and precipitous foreground to Kanchunjingah. It is formed of a finely laminated dark colored gneiss and hornblende, which exist in immense angular masses, rising in steps with perpendicular walls. The snow lies very thick on the summit of these flat masses and in the cavities, though scarcely visible at a distance.

The snow was very bright and dazzling; our attendants being unable to stand the glare and cold, remained behind. We commenced the descent at 1 P. M., and reached camp at 3.30 P. M. The droppings of deer were everywhere visible, but we only sighted one musk deer which rose close to us in scrubby rhododendron forest. Α fine covey of Tetragallus and two solitary snipes were also seen, but we were disappointed at the absence of game along the eastern slopes of the Jongli plateau which is well watered by numerous small streams, some of which spreading out with marshes and small lakes afford excellent cover for pheasants and jungle fowl. During our absence our headman had shot the yàk and prepared a savoury