view of South-Western Sikkim, including Tonglo and Singli, and the hills of Darjiling. In the thickets roundabout were to be seen the tracks of wild pigs, and the woods were alive with monkeys which feed on acorns.
At about 1 p.m. we reached the top of the range, some 6000 feet above the level of the sea. Crossing a number of brooks which empty into the Rishi, we came to some cowsheds, where I would have liked to have rested; but no rest was possible, for I could see the leeches[1] spanning their length with swift but measured paces, making for me with haste.
At 4 p.m. we commenced our descent from the top of the ridge, which is marked by a lartsé[2]—here a bush of dwarf bamboos, with scraps of red cloth tied to it, near which Phurchung uttered his lha sol,[3] or invocation to the mountain deities. We halted for the night in a little clearing in the jungle at the foot of a gigantic oak, a few miles above the village of Lingcham. The giant nettle creeper here attains its largest growth, some more than 100 feet long. The tree nettle also abounds in this forest, and our servants found also the common nettle, the tender leaves of which make excellent soup.[4]
November 11.—The sky was overcast, and there was rain and sunshine at the same time, a phenomenon the Bhutias call metog-charpa, or "flowery shower." The village of Hi, by which we passed, contains several Bhutia, Lepcha, and Limbu houses.[5] The latter
- ↑ Cf. Hooker, op. cit., i. p. 107: "They puncture through thick worsted stockings, and even trousers, and when full roll in the form of a little soft ball into the bottom of the shoe. . . ." Ibid., p. 167, he makes mention of them swarming below 7000 feet. "a small black species above 3000 feet, and a large yellow-brown solitary one below that elevation."—(W. R.) Leeches are found at all elevations up to 10,000 feet at least.
- ↑ La, "pass;" rtse, "point, summit;" usually a pile of stones with brush stuck in it, on which rags are hung.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Lha, "god;" gsol, "to beg." The invocation I have always heard used is "lha gya lo, lha gya lo," meaning, "god (give me) an hundred years, god (give me) an hundred years!"—(W. R.)
- ↑ The giant nettle is the Urtica heterophylla. Hooker, op. cit., i. 182. The fibres of some nettles are twisted for bowstrings, others as thread for sewing and weaving, while many are eaten raw and in soups, especially the numerous little succulent species. The Urtica crenulata, or great shrubby nettle, grows also in these parts. Hooker, op. cit., ii. 188.—(W. R.)
- ↑ On the Lepchas, see Dr. A. Campbell, Jour. Anth. Inst., i. 128, et seq. Dr Campbell has also written several valuable papers on the Limboos in the Jour. Asiat. Soc. of Bengal for 1855 and other years, and in the Jour. Anth. Inst., vol. i.; also papers on the Murnis and Haius of Nepaul and Sikkim, in the same collection, I believe; but
