CHAPTER XIV✦

Tassiding, view of and from—Funereal cypress—Camp at Sunnook—Hot vapours—Lama’s house—Temples, decorations, altars, idols, general effect—Chaits—Date of erection—Plundered by Ghorkas—Cross Ratong—Ascend to Pemiongehi—Relation of river-beds to strike of rocks—Slopes of ravines—Pemiongehi, view of—Vegetation—Elevation—Temple, decorations, etc.—Former capital of Sikkim—History of Sikkim—Nightingales—Campbell departs—Tchonpong—Edgeworthia—Cross Rungbee and Ratong—Hoar-frost on plantains—Yoksun—Walnuts—View—Funereal cypresses—Doobdi—Gigantic cypresses—Temples—Snow-fall—Sikkim, etc.—Toys.

CHAPTER XV✦

Leave Yoksun for Kinchinjunga—Ascend Ratong valley—Salt-smuggling over Ratong—Landslips—Plants—Buckeem—Blocks of gneiss—Mon Lepcha—View—Weather—View from Gubroo—Kinchinjunga, tops of—Pundimcliff—Nursing—Vegetation of Himalaya—Coup d’œil of Jongri—Route to Yalloong—Arduous route of salt-traders from Tibet—Kinchin, ascent of—Lichens—Surfaces sculptured by snow and ice—Weather at Jongri—Snow—Shades for eyes.

CHAPTER XVI✦

Ratong river below Mon Lepcha—Ferns—Vegetation of Yoksun, tropical—Araliaceæ, fodder for cattle—Rice-paper plant—Geology of Yoksun—Lake—Old temples—Funereal cypresses—Gigantic chart—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.