An illness of the mind is an illness of the body, and vice versa. Madrianne Arvore
Headaches - Who Is At Risk?
Are there types of people that are at a greater risk of getting headaches? Scientists have yet to identify a definitive cause of headaches, but the studies do identify likely triggers. The triggers are different depending on the type of headache, cluster, migraine, and tension headaches all have different triggers.
Tension headaches are so-named because they are believed to be the result of (and to produce) different kinds of muscle tension. The risk factors for that are, not surprisingly, related to the different ways that can happen.
Something as simple as holding a phone for an extended period between the ear and shoulder, for example, can contribute to causing a headache. The muscles are stretched and compressed in a fairly unnatural position and the result is inflammation, constriction of blood flow, stretched fascia and tendons, and so forth. The end result is often a headache.
Or, in those who have the chronic habit, teeth clenching or grinding are common risk factors. This is similar to TMJ disorders in which the temporomandibular joint connecting the jaw to the skull is irritated. This can often happen at night during sleep when the person has no conscious control.
But more subtle and surprising risk factors are at work as well.
Family history is one of the clearest indicators of who is at risk, for all types. Migraines have a strong tendency to run in families, while 40% of those with tension headaches share a family history with sufferers. Genetics is clearly a factor.
Depression, whether genetic or environmental is a factor. Which is cause and which is effect can be difficult to sort out, but depression is correlated with 70% of those who suffer chronic daily headache. In all likelihood there is a reciprocal relationship. Those who suffer from anemia, more often women (who tend to need extra iron), are at greater risk of headache.
Those who suffer from insomnia or sleep apnea are more prone to headaches. Though both may be the result of underlying factors (more so than one being the cause of the other), they are frequently associated. Anxiety, whether during the day or at night, often accompanies the pair of causes.
Gender is a factor, in all types of headaches. Women are at greater risk than men for both tension headaches and migraines. In the latter case, around 17% of women get them, while only about 6% of men, according to one large study. Cluster headaches, in which pain occurs for short periods every day for weeks, more frequently affect men, however.
The reasons, the precise differences that produce the different percentages are unclear. But differences in lifestyle can largely be discounted these days, with women in the workplace as often as men.
Some lifestyle differences that can be common to both sexes are definite risk factors, though. Skipping meals, drinking excess alcohol (especially red wine, though 'excess' varies from person to person), stress and sometimes even excess exercise can increase the risk of headache.
There are some aspects that contribute to headaches that cannot be changed. Gender and family history are beyond the control of the headache sufferer. Some activities in a person's lifestyle can act as headache triggers. Changing the lifestyle factors that are within the patient's control will have beneficial results. For people who consistently suffer from headaches, getting a medical evaluation from a physician is a key starting point in treatment.
The period varies, but eventually the active ingredients in brand name drugs become legally available for other companies to manufacture and sell.
In the Cage - Genesis - Live at the Lyceum - London - 1980
 In the Cage - Genesis - Live at the Lyceum - London - 1980
ELIOREYES
9 min - Aug 1, 2008
Genesis Playing In the cage nedley: In the Cage/Slippermen. In The Lyceum Theatre on Duke's Tour.
Lyrics:
got sunshine in my stomach
Like I just rocked my baby to sleep.
I got sunshine in my stomach
But I cant keep me from creeping sleep,
Sleep, deep in the deep.
He wakes in a cold sweat with a strong urge to vomit. theres no sign of the cocoon and he can see more of the cave about him. there is much more of the glowing water dripping from the roof and
Ctites and stalagmites are forming and decomposing at an alarming rate all around him.
Rockface moves to press my skin
White liquid turn sour within
Turn fast - turn sour
Turn sweat - turn sour.
Must tell myself that Im not here.
Im drowning in a liquid fear.
Bottled in a strong compression,
My distortion shows obsession
In the cave.
Get me out of this cave!
If I keep my self-control,
Ill be safe in my soul.
And the childhood belief
Brings a moments relief,
But my cynic soon returns
And the lifeboat burns.
My spirit just never learns.
Stalactites, stalagmites
Shut me in, lock me tight.
Lips are dry, throat is dry.
Feel like burning, stomach churning,
Im dressed up in a white costume
Padding out leftover room.
Body stretching, feel the wretching
In the cage
Get me out of the cage!
In the glare of a light,
I see a strange kind of sight;
Of cages joined to form a star
Each person cant go very far;
All tied to their things
Theyre netted by their strings,
Free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings.
As the rocky bars press in on raels body, he sees his brother john outside, looking in. johns face is motionless despite screams for help, but in his vacant expression a tear of blood forms an
Ckles down his cheek. then he calmly walks away leaving rael to face the pains which are beginning to sweep through his body.
Outside the cage I see my brother john,
He turns his head so slowly round.
I cry out help! before he can be gone,
And he looks at me without a sound.
And I shout out john please help me!
But he does not even want to try to speak.
Im helpless in my violent rage
And a silent tear of blood dribbles down his cheek,
And I watch him turn away and leave the cage.
My little runaway.
(raindrops keep failing on my head, they keep falling on my...)
In a trap, feel a strap
Holding still. pinned for kill.
Chances narrow that Ill make it,
In the cushioned straight-jacket.
Just like 22nd street,
They got me by my neck and feet.
Pressures building, cant take more.
My headaches charge, earaches roar.
In this pain
Get me out of this pain.
If I could change to liquid,
I could fill the cracks up in the rocks.
I know that I am solid
And I am my own bad luck.
However, just as john walks out of sight, the cage dissolves and rael is left spinning like a top.
Outside john disappears, my cage dissolves,
Without any reason my body revolves.
Keep on turning,
Keep on turning,
Turning around,
Spinning around.
www.moldytoaster.com
www.moldytoaster.com
0 sec - Jun 28, 2008
erever there is standing water, its surface is reddened by the _Azolla,_ and _Salvinia_ is also common. At Jeelpigoree we were waited upon by the Dewan, who governs the district for the Rajah, a boy about ten years old, whose estates are locked up during the trial of an interminable suit for the succession, that has been instituted against him by a natural son of the late Rajah: we found the Dewan to be a man of intelligence, who promised us elephants as soon as the great Hooli festival, now commenced, should be over. The large village, at the time of our visit, was gay with holiday dresses. It is surrounded by trees, chiefly of banyan, jack, mango, peepul, and tamarind: interminable rice-fields extend on all sides, and except bananas, slender betel-nut palms, and sometimes pawn, or betel-pepper, there is little other extensive cultivation. The rose-apple, orange, and pine-apple are rare, as are cocoa-nuts: there are few date or fan-palms, and only occasionally poor crops of castor-oil and sugar-cane. In the gardens I noticed jasmine, _Justicia Adhatoda, Hibiscus,_ and others of the very commonest Indian ornamental plants; while for food were cultivated _Chenopodium,_ yams, sweet potatos, and more rarely peas, beans, and gourds. Bamboos were planted round the little properties and smaller clusters of houses, in oblong squares, the ridge on which the plants grew being usually bounded by a shallow ditch. The species selected was not the most graceful of its family; the stems, or culms, being densely crowded, erect, as thick at the base as the arm, copiously branching, and very feathery throughout their whole length of sixty feet. A gay-flowered _Osbeckia_ was common along the roadsides, and, with a _Clerodendron,_* _Clerodendron_ leaves, bruised, are used to kill vermin, fly-blows, etc., in cattle; and the twigs form toothpicks. The flowers are presented to Mahadeo, as a god of peace; milk, honey, flowers, fruit, amrit (ambrosia), etc., being offered to the pacific gods, as Vishnu, Krishna, etc.; while Mudar (_Asclepias_), Bhang (_Cannabis sativa_), _Datura,_ flesh, blood, and spirituous liquors, are offered to Siva, Doorga, Kali, and other demoniacal deities. whose strong, sweet odour was borne far through the air, formed a low undershrub beneath every tree, generally intermixed with three ferns (a _Polypodium, Pteris,_ and _Goniopteris_). The cottages are remarkable, and have a very neat appearance, presenting nothing but a low white-washed platform of clay, and an enormous high, narrow, black, neatly thatched roof, so arched along the ridge, that its eaves nearly touch the ground at each gable; and looking at a distance like a gigantic round-backed elephant. The walls are of neatly-platted bamboo: each window (of which there are two) is crossed by slips of bamboo, and wants only glass to make it look European; they have besides shutters of wattle, that open upwards, projecting during the day like the port-hatches of a ship, and let down at night. Within, the rooms are airy and clean: one end contains the machans (bedsteads), the others some raised clay benches, the fire, frequently an enormous Hookah, round wattled stools, and various implements. The inhabitants appeared more than ordinarily well-dressed; the men in loose flowing robes of fine cotton or muslin, the women in the usual garb of a simple thick cotton cloth, drawn tight immediately above the breast, and thence falling perpendicularly to the knee; the colour of this is a bright blue in stripes, bordered above and below with red. I anticipated some novelty from a visit to a Durbar (court) so distant from European influence as that of the Rajah of Jeelpigoree. All Eastern courts, subject to the Company, are, however, now shorn of much of their glory; and the condition of the upper classes is greatly changed. Under the Mogul rule, the country was farmed out to Zemindars, some of whom assumed the title of Rajah: they collected the revenue for the Sovereign, retaining by law ten per cent. on all that was realized: there was no intermediate class, the peasant paying directly to the Zemindar, and he into the royal treasury. Latterly the Zemindars have become farmers under the Company's rule; and in the adjudication of their claims, Lord Cornwallis (then Governor-General) made great sacrifices in their favour, levying only a small tribute in proportion to their often great revenues, in the hope that they would be induced to devote their energies, and some of their means, to the improvement of the condition of the peasantry. This expectation was not realized: the younger Zemindars especially, subject to no restraint (except from aggressions on their neighbours), fell into slothful habits, and the collecting of the revenue became a trading speculation, entrusted to "middle men." The Zemindar selects a number, who again are at liberty to collect through the medium of several sub-renting classes. Hence the peasant suffers, and except a generally futile appeal to the Rajah, he has no redress. The law secures him tenure as long as he can pay his rent, and to do this he has recourse to the usurer; borrowing in spring (at 50, and oftener 100 per cent.) the seed, plough, and bullocks: he reaps in autumn, and what is then not required for his own use, is sold to pay off part of his original debt, the rest standing over till the next season; and thus it continues to accumulate, till, overwhelmed with difficulties, he is ejected, or flees to a neighbouring district. The Zemindar enjoys the same right of tenure as the peasant: the amount of impost laid on his property was fixed for perpetuity; whatever his revenue be, he must pay so much to the Company, or he forfeits his estates, and they are put up for auction. One evening we visited the young Rajah at his residence, which has rather a good appearance at a distance, its white walls gleaming through a dark tope of mango, betel, and cocoa-nut. A short rude avenue leads to the entrance gate, under the trees of which a large bazaar was being held; stocked with cloths, simple utensils, ornaments, sweetmeats, five species of fish from the Teesta, and the betel-nut. We entered through a guard-house, where were some of the Rajah's Sepoys in the European costume, and a few of the Company's troops, lent to the Rajah as a security against some of the turbulent pretenders to his title. Within was a large court-yard, flanked by a range of buildings, some of good stone-work, some of wattle, in all stages of disrepair. A great crowd of people occupied one end of the court, and at the other we were received by the Dewan, and seated on chairs under a canopy supported by slender silvered columns. Some slovenly Natch-girls were dancing before us, kicking up clouds of dust, and singing or rather bawling through their noses, the usual indelicate hymns in honour of the Hooli festival; there were also fiddlers, cutting uncouth capers in rhythm with the dancers. Anything more deplorable than the music, dancing, and accompaniments, cannot well be imagined; yet the people seemed vastly pleased, and extolled the performers. The arrival of the Rajah and his brothers was announced by a crash of tom-toms and trumpets, while over their heads were carried great gilt canopies. With them came a troop of relations, of all ages; and amongst them a poor little black girl, dressed in honour of us in an old-fashioned English chintz frock and muslin cap, in which she cut the drollest figure imaginable; she was carried about for our admiration, like a huge Dutch doll, crying lustily all the time. The festivities of the evening commenced by handing round trays full of pith-balls, the size of a nutmeg, filled with a mixture of flour, sand, and red lac-powder; with these each pelted his neighbour, the thin covering bursting as it struck any object, and powdering it copiously with red dust. A more childish and disagreeable sport cannot well be conceived; and when the balls were expended, the dust itself was resorted to, not only fresh, but that which had already been used was gathered up, with whatever dirt it might have become mixed. One rude fellow, with his hand full, sought to entrap his victims into talking, when he would stuff the nasty mixture into their mouths. At the end attar of roses was brought, into which little pieces of cotton, fixed on slips of bamboo, were dipped, and given to each person. The heat, dust, stench of the unwashed multitude, noise, and increasing familiarity of the lower orders, warned us to retire, and we effected our retreat with precipitancy. The Rajah and his brother were very fine boys, lively, frank, unaffected, and well disposed: they have evidently a good guide in the old Dewan; but it is melancholy to think how surely, should they grow up in possession of their present rank, they will lapse into slothful habits, and take their place amongst the imbeciles who now represent the once powerful Rajahs of Bengal. We rode back to our tents by a bright moonlight, very dusty and tired, and heartily glad to breathe the cool fresh air, after the stifling ordeal we had undergone. On the following evening the elephants were again in waiting to conduct us to the Rajah. He and his relations were assembled outside the gates, mounted upon elephants, amid a vast concourse of people. The children and Dewan were seated in a sort of cradle; the rest were some in howdahs, and some astride on elephants' backs, six or eight together. All the idols were paraded before them, and powdered with red dust; the people howling, shouting, and sometimes quarrelling. Our elephants took their places amongst those of the Rajah; and when the mob had sufficiently pelted one another with balls and dirty red powder, a torchlight procession was formed, the idols leading the way, to a very large tank, bounded by a high rampart, within which was a broad esplanade round the water. The effect of the whole was very striking, the glittering cars and barbaric gaud of the idols showing best by torchlight; while the white robes and turbans of the undulating sea of people, and the great black elephants picking their way with matchless care and consideration, contrasted strongly with the quiet moonbeams sleeping on the still broad waters of the tank. Thence the procession moved to a field, where the idols were placed on the ground, and all dismounted: the Dewan then took the children by the hand, and each worshipped his tutelary deity in a short prayer dictated by the attendant Brahmin, and threw a handful of red dust in its face. After another ordeal of powder, singing, dancing, and suffocation, our share in the Hooli ended; and having been promised elephants for the following morning, we bade a cordial farewell to our engaging little hosts and their staid old governor. On the 10th of March we were awakened at an early hour by a heavy thunder-storm from the south-west. The sunrise was very fine, through an arch 10 degrees high of bright blue sky, above which the whole firmament was mottled with cirrus. It continued cloudy, with light winds, throughout the day, but clear on the horizon. From this tinge such storms became frequent, ushering in the equinox; and the less hazy sky and rising hygrometer predicted an accession of moisture in the atmosphere. We left for Rangamally, a village eight miles distant in a northerly direction, our course lying along the west bank of the Teesta. The river is here navigated by canoes, thirty to forty feet long, some being rudely cut out of a solid log of Sal, while others are built, the planks, of which there are but few, being sewed together, or clamped with iron, and the seams caulked with the fibres of the root of Dhak (_Butea frondosa_), and afterwards smeared with the gluten of _Diospyros embryopteris._ The bed of the river is here threequarters of a mile across, of which the stream does not occupy one-third; its banks are sand-cliffs, fourteen feet in height. A few small fish and water-snakes swarm in the pools. The whole country improved in fertility as we advanced towards the mountains: the grass became greener, and more trees, shrubs, herbs, and birds appeared. In front, the dark boundary-line of the Sal forest loomed on the horizon, and to the east rose the low hills of Bhotan, both backed by the outer ranges of the Himalaya. Flocks of cranes were abundant over-head, flying in wedges, or breaking up into "open order," preparing for their migration northwards, which takes place in April, their return occurring in October; a small quail was also common on the ground. Tamarisk ("Jhow") grew in the sandy bed of the river; its flexible young branches are used in various parts of India for wattling and basket-making. In the evening we walked to the skirts of the Sal forest. The great trunks of the trees were often scored by tigers' claws, this animal indulging in the cat-like propensity of rising and stretching itself against such objects. Two species of _Dillenia_ were common in the forest, with long grass, _Symplocos, Emblica,_ and _Cassia Fistula,_ now covered with long pods. Several parasitical air-plants grew on the dry trees, as _Oberonia, Vanda,_ and _Aerides._ At Rangamally, the height of the sandy banks of the Teesta varies from fifteen to twenty feet. The bed is a mile across, and all sand;* Now covered with _Anthistiria_ grass, fifteen feet high, a little _Sissoo,_ and _Bombax._ the current much divided, and opaque green, from the glacial origin of most of its head-streams. The west bank was covered with a small Sal forest, mixed with _Acacia Catechu,_ and brushwood, growing in a poor vegetable loam, over very dry sand. The opposite (or Bhotan) bank is much lower, and always flooded during the rains, which is not the case on the western side, where the water rises to ten feet below the top of the bank, or from seven to ten feet above its height in the dry season, and it then fills its whole bed. This information we had from a police Jemadar, who has resided many years on this unhealthy spot, and annually suffers from fever. The Sal forest has been encroached upon from the south, for many miles, within the memory of man, by clearing in patches, and by indiscriminate felling. About ten miles north of Rangamally, we came to an extensive flat, occupying a recess in the high west bank, the site of the old capital (Bai-kant-pore) of the Jeelpigoree Rajah. Hemmed in as it is on three sides by a dense forest, and on all by many miles of malarious Terai, it appears sufficiently secure from ordinary enemies, during a great part of the year. The soil is sandy, overlying gravel, and covered with a thick stratum of fine mud or silt, which is only deposited on these low flats; on it grew many naturalized plants, as hemp, tobacco, jack, mango, plantain, and orange. About eight miles on, we left the river-bed, and struck westerly through a dense forest, to a swampy clearance occupied by the village of Rummai, which appeared thoroughly malarious; and we pitched the tent on a narrow, low ridge, above the level of the plain. It was now cool and pleasant, partly due, no doubt, to a difference in the vegetation, and the proximity of swamp and forest, and partly also to a change in the weather, which was cloudy and threatening; much rain, too, had fallen here on the preceding day. Brahmins and priests of all kinds are few in this miserable country: near the villages, and under the large trees, are, every here and there, a few immature thatched cottages, four to six feet high, in which the tutelary deities of the place are kept; they are idols of the very rudest description, of Vishnu as an ascetic (Bai-kant Nath), a wooden doll, gilt and painted, standing, with the hands raised as if in exhortation, and one leg crossed over the other. Again, Kartik, the god of war, is represented sitting astride on a peacock, with the right hand elevated and holding a small flat cup. Some fine muscular Cooches were here brought for Mr. Hodgson's examination, but we found them unable or unwilling to converse, in the Cooch tongue, which appears to be fast giving place to Bengalee. We walked to a stream, which flows at the base of the retiring sand-cliffs, and nourishes a dense and richly-varied jungle, producing many plants, as beautiful _Acanthaceae,_ Indian horse-chesnut, loaded with white racemes of flowers, gay _Convolvuli,_ laurels, terrestrial and parasitic _Orchideae, Dillenia,_ casting its enormous flowers as big as two fists, pepper, figs, and, in strange association with these, a hawthorn, and the yellow-flowered Indian strawberry, which ascends 7,500 feet on the mountains, and _Hodgsonia,_ a new _Cucurbitaceous_ genus, clinging in profusion to the trees, and also found 5000 feet high on the mountains. In the evening we rode into the forest (which was dry and very unproductive), and thence along the river-banks, through _Acacia Catechu,_ belted by _Sissoo,_ which often fringes the stream, always occupying the lowest flats. The foliage at this season is brilliantly green; and as the evening advanced, a yellow convolvulus burst into flower like magic, adorning the bushes over which it climbed. It rained on the following morning; after which we left for the exit of the Teesta, proceeding northwards, sometimes through a dense forest of Sal timber, sometimes dipping into marshy depressions, or riding through grassy savannahs, breast-high. The coolness of the atmosphere was delicious, and the beauty of the jungle seemed to increase the further we penetrated these primaeval forests. Eight miles from Rummai we came on a small river from the mountains, with a Cooch village close by, inhabited during the dry season by timber-cutters from Jeelpigoree it is situated upon a very rich black soil, covered with _Saccharum_ and various gigantic grasses, but no bamboo. These long grasses replace the Sal, of which we did not see one good tree. We here mounted the elephants, and proceeded several miles through the prairie, till we again struck upon the high Sal forest-bank, continuous with that of Rummai and Rangamally, but much loftier: it formed one of many terraces which stretch along the foot of the hills, from Punkabaree to the Teesta, but of which none are said to occur for eight miles eastwards along the Bhotan Dooars: if true, this is probably due in part to the alteration of the course of the Teesta, which is gradually working to the westward, and cutting away these lofty banks. The elephant-drivers appeared to have taken us by mistake to the exit of the Chawa, a small stream which joins the Teesta further to the eastward. The descent to the bed of this rivulet, round the first spur of rock we met with, was fully eighty feet, through a very irregular depression, probably the old bed of the stream; it runs southwards from the hills, and was covered from top to bottom with slate-pebbles. We followed the river to its junction with the Teesta, along a flat, broad gulley, bounded by densely-wooded, steep banks of clay slate on the north, and the lofty bank on the south: between these the bed was strewed with great boulders of gneiss and other rocks, luxuriantly clothed with long grass, and trees of wild plantain, _Erythrina_ and _Bauhinia,_ the latter gorgeously in flower. The Sal bank formed a very fine object: it was quite perpendicular, and beautifully stratified with various coloured sands and gravel: it tailed off abruptly at the junction of the rivers, and then trended away south-west, forming the west bank of the Teesta. The latter river is at its outlet a broad and rapid, but hardly impetuous stream, now fifty yards across, gushing from between two low, forest-clad spurs: it appeared about five feet deep, and was beautifully fringed on both sides with green _Sissoo._ Some canoes were here waiting for us, formed of hollowed trunks of trees, thirty feet long: two were lashed together with bamboos, and the boatmen sat one at the head and one at the stern of each: we lay along the bottom of the vessels, and in a second we were darting down the river, at the rate of at least ten or fifteen miles an hour, the bright waters leaping up on all sides, and bounding in _jets-d'eau_ between prows and sterns of the coupled vessels. Sometimes we glided along without perceptible motion, and at others jolted down bubbling rapids, the steersmen straining every nerve to keep their bark's head to the current, as she impatiently swerved from side to side in the eddies. To our jaded and parched frames, after the hot forenoon's ride on the elephants, the effect was delicious: the fresh breeze blew on our heated foreheads and down our open throats and chests; we dipped our hands into the clear, cool stream, and there was "music in the waters" to our ears. Fresh verdure on the banks, clear pebbles, soft sand, long English river-reaches, forest glades, and deep jungles, followed in rapid succession; and as often as we rounded a bend or shot a rapid, the scene changed from bright to brighter still; so continuing until dusk, when we were slowly paddling along the then torpid current opposite Rangamally.* The following temperatures of the waters of the Teesta were taken at intervals during our passage from its exit to Rangamally, a distance of fifteen linear miles, and thirty miles following the bends:-- Water. Air. Exit 2h. 30m. p.m. 62 degrees 3 62.2 degrees 74 degrees 3.30 63.2 degrees 4 64 degrees 4.30 65 degrees 5 65.4 degrees 72.5 degrees opposite Rummai 5.30 66 degrees 6 66 degrees 71.7 degrees opposite Baikant The absence of large stones or boulders of rock in the bed of the Teesta is very remarkable, considering the great volume and rapidity of the current, and that it shoots directly from the rocky hills to the gravelly plains. At the _embouchure_ there are boulders as big as the head, and in the stream, four miles below the exit, the boatmen pointed out a stone as large as the body as quite a marvel. They assured us that the average rise at the mouth of the river, in the rains, was not more than five feet: the mean breadth of the stream is from seventy to ninety yards. From the point where it leaves the mountains, to its junction with the Megna, is at this season thirteen days' voyage, the return occupying from twenty to twenty-five days, with the boats unladen. The name "Teesta" signifies "quiet," this river being so in comparison with other Himalayan torrents further west, the Cosi, Konki, etc., which are devastators of all that bounds their course. We passed but two crossing-places: at one the river is divided by an island, covered with the rude chaits and flags of the Boodhists. We also saw some Cooch fishermen, who throw the net much as we do: a fine "Mahaser" (a very large carp) was the best fish they had. Of cultivation there was very little, and the only habitations were a few grass-huts of the boatmen or buffalo herdsmen, a rare Cooch village of Catechu and Sal cutters, or the shelter of timber-floaters, who seem to pass the night in nests of long dry grass. Our servants not having returned with the elephants from Rummai, we spent the following day at Rangamally shooting and botanizing. I collected about 100 species in a couple of hours, and observed perhaps twice that number: the more common I have repeatedly alluded to, and excepting some small terrestrial _Orchids,_ I added nothing of particular interest to my collection.* The following is a list of the principal genera, most of which are English:--_Polygonum, Quercus, Sonchus, Gnaphalium, Cratagus, Lobelia, Lactuca, Hydrocotyle, Saponaria, Campanula, Bidens, Rubus, Oxalis, Artemisia, Fragaria, Clematis, Dioscorea, Potamogeton, Chara, Veronica, Viola, Smilax._ On the 14th of March we proceeded west to Siligoree, along the skirts of the ragged Sal forest. Birds are certainly the most conspicuous branch of the natural history of this country, and we saw many species, interesting either from their habits, beauty, or extensive distribution. We noticed no less than sixteen kinds of swimming birds, several of which are migratory and English. The Shoveller, white-eyed and common wild ducks; Merganser, Brahminee, and Indian goose (_Anser Indica_); common and Gargany teal; two kinds of gull; one of Shearwater (_Rhynchops ablacus_); three of tern, and one of cormorant. Besides these there were three egrets, the large crane, stork, green heron, and the demoiselle; the English sand-martin, kingfisher, peregrine-falcon, sparrow-hawk, kestrel, and the European vulture: the wild peacock, and jungle-fowl. There were at least 100 peculiarly Indian birds in addition, of which the more remarkable were several kinds of mina, of starling, vulture, kingfisher, magpie, quail, and lapwing. The country gradually became quite beautiful, much undulated and diversified by bright green meadows, sloping lawns, and deeply wooded nullahs, which lead from the Sal forest and meander through this varied landscape. More beautiful sites for fine mansions could not well be, and it is difficult to suppose so lovely a country should be so malarious as it is before and after the rains, excessive heat probably diffusing widely the miasma from small stagnant surfaces. We noticed a wild hog, absolutely the first wild beast of any size I sawon the plains, except the hispid hare (_Lepus hispidus_) and the barking deer (_Stylocerus ratna_). The hare we found to be the best game of this part of India, except the teal. The pheasants of Dorjiling are poor, the deer all but uneatable, and the florican, however dressed, I considered a far from excellent bird. A good many plants grow along the streams, the sandy beds of which are everywhere covered with the marks of tigers' feet. The only safe way of botanizing is by pushing through the jungle on elephants; an uncomfortable method, from the quantity of ants and insects which drop from the foliage above, and from the risk of disturbing pendulous bees' and ants' nests. A peculiar species of willow (_Salix tetrasperma_) is common here; which is a singular fact, as the genus is characteristic of cold and arctic latitudes; and no species is found below 5000 feet elevation on the Sikkim mountain, where it grows on the inner Himalaya only, some kinds ascending to 16,000 feet. East of Siligoree the plains are unvaried by tree or shrub, and are barren wastes of short turf or sterile sand, with the dwarf-palm (_Phoenix acaulis_), a sure sign of a most hungry soil. The latter part of the journey I performed on elephants during the heat of the day, and a more uncomfortable mode of conveyance surely never was adopted; the camel's pace is more fatiguing, but that of the elephant is extremely trying after a few miles, and is so injurious to the human frame that the Mahouts (drivers) never reach an advanced age, and often succumb young to spine-diseases, brought on by the incessant motion of the vertebral column. The broiling heat of the elephant's black back, and the odour of its oily driver, are disagreeable accompaniments, as are its habits of snorting water from its trunk over its parched skin, and the consequences of the great bulk of green food which it consumes. From Siligoree I made a careful examination of the gravel beds that occur on the road north to the foot of the hills, and thence over the tertiary sandstone to Punkabaree. At the Rukti river, which flows south-west, the road suddenly rises, and crosses the first considerable hill, about two miles south of any rock _in situ._ This river cuts a cliff from 60 to 100 feet high, composed of stratified sand and water-worn gravel: further south, the spur declines into the plains, its course marked by the Sal that thrives on its gravelly soil. The road then runs north-west over a plain to an isolated hill about 200 feet high, also formed of sand and gravel. We ascended to the top of this, and found it covered with blocks of gneiss, and much angular detritus. Hence the road gradually ascends, and becomes clayey. Argillaceous rocks, and a little ochreous sandstone appeared in highly-inclined strata, dipping north, and covered with great water-worn blocks of gneiss. Above, a flat terrace, flanked to the eastward by a low wooded hill, and another rise of sandstone, lead on to the great Baisarbatti terrace. _Bombax, Erythrina,_ and _Duabanga_ (_Lagaerstraemia grandiflora_), were in full flower, and with the profusion of _Bauhinia,_ rendered the tree-jungle gay: the two former are leafless when flowering. The Duabanga is the pride of these forests. Its trunk, from eight to fifteen feet in girth, is generally forked from the base, and the long pendulous branches which clothe the trunk for 100 feet, are thickly leafy, and terminated by racemes of immense white flowers, which, especially when in bud, smell most disagreeably of assafoetida. The magnificent Apocyneous climber, _Beaumontia,_ was in full bloom, ascending the loftiest trees, and clothing their trunks with its splendid foliage and festoons of enormous funnel-shaped white flowers. The report of a bed of iron-stone eight or ten miles west of Punkabaree determined our visiting the spot; and the locality being in a dense jungle, the elephants were sent on ahead. We descended to the terraces flanking the Balasun river, and struck west along jungle-paths to a loosely-timbered flat. A sudden descent of 150 feet landed us on a second terrace. Further on, a third dip of about twenty feet (in some places obliterated) flanks the bed of the Balasun; the river itself being split into many channels at this season. The west bank, which is forty feet high, is of stratified sand and gravel, with vast slightly-worn blocks of gneiss: from the top of this we proceeded south-west for three miles to some Mechi villages, the inhabitants of which flocked to meet us, bringing milk and refreshments. The Lohar-ghur, or "iron hill," lies in a dense dry forest. Its plain-ward flanks are very steep, and covered with scattered weather-worn masses of ochreous and black iron-stone, many of which are several yards long: it fractures with faint metallic lustre, and is very earthy in parts: it does not affect the compass. There are no pebbles of iron-stone, nor water-worn rocks of any kind found with it. The sandstones, close by, cropped out in thick beds (dip north 70 degrees): they are very soft, and beds of laminated clay, and of a slaty rock, are intercalated with them; also an excessively tough conglomerate, formed of an indurated blue or grey paste, with nodules of harder clay. There are no traces of metal in the rock, and the lumps of ore are wholly superficial. Below Punkabaree the Baisarbatti stream cuts through banks of gravel overlying the sandstone (dip north 65 degrees). The sandstone is gritty and micaceous, intercalated with beds of indurated shale and clay; in which I found the shaft (apparently) of a bone; there were also beds of the same clay conglomerate which I had seen at Lohar-ghur, and thin seams of brown lignite; with a rhomboidal cleavage. In the bed of the stream were carbonaceous shales, with obscure impressions of fern leaves, of _Trizygia,_ and _Vertebraria_: both fossils characteristic of the Burdwan coal-fields (see Chapter I), but too imperfect to justify any conclusion as to the relation between these formations.* These traces of fossils are not sufficient to identify the formation with that of the sewalik hills of North-west India; but its contents, together with its strike, dip, and position relatively to the mountains, and its mineralogical character, incline me to suppose it may be similar. Its appearance in such small quantities in Sikkim (where it rises but a few hundred feet above the level of the sea, whereas in Kumaon it reaches 4000 feet), may be attributed to the greater amount of wearing which it must have undergone; the plains from which it rises being 1000 feet lower than those of Kumaon, and the sea having consequently retired later, exposing the Sikkim sandstone to the effects of denudation for a much longer period. Hitherto no traces of this rock, or of any belonging to a similar geological epoch, have been found in the valleys of Sikkim; but when the narrowness of these is considered, it will not appear strange that such may have been removed from their surfaces: first, by the action of a tidal ocean; and afterwards, by that of tropical rains. Ascending the stream, these shales are seen _in situ,_ overlain by the metamorphic clay-slate of the mountains, and dipping inwards (northwards) like them. This is at the foot of the Punkabaree spur, and close to the bungalow, where a stream and land-slip expose good sections. The carbonaceous beds dip north 60 degrees and 70 degrees, and run east and west; much quartz rock is intercalated with them, and soft white and pink micaceous sandstones. The coal-seams are few in number, six to twelve inches thick, very confused and distorted, and full of elliptic nodules, or spheroids of quartzy slate, covered with concentric scaly layers of coal: they overlie the sandstones mentioned above. These scanty notices of superposition being collected in a country clothed with the densest tropical forest, where a geologist pursues his fatiguing investigations under disadvantages that can hardly be realized in England, will I fear long remain unconfirmed. I may mention, however, that the appearance of inversion of the strata at the foot of great mountain-masses has been observed in the Alleghany chain, and I believe in the Alps.* Dr. M'Lelland informs me that in the Curruckpore hills, south of the Ganges, the clay-slates are overlain by beds of mica-slate, gneiss, and granite, which pass into one another. Illustration--A MECH, NATIVE OF THE SIKKIM TERAI. A poor Mech was fishing in the stream, with a basket curiously formed of a cylinder of bamboo, cleft all round in innumerable strips, held together by the joints above and below; these strips being stretched out as a balloon in the middle, and kept apart by a hoop: a small hole is cut in the cage, and a mouse-trap entrance formed: the cage is placed in the current with the open end upwards, where the fish get in, and though little bigger than minnows, cannot find their way out. On the 20th we had a change in the weather: a violent storm from the south-west occurred at noon, with hail of a strange form, the stones being sections of hollow spheres, half an inch across and upwards, formed of cones with truncated apices and convex bases; these cones were aggregated together with their bases outwards. The large masses were followed by a shower of the separate conical pieces, and that by heavy rain. On the mountains this storm was most severe: the stones lay at Dorjiling for seven days, congealed into masses of ice several feet long and a foot thick in sheltered places: at Purneah, fifty miles south, stones one and two inches across fell, probably as whole spheres. Ascending to Khersiong, I found the vegetation very backward by the road-sides. The rain had cleared the atmosphere, and the view over the plains was brilliant. On the top of the Khersiong spur a tremendous gale set in with a cold west wind: the storm cleared off at night, which at 10 p.m. was beautiful, with forked and sheet lightning over the plains far below us. The equinoctial gales had now fairly set in, with violent south-east gales, heavy thunder, lightning, and rain. Whilst at Khersiong I took advantage of the very fair section afforded by the road from Punkabaree, to examine the structure of the spur, which seems to be composed of very highly inclined contorted beds (dip north) of metamorphic rocks, gneiss, mica-slate, clay-slate, and quartz; the foliation of which beds is parallel to the dip of the strata. Over all reposes a bed of clay, capped with a layer of vegetable mould, nowhere so thick and rich as in the more humid regions of 7000 feet elevation. The rocks appeared in the following succession in descending. Along the top are found great blocks of very compact gneiss buried in clay. Half a mile lower the same rock appears, dipping north-north-east 50 degrees. Below this, beds of saccharine quartz, with seams of mica, dip north-north-west 20 degrees. Some of these quartz beds are folded on themselves, and look like flattened trunks of trees, being composed of concentric layers, each from two to four inches thick: we exposed twenty-seven feet of one fold running along the side of the road, which was cut parallel to the strike. Each layer of quartz was separated from its fellows, by one of mica scales; and was broken up into cubical fragments, whose surfaces are no doubt cleavage and jointing places. I had previously seen, but not understood, such flexures produced by metamorphic action on masses of quartz when in a pasty state, in the Falkland Islands, where they have been perfectly well described by Mr. Darwin;* Journal of Geological Society for 1846, p. 267, and "Voyage of the Beagle". in whose views of the formation of these rocks I entirely concur. The flexures of the gneiss are incomparably more irregular and confused than those of the quartz, and often contain flattened spheres of highly crystalline felspar, that cleave perpendicularly to the shorter axis. These spheres are disposed in layers parallel to the foliation of the gneiss: and are the result of a metamorphic action of great intensity, effecting a complete rearrangement and crystallization of the quartz and mica in parallel planes, whilst the felspar is aggregated in spheres; just as in the rearrangement of the mineral constituents of mica-schists, the alumina is crystallized in the garnets, and in the clay-slates the iron into pyrites. The quartz below this dips north-north-west 45 degrees to 50 degrees, and alternates with a very hard slaty schist, dipping north-west 45 degrees, and still lower is a blue-grey clay-slate, dipping north-north-west 30 degrees. These rest on beds of slate, folded like the quartz mentioned above, but with cleavage-planes, forming lines radiating from the axis of each flexure, and running through all the concentric folds. Below this are the plumbago and clay slates of Punkabaree, which alternate with beds of mica-schist with garnets, and appear to repose immediately upon the carboniferous strata and sandstone; but there is much disturbance at the junction. On re-ascending from Punkabaree, the rocks gradually appear more and more dislocated, the clay-slate less so than the quartz and mica-schist, and that again far less than the gneiss, which is so shattered and bent, that it is impossible to say what is _in situ,_ and what not. Vast blocks lie superficially on the ridges; and the tops of all the outer mountains, as of Khersiong spur, of Tonglo, Sinchul, and Dorjiling, appear a pile of such masses. Injected veins of quartz are rare in the lower beds of schist and clay-slate, whilst the gneiss is often full of them; and on the inner and loftier ranges, these quartz veins are replaced by granite with tourmaline. Lime is only known as a stalactitic deposit from various streams, at elevations from 1000 to 7000 feet; one such stream occurs above Punkabaree, which I have not seen; another within the Sinchul range, on the great Rungeet river, above the exit of the Rummai; a third wholly in the great central Himalayan range, flowing into the Lachen river. The total absence of any calcareous rock in Sikkim, and the appearance of the deposit in isolated streams at such distant localities, probably indicates a very remote origin of the lime-charged waters. From Khersiong to Dorjiling, gneiss is the only rock, and is often decomposed into clay-beds, 20 feet deep, in which the narrow, often zigzag folia of quartz remain quite entire and undisturbed, whilst every trace of the foliation of the softer mineral is lost. At Pacheem, Dorjiling weather, with fog and drizzle, commenced, and continued for two days: we, reached Dorjiling on the 24th of March, and found that the hail which had fallen on the 20th was still lying in great masses of crumbling ice in sheltered spots. The fall had done great damage to the gardens, and Dr. Campbell's tea-plants were cut to pieces. Illustration--POCKET-COMB USED BT THE MECH TRIBES. END OF VOLUME I OF HIMALAYAN JOURNALS. HIMALAYAN JOURNALS or NOTES OF A NATURALIST IN BENGAL, THE SIKKIM AND NEPAL HIMALAYAS, THE KHASIA MOUNTAINS, etc. JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER, M.D., R.N., F.R.S. Volume II First published 1854 Reprinted 1999 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVIII. Arrangements for second journey into Sikkim--Opposition of Dewan-- Lassoo Kajee--Tendong--Legend of flood--Lama of Silok-foke-- Namtchi--Tchebu Lama--Top of Tendong--Gigantic oak--Plants-- Teesta valley--Commencement of rains--Bhomsong--Ascent to Lathiang--View--Bad road--Orchids--Gorh--Opposition of Lama --Arrival of Meepo--Cross Teesta--Difficulties of travelling-- Lepchas swimming--Moxa for sprains--Singtam--Grandeur of view of Kinchinjunga--Wild men--Singtam Soubah--Landslips--Bees' nests and honey-seekers--Leeches, etc.--Chakoong--Vegetation-- Gravel terraces--Unpleasant effects of wormwood--Choongtam, scenery and vegetation of--Inhabitants--Tibetan salute--Lamas --Difficulty of procuring food--Contrast of vegetation of inner and outer Himalaya--Rhododendrons--Yew--_Abies Brunoniana_-- Venomous snakes--Hornets and other insects--Choongtam temple-- Pictures of Lhassa--Minerals--Scenery. CHAPTER XIX. Routes from Choongtam to Tibet frontier--Choice of that by the Lachen river--Arrival of supplies--Departure--Features of the valley--Eatable _Polygonum_--Tumlong--Cross Taktoong river-- Pines, larches, and other trees--Chateng pool--Water-plants and insects--Tukcham mountain--Lamteng village--Inhabitants-- Alpine monkey--Botany of temperate Himalaya--European and American fauna--Japanese and Malayan genera--Superstitious objections to shooting--Customs of people--Rain--Run short of provisions--Altered position of Tibet frontier--Zemu Samdong-- Imposition--Vegetation--Uses of pines--Ascent to Thlonok river --Balanophora wood for making cups--Snow-beds--Eatable mushrooms and _Smilacina_--Asarabacca--View of Kinchinjunga--Arum-roots, preparation of for food--Liklo mountain--Behaviour of my party-- Bridge constructed over Zemu--Cross river--Alarm of my party-- Camp on Zemu river. CHAPTER XX. Camp on Zemu river--Scenery--Falling rocks--Tukcham mountain-- Height of glaciers--Botany--Gigantic rhubarb--Insects--Storm --Temperature of rivers--Behaviour of Lachen Phipun--Hostile conduct of Bhoteeas--View from mountains above camp--Descend to Zemu Samdong--Vegetation--Letters from Dorjiling--Arrival of Singtam Soubah--Presents from Rajah--Parties collecting arum-roots--Insects--Ascend Lachen river--Thakya-zong--Tallum Samdong village--Cottages--Mountains--Plants--Entomology-- Weather--Halo--Diseases--Conduct of Singtam Soubah--His character and illness--Agrees to take me to Kongra Lama--Tungu-- Appearance of country--Houses--Poisoning by aram-roots--Yaks and calves--Tibet ponies--Journey to Kongra Lama--Tibetan tents --Butter, curds, and churns--Hospitality--Kinchinjhow and Chomiomo--Magnificent scenery--Reach Kongra Lama pass. CHAPTER XXI. Top of Kongra Lama--Tibet frontier--Elevation--View-- Vegetation--Descent to Tungu--Tungu-choo--Ponies--Kinchinjhow and Chango-khang mountains--Palung plains--Tibetans--Dogs-- Dingcham province of Tibet--Inhabitants--Dresses--Women's ornaments--Blackening faces--Coral--Tents--Elevation of Palung--Lama--Shawl-wool goats--Shearing--Siberian plants-- Height of glaciers, and perpetual snow--Geology--Plants, and wild animals--Marmots--Insects--Birds--Choongtam Lama--Religious exercises--Tibetan hospitality--_Delphinium_--Perpetual snow-- Temperature at Tungu--Return to Tallum Samdong--To Lamteng-- Houses--Fall of barometer--Cicadas--Lime deposits--Landslips --Arrival at Choongtam--Cobra--Rageu--Heat of climate-- Velocity and volume of rivers measured--Leave for Lachoong valley --Keadom--General features of valley--Lachoong village--Tunkra mountain--Moraines--Cultivation--Lachoong Phipun--Lama ceremonies beside a sick-bed. CHAPTER XXII. Leave Lachoong for Tunkra pass--Moraines and their vegetation-- Pines of great dimensions--Wild currants--Glaciers--Summit of pass--Elevation--Views--Plants--Winds--Choombi district-- Lacheepia rock--Extreme cold--Kinchinjunga--Himalayan grouse-- Meteorological observations--Return to Lachoong--Oaks--Ascend to Yeumtong--Flats and debacles--Buried pine-trunks--Perpetual snow--Hot springs--Behaviour of Singtam Soubah--Leave for Momay Samdong--Upper limit of trees--Distribution of plants--Glacial terraces, etc.--Forked Donkia--Moutonneed rocks--Ascent to Donkia pass--Vegetation--Scenery--Lakes--Tibet--Bhomtso-- Arun river--Kiang-lah mountains--Yaru-Tsampu river--Appearance of Tibet--Kambajong--Jigatzi--Kinchinjhow, and Kinchinjunga-- Chola range--Deceptive appearance of distant landscape--Perpetual snow--Granite--Temperatures--Pulses--Plants--Tripe de roche --Return to Momay--Dogs and yaks--Birds--Insects--Quadrupeds --Hot springs--Marmots--Kinchinjhow glacier. CHAPTER XXIII. Donkia glaciers--Moraines--Dome of ice--Honey-combed surface-- Rocks of Donkia--Metamorphic action of granite veins--Accident to instruments--Sebolah pass--Bees and May-flies--View-- Temperature--Pulses of party--Lamas and travellers at Momay-- Weather and climate--Dr. Campbell leaves Dorjiling for Sikkim-- Leave Momay--Yeumtong--Lachoong--Retardation of vegetation at low elevations--Choongtam--Landslips and debacle--Meet Dr. Campbell--Motives for his journey--Second visit to Lachen valley --Autumnal tints--Red currants--Lachen Phipun--Tungu-- Scenery--Animals--Poisonous rhododendrons--Fire-wood--Palung --Elevations--Sitong--Kongra Lama--Tibetans--Enter Tibet-- Desolate scenery--Plants--Animals--Geology--Cholamoo lakes-- Antelopes--Return to Yeumtso--Dr. Campbell lost--Extreme cold --Headaches--Tibetan Dingpun and guard--Arms and accoutrements --Temperature of Yeumtso--Migratory birds--Visit of Dingpun-- Yeumtso lakes. CHAPTER XXIV. Ascent of Bhomtso--View of snowy mountains--Chumulari--Arun river--Kiang-lah mountains--Jigatzi--Lhassa--Dingcham province of Tibet--Misapplication of term "Plain of Tibet"-- Sheep, flocks of--Crops--Probable elevation of Jigatzi-- Yaru-Tsampu river--Tame elephants--Wild horses--Dryness of air --Sunset beams--Rocks of Kinchinjhow--Cholamoo lakes-- Limestone--Dip and strike of rocks--Effects of great elevation on party--Ascent of Donkia--Moving piles of debris--Cross Donkia pass--Second visit to Momay Samdong--Hot springs--Descent to Yeumtong--Lachoong--Retardation of vegetation again noticed-- Jerked meat--Fish--Lose a thermometer--Lepcha lad sleeps in hot spring--Keadom--_Bucklandia_--Arrive at Choongtam--Mendicant --Meepo--Lachen-Lachoong river--Wild grape--View from Singtam of Kinchinjunga--Virulent nettle. CHAPTER XXV. Journey to the Rajah's residence at Tumloong--Ryott valley-- Rajah's house--Tupgain Lama--Lagong nunnery--Phadong Goompa-- Phenzong ditto--Lepcha sepoys--Proceedings at Tumloong--Refused admittance to Rajah--Women's dresses--Meepo's and Tchebu Lama's families--Chapel--Leave for Chola pass--Ryott river--Rungpo, view from--Deputation of Kajees, etc.--Conference--Laghep-- Eatable fruit of _Decaisnea--Cathcartia_--Rhododendrons-- Phieung-goong--Pines--Rutto river--Barfonchen--Curling of rhododendron leaf--Woodcock--Chola pass--Small lakes--Tibet guard and sepoys--Dingpun--Arrival of Sikkim sepoys--Their conduct--Meet Singtam Soubah--Chumanako--We are seized by the Soubah's party--Soubah's conduct--Dingpun Tinli--Treatment of Dr. Campbell--Bound and guarded--Separated from Campbell-- Marched to Tumloong--Motives for such conduct--Arrive at Rungpo --At Phadong--Presents from Rajah--Visits of Lama--Of Singtam Soubah--I am cross-questioned by Amlah--Confined with Campbell-- Seizure of my Coolies--Threats of attacking Dorjiling. CHAPTER XXVI. Dr. Campbell is ordered to appear at Durbar--Lamas called to council--Threats--Scarcity of food--Arrival of Dewan--Our jailer, Thoba-sing--Temperature, etc., at Tumloong--Services of Goompas--Lepcha girl--Jews'-harp--Terror of servants-- Ilam-sing's family--Interview with Dewan--Remonstrances--Dewan feigns sickness--Lord Dalhousie's letter to Rajah--Treatment of Indo-Chinese--Concourse of Lamas--Visit of Tchebu Lama--Close confinement--Dr. Campbell's illness--Conference with Amlah-- Relaxation of confinement--Pemiongchi Lama's intercession--Escape of Nimbo--Presents from Rajah, Ranee, and people--Protestations of friendship--Mr. Lushington sent to Dorjiling--Leave Tumloong --Cordial farewell--Dewan's merchandize--Gangtok Kajee-- Dewan's pomp--Governor-General's letter--Dikkeeling--Suspicion of poison--Dinner and pills--Tobacco--Bhotanese colony-- Katong-ghat on Teesta--Wild lemons--Sepoys' insolence--Dewan alarmed--View of Dorjiling--Threats of a rescue--Fears of our escape--Tibet flutes--Negotiate our release--Arrival at Dorjiling--Dr. Thomson joins me--Movement of troops at Dorjiling --Seizure of Rajah's Terai property. CHAPTER XXVII. Leave Dorjiling for Calcutta--Jung Bahadoor--Dr. Falconer-- Improvements in Botanic Gardens--Palmetum--Victoria-- _Amherstia_--Orchids spread by seed--Banyan--_Cycas_-- Importation of American plants in ice--Return to Dorjiling--Leave with Dr. Thomson for the Khasia mountains--Mahanuddy river-- Vegetation of banks--Maldah--Alligators--Rampore-Bauleah-- Climate of Ganges--Pubna--Jummul river--Altered course of Burrampooter and Megna--Dacca--Conch shells--Saws--Cotton muslins--Fruit--Vegetation--Elevation--Rose of Bengal-- Burrampooter--Delta of Soormah river--Jheels--Soil-- Vegetation--Navigation--Mosquitos--Atmospheric pressure-- Effects of geological changes--Imbedding of plants--Teelas or islets--Chattuc--Salubrious climate--Rains--Canoes--Pundua --Mr. Harry Inglis--Terrya Ghat--Ascent to Churra--Scenery and vegetation at foot of mountains--Cascades. CHAPTER XXVIII. Churra, English station of--Khasia people--Garrow people-- Houses--Habits--Dress--Arms--Dialects--Marriages--Food-- Funerals--Superstitions--Flat of Churra--Scenery--Lime and coal--Mamloo--Cliffs--Cascades--_Chamaerops_ palm-- Jasper-rocks--Flora of Churra--Orchids--Rhododendrons--Pine --Climate--Extraordinaiy rain-fall--Its effects--Gardens of Lieuts. Raban and Cave--Leave Churra to cross the mountain range-- Coal, shale, and under-clay--Kala-panee river--Lailangkot-- _Luculia Pinceana_--Conglomerate--Surureem wood--Boga-panee river--View of Himalaya--Greenstone--Age of pine-cones-- Moflong plants--_Coix_--Chillong mountain--Extensive view-- Road to Syong--Broad valleys--Geology--Plants--Myrung-- Granite blocks--Kollong rock--Pine-woods--Features of country --Orchids--Iron forges. CHAPTER XXIX. View of Himalaya from the Khasia--Great masses of snow--Chumulari --Donkia--Grasses--Nunklow--Assam valley and Burrampooter-- Tropical forest--Bor-panee--Rhododendrons--Wild elephants-- Blocks of Syenite--Return to Churra--Coal--August temperature --Leave for Chela--Jasper hill--Birds--_Arundina_--Habits of leaf-insects--Curious village--Houses--Canoes--Boga-panee river--Jheels--Chattuc--Churra--Leave for Jyntea hills-- Trading parties--Dried fish--Cherries--Cinnamon--Fraud-- Pea-violet--Nonkreem--Sandstone--Pines--Granite boulders-- Iron washing--Forges--Tanks--Siberian _Nymphaea_--Barren country--Pomrang--_Podostemon_--Patchouli plant--Mooshye-- Enormous stone slabs--Pitcher-plant--Joowye--Cultivation and vegetation--_Hydropeltis_--Sulky hostess--Nurtiung-- _Hamamelis chinensis_--Bor-panee river--Sacred grove and gigantic stone structures--Altars--Pyramids, etc.--Origin of names-- _Yandaca coerulea_--Collections--November vegetation--Geology of Khasia--Sandstone--Coal--Lime--Gneiss--Greenstone-- Tidal action--Strike of rocks--Comparison with Rajmahal hills and the Himalaya. CHAPTER XXX. Best voyage to Silhet--River--Palms--Teelas--Botany--Fish weirs--Forests of Cachar--Sandal-wood, etc.--Porpoises-- Alligators--Silchar--Tigers--Rice crops--Cookies-- Munniporees--Hockey--Varnish--Dance--Nagas--Excursion to Munnipore frontier--Elephant bogged--Bamboos--_Cardiopteris_-- Climate, etc., of Cachar--Mosquitos--Fall of banks--Silhet-- Oaks--_Stylidium_--Tree-ferns--Chattuc--Megna--Meteorology --Palms--Noa-colly--Salt-smuggling--Delta of Ganges and Megna --Westward progress of Megna--Peat--Tide--Waves--Earthquakes --Dangerous navigation--Moonlight scenes--Mud island-- Chittagong--Mug tribes--Views--Trees--Churs--Flagstaff hill --Coffee--Pepper--Tea, etc.--Excursions from Chittagong-- _Dipterocarpi_ or Gurjun oil trees--Earthquake--Birds--Papaw-- Bleeding of stems--Poppy and Sun fields----Seetakoond-- Bungalow and hill--Perpetual flame--_Falconeria--Cycas_-- Climate--Leave for Calcutta--Hattiah island--Plants-- Sunderbunds--Steamer--Tides--_Nipa fruticans_--Fishing-- Otters--Crocodiles--_Phoenix paludosa_--Departure from India. APPENDIX ===================== LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LITHOGRAPHIC VIEWS. Fig. VI. View of Kinchinjunga from Singtam, looking north-westward. p.14 Fig. VII. Kinchinjunga from the Thlonok river, with rhododendrons in flower. Frontispiece Fig. VIII. Tibet and Cholamoo lake from the summit of the Donkia pass, looking north-west. p.124 Fig. IX. Kinchinjhow, Donkia, and Cholamoo lake, from the summit of Bhomtso, looking south; the summit of Chumulari is introduced in the extreme left of the view. p.166 Fig. X. The table-land and station of Churra, with the Jheels, course of the Soormah river, and Tipperah hills in the extreme distance, looking south. p.277 Fig. XI. The Bhotan Himalaya, Assam valley, and Burrampooter river, from Nunklow, looking north. p.300 Fig. XII. Seetakoond hill. p.352 WOOD ENGRAVINGS. Fig. 1. Pandanus in the Teesta valley. p.9 Fig. 2. Cane-bridge over the Lachen-Lachoong river, below Choongtam. Tukcham mountain is brought into the view, as seen from a higher elevation. p.21 Fig. 3. _Juniperus recurva,_ the weeping juniper. p.28 Fig. 4. Lamteng village, with Tukcham in the distance. p.35 Fig. 5. Black juniper and young larch. p.55 Fig. 6. Tungu village, with yaks in the foreground. p.73 Fig. 7. Women's head-dresses--the two outer, Lepcha girls; the two inner, Tibetan women. p.86 Fig. 8. Tibet marmot. Sketched by J. E. Winterbottom, Esq. p.93 Fig. 9. Lachoong valley (looking south), larch tree in the foreground. p.103 Fig. 10. Conical ancient moraines in the Lachoong valley, with _Abies brunoniana_ and _smithiana_. p.104 Fig. 11. Head and legs of Tibet marmot. Sketched by J. E. Winterbottom, Esq. p.106 Fig. 12. Block of gneiss with granite bands, on the Kinchinjhow glacier. p.135 Fig. 13. Summit of forked Donkia mountain, with Goa antelopes in the foreground; from 17,500 feet elevation. p.139 Fig. 14. View of the eastern top of Kinchinjhow, and Tibet in the distance, with wild sheep in the foreground; from an elevation of 18,000 feet. p.140 Fig. 15. Head of Chiru antelope, the unicorn of Tibet. From a sketch by Lieut. H. Maxwell. p.158 Fig. 16. A Phud, o
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24 min - Aug 12, 2005
With golf as the center -piece, the hosts explore this often overlooked section of the Pacific Northwest which includes the cities of Wenatchee, Chelan and the Bavarian village known as Leavenworth. With festivals for families, river fishing, ultra light flying this episode has something for everyone, especially the value-minded golfer. Golf courses featured this week include: Highlander Golf Course, Leavenworth Golf Course and Chelan Golf Club.
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s, I do not in the least doubt, for I have observed it occasionally circumscribed by those black lines which are often seen to bound mycelia on dead wood, and to precede a more rapid decay. I have often tried, but always in vain, to coax these mycelia into developing some fungus, by placing them in damp rooms, etc. When camping in the mountains, I frequently caused the natives to bring phosphorescent wood into my tent, for the pleasure of watching its soft undulating light, which appears to pale and glow with every motion of the atmosphere; but except in this difference of intensity, it presents no change in appearance night after night. Alcohol, heat, and dryness soon dissipate it; electricity I never tried. It has no odour, and my dog, who had a fine sense of smell, paid no heed when it was laid under his nose.* As far as my observations go, this phenomenon of light is confined to the lower orders of vegetable life, to the fungi alone, and is not dependent on irritability. I have never seen luminous flowers or roots, nor do I know of any authenticated instance of such, which may not be explained by the presence of mycelium or of animal life. In the animal kingdom, luminosity is confined, I believe, to the Invertebrata, and is especially common amongst the Radiata and Mollusca; it is also frequent in the Entromostracous Crustacea, and in various genera of most orders of insects. In all these, even in the Sertulariae, I have invariably observed the light to be increased by irritation, in which respect the luminosity of animal life differs from that of vegetable. The weather continuing bad, and snow falling, the country people began to leave for their winter-quarters at Lamteng. In the evenings we enjoyed the company of the Phipun and Tchebu Lama, who relished a cup of sugarless tea more than any other refreshment we could offer. From them we collected much Tibetan information:--the former was an inveterate smoker, using a pale, mild tobacco, mixed largely with leaves of the small wild Tibetan Rhubarb, called "Chula." Snuff is little used, and is principally procured from the plains of India. We visited Palung twice, chiefly in hopes that Dr. Campbell might see the magnificent prospect of Kinchinjhow from its plains: the first time we gained little beyond a ducking, but on the second (October the 15th) the view was superb; and I likewise caught a glimpse of Kinchinjunga from the neighbouring heights, bearing south 60 degrees west and distant forty miles. I also measured barometrically the elevation at the great chait on the plains, and found it 15,620 feet, and by carefully boiled thermometers, 15,283, on the 13th October, and 15,566 on the 15th: the difference being due to the higher temperature on the latter day, and to a rise of 0.3 degree on both boiling-point thermometers above what the same instruments stood at on the 13th. The elevation of Tungu from the October barometrical observations was only seven feet higher than that given by those of July; the respective heights being 12,766 feet in July, and 12,773 in October.* The elevation of Tungu by boiling-point was 12,650 feet by a set of July observations, 12,818 by a set taken on the 11th of October, and 12,544 by a set on the 14th of October: the discrepancies were partly due to the temperature corrections, but mainly to the readings of the thermometers, which were-- July 28, sunset 189.5, air 47.3 degrees, elev. 12,650 Oct. 11, noon 189.5, air 37.6 degrees, elev. 12,818 Oct. 14, sunset 190.1, air 45.3 degrees, elev. 12,544 The mean temperature had fallen from 50 degrees in July to 41 degrees, and that of the sunk thermometer from 57 degrees to 51.4 degrees. The mean range in July was 23.3 degrees, and in October 13.8 degrees; the weather during the latter period being, however, uniformly cold and misty, this was much below the mean monthly range, which probably exceeds 30 degrees. Much more rain fell in October at Tungu than at Dorjiling, which is the opposite to what occurs during the rainy season. _October 15th._ Having sent the coolies forward, with instructions to halt and camp on this side of the Kongra Lama pass, we followed them, taking the route by Palung, and thence over the hills to the Lachen, to the east of which we descended, and further up its valley joined the advanced party in a rocky glen, called Sitong, an advantageous camping ground, from being sheltered by rocks which ward off the keen blasts: its elevation is 15,370 feet above the sea, and the magnificent west cliff of Kinchinjhow towers over it not a mile distant, bearing due east, and subtending an angle of 24.3 degrees. The afternoon was misty, but at 7 p.m. the south-east wind fell, and was immediately succeeded by the biting north return current, which dispelled the fog: hoar-frost sparkled on the ground, and the moon shone full on the snowy head of Kinchinjhow, over which the milky-way and the broad flashing orbs of the stars formed a jewelled diadem. The night was very windy and cold, though the thermometer fell no lower than 22 degrees, that placed in a polished parabolic reflector to 20 degrees, and another laid on herbage to 17.5 degrees. On the 16th we were up early. I felt very anxious about the prospect of our getting round by Donkia pass and Cholamoo, which would enable me to complete the few remaining miles of my long survey of the Teesta river, and which promised immense results in the views I should obtain of the country, and of the geology and botany of these lofty snowless regions. Campbell, though extremely solicitous to obtain permission from the Tibetan guard, (who were waiting for us on the frontier), was nevertheless bound by his own official position to yield at once to their wishes, should they refuse us a passage. The sun rose on our camp at 7.30 a.m., when the north wind fell; and within an hour afterwards the temperature had risen to 45 degrees. Having had our sticks* It was an invariable custom of our Lepcha and Tibetan attendants, to warm the handles of our sticks in cold weather, before starting on our daily marches. This is one of many little instances I could adduce, of their thoughtfulness and attention to the smallest comforts of the stranger and wanderer in their lands. warmed and handed to us, we started on ponies, accompanied by the Lama only, to hold a parley with the Tibetans; ordering the rest of the party to follow at their leisure. We had not proceeded far when we were joined by two Tibetan Sepoys, who, on our reaching the pass, bellowed lustily for their companions; when Campbell and the Lama drew up at the chait of Kongra Lama, and announced his wish to confer with their commandant. My anxiety was now wound up to a pitch; I saw men with matchlocks emerging from amongst the rocks under Chomiomo, and despairing of permission being obtained, I goaded my pony with heels and stick, and dashed on up the Lachen valley, resolved to make the best of a splendid day, and not turn back till I had followed the river to the Cholamoo lakes: The Sepoys followed me a few paces, but running being difficult at 16,000 feet, they soon gave up the chase. A few miles ride in a north-east direction over an open, undulating country, brought me to the Lachen, flowing westwards in a broad, open, stony valley, bounded by Kinchinjhow on the south, (its face being as precipitous as that on the opposite side), and on the north by the Peukathlo, a low range of rocky, sloping mountains, of which the summits were 18,000 to 19,000 feet above the sea. Enormous erratic blocks of gneiss strewed the ground, which was sandy or gravelly, and cut into terraces along the shallow, winding river, the green and sparkling waters of which rippled over pebbles, or expanded into lagoons. The already scanty vegetation diminished rapidly: it consisted chiefly of scattered bushes of a dwarf scrubby honeysuckle and tufts of nettle, both so brittle as to be trodden into powder, and the short leafless twiggy _Ephedra,_ a few inches higher. The most alpine rhododendron (_R. nivale_) spread its small rigid branches close to the ground; the hemispherical _Arenaria,_ another type of sterility, rose here and there, and tufts of _Myosotis, Artemisia, Astragali,_ and _Adrosace,_ formed flat cushions level with the soil. Grass was very scarce, but a running wiry sedge (_Carex Moorcroftii_) bound the sand, like the _Carex arenaria_ of our English coasts. A more dismally barren country cannot well be conceived, nor one more strongly contrasting with the pastures of Palung at an equal elevation. The long lofty wall of Kinchinjhow and Donkia presents an effectual barrier to the transmission of moisture to the head of the Lachen valley, which therefore becomes a type of such elevations in Tibet. As I proceeded, the ground became still more sandy, chirping under the pony's feet; and where harder, it was burrowed by innumerable marmots, foxes, and the "Goomchen," or tail-less rat (_Lagomys badius_), sounding hollow to the tread, and at last becoming so dangerous that I was obliged to dismount and walk. The geological features changed as rapidly as those of the climate and vegetation, for the strike of the rocks being north-west, and the dip north-east, I was rising over the strata that overlie the gneiss. The upper part of Kinchinjhow is composed of bold ice-capped cliffs of gneiss; but the long spurs that stretch northwards from it are of quartz, conglomerates, slates, and earthy red clays, forming the rounded terraced hills I had seen from Donkia pass. Between these spurs were narrow valleys, at whose mouths stupendous blocks of gneiss rest on rocks of a much later geological formation. Opposite the most prominent of these spurs the river (16,800 feet above the sea) runs west, forming marshes, which were full of _Zannichellia palustris_ and _Ranunculus aquatilis,_ both English and Siberian plants: the waters contained many shells, of a species of _Lymnaea_;* This is the most alpine living shell in the world; my specimens being from nearly 17,000 feet elevation; it is the _Lymnaea Hookeri,_ Reeve ("Proceedings of the Zoological Society," No. 204). and the soil near the edge, which was covered with tufts of short grass, was whitened with effloresced carbonate of soda. Here were some square stone enclosures two feet high, used as pens, and for pitching tents in; within them I gathered some unripe barley. Beyond this I recognised a hill of which I had taken bearings from Donkia pass, and a few miles further, on rounding a great spur of Kinchinjunga, I arrived in sight of Cholamoo lakes, with the Donkia mountain rearing its stupendous precipices of rock and ice on the east. My pony was knocked up, and I felt very giddy from the exertion and elevation; I had broken his bridle, and so led him on by my plaid for the last few miles to the banks of the lake; and there, with the pleasant sound of the waters rippling at my feet, I yielded for a few moments to those emotions of gratified ambition which, being unalloyed by selfish considerations for the future; become springs of happiness during the remainder of one's life. The landscape about Cholamoo lakes was simple in its elements, stern and solemn; and though my solitary situation rendered it doubly impressive to me, I doubt whether the world contains any scene with more sublime associations than this calm sheet of water, 17,000 feet above the sea, with the shadows of mountains 22,000 to 24,000 feet high, sleeping on its bosom. There was much short grass about the lake, on which large antelopes, "Chiru" (_Antilope Hodgsoni_),* I found the horns of this animal on the south side of the Donkia pass, but I never saw a live one except in Tibet. The _Procapra_ is described by Mr. Hodgson, "Bengal As. Soc. Jour., 1846, p. 388," and is introduced into the cut in this chapter. and deer, "Goa" (_Procapra picticaudata,_ Hodgson), were feeding. There were also many slate-coloured hales with white rumps (_Lepus oiostolus_), with marmots and tail-less rats. The abundance of animal life was wonderful, compared with the want of it on the south side of Donkia pass, not five miles distant in a straight line! it is partly due to the profusion of carbonate of soda, of which all ruminants are fond, and partly to the dryness of the climate, which is favourable to all burrowing quadrupeds. A flock of common English teal were swimming in the lake, the temperature of which was 55 degrees. Illustration--ANTELOPE'S HEAD.* The accompanying figures of the heads of the Chiru (_Antilope Hodgsoni_), were sketched by Lieut. Maxwell (of the Bengal Artillery), from a pair brought to Dorjiling; it is the so-called unicorn of Tibet, and of MM. Huc and Gabet's narrative,--a name which the profile no doubt suggested. I had come about fifteen miles from the pass, and arrived at 1 p.m., remaining half an hour. I could not form an idea as to whether Campbell had followed or not, and began to speculate on the probability of passing the night in the open air, by the warm side of my steed. Though the sun shone brightly, the wind was bitterly cold, and I arrived at the stone dykes of Yeumtso at 3 p.m., quite exhausted with fatigue and headache. I there found, to my great relief, the Tchebu Lama and Lachen Phipun: they were in some alarm at my absence, for they thought I was not aware of the extreme severity of the temperature on the north side of the snows, or of the risk of losing my way; they told me that after a long discourse with the Dingpun (or commander) of the Tibetan Sepoys, the latter had allowed all the party to pass; that the Sepoys had brought on the coolies, who were close behind, but that they themselves had seen nothing of Campbell; of whom the Lama then went in search. The sun set behind Chomiomo at 5 p.m., and the wind at once dropped, so local are these violent atmospheric currents, which are caused by the heating of the upper extremities of these lofty valleys, and consequent rarefaction of the air. Intense terrestrial radiation immediately follows the withdrawal of the sun's rays, and the temperature sinks rapidly. Soon after sunset the Lama returned, bringing Campbell; who, having mistaken some glacier-fed lakes at the back of Kinchinjhow for those of Cholamoo, was looking for me. He too had speculated on having to pass the night under a rock, with one plaid for himself and servant; in which case I am sure they would both have been frozen to death, having no pony to lie down beside. He told me that after I had quitted Kongra Lama, leaving him with the Tchebu Lama and Phipun, the Dingpun and twenty men came up, and very civilly but formally forbade their crossing the frontier; but that upon explaining his motives, and representing that it would save him ten days' journey, the Dingpun had relented, and promised to conduct the whole party to the Donkia pass. We pitched our little tent in the corner of the cattle-pen, and our coolies soon afterwards came up; mine were in capital health, though suffering from headaches, but Campbell's were in a distressing state of illness and fatigue, with swollen faces and rapid pulses, and some were insensible from symptoms like pressure on the brain;* I have never experienced bleeding at the nose, ears, lips or eyelids, either in my person or that of my companions, on these occasions; nor did I ever meet with a recent traveller who has. Dr. Thomson has made the same remark, and when in Switzerland together we were assured by Auguste Balmat, Francois Coutet, and other experienced Mont Blanc guides, that they never witnessed these symptoms nor the blackness of the sky, so frequently insisted upon by alpine travellers. these were chiefly Ghorkas (Nepalese). The Tibetan Dingpun and his guard arrived last of all, he was a droll little object, short, fat, deeply marked with small-pox, swarthy, and greasy; he was robed in a green woollen mantle, and was perched on the back of a yak, which also carried his bedding, and cooking utensils, the latter rattling about its flanks, horns, neck, and every point of support: two other yaks bore the tents of the party. His followers were tall savage looking fellows, with broad swarthy faces, and their hair in short pig-tails. They wore the long-sleeved cloak, short trousers, and boots, all of thick woollen, and felt caps on their heads. Each was armed with a long matchlock slung over his back, with a moveable rest having two prongs like a fork, and a hinge, so as to fold up along the barrel, when the prongs project behind the shoulders like antelope horns, giving the uncouth warrior a droll appearance. A dozen cartridges, each in an iron case, were slung round the waist, and they also wore the long knife, flint, steel, and iron tobacco-pipe, pouch, and purse, suspended to a leathern girdle. The night was fine, but intensely cold, and the vault of heaven was very dark, and blazing with stars; the sir was electrical, and flash lightning illumined the sky; this was the reflection of a storm that was not felt at Dorjiling, but which raged on the plains of India, beyond the Terai, fully 120 miles, and perhaps 150, south of our position. No thunder was heard. The thermometer fell to 5 degrees, and that in the reflector to 3.5 degrees; at sunrise it rose to 10 degrees, and soon after 8 a.m. to 33 degrees; till this hour the humidity was great, and a thin mist hung over the frozen surface of the rocky ground; when this dispersed, the air became very dry, and the black-bulb thermometer in the sun rose 60 degrees above the temperature in the shade. The light of the sun, though sometimes intercepted by vapours aloft, was very brilliant.* My black glass photometer shut out the sun's disc at 10.509 inches, from the mean of four sets of observations taken between 7 and 10 a.m. This being the migrating season, swallows flitted through the air; finches, larches, and sparrows were hopping over the sterile soil, seeking food, though it was difficult to say what. The geese* An enormous quantity of water-fowl breed in Tibet, including many Indian species that migrate no further north. The natives collect their eggs for the markets at Jigatzi, Giantchi, and Lhassa, along the banks of the Yarn river, Ramchoo, and Yarbru and Dochen lakes. Amongst other birds the Sara, or great crane of India (see "Turner's Tibet," p. 212), repairs to these enormous elevations to breed. The fact of birds characteristic of the tropics dwelling for months in such climates is a very instructive one, and should be borne in mind in our speculations upon the climate supposed to be indicated by the imbedded bones of birds. which had roosted by the river, cackled; the wild ducks quacked and plumed themselves; ouzels and waders screamed or chirped; and all rejoiced as they prepared themselves for the last flight of the year, to the valleys of the southern Himalaya, to the Teesta, and other rivers of the Terai and plains of India. The Dingpun paid his respects to us in the morning, wearing, besides his green cloak, a white cap with a green glass button, denoting his rank; he informed us that he had written to his superior officer at Kambajong, explaining his motives for conducting us across the frontier, and he drew from his breast a long letter, written on _Daphne_* Most of the paper used in Tibet is, as I have elsewhere noticed, made from the bark of various species of _Daphneae,_ and especially of _Edgeworthia Gardneri,_ and is imported from Nepal and Bhotan; but the Tibetans, as MM. Huc and Gabet correctly state, manufacture a paper from the root of a small shrub: this I have seen, and it is of a much thicker texture and more durable than Daphne paper. Dr. Thomson informs me that a species of _Astragalus_ is used in western Tibet for this purpose, the whole shrub, which is dwarf, being reduced to pulp. paper, whose ends were tied with floss silk, with a large red seal; this he pompously delivered, with whispered orders, to an attendant, and sent him off. He admired our clothes extremely,* All Tibetans admire sad value English broad-cloth beyond any of our products. Woollen articles are very familiar to them, and warm clothing is one of the first requisites of life. and then my percussion gun, the first he had seen; but above all he admired rum and water, which he drank with intense relish, leaving a mere sip for his comrades at the bottom of his little wooden cup, which they emptied, and afterwards licked clean, and replaced in his breast for him. We made a large basin full of very weak grog for his party, who were all friendly and polite; and having made us the unexpected offer of allowing us to rest ourselves for the day at Yeumtso, he left us, and practised his men at firing at a mark, but they were very indifferent shots. I ascended with Campbell to the lake he had visited on the previous day, about 600 or 800 feet above Yeumtso, and 17,500 feet above the sea: it is a mile and a half long, and occupies a large depression between two rounded spurs, being fed by glaciers from Kinchinjhow. The rocks of these spurs were all of red quartz and slates, cut into broad terraces, covered with a thick glacial talus of gneiss and granite in angular pebbles, and evidently spread over the surface when the glacier, now occupying the upper end of the lake, extended over the valley. The ice on the cliffs and summit of Kinchinjhow was much greener and clearer than that on the south face (opposite Palung); and rows of immense icicles hung from the cliffs. A conferva grew in the waters of the lake, and short, hard tufts of sedge on the banks, but no other plants were to be seen. Brahminee geese, teal, and widgeon, were swimming in the waters, and a beetle (_Elaphrus_) was coursing over the wet banks; finches and other small birds were numerous, eating the sedge-seeds, and picking up the insects. No view was obtained to the north, owing to the height of the mountains on the north flank of the Lachen. At noon the temperature rose to 52.5 degrees, and the black-bulb to 104.5 degrees; whilst the north-west dusty wind was so dry, that the dew-point fell to 24.2 degrees. CHAPTER XXIV. Ascent of Bhomtso--View of snowy mountains--Chumulari--Arun river--Kiang-lah mountains--Jigatzi--Lhama--Dingcham province of Tibet--Misapplication of term "Plain of Tibet"--Sheep, flocks of--Crops--Probable elevation of Jigatzi--Yarn--Tsampu river --Tame elephants--Wild horses--Dryness of air--Sunset beams-- Rocks of Kinchinjhow--Cholamoo lakes--Limestone--Dip and strike of rocks--Effects of great elevation on party--Ascent of Donkia --Moving piles of debris--Cross Donkia pass--Second Visit to Momay Samdong--Hot springs--Descent to Yeumtong--Lachoong-- Retardation of vegetation again noticed--Jerked meat--Fish-- Lose a thermometer--Lepcha lad sleeps in hot spring--Keadom-- _Bucklandia_--Arrive at Choongtam--Mendicant--Meepo-- Lachen-Lachoong river--Wild grape--View from Singtam of Kinchinjunga--Virulent nettle. In the afternoon we crossed the valley, and ascended Bhomtso, fording the river, whose temperature was 48 degrees. Some stupendous boulders of gneiss from Kinchinjhow are deposited in a broad sandy track on the north bank, by ancient glaciers, which once crossed this valley from Kinchinjhow. The ascent was alternately over steep rocky slopes, and broad shelf-like flats; many more plants grew here than I had expected, in inconspicuous scattered tufts.* Besides those before mentioned, there were Fescue-grass (_Festuca ovina_ of Scotland), a strong-scented silky wormwood (_Artemisia_), and round tufts of _Oxytropis chiliophylla,_ a kind of _Astralagus_ that inhabits eastern and western Tibet; this alone was green: it formed great circles on the ground, the centre decaying, and the annual shoots growing outwards, and thus constantly enlarging the circle. A woolly _Leontopodium, Androsace,_ and some other plants assumed nearly the same mode of growth. The rest of the vegetation consisted of a _Sedum, Nardostachys Jatamansi, Meconopsis horridula,_ a slender _Androsace, Gnaphalium, Stipa, Salvia, Draba, Pedicularis, Potentilla_ or _Sibbaldia, Gentiana_ and _Erigeron alpinus_ of Scotland. All these grow nearly up to 18,000 feet. The rocks were nearly vertical strata of quartz, hornstone, and conglomerate, striking north-west, and dipping south-west 80 degrees. The broad top of the hill was also of quartz, but covered with angular pebbles of the rocks transported from Kinchinjhow. Some clay-stone fragments were stained red with oxide of iron, and covered with _Parmelia miniata_;* This minute lichen, mentioned at chapter xxxii, is the most Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine in the world; often occurring so abundantly as to colour the rocks of an orange red. This was the case at Bhomtso, and is so also in Cockburn Island in the Antarctic ocean, which it covers so profusely that the rocks look as if brightly painted. See "Ross's Voyage," vol. ii. p. 339. this, with _Borrera,_ another lichen, which forms stringy masses blown along by the wind, were the only plants, and they are among the most alpine in the world. Bhomtso is 18,590 feet above the sea by barometer, and 18,305 by boiling-point: it presented an infinitely more extensive prospect than I had ventured to anticipate, commanding all the most important Sikkim, North Bhotan, and Tibetan mountains, including Kinchinjunga thirty-seven miles to the south-west, and Chumulari thirty-nine miles south-east. Due south, across the sandy valley of the Lachen, Kinchinjhow reared its long wall of glaciers and rugged precipices, 22,000 feet high, and under its cliffs lay the lake to which we had walked in the morning: beyond Kongra Lama were the Thlonok mountains, where I had spent the month of June, with Kinchinjunga in the distance. Westward Chomiomo rose abruptly from the rounded hills we were on, to 22,000 feet elevation, ten miles distant. To the east of Kinchinjhow were the Cholamoo lakes, with the rugged mass of Donkia stretching in cliffs of ice and snow continuously southwards to forked Donkia, which overhung Momay Samdong. A long sloping spur sweeps from the north of Donkia first north, and then west to Bhomtso, rising to a height of more than 20,000 feet without snow. Over this spur the celebrated Chumulari* Some doubt still hangs over the identity of this mountain, chiefly owing to Turner's having neglected to observe his geographical positions. I saw a much loftier mountain than this, bearing from Bhomtso north 87 degrees east, and it was called Chumulari by the Tibetan Sepoys; but it does not answer to Turner's description of an isolated snowy peak, such as he approached within three miles; and though in the latitude he assigned to it, is fully sixty miles to the east of his route. A peak, similar to the one he describes, is seen from Tonglo and Sinchul (see vol. i., chapters v and viii); this is the one alluded to above, and it is identified by both Tibetans and Lepchas at Dorjiling as the true Chumulari, and was measured by Colonel Waugh, who placed it in lat. 27 degrees 49 minutes north, long. 89 degrees 18 minutes east. The latter position, though fifteen miles south of what Turner gives it, is probably correct; as Pemberton found that Turner had put other places in Bhotan twenty miles too far north. Moreover, in saying that it is visible from Purnea in the plains of Bengal, Turner refers to Kinchinjunga, whose elevation was then unknown. Dr. Campbell ("Bengal As. Soc. Jour.," 1848), describes Chumulari from oral information, as an isolated mountain encircled by twenty-one goompas, and perambulated by pilgrims in five days; the Lachoong Phipun, on the other hand, who was a Lama, and well acquainted with the country, affirmed that Chumulari has many tops, and cannot be perambulated; but that detached peaks near it may be, and that it is to a temple near one of these that pilgrims resort. Again, the natives use these names very vaguely, and as that of Kinchinjunga is often applied equally to all or any part of the group of snows between the Lachen and Tambur rivers, so may the term Chumulari have been used vaguely to Captain Turner or to me. I have been told that an isolated, snow-topped, venerated mountain rises about twenty miles south of the true Chumulari, and is called "Sakya-khang" (Sakya's snowy mountain), which may be that seen from Dorjiling; but I incline to consider Campbell's and Waugh's mountain as the one alluded to by Turner, and it is to it that I here refer as bearing north 115 degrees 30 minutes east from Bhomtso. peeps, bearing south-east, and from its isolated position and sharpness looking low and small; it appeared quite near, though thirty-nine miles distant. North-east of Chumulari, and far beyond it, are several meridional ranges of very much loftier snowy mountains, which terminated the view of the snowy Himalaya; the distance embraced being fully 150 miles, and perhaps much more. Of one of these eastern masses* These are probably the Ghassa mountains of Turners narrative: bearings which I took of one of the loftiest of them, from the Khasia mountains, together with those from Bhomtso, would appear to place it in latitude 28 degrees 10 minutes and longitude 90 degrees, and 200 miles from the former station, and 90 degrees east of the latter. Its elevation from Bhomtso angles is 24,160 feet. I presume I also saw Chumulari from the Khasia; the most western peak seen thence being in the direction of that mountain. Captain R. Strachey has most kindly paid close attention to these bearings and distances, and recalculated the distances and heights: no confidence is, however, to be placed in the results of such minute angles, taken from immense distances. Owing in part no doubt to extraordinary refraction, the angles of the Ghassa mountain taken from the Khasia give it an elevation of 26,500 feet! which is very much over the truth; and make that of Chumulari still higher: the distance from my position in the Khasia being 210 miles from Chumulari! which is probably the utmost limit at which the human eye has ever discerned a terrestrial object. I afterwards took bearings and angular heights from the Khasia mountains, in Bengal, upwards of 200 miles south-east of its position. Turning to the northward, a singular contrast in the view was presented: the broad sandy valley of the Arun lay a few miles off, and perhaps 1,500 feet below me; low brown and red ridges, 18,000 to 19,000 feet high, of stony sloping mountains with rocky tops, divided its feeders, which appeared to be dry, and to occupy flat sandy valleys. For thirty miles north no mountain was above the level of the theodolite, and not a particle of snow was to be seen beyond that, rugged purple-flanked and snowy-topped mountains girdled the horizon, appearing no nearer than they did from the Donkia pass, and their angular heights and bearings being almost the same as from that point of view. The nearer of these are said to form the Kiang-lah chain, the furthest I was told by different authorities are in the salt districts north of Jigatzi. To the north-east was the lofty region traversed by Turner on his route by the Ramchoo lakes to Teshoo Loombo; its elevation may be 17,000 feet* It is somewhat remarkable that Turner nowhere alludes to difficulty of breathing, and in one place only to head-ache (p. 209) when at these great elevations. This is in a great measure accounted for by his having been constantly mounted. I never suffered either in my breathing, head, or stomach when riding, even when at 18,300 feet. above the sea. Beyond it a gorge led through rugged mountains, by which I was told the Painom river flows north-west to the Yaru; and at an immense distance to the north-east were the Khamba mountains, a long blue range, which it is said divides the Lhassan or "U" from the "Tsang" (or Jigatzi) province of Tibet; it appeared fully 100 miles off, and was probably much more; it bore from N. 57 degrees E. to N. 70 degrees E., and though so lofty as to be heavily snowed throughout, was much below the horizon-line of Bhomtso; it is crossed on the route from Jigatzi, and from Sikkim to Lhassa,* Lhassa, which lies north-east, may be reached in ten days from this, with relays of ponies; many mountains are crossed, where the breath is affected, and few villages are passed after leaving Giantchi, the "Jhansi jeung" of Turner's narrative. See Campbell's "Routes from Dorjiling to Lhassa." ("Bengal As. Soc. Journal.") and is considered very lofty, from affecting the breathing. About twenty miles to the north-east are some curious red conical mountains, said to be on the west side of the Ramchoo lakes; they were unsnowed, and bore N. 45 degrees 30 minutes E. and N. 60 degrees 30 minutes E. A sparingly-snowed group bore N. 26 degrees 30 minutes E., and another N. 79 degrees E., the latter being probably that mentioned by Turner as seen by him from near Giantchi. But the mountains which appeared both the highest and the most distant on the northern landscape, were those I described when at Donkia, as being north of Nepal and beyond the Arun river, and the culminant peak of which bore N. 55 degrees. Both Dr. Campbell and I made repeated estimates of its height and distance by the eye; comparing its size and snow-level with those of the mountains near us; and assuming 4000 to 5000 feet as the minimum height of its snowy cap; this would give it an elevation of 23,000 to 25,000 feet. An excellent telescope brought out no features on its flanks not visible to the naked eye, and by the most careful levellings with the theodolite, it was depressed more than 0 degrees 7 minutes below the horizon of Bhomtso, whence the distance must be above 100 miles. The transparency of the pale-blue atmosphere of these lofty regions can hardly be described, nor the clearness and precision with which the most distant objects are projected against the sky. From having afterwards measured peaks 200 and 210 miles distant from the Khasia mountains, I feel sure that I underrated the estimates made at Bhomtso, and I have no hesitation in saying, that the mean elevation of the sparingly-snowed* Were the snow-level in Dingcham, as low as it is in Sikkim, the whole of Tibet from Donkia almost to the Yaru-Tsampu river would be everywhere intersected by glaciers and other impassable barriers of snow and ice, for a breadth of fifty miles, and the country would have no parallel for amount of snow beyond the Polar circles. It is impossible to conjecture what would have been the effects on the climate of northern India and central Asia under these conditions. When, however, we reflect upon the evidences of glacial phenomena that abound in all the Himalayan valleys at and above 9000 feet elevation, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that such a state of things once existed, and that at a comparatively very recent period. watershed between the Yaru and the Arun will be found to be greater than that of the snowy Himalaya south of it, and to follow the chain running from Donkia, north of the Arun, along the Kiang-lah mountains, towards the Nepal frontier, at Tingri Maidan. No part of that watershed perhaps rises so high as 24,000 feet, but its lowest elevation is probably nowhere under 18,000 feet. This broad belt of lofty country, north of the snowy Himalaya, is the Dingcham province of Tibet, and runs along the frontier of Sikkim, Bhotan, and Nepal. It gives rise to all the Himalayan rivers, and its mean elevation is probably 15,000 to 15,500 feet: its general appearance, as seen from greater heights, is that of a much less mountainous country than the snowy and wet Himalayan regions; this is because its mean elevation is so enormous, that ranges of 20,000 to 22,000 feet appear low and insignificant upon it. The absence of forest and other obstructions to the view, the breadth and flatness of the valleys, and the undulating character of the lower ranges that traverse its surface, give it a comparatively level appearance, and suggest the term "maidan" or "plains" to the Tibetan, when comparing his country with the complicated ridges of the deep Sikkim valleys. Here one may travel for many miles without rising or falling 3000 feet, yet never descending below 14,000 feet, partly because the flat winding valleys are followed in preference to exhausting ascents, and partly because the passes are seldom more than that elevation above the valleys; whereas, in Sikkim, rises and descents of 6000, and even 9000 feet, are common in passing from valley to valley, sometimes in one day's march. The swarthy races of Dingcham have been elsewhere described; they are an honest, hospitable, and very hardy people, differing from the northern Tibetans chiefly in colour, and in invariably wearing the pigtail, which MM. Huc and Gabet assure us is not usual in Lhassa.* Amongst Lhassan customs alluded to by these travellers, is that of the women smearing their faces with a black pigment, the object of which they affirm to be that they may render themselves odious to the male sex, and thus avoid temptation. The custom is common enough, but the real object is to preserve the skin, which the dry cold wind peels from the face. The pigment is mutton-fat, blackened, according to Tchebu Lama, with catechu and other ingredients; but I believe more frequently by the dirt of the face itself. I fear I do not slander the Tibetan damsels in saying that personal cleanliness and chastity are both lightly esteemed amongst them; and as the Lama naively remarked, when questioned on the subject, "the Tibetan women are not so different from those of other countries as to wish to conceal what charms they possess." They are a pastoral race, and Campbell saw a flock of 400 hornless sheep, grazing on short sedges (_Carex_) and fescue-grass, in the middle of October, at 18,000 feet above the sea. An enormous ram attended the flock, whose long hair hung down to the ground; its back was painted red. There is neither tree nor shrub in this country; and a very little wheat (which seldom ripens), barley, turnips, and radishes are, I believe, the only crops, except occasionally peas. Other legumes, cabbages, etc., are cultivated in the sheltered valleys of the Yaru feeders, where great heat is reflected from the rocks; and there also stunted trees grow, as willows, walnuts, poplars, and perhaps ashes; all of which, however, are said to be planted and scarce. Even at Teshoo Loombo and Jigatzi* Digarchi, Jigatzi, or Shigatzi jong (the fort of Shigatzi) is the capital of the "Tsang" province, and Teshoo Loombo is the neighbouring city of temples and monasteries, the ecclesiastical capital of Tibet, and the abode of the grand (Teshoo) Lama, or ever-living Boodh. Whether we estimate this man by the number of his devotees, or the perfect sincerity of their worship, he is without exception one of the most honoured beings living in the world. I have assumed the elevation of Jigatzi to be 13-14,000 feet, using as data Turner's October mean temperature of Teshoo Loombo, and the decrement for elevation of 400 feet to 1 degree Fahr.; which my own observations indicate as an approximation to the truth. Humboldt ("Asie Centrale," iii., p. 223) uses a much smaller multiplier, and infers the elevation of Teshoo Loombo to be between 9,500 and 10,000 feet. Our data are far too imperfect to warrant any satisfactory conclusions on this interesting subject; but the accounts I have received of the vegetation of the Yaru valley at Jigatzi seem to indicate an elevation of at least 13,000 feet for the bed of that river. Of the elevation of Lhassa itself we have no idea: if MM. Huc and Gabet's statement of the rivers not being frozen there in March be correct, the climate must be very different from what we suppose. buckwheat is a rare crop, and only a prostrate very hardy kind is grown. Clay teapots and pipkins are the most valuable exports to Sikkim from the latter city, after salt and soda. Jewels and woollen cloaks are also exported, the latter especially from Giantchi, which is famous for its woollen fabrics and mart of ponies. Of the Yaru river at Jigatzi, which all affirm becomes the Burrampooter in Assam, I have little information to add to Turner's description: it is sixty miles north of Bhomtso, and I assume its elevation to be 13-14,000 feet;* The Yaru, which approaches the Nepal frontier west of Tingri, and beyond the great mountain described at vol. i. chapter xi, makes a sweep to the northward, and turns south to Jigatzi, whence it makes another and greater bend to the north, and again turning south flows west of Lhassa, receiving the Kechoo river from that holy city. From Jigatzi it is said to be navigable to near Lhassa by skin and plank-built boats. Thence it flows south-east to the Assam frontier, and while still in Tibet, is said to enter a warm climate, where tea, silk, cotton, and rice, are grown. Of its course after entering the Assam Himalaya little is known, and in answer to my enquiries why it had not been followed, I was always told that the country through which it flowed was inhabited by tribes of savages, who live on snakes and vermin, and are fierce and warlike. These are no doubt the Singpho, Bor and Bor-abor tribes who inhabit the mountains of upper Assam. A travelling mendicant was once sent to follow up the Dihong to the Burrampooter, under the joint auspices of Mr. Hodgson and Major Jenkins, the Commissioner of Assam; but the poor fellow was speared on the frontier by these savages. The concurrent testimony of the Assamese, that the Dihong is the Yaru, on its southern course to become the Burrampooter, renders this point as conclusively settled as any, resting on mere oral evidence, is likely to be. it takes an immense bend to the northward after passing Jigatzi, and again turns south, flowing to the west of Lhassa, and at some distance from that capital. Lhassa, as all agree, is at a much lower elevation than Jigatzi; and apricots (whose ripe stones Dr. Campbell procured for me) and walnuts are said to ripen there, and the Dama or Himalayan furze (_Caragana_), is said to grow there. The Bactrian camel also thrives and breeds at Lhassa, together with a small variety of cow (not the yak), both signs of a much more temperate climate than Jigatzi enjoys. It is, however, a remarkable fact that there are two tame elephants near the latter city, kept by the Teshoo Lama. They were taken to Jigatzi, through Bhotan, by Phari; and I have been informed that they have become clothed with long hair, owing to the cold of the climate; but Tchebu Lama contradicted this, adding, that his countrymen were so credulous, that they would believe blankets grew on the elephants' backs, if the Lamas told them so. No village or house is seen throughout the extensive area over which the eye roams from Bhomtso, and the general character of the desolate landscape was similar to that which I have described as seen from Donkia Pass (chapter xxii). The wild ass* This, the _Equus Hemionus_ of Pallas, the untameable Kiang of Tibet, abounds in Dingcham, and we saw several. It resembles the ass more than the horse, from its size, heavy head, small limbs, thin tail, and the stripe over the shoulder. The flesh is eaten and much liked. The Kiang-lah mountains are so named from their being a great resort of this creature. It differs widely from the wild ass of Persia, Sind, and Beloochistan, but is undoubtedly the same as the Siberian animal. grazing with its foal on the sloping downs, the hare bounding over the stony soil, the antelope scouring the sandy flats, and the fox stealing along to his burrow, are all desert and Tartarian types of the animal creation. The shrill whistle of the marmot alone breaks the silence of the scene, recalling the snows of Lapland to the mind; the kite and raven wheel through the air, 1000 feet over head, with as strong and steady a pinion as if that atmosphere possessed the same power of resistance that it does at the level of the sea. Still higher in the heavens, long black V-shaped trains of wild geese cleave the air, shooting over the glacier-crowned top of Kinchinjhow, and winging their flight in one day, perhaps, from the Yaru to the Ganges, over 500 miles of space, and through 22,000 feet of elevation. One plant alone, the yellow lichen (_Borrera_), is found at this height, and only as a visitor; for, Tartar-like, it emigrates over these lofty slopes and ridges, blown about by the violent winds. I found a small beetle on the very top,* I observed a small red _Acarus_ (mite) at this elevation, both on Donkia and Kinchinjhow, which reminds me that I found a species of the same genus at Cockburn Island (in latitude 64 degrees south, longitude 64 degrees 49 minutes west). This genus hence inhabits a higher southern latitude than any other land animal attains. probably blown up also, for it was a flower-feeder, and seemed benumbed with cold. Every night that we spent in Tibet, we enjoyed a magnificent display of sunbeams converging to the east, and making a false sunset. I detailed this phenomenon when seen from the Kymore mountains, and I repeatedly saw it again in the Khasia, but never in the Sikkim Himalaya, whence I assume that it is most frequent in mountain plateaus. As the sun set, broad purple beams rose from a dark, low, leaden bank on the eastern horizon, and spreading up to the zenith, covered the intervening space: they lasted through the twilight, from fifteen to twenty minutes, fading gradually into the blackness of night. I looked in vain for the beautiful lancet beam of the zodiacal light; its position was obscured by Chomiomo. On the 18th of October we had another brilliant morning, after a cold night, the temperature having fallen to 4 degrees. I took the altitude of Yeumtso by carefully boiling two thermometers, and the result was 16,279 feet, the barometrical observations giving 16,808 feet. I removed a thermometer sunk three feet in the gravelly soil, which showed a temperature of 43 degrees,* It had risen to 43.5 degrees during the previous day. which is 12.7 degrees above the mean temperature of the two days we camped here. Our fires were made of dry yak droppings which soon burn out with a fierce flame, and much black smoke; they give a disagreeable taste to whatever is cooked with them. Having sent the coolies forward to Cholamoo lake, we re-ascended Bhomtso to verify my observations. As on the previous occasion a violent dry north-west wind blew, peeling the skin from our faces, loading the air with grains of sand, and rendering theodolite observations very uncertain; besides injuring all my instruments, and exposing them to great risk of breakage. The Tibetan Sepoys did not at all understand our ascending Bhomtso a second time; they ran after Campbell, who was ahead on a stout pony, girding up their long garments, bracing their matchlocks tight over their shoulders, and gasping for breath at every step, the long horns of their muskets bobbing up and down as they toiled amongst the rocks. When I reached the top I found Campbell seated behind a little stone wall which he had raised to keep off the violent wind, and the uncouth warriors in a circle round him, puzzled beyond measure at his admiration of the view. My instruments perplexed them extremely, and in crowding round me, they broke my azimuth compass. They left us to ourselves when the fire I made to boil the thermometers went out, the wind being intensely cold. I had given my barometer to one of Campbell's men to carry, who not coming up, the latter kindly went to search for him, and found him on the ground quite knocked up and stupified by the cold, and there, if left alone, he would have lain till overtaken by death. The barometer on the summit of Bhomtso stood at 15.548 inches;* The elevation of Bhomtso, worked by Bessel's tables, and using corrected observations of the Calcutta barometer for the lower station, is 18,590 feet. The corresponding dew-point 4.4 degrees (49.6 degrees below that of the air at the time of observation). By Oltmann's tables the elevation is 18,540 feet. The elevation by boiling water is 18,305. the temperature between 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. fluctuated between 44 degrees and 56 degrees: this was very high for so great an elevation, and no doubt due to the power of the sun on the sterile soil, and consequent radiated heat. The tension of vapour was .0763, and the dew-point was 5.8 degrees, or 43.5 degrees below the temperature of the air. Such extraordinary dryness* The weight of vapour in a cubic foot of air was no more than .087 of a grain, and the saturation-point .208. and consequent evaporation, increased by the violent wind, sufficiently accounts for the height of the snow line; in further evidence of which, I may add that a piece of ice or snow laid on the ground here, does not melt, but disappears by evaporation. The difference between the dry cold air of this elevation and that of the heated plains of India, is very great. During the driest winds of the Terai, in spring, the temperature is 80 degrees to 90 degrees, the tension of vapour is .400 to .500, with a dew-point 22 degrees below the temperature, and upwards of six grains of vapour are suspended in the cubic foot of air; a thick haze obscures the heavens, and clouds of dust rise high in the air; here on the other hand (probably owing to the rarity of the atmosphere and the low tension of its vapours), the drought is accompanied by perfect transparency, and the atmosphere is too attenuated to support the dust raised by the wind. We descended in the afternoon, and on our way up the Lachen valley examined a narrow gulley in a lofty red spur from Kinchinjhow, where black shales were _in situ,_ striking north-east, and dipping north-west 45 degrees. These shales were interposed between beds of yellow quartz conglomerate, upon the latter of which rested a talus of earthy rocks, angular fragments of which were strewed about opposite this spur, but were not seen elsewhere. It became dark before we reached the Cholamoo lake, where we lost our way amongst glaciers, moraines, and marshes. We expected to have seen the lights of the camp, but were disappointed, and as it was freezing hard, we began to be anxious, and shouted till the echos of our voices against the opposite bank were heard by Tchebu Lama, who met us in great alarm for our safety. Our camp was pitched some way from the shore, on a broad plain, 16,900 feet above the sea.* This, which is about the level of the lake, gives the Lachen river a fall of about 1500 feet between its source and Kongra Lama, or sixty feet per mile following its windings. From Kongra Lama to Tallum it is 140 feet per mile; from Tallum to Singtam 160 feet; and from Singtam to the plains of India 50 feet per mile. The total fall from Cholamoo lake to its exit on the plains of India is eighty-five feet per mile. Its length, following its windings, is 195 miles, upwards of double the direct distance. A cold wind descended from Donkia; yet, though more elevated than Yeumtso, the climate of Cholamoo, from being damper and misty, was milder. The minimum thermometer fell to 14 degrees. Before starting for Donkia pass on the following morning, we visited some black rocks which rose from the flat to the east of the lake. They proved to be of fossiliferous limestone, the strata of which were much disturbed: the strike appeared in one part north-west, and the dip north-east 45 degrees: a large fault passed east by north through the cliff, and it was further cleft by joints running northwards. The cliff was not 100 yards long, and was about 70 thick; its surface was shivered by frost into cubical masses, and glacial boulders of gneiss lay on the top. The limestone rock was chiefly a blue pisolite conglomerate, with veins and crystals of white carbonate of lime, seams of shale, and iron pyrites. A part was compact and blue, very crystalline, and full of encrinitic fossils, and probably nummulites, but all were too much altered for determination. This, from its mineral characters, appears to be the same limestone formation which occurs throughout the Himalaya and Western Tibet; but the fossils I collected are in too imperfect a state to warrant any conclusions on this subject. Its occurrence immediately to the northward of the snowy mountains, and in such very small quantities, are very remarkable facts. The neighbouring rocks of Donkia were gneiss with granite veins, also striking north-west and dipping north-east 10 degrees, as if they overlay the limestone, but here as in all similar situations there was great confusion of the strata, and variation in direction and strike. And here I may once for all confess that though I believe the general strike of the rocks on this frontier to be north-west, and the dip north-east, I am unable to affirm it positively; for though I took every opportunity of studying the subject, and devoted many hours to the careful measuring and recording of dips and strikes, on both faces of Kinchinjhow, Donkia, Bhomtso, and Kongra Lama, I am unable to reduce these to any intelligible system.* North-west is the prevalent strike in Kumaon, the north-west Himalaya generally, and throughout Western Tibet, Kashmir, etc., according to Dr. Thomson. The coolies of Dr. Campbell's party were completely knocked up by the rarified air; they had taken a whole day to march here from Yeumtso, scarcely six miles, and could eat no food at night. A Lama of our party offered up prayers* All diseases are attributed by the Tibetans to the four elements, who are propitiated accordingly in cases of severe illness. The winds are invoked in cases of affections of the breathing; fire in fevers and inflammations; water in dropsy, and diseases whereby the fluids are affected; and the God of earth when solid organs are diseased, as in liver-complaints, rheumatism, etc. Propitiatory offerings are made to the deities of these elements, but never sacrifices. to Kinchinjhow for the recovery of a stout Lepcha lad (called Nurko), who showed no signs of animation, and had all the symptoms of serous apoplexy. The Lama perched a saddle on a stone, and burning incense before it, scattered rice to the winds, invoking Kinchin, Donkia, and all the neighbouring peaks. A strong dose of calomel and jalap, which we poured down the sick lad's throat, contributed materially to the success of these incantations. The Tibetan Sepoys were getting tired of our delays, which so much favoured my operations; but though showing signs of impatience and sulkiness, they behaved well to the last; taking the sick man to the top of the pass on their yaks, and assisting all the party: nothing, however, would induce them to cross into Sikkim, which they considered as "Company's territory." Before proceeding to the pass, I turned off to the east, and re-ascended Donkia to upwards of 19,000 feet, vainly hoping to get a more distant view, and other bearings of the Tibetan mountains. The ascent was over enormous piles of loose rocks split by the frost, and was extremely fatiguing. I reached a peak overhanging a steep precipice, at whose base were small lakes and glaciers, from which flowed several source
But the list of diseases that can cause headaches is also lengthy. Red wine, even in moderation, does it for some. 5 hours, typically), then re-occur the next day around the same time. Cluster headaches, which attack only about a third of one percent of the population, are even more intense than migraines. To attack that problem, so-called prophylactic drugs are often recommended as part of a spectrum of treatments.
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