Page:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu/29

 view of South-Western Sikkim, including Tonglo and Singli, and the hills of Darjiling. In the thickets roundabout were to be seen the tracks of wild pigs, and the woods were alive with monkeys which feed on acorns.

At about 1 p.m. we reached the top of the range, some 6000 feet above the level of the sea. Crossing a number of brooks which empty into the Rishi, we came to some cowsheds, where I would have liked to have rested; but no rest was possible, for I could see the leeches spanning their length with swift but measured paces, making for me with haste.

At 4 p.m. we commenced our descent from the top of the ridge, which is marked by a lartsé —here a bush of dwarf bamboos, with scraps of red cloth tied to it, near which Phurchung uttered his lha sol, or invocation to the mountain deities. We halted for the night in a little clearing in the jungle at the foot of a gigantic oak, a few miles above the village of Lingcham. The giant nettle creeper here attains its largest growth, some more than 100 feet long. The tree nettle also abounds in this forest, and our servants found also the common nettle, the tender leaves of which make excellent soup.

November 11.—The sky was overcast, and there was rain and sunshine at the same time, a phenomenon the Bhutias call metog-charpa, or "flowery shower." The village of Hi, by which we passed, contains several Bhutia, Lepcha, and Limbu houses. The latter