Page:Sikhim and Bhutan.djvu/106

 one of the worst in Sikhim. It consists principally of a series of ladders up and down precipices or of galleries clinging to the face of cliffs. These ladders are made of bamboo with cross pieces tied to them for steps, generally at an angle, never horizontal, and in wet weather they are abominably slippery. The galleries are also made of bamboos fastened to any projecting root or tree, and often hung by canes from hundreds of feet above; they are never more than two bamboos in width, and only in the very worst places do they ever take the trouble to put up any kind of railing. Progress along such a road was necessarily slow, and our marches were consequently very short, but we eventually reached Be, the last collection of houses of any size, for it cannot be called a village, where a halt was made for a day to make arrangements for the coolies’ food before going into the uninhabited regions higher up. As Be was hot and the camping ground cramped, I decided to move on to the Talung Monastery and wait there till the preparations were completed. This turned out to be a wise move, as there was good camping ground and a great deal to be seen both in the monastery and in the surrounding country.

We followed the course of the Rimpi-chhu, a magnificent torrent one mass of foam as it dashed down over the boulders and between precipices without a single quiet pool, in fact it was an uninterrupted cascade which, on nearing Talung, has cut its way into the rocks, forming one of the magnificent gorges, 300 feet or 400 feet deep and some miles in length, which occur on some of these rivers. This gorge is exceedingly narrow, and the branches of the trees at the top meet each other across the chasm, keeping out the light, and only the roar of the river can be heard as the darkness makes it almost impossible to see the bottom.

At one point the trees are bent over from either side and tied together, and so form a good though somewhat precarious bridge. This I crossed, as I wanted to visit some sulphur springs on the other side, and after walking some