Among the Himalayas

Preface To The First Edition

The grandest part of the grandest mountains on the globe has, strange to say, no book devoted to it, except one that was written about half a century ago. Since that time, however, these lofty regions, on the rugged borders of Tibet, have become much more accessible. Roads have penetrated the mountain fastnesses in nearly every direction in the state of Sikhim, a Switzerland of the East, situated in the heart of the Himalayas, within sight of the culminating pinnacle of the world, Mount Everest. The worst torrents have been bridged, and travellers' staging-houses have been erected along some of the chief routes, thus facilitating the exploration of these mighty mountains, and creating a desire for further and more general information in regard to them and their quaint Tartar tribes, than is to be found in Hooker's Journals. '

Having visited many of the less frequented parts, and possessing an intimate knowledge of the social and political state of most of the primitive tribes, I venture to hope that some account of my travels may contribute to the supply of this want. During the past fourteen years I have traversed portions of this region nearly every year, sketching, shooting, collecting, and especially exploring the customs of the people on the frontiers of Tibet, and of Nepal — the land of the warlike Goorkhas — where I lived in tents for four or five months of several successive years. In regard to the more interesting tribes, such as the Lepchas, who are fast dying

VI PREFACE

out or losing their ancient customs, I have endeavoured to rescue some of the curious practices of these wild and primitive people ; and I have simplified, as far as possible, most of the uncouth native names which, while they add to the mystery of these Tibetan borderlands, are so repellant to the general reader. ^

To render the narrative more complete, I have added in respect to some glaciers and peaks, which were not reached by Hooker or myself, a summary of the descriptions of these by Sherwill, Graham, White, and Hoffman, and also some geological notes by W. T. Blanford, mostly from reports that are buried away in more or less inaccessible journals. Mount Everest I approached somewhat nearer than any European except Hooker; and I here record some new research respecting it and other peaks alleged to be still higher.

The commercial possibiHties of Tibet are also referred to. This mysterious land has at the present time a very special interest for us, in view of the imminent disintegration of China. Its gold-mines, which are probably the richest in the world, should alone make it of commercial importance, though most of this riches lies in regions almost as inhospitable as Klondyke. Much of the country, however, is habitable and has many promising resources undeveloped. And with an English protectorate over Tibet, replacing the shadowy Chinese suzerainty over that country, and the rich valley of the Yangtse up to the border of Eastern Tibet secured within the EngHsh "sphere of interest", England would not only prevent a possible Russian wedge being interposed between her Indian, Burmese and Chinese possessions, but she would consolidate her position from the Indian Ocean to the Northern Pacific, and gain thereby the paramount position throughout Asia.

PREFACE VU

The illustrations are specially numerous, and it is hoped that they will bring vividly before the eyes of the reader truthful pictures of the scenery and people. As most of them are photographs, and these as well as the careful sketches by Colonel Tanner and myself and others, done on the spot, and the sympathetic drawings by that Himalayan artist, Mr. McCormick, based on my photographs, have all been reproduced by photo-mechanical processes, they are not open to the objections offered to the illustrations in Hooker's Journals, that they " do not convey by any means a correct impression ; like most lithographs of foreign scenes printed in England the characteristic features are lost . . , everything is Europeanised." ^ For several of the photographs I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Hoffmann, and especially for the splendid one on the title page — an icy horn that lifts its ghttering pinnacle about 7,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc, and surpasses the Weisshorn in boldness and grace.

These attractive regions, still to a large extent unexplored, should arrest the attention of travellers and climbers thirsting for fresh fields of adventure. Their valleys vie with the Andes of Brazil and Peru as the paradise of the butterfly and orchid-hunter. And, above all, there is the varied ever-present human interest of the many Tartar tribes, with their wild picturesque characters, customs, and idyllic surroundings; and the awe at once forbidding and alluring of the strange inhospitable land beyond the mountains.

The facilities for travel, in the way of roads and resthuts, are increasing every year since the recent war with Tibet, detailed in these passages, which has brought Sikhim more closely under British suzerainty. Thanks to the energy of the British agent, Mr. White, most of the objectionable cane-bridges that beset our path have now mostly viii PREFACE

been replaced by substantial iron structures. The attractive valley of Choombi, if ever it shall become British territory, as it might have done, will surpass most parts of Cashmere. And already, is it not a great deal to find that the new roads bring the glaciers of Kanchen-junga, itself one of the most magnificent mountains in the world and almost the highest, within five or six days of Darjeeling, which is under one day's journey from Calcutta, which is less than three weeks from England.

This illustrated narrative of my journeyings I hope may reflect, in some measure, the keen enjoyment of travel in these regions, may awaken further interest in a fascinating though little known land, may assist in guiding the traveller to those features that are of greatest general interest, and bring home to the reader a whiff of the bracing breezes of the Himalayas.

L. A. WADDELL.

London, December 1898.

T O MY WIFE,

THE BRIGHT COMPANION OF SOME OF THE JOURNEYS

HEREIN DESCRIBED, THESE PAGES ARE

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

Contents

Page CHAPTER I

To Darjeeling and the Preparations for our Journey.

The views and the people — Special difficulties of travel in the interior of the Central Himalayas — Our arrangements I

CHAPTER II The Start and Cross into Native Sikhim

Troubles at starting — Nepalese fair and Feast of Lanterns — Tea-Gardens — Lama-Temple and bloody sacrifices — The country — Lepchas in the jungle — Great Rang-eet Valley — Our camp 6 1

CHAPTER III Up the Teesta Valley to the King's Capital

The Tribes of Sikhim — The Lepchas — A Native Chief and his Government — Legends — Crossing a torrent by a rickety cane-bridge — The Land- Leeches and a climb go

CHAPTER IV At the Capital of Sikhim to the Threshold of the Snows

The King and Queen — Their relations with the British — Intrigues with the Chinese — Monks and Monasteries — The Upper Teesta to the Tln-eshold of the Snows 136

Chapter V

The Alpine Lachoong Valley to the Tibetan Frontier and Passes.

Amongst the Yaks and Tibetans — Tang-kar snowfield — Death of a fellow-traveller — Tibetan guard and their captain — Dong-kia and other passes'' and glaciers — The true Himalayas or Abode of Snow — An unexplored •^ pass, and a survey beyond into Tibet ^ 165

CHAPTER VI The Lachen Valley and Eastern Glaciers OF Kanchen-junga

Political Missions to Tibet — Eastern Glaciers of Kanchen-junga — Zemu glacier ... ... 230 xii CONTENTS

Page

CHAPTER VII Through British Bhotan to Darjeeling

Our food from the jungle — Snakes — Christian Missions — Turbulent Bhotanese, and our annexation of their countiy — Tibetan traders — The wild horse — Junction of Rang-eet and Teesta — Locust plague. 239

CHAPTER VIII To THE Eastern Pass of the Jelep, and the Scene of the late War

On the line of an army in the field — Storming the Tibetan fort at Lingtoo — ^The Anglo-Chinese Convention — The highest European fort in the world — Jelep pass/ the ti-ade route to Lhasa and Pekin — The Choombi valley, its political and sti'ategical importance — How places are named — Game in the Bhotanese Terai — The Koch tribe — .^ Lepcha songs and music — Cinchona plantations 255

Chapter IX

Along the Nepal Frontier towards Everest, etc. to Sandook-phu and Faloot.

The warlike Goorkhas and conquest of Nepal — Their recent adoption of Hindooism — The other tribes of Nepal — Paradise of the orchidhunters — Rhododendron forests — View from Tonglu — Sandook-phu, "the hill of the poison-plant" and its scenery — A Nepalese frozen dead in the snow — Faloot Peak — Mauled by Bears — Everest, its names and form — Peaks higher than Everest 300

Chapter X

The Southern Peaks and Glaciers of the Kanchen-junga Group.

Spectre of the Brocken — The "Singalelah ridge" a misnomer — Ridge beyond Chow-banjan — Camping under difficulties — Yampoong yak-station and its Tibetan herdsmen — ^Jongi-i and the Guicha pass to Pandim and the glaciers of Kanchen-junga — Kanchen-junga, its form and structure — Its worship by the natives — Mr. Graham's ascent of "Kabru" — Expert opinion and evidence on this claim to the highest climb. 360

CHAPTER XI The Kang Pass for the Western Glaciers

OF Kanchen-junga and for Jannu— "

Nepalese jealous exclusiveness.

Across the unexplored Dui and Chambab passes into Nepal — Divisions of Eastern Nepal — Geology of adjoining part of Tibet — -Flight and capture of King of Sikhim — Chinese intrigues in Sikhim and Tibet — Western side of Kang-La — Northern cliff of Everest — Nepalese guards — Game — Bivouac in cave — Return 394

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Crossing a torrent by a Rickety Cane-bridge CFfontlspiece) ii Initial letter showing relative sizes of Everest,

Mt. Blanc, etc i

The Himalayas of Sikhim rising above the Clouds. . . 3

Entering the Mountain Train 5

Fishing in the Terai 7

Outer Himalayas in North West Provinces 11

Hill Pedestrians 14

Steaming up through an Avenue in the Sal Forest . . 15

Girl carrying Child 17

A Clearing in the Forest 19

Nepalese Villagers 21

Tibetan twirling a "Praying Wheel" 25

"Baksheesh "1 26

Snows from Senchal 30

Key to Snowy Ranges seen from Senchal 31

Everest from Senchal 33

Curio-Sellers 42

A Tibetan 43

A Lepcha • 44

Nepalese Woman of Moormi or Tamang-Bhotiya Tribe . 45

Bhotiya Women selling Eggs 46

Sikhimese Matron 47

Nepalese Children 49

Packing up the Baggage 55

The Start 60

Achoom, our chief Lepcha Servant , ' 62

Our "Caravan of Coolies" 64

KiNTOop, the Tibetan Explorer "K. P." and head of our

Coolies 65 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Buddhist Temple at Dortsook 68

Nepalese Swing at a Fair 71

A Monk sipping Murwa Beer 75

Rang-eet River 80

"Their parasols grow by the way-side" 86

A Lepcha 92

Lepcha Houses 96

A Lepcha Woman 99

Sikhimese Chief and Retinue 102

The Morning's Bag at Gamotang 112

Crossing Torrents 118

A LiMBOo Beauty 120

DiK-CHU Cane-bridge 131

Temple Band at Phodang Monastery 137

The King and Queen of Sikhim 145

Crossing Cliffs on Bamboo Ladders 160

Log Bridge on Cantilever Principle 166

Yaks 169

The polite Tibetan Salutation 172

Cascades of the Lete 177

Himalayan Larch 181

Downward View from the Cleft 184

Giant wild Rhubarb 185

View into Tibet from Tang-kar Pass 189

Trying to boil an Altitude Thermometer 191

Grave and Cairn of our Fellow-Traveller . . . . . 195

An Avalanche of Rocks 199

Yoomtang and its Yaks 205

Captain of the Tibetan Frontier Guard on his Yak . . 207

Kanchen-jow and Entrance to Seboo Pass 215

The God of Mt. Kanchen-junga 217

Peak D" (Siniolchu) 234

North Ridge of Kanchen-junga, showing Gap .... 235

Nangna Pass 237

Bhotanese Chief and Retinue 246

The Marriage of the Rang-eet and Teesta Rivers . .251

A Locust (A. Succintum) 254

Orchid and Moss-covered Oak Forest 257

LISTOFILLUSTRATIONS XV

Page

Tibetan Fortifications at Yatoong 267

Tibetan Soldiers 269

Chinese Envoy from Lhasa, and Suite 272

Koch or "Cooch" Tribe 291

A GooRKHA 302

The Ruler of Nepal 305

KiRANTI OR JiMDAR TrIBE 306

Mangar Nepalese 309

A HILL Musician 314

Through a Glade of feathery Bamboos 318

Rhododendron Trees 319

Sea of Clouds rising from the Plains 321

Poisoned Arrows 326

Snows from Sandook-phu 327

Everest Group rising above the Clouds 331

Nepalese frozen to Death in the Snow 335

Key to the Everest Group 342

Everest from Sandook-phu 343

Everest and Peak XIII from the South 353

Everest and Peak XIII from Bangura Trig. Station . .355

Nepalese Himalayas from Someshwar Range 357

My Taxidermists at work 362

Peak XIII from Migo 370

Shar-pa Bhotyas 373

Pandim from Tong-shyong-tam 376

Glacier at Guicha Pass 378

Kanchen-junga, South-East Face from Tong-shyong . , 381

Eastern Glacier of Kanchen-junga from Tong-shyong . 383

Worship of the God of Kanchen-junga 387

Kanchen-junga from the West 395

Crossing Oma Pass on a Yak 397

"The Enchanted Lake of The Peacock's Tail" .... 403

Anglo-Tibetan Boundary Commissioners 411

The Lay-Governor of Lhasa, and Suite 414

Profile of Kabru etc., from Semo Pass 416

Kang-La from the West 417

North-East Face of Everest 420

Bivouac in a Cave 427

XVI MAPS

MAPS

Page

Map of Ranges and Peaks seen from Senchal .... 32

Map of the Environs of Everest and Eastern Nepal . 349

Sketch Map of Panga Pass on Flank of Everest . . . 437 Himalayas of Sikhim and Adjoining Countries showing

Author's Routes 453

APPENDIX.— Notes to the Text 431

Chapter I To Darjeeling And The Preparations For Our Journey

"In a hundred ages of the Gods I could not tell you of all the glories of the Himalaya." — Old Sa?7skii( Poem.

HE long cherished dream of years is about to be reaHzed 1 To-morrow we plunge into the wilds of the mightiest alps in the world to explore their little-known regions, to camp among their breezy heights and thundering torrents, and to live among their semisavage Tartar tribes.

We are starting from Darjeeling, on the threshold of the mountains, and famous for its view of those distant peaks with which we are now going to make closer acquaintance. Let us then invite the reader to accompany us to Darjeeling to look at our preparations for the journey, to see some of the strange people who are to be our companions, and enjoy the magnificent scenery by the way.

The journey from India to Darjeeling can now-a-days be done comfortably within twenty-four hours from Calcutta, thanks to the railway. Vividly do I remember my first journey to that mountain health-resort.

How. refreshing it was to escape from the vegetative

artificial existence and steamy heat of Calcutta, and after

speeding along on the leaden wings of the Northern Bengal

express, to emerge one April morning from the train at

the comparatively cool station of Siligoori. ^ We now could

see looming high above the quivering haze that smothered

the dusty plains, the soaring peaks of the cool "hills," as

Anglo-Indians are wont to call these loftiest summits of the

earth. In the distance they looked as if they belonged to

another world. Their lower ranges were hid in the grey

haze and rosy morning mist, above which towered the

purple spurs of the higher ranges, rising above the clouds

in long" lines, tier over tier, up to the snows, which were

topped by the dazzling white peaks of the mighty Kanchen-

junga,

"Whose head in wintry grandeur towers, And whitens with eternal sleet; While summer in a vale of flowers Is sleeping rosy at his feet."

When we had fortified ourselves against the anticipated cold of our sudden ascent into these high regions, by putting

IN THE MOUNTAIN TRAIN on warmer clothing and snatching a hasty breakfast, we entered the Uttle toy-like train that was to carry us up the mountains, and ensconced in arm-chairs in one of the open cars, we were soon rattling gaily across that dreaded belt of fever-laden forest — the Terai, which separates the plains from the foot of the hills. ;^_ Passing the Tibet-Pekin trade-road

on our right, and crossing "The

fe>-^ ^"""""^^J)^ Bent-going River"

(Mahaldi,

ENTERING THE

MOUNTAIN TRAIN corrupted by the Bengalees into "Mahanadi "), we steamed through some deserted tea-plantations in clearings in this deadly forest. For in this poisonous atmosphere no labourers can be induced to settle. Each fresh batch of imported cooHes soon flees panic-struck before the " Black- Death" {Kala-azar\ "Black-water Fever" and other malarial pestilences which lurk in every brake and lay their avenging hands on every intruder who invades their reeking solitude. And they claim their victims also from the highest. Here it was that a former English vice-queen of India caught fatal fever when halting to sketch by the wayside in returning from a visit to Darjeeling. Amidst this desolate tangle of grass-grown tea-bushes are to be seen a few ruined huts of the planters, perched on tall posts to lift them somewhat above the rank exhalations, telling a sad tale of British capital and enterprise sunk in an almost hopeless waste.

Nor is it only man who suffers here. The tea-plant itself is attacked by more than the ordinary number of blights and diseases, from which the plantations overlooking us a few thousand feet up the mountain-side are comparatively free.

Still it is possible to get acclimatized even to such an unhealthy place as this. The few wild aborigines, the Mech and Dhimal, who live in the depths of these forests, and who will undertake no hired service, have acquired almost as much immunity from the deadly fevers of these forests as the tigers and other wild beasts who make this their home. And as we steam along past clumps of upstanding Sal trees, which look like pines in the distance, you may see in the clearings on the banks of the streams that deeply score the plain, some of the black aborigines * fishing in the shallows with long push-nets of Chinese pattern.

Further on we passed through a bit of real "jungle"

THROUGH THE TERM JUNGLE 9

or primeval forest, with a wild luxuriance of vegetation as rank as any in the heart of Brazil. Its tangled thickets of sensitive Mimosa and dark greenery between the tall tufts of giant grass twenty feet in height, are still the haunt of the tiger and of the herds of deer and boars on which he preys, also of wild elephants, rhinoceros, buffalo and other big game. And here, under the figs and the stalwart cotton-trees with their fiery crimson blossoms, clusters of fern and clumps of moss carry the cool influence of the snowy mountains far out into the dust beclouded plains.

The ascent begins quite suddenly. The Himalayas here shoot up abruptly from the Indian plains Uke giant cliffs from the sea-shore, so that here, at their base, notwithstanding we were about 300 miles inland from Calcutta, we are yet scarcely more than 300 feet above the sea-level, though in the next thirty-five miles or so of railway we rise over 7,000 feet, and pass within a few hours up through all the gradations of climate, ranging from tropical to temperate and sub-Alpine. We can see here, from this deep base, at one glance, the striking differences in the foliage that sharply demarcate the different climatic zones as detailed by Hooker, and which give such magnificent and varied scenic effects as are to be seen in no other part of the world. Not even in this very same range further to the north, can the like contrast be seen. For in the north-western and Panjab Himalayas the mountains do not rise so suddenly. The outlying sandstone range of the Siwaliks, famous for lo AMONG THE HIMALAYAS

their mammoth fossils, intervenes ; and owing to the much less rainfall there and the greater heat and drought of spring, and greater cold of winter, the vegetation is not only very much less luxuriant and varied than here, but many of the lower slopes there are almost burned up and bare of trees.

This part of the Himalayas that we are now entering is called "Sikhim", which seems to mean " The Land of Mountain Crests". ^ It may be viewed as a stupendous stairway hewn out of the western border of the Tibetan plateau by glaciers and great rivers and leading down to the Indian plains, with a fall of about 17,000 feet in a hundred miles. The face of this vast incline is roughly cut up into countless peaks and ridges of stupendous height, and valleys of corresponding depth, adown which dash the glacial streams and thundering torrents of water precipitated by the excessive rainfall of this rainiest section of the Himalayas, for it faces the Bay of Bengal and receives the full force of the heavy summer rains or "monsoon". And the deep gorges of the rivers so interpenetrate the mountains as to carry a hot climate far along their banks, till the semi-tropic vegetation becomes almost overhung by snowy peaks, thus giving endless variety of climate and scenery, from the torrid heat of the tropics up to the bleak arctic cold of Tibet and its everlasting snows. Zoologically, Sikhim is situated on the borderland between the Palaearctic and Oriental regions, and at the junction of the Chinese, Malayan and Indian sections of the latter region. Thus isty

OUTER HIMALAYAS IN NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. (Kumaoiij about 6,000 feet.)

THE SIKHIM HIMALAYAS 13

animal life is representative of all these. The Palaearctic animals of Tibet enter from the north and the others from the east and south — the oriental animals ascend no higher than about 8,000 to io,ooo feet; and a few Ethiopian animals also have wandered from Africa thus far eastwards.

It is peculiarly isolated from the Himalayas on either side, shut in as it is, by two great wall-Hke ridges that run out into the plains, the so-called "Singalela" and Chola ranges.

We now ascend a low gravelly spur of the former or western ridge, at Sookna, or "The Dry Site," proceeding at the exhilarating rate of nine or ten miles an hour; for this miniature railway, quite a curiosity of engineering, runs with its two-feet gauge, for the most part along the carriageroad that winds by long zig-zags up the mountain. The powerful little engine, weighing only from ten to fifteen tons, drags the train of ten to fifteen laden carriages up the gradient of about i in 28 at that rapid rate ; but as the cars are mostly open trollies and there is no plunging into tunnels, this journey is made more like a drive in an open carriage, and you see the scenery to advantage.

As we advance up this gravelly spur, which is clothed with a forest of stately Sal trees, our narrow path seems like an avenue festooned with ferns, pepper-vines and ropes of many-hued cHmbers, through whose thick foliage the sunbeams filter in broken flecks of dancing light. One of the ferns that encircle these tall trunks, crowns them with massive coronets of stiff feathery fronds that stand up like the head-dress of a red Indian chief, and many of the trees have six to ten of these coronets, one over the other. Emerging from this forest at a red clayey ridge about one thousand feet above the sea, we rose through the haze, and then the hills passed from grey indefiniteness into bright masses of form and colour. The twisting train curved in and out of shaggy ravines, carrying us through a swift succession of ever-changing scenery. We catch glimpses now of the blue hills and curling clouds above us, and now of the rich green masses of the woods and gorges through which we were passing, or again of the fast dwindling dusty plains below, which stretched out to the far-off horizon like a great dark restful sea. And we get

HILL PEDESTRIANS.

picturesque peeps at groups of the bright- eyed little Mon-

STEAMING UP THROUGH AN AVENUE IN THE SAL FOREST.

THE MOUNTAIN FOLK goloid people of these hills, sturdily trudging along the winding forest path, some of the women carrying their

GIRT. CARRYING A CHILD.

children in a basket slung over their back, and the men with their loads in baskets similarly strapped over their foreheads ; and all occasionally waking the echoes with snatches of some high-pitched Tartar melody. The refrain of one of these songs runs :

Travelling with a pretty maid

The road seems very short and charming,

And so seems life with a lovely wife.

The landscape has hitherto presented the appearance of the truly tropical evergreen forest with its rank growth of gingers, calladium and other broad-leaved herbs and shrubs, its wild confusion of fallen trunks and decomposing leaves, matted with thorny twiners and bamboo thicket, through which the tall trees struggle in the choking embrace of giant creepers; while others shoot aloft Hke tall masts, tied down by countless climbers which creep along the ground, cHng to every trunk and fling themselves from tree to tree, making the jungle quite impenetrable.

Now, however, the forest began rapidly to change its character. The undergrowth, which was almost a forest in itself, thinned perceptibly, and the landscape got more smiUng. Birds and gaudy butterflies and other insect-Hfe became more numerous amongst the many-hued wild weeds, including velvety Begonias, tall Cannas, and others which are prized hot-house plants at home. A startled deer or monkey might be seen where the wild plantains waved their broad shiny plumes against the warm slopes and the Sikhim screw-pine bore itself aloft like a giant mop. A few large-leaved oaks and chestnuts also showed themselves as

CLEARINGS ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE rg

stragglers from the temperate zone above. The greatest straggler of all, however, was a lowly little weed, like a blue-flowered groundsel (Ageratmn conyzoides). It had travelled all the way from Mexico, and seems only recently to have been introduced here, probably as accidental tares

A CLEARING IN THE FOREST.

amongst the American Indian corn which is extensively grown higher up. But it is rapidly overrunning the hill sides, springing up everywhere and fast displacing the native weeds on all the fresh landslips and clearings; even the hardy worm-wood is disappearing before it.

Steep paths struck down the hill side to clearings in the forest; and here and there in these clearings amidst the fragrant white blossoms of the orange trees and the pink of the peaches, and the bright yellow patches of mustard beside the fresh green of the maize, we passed several huts of the hardy highlanders. Wretched hovels they are, meaner even than the poorest Irish shanties, but the cheery inmates with flowers in their hair and the bright splashes of colour in the dress of the women and children make a pleasing picture in spite of the squalor of their dwellings.

Our thirsty little engine, toiling up the mountain, stopped frequently in the ravines for water, and thus enabled us to get out, as from a coach when changing horses, for some minutes now and then, to pick a few wild flowers, or " gold " and ** silver" ferns, where cascades tumble down cliffs of gneiss with mica-schist glistening in the sun. And we got time to glance at our fellow-passengers.

The fresh faces and robust figures of the planters who have joined us by the way attest the healthiness of their exile in these hills, and contrast strikingly with the pale pinched faces of the tired workers whose lot is cast in the plains, and who are now hurrying to the cool hills to restore their lost strength. There are a few soldiers proceeding to their batteries or detachments in the mountains, British and Indian; the latter including some Afghans or Pathans and Sikhs (pronounced somewhat like " Seeks "), but whom the British soldier (Tommy Atkins) perversely calls "Pythons" and "Sykesl" Then there are several of the perky hill peasantry, the women loaded with jewelry and the men carrying ugly knives stuck in their girdles. There are a

OUR FELLOW-PASSENGERS few boisterous young Bengalees venturing to visit these mountains under the pax Britannica. They are clad unromantically in European ulsters and patent-leather shoes, and their warlike eyes flash under their aniHne-dyed turbans as they clutch a Birmingham umbrella in their "National" grasp. And there are a few belated stragglers from the flock of cold-weather tourists, or "globe-trotters" as they

NEPALESE VILLAGERS.

are irreverently called, on their way to Darjeeling to try to get a peep at Everest, the highest point in the world; and they are now seeing these mountains to greater advantage than their fellows who flock here in the dry dusty winter months, when the lower atmosphere is laden with dust haze.

The chance reference by one of them to a mutual friend at home makes us realize how small the world is after all.

The geological formation of the rocks was also noticeable. About 2,000 feet up, we passed in the cuttings at Choonabuti (or "The Kime-kiln "), strata of lime-stone, russet veins of iron ore, and shaly outcrops of coal, dipping down at the most acute angles. But these seams of coal were so contorted by the enormous crushing force which threw up the Himalayas that they are not profitable for mining. Further on we passed through shiny layers of mica-schist up into stratified gneiss, which was often crumpled into wavy folds and ripple-hke markings. Much of the soil of this part of the outer Himalayas, and that which is most preferred for tea-growing, is a stiff reddish clay of the kind called " laterite."

Still higher up, on rounding the shoulder of a spur, we got a whiff" of the deliciously fresh breeze from the cooler region above ; and we commanded bird's-eye views of the lower hills and plains, such as are got from balloons. Far below us we saw the circling kites and eagles; and the rivers from the ravines that we have crossed threaded their way like streaks of silver across the plains that stretched out as in a map. Our train then boldly skirted the top of precipitous valleys, alarmingly near the edge at times. To circumvent these precipices and the dangerous water-courses which threatened disaster, demands many an ingenious engineering device of spirals, reversing stations and deep masonry embankments. One of the most dangerous of these