Himalayan Journals, vol 2 - J. D. Hooker (bill gates best books txt) 📗

Other curious plants were a little yellow saxifrage with long runners (very like the arctic S. flagellaris, of Spitzbergen and Melville Island), and the strong-scented spikenard (Nardostachys).

The rocks were chiefly of reddish quartz, and so was the base of

Chomiomo. Kinchinjhow on the contrary was of gneiss, with granite

veins: the strike of both was north-west, and the dip north-east 20

degrees to 30 degrees.

We made a fire at the top with sheep's droppings, of which the Phipun had brought up a bagfull, and with it a pair of goat-skin bellows,

which worked by a slit that was opened by the hand in the act of

raising; when inflated, the hole was closed, and the skin pressed

down, thus forcing the air through the bamboo nozzle: this is the

common form of bellows throughout Tibet and the Himalaya.

After two hours I was very stiff and cold, and suffering from

headache and giddiness, owing to the elevation; and having walked

about thirteen miles botanizing, I was glad to ride down. We reached the Phipun's tents about 6 p.m., and had more tea before proceeding to Tungu. The night was fortunately fine and calm, with a few stars and a bright young moon, which, with the glare from the snows,

lighted up the valley, and revealed magnificent glimpses of the

majestic mountains. As the moon sank, and we descended the narrowing valley, darkness came on, and with a boy to lead my sure-footed pony, I was at liberty uninterruptedly to reflect on the events of a day, on which I had attained the object of so many years' ambition.

Now that all obstacles were surmounted, and I was returning laden

with materials for extending the knowledge of a science which had

formed the pursuit of my life, will it be wondered at that I felt

proud, not less for my own sake, than for that of the many friends, both in India and at home, who were interested in my success?

We arrived at Tungu at 9 p.m., my pony not having stumbled once,

though the path was rugged, and crossed by many rapid streams.

The Soubah's little shaggy steed had carried his portly frame (fully fifteen stone weight) the whole way out and back, and when he

dismounted, it shook itself, snorted, and seemed quite ready

for supper.

On the following morning I was occupied in noting and arranging my

collections, which consisted of upwards of 200 plants; all gathered above 14,000 feet elevation.* [Amongst them the most numerous Natural orders and genera were, Cruciferae 10; Compositae 20;

Ranunculaceae 10; Alsineae 9; Astragali 10; Potentillae 8;

grasses 12; Carices 15; Pedicularis 7; Boragineae 7.] Letters arrived from Dorjiling with unusual speed, having been only seventeen days on the road: they were full of valuable suggestions and

encouragement from my friends Hodgson, Campbell, and Tchebu Lama.

On the 26th of July the Phipun, who waited on me every morning with milk and butter, and whose civility and attentions were now

unremitting, proposed that I should accompany him to an encampment of Tibetans, at the foot of Kinchinjhow. We mounted ponies, and ascended the Tunguchoo eastwards: it was a rapid river for the first thousand feet, flowing in a narrow gorge, between sloping, grassy, and rocky hills, on which large herds of yaks were feeding, tended by women and children, whose black tents were scattered about. The yak-calves left their mothers to run beside our ponies, which became unmanageable,

being almost callous to the bit; and the whole party was sometimes

careering over the slopes, chased by the grunting herds: in other

places, the path was narrow and dangerous, when the sagacious animals proceeded with the utmost gravity and caution. Rounding one rocky

spur, my pony stumbled, and pitched me forward: fortunately I lighted on the path.

The rocks were gneiss, with granite veins (strike north-east, dip

south-east): they were covered with Ephedra,* [A curious genus of small shrubs allied to pines, that grows in the south of Europe.

This species is the European E. vulgaris; it inhabits the driest

parts of north-west India, and ascends to 17,000 feet in Tibet, but is not found in the moist intervening countries.] an Onosma which yields a purple dye, Orchis, and species of Androsace; while the slopes were clothed with the spikenard and purple Pedicularis, and the moist grounds with yellow cowslip and long grass. A sudden bend in the valley opened a superb view to the north, of the full front of Kinchinjhow, extending for four or five miles east and west; its

perpendicular sides studded with the immense icicles, which are said to have obtained for it the name of "jhow,"--the "bearded" Kinchin.

Eastward a jagged spur stretches south, rising into another splendid mountain, called Chango-khang (the Eagle's crag), from whose flanks descend great glaciers, the sources of the Tunguchoo.

We followed the course of an affluent, called the Chachoo, along

whose bed ancient moraines rose in successive ridges: on these I

found several other species of European genera.* [_Delphinium,

Hypecoum, Sagina, Gymnandra, Artemisia, Caltha, Dracocephalum,

Leontopodium._] Over one of these moraines, 500 feet high, the path ascends to the plains of Palung, an elevated grassy expanse, two

miles long and four broad, extending southward from the base of

Kinchinjhow. Its surface, though very level for so mountainous a

country, is yet varied with open valleys and sloping hills, 500 to

700 feet high: it is bounded on the west by low rounded spurs from

Kinchinjhow, that form the flank of the Lachen valley; while on the east it is separated from Chango-khang by the Chachoo, which cuts a deep east and west trench along the base of Kinchinjhow, and then

turns south to the Tunguchoo. The course of the Chachoo, where it

turns south, is most curious: it meanders in sickle-shaped curves

along the marshy bottom of an old lake-bed, with steep shelving

sides, 500 to 600 feet deep, and covered with juniper bushes.*

[These, which grow on an eastern exposure, exist at a higher

elevation than any other bushes I have met with.] It is fed by the

glaciers of Kinchinjhow, and some little lakes to the east.

The mean height of Palung plains is 16,000 feet: they are covered

with transported blocks, and I have no doubt their surface has been much modified by glacial action. I was forcibly reminded of them by the slopes of the Wengern Alp, but those of Palung are far more

level. Kinchinjhow rises before the spectator, just as the Jungfrau, Monch, and Eigher Alps do from that magnificent point of view.

On ascending a low hill, we came in sight of the Tibet camp at the

distance of a mile, when the great mastiffs that guarded it

immediately bayed; and our ponies starting off at full gallop, we

soon reached an enclosure of stone dykes, within which the black

tents were pitched. The dogs were of immense size, and ragged, like the yaks, from their winter coat hanging to their flanks in great

masses; each was chained near a large stone, on and off which he

leapt as he gave tongue; they are very savage, but great cowards, and not remarkable for intelligence.

Illustration--LEPCHA GIRLS (THE OUTER FIGURES), AND TIBETAN WOMEN.

The people were natives of Gearee and Kambajong, in the adjacent

province of Dingcham, which is the loftiest, coldest, most windy and arid in Eastern Tibet; and in which are the sources of all the

streams that flow to Nepal; Sikkim, and Bhotan on the one side, and into the Yaru-tsampu on the other. These families repair yearly to

Palung, with their flocks, herds, and tents, paying tribute to the

Sikkim Rajah for the privilege: they arrive in June and leave in

September. Both men and women were indescribably filthy; as they

never wash, their faces were perfectly black with smoke and exposure, and the women's with a pigment of grease as a protection from the

wind. The men were dressed as usual, in the blanket-cloak, with brass pipes, long knives, flint, steel, and amulets; the women wore

similar, but shorter cloaks, with silver and copper girdles,

trowsers, and flannel boots. Their head-dresses were very remarkable.

A circular band of plaited yak's hair was attached to the back hair, and encircled the head like a saint's glory,* [I find in Ermann's

"Siberia" (i., p. 210), that the married women of Yekaterinberg wear a head-dress like an ancient glory covered with jewels, whilst the

unmarried ones plait their tresses. The same distinguished traveller mentions having seen a lad of six years old suckled, amongst the

Tungooze of East Siberia.] at some distance round it. A band crossed the forehead, from which coins, corals, and turquoises, hung down to the eyebrows, while lappets of these ornaments fell over the ears.

Their own hair was plaited in two tails, brought over the shoulders, and fastened together in front; and a little yellow felt cap,

traversely elongated, so as not to interfere with the shape of the

glory, was perched on the head. Their countenances were pleasing, and their manners timid.

The children crawled half-naked about the tent, or burrowed like

moles in an immense heap of goats' and sheep-droppings, piled up for fuel, upon which the family lounged. An infant in arms was playing

with a "coral," ornamented much like ours, and was covered with

jewels and coins. This custom of decorating children is very common amongst half-civilised people; and the coral is, perhaps, one of the last relics of a barbarous age that is retained amongst ourselves.

One mother was nursing her baby, and churning at the same time, by

rolling the goat-skin of yak-milk about on the ground. Extreme

poverty induces the practice of nursing the children for years; and in one tent I saw a lad upwards of four years of age unconcernedly

taking food from his aunt, and immediately afterwards chewing hard

dry grains of maize.

The tents were pitched in holes about two feet and a half deep; and within them a wall of similar height was built all round: in the

middle was a long clay arched fire-place, with holes above, over

which the cauldrons were placed, the fire being underneath. Saddles, horse-cloths, and the usual accoutrements and implements of a nomade people, all of the rudest description, hung about: there was no bed or stool, but Chinese rugs for sleeping on. I boiled water on the

fire-place; its temperature (184.5 degrees) with that of the air

(45.5 degrees) gave an elevation of 15,867 feet. Barometric

observations, taken in October, at a point considerably lower down

the stream, made the elevation 15,620 feet, or a few feet lower than Kongra Lama pass.

A Lama accompanied this colony of Tibetans, a festival in honour of Kinchinjhow being annually held at a large chait hard by, which is

painted red, ornamented with banners, and surmounted by an enormous yak's skull, that faces the mountain. The Lama invited me into his

tent, where I found a wife and family. An extempore altar was at one end, covered with wafers and other pretty ornaments, made of butter, stamped or moulded with the fingers.* [The extensive use of these

ornaments throughout Tibet, on the occasion of religious festivals, is alluded to by MM. Huc and Gabet.] The tents being insupportably

noisome, I preferred partaking of the buttered brick-tea in the open air; after which, I went to see the shawl-wool goats sheared in a pen close by. There are two varieties: one is a large animal, with great horns, called "Rappoo;"* [This is the "Changra;" and the smaller the "Chyapu" of Mr. Hodgson's catalogue. (See "British Museum

Catalogue.")] the other smaller, and with slender horns, is called

"Tsilloo." The latter yields the finest wool, but they are mixed for ordinary purposes. I was assured that the sheep (of which large

flocks were