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In descending from Dorjiling, the zones of vegetation are well marked between 6000 and 7000 feet by 1. The oak, chesnut, and Magnolias, the main features from 7000 to 10,000 feet. 2. Of palms, a species of Calamus, and Plectocomia, the "Rhenoul" of the Lepchas. Wallichia oblongifolia, the "Ooh" of the Lepchas, who make no use of it; Dr.
Both Lepchas and Limboos had, before the introduction of Lama Boodhism from Tibet, many features in common with the natives of Arracan, especially in their creed, sacrifices, faith in omens, worship of many spirits, absence of idols, and of the doctrine of metempsychosis.
Altogether I only collected about twelve species in Sikkim, seven of which are venomous, and all are dreaded by the Lepchas. It is called Vok by the Lepchas, a common name for any bee: its larvae are said to be greedily eaten, as are those of various allied insects.
Soon afterwards, as I sat at my tent-door, looking along the narrow bushy ridge that winds up the mountain, I saw twenty or thirty men rapidly descending the rocky path: they were Lepchas, with blue and white striped garments, bows and quivers, and with their long knives gleaming in the sun: they seemed to be following a figure in red Lama costume, with a scarlet silk handkerchief wound round his head, its ends streaming behind him.
At its lower end, about twenty miles from the frontier, is the military fort of Ilam, a celebrated stockaded post and cantonment of the Ghorkas: its position is marked by a conspicuous conical hill. The inhabitants are chiefly Brahmins, but there are also some Moormis, and a few Lepchas who escaped from Sikkim during the general massacre in 1825.
Houttuynia, a curious herb allied to pepper, grew on the banks, which, from the profusion of its white flowers, resembled strawberry-beds; the leaves are eaten by the Lepchas. The stem, when cut, discharges water profusely from whichever end is held downwards.
A group of Lepchas is exceedingly picturesque. The lower limbs are powerfully developed, befitting genuine mountaineers: the feet are small.
But on one side the steep hills are crowded with the confused jumble of houses in the native bazaar, built higgledy-piggledy one on top of the other and lining the narrow streets and lanes that are thronged all day by a bright-garbed medley of Eastern races Sikkimese, Bhuttias, Hindus, Tibetans, Lepchas.
The narrowness of the ridge prevented our pitching the tent, small as it was; but the Lepchas rapidly constructed a house, and thatched it with bamboo and the broad leaves of the wild plantain. A table was then raised in the middle, of four posts and as many cross pieces of wood, lashed with strips of bamboo.
At times we scrambled over rocks 1000 feet above the river, or descended into gorges, through whose tributary torrents we waded, or crossed swampy terraced flats of unstratified shingle above the stream; whilst it was sometimes necessary to round rocky promontories in the river, stemming the foaming torrent that pressed heavily against the chest as, one by one, we were dragged along by powerful Lepchas.
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