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One day, after we had had a long discussion about the geography of the frontier, he inflamed my curiosity by telling me that Kinchinjhow was a very holy mountain; more so than its sister-peaks of Chumulari and Kinchinjunga; and that both the Sikkim and Tibetan Lamas, and Chinese soldiers, were ready to oppose my approach to it.
In the afternoon we crossed the valley, and ascended Bhomtso, fording the river, whose temperature was 48 degrees. Some stupendous boulders of gneiss from Kinchinjhow are deposited in a broad sandy track on the north bank, by ancient glaciers, which once crossed this valley from Kinchinjhow. A woolly Leontopodium, Androsace, and some other plants assumed nearly the same mode of growth.
On the 19th of July he proposed to take me to Tungu, at the foot of Kinchinjhow, and back, upon ponies, provided I would leave my people and tent, which I refused to do.
Intense terrestrial radiation immediately follows the withdrawal of the sun's rays, and the temperature sinks rapidly. Soon after sunset the Lama returned, bringing Campbell; who, having mistaken some glacier-fed lakes at the back of Kinchinjhow for those of Cholamoo, was looking for me.
Camp on Zemu river Scenery Falling rocks Tukcham mountain Height of glaciers Botany Gigantic rhubarb Insects Storm Temperature of rivers Behaviour of Lachen Phipun Hostile conduct of Bhoteeas View from mountains above camp Descend to Zemu Samdong Vegetation Letters from Dorjiling Arrival of Singtam Soubah Presents from Rajah Parties collecting Arum-roots Insects Ascend Lachen river Thakya-zong Tallum Samdong village Cottages Mountains Plants Entomology Weather Halo Diseases Conduct of Singtam Soubah His character and illness Agrees to take me to Kongra Lama Tungu Appearance of country Houses Poisoning by arum-roots Yaks and calves Tibet ponies Journey to Kongra Lama Tibetan tents Butter, curds, and churns Hospitality Kinchinjhow and Chomiomo Magnificent Scenery Reach Kongra Lama Pass.
We descended in the afternoon, and on our way up the Lachen valley examined a narrow gulley in a lofty red spur from Kinchinjhow, where black shales were in situ, striking north-east, and dipping north-west 45 degrees.
Westward Chomiomo rose abruptly from the rounded hills we were on, to 22,000 feet elevation, ten miles distant. To the east of Kinchinjhow were the Cholamoo lakes, with the rugged mass of Donkia stretching in cliffs of ice and snow continuously southwards to forked Donkia, which overhung Momay Samdong.
This girdle of mountains encloses the head waters of the Lachoong, which rises in countless streams from its perpetual snows, glaciers, and small lakes: its north drainage is to the Cholamoo lakes in Tibet; in which is the source of the Lachen, which flows round the north base of Kinchinjhow to Kongra Lama.
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. Hodgson's catalogue.
I had fortunately brought a small phial of brandy, which, with hot water from the boiling-apparatus kettle, refreshed us wonderfully. The spur that divides these plains from the Lachen river, rises close to Kinchinjhow, as a lofty cliff of quartzy gneiss, dipping north-east 30 degrees: this I had noticed from the Kongra Lama side.
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