one save Hooker in 1848–9 had observed even cursorily. To avoid the discom¬ forts of the route up the Tista valley, which is very hot and very long, they intended to cross the Cho-la, Sikkim's eastern border lange, into the Chumbi valley and make their way northward along the edge of Tibet, re-crossing the main range into upper Sikkim by the Tankra-la pass. They hoped to find the Tibetan passes unguarded and to discover an unfrequented way on the western skirts of the Chumbi valley. They were, however, disappointed.
Leaving Phyndong on August 16th, 1870, the travellers crossed the Rishet valley to Rhinok, where they met an official sent by the Raja of Sikkim to beg them not to cross the Tibetan frontier. They pushed on in a north-easterly direction across the Rangchu valley to Chusachen and up a long forest-clad spur towards the upland pastures. At about 11,000 feet the dwarf bamboos were few, and the forest consisted mainly of silver fir and rhododendrons. An open space was gay with brilliant composite yellow flowers, on which many red-tailed green honey- suckers (Æthopyga ignicauda) were feeding. Amongst the dead leaves were found a few land shells, notably Alycaæus, Diplommalina, and a discoid Cyclophorus never before recorded at so great an elevation. "Elwes was as usual ahead,” writes Mr. Blanford: “I had marched along quietly.” They spent a night in a grassy valley, at a halting place called Gnatong, and on August 23rd marched up to a barren ridge forming the crest of the Jelep pass, at about 13,000 feet. “On the crest of the ridge some twenty Tibetans were posted to oppose our passage; they were quite unarmed, except with their knives, and remained seated around the pile of stones which marks the frontier; their Jong or Captain, a round-faced rosy Tibetan, with by no means an intelligent countenance, in the centre. He appeared to take no notice of us, and seemed solely occupied in muffling himself in his huge cloak to keep off the wind, which blew piercingly over the exposed ridge we were on. We subsequently learned that the guards, Jong and all, I believe, were merely villagers, who were ordered up to guard the frontier, and, singularly enough, neither on this nor any subsequent occasion did we meet with soldiers such as Hooker describes.”
"We sat down,” Mr. Blanford continues, “and ate some breakfast we had brought with us, and then Elwes became disgusted at the stolidity of the Tibetans, and determined to see if they could be induced to recognise our existence. I should have mentioned that two or three questions put to them through one of our men had only elicited short replies from one or two of the guard, the Jong remaining as insolently abstracted as if he expected immediate absorption into Nirvana. So to teach them a lesson of politeness, Elwes walked rapidly across the frontier and began descending the opposite side. The men were utterly taken by surprise; they stood up and crowded round me, then with one accord rushed after Elwes, scrambling rapidly over the rocks despite their long cloaks, and, finding that expostulation was useless, they flung themselves down in the path before us, beseeching us to return, and expressing to us by most emphatic gestures that all their throats would be cut if we persisted in entering Tibet. With all this there was no attempt at violence or threats; they got in our way as much as they could, but that was all. Hereupon we halted and explained to them as well as we could, through a very bad interpreter, that it was not polite to sit and stare at strangers without taking any further notice of them. I believe that this little incident had an excellent effect, for in all subsequent visits to frontier posts we were received with the greatest civility and politeness, and I am convinced that we rose in the estimation of the Tibetans by insisting on their treating us with proper respect.”
There was nothing for it but to retrace their steps to below the ridge. Then they turned north along the uplands to meet the Raja at Chumanako, where the Raja’s
father had seized Hooker twenty-one years before. The Raja was friendly, but