its flowers are botanically like those of the European Fritillaries, its bulbs, leaves and manner of growth are very distinct. It is now separated under the generic name of Notholirion.
From this ridge I descended to the village of Thorging, in a very pleasant situation at about 5,500 feet overlooking the Rangit valley, and camped in a newly built Bhutia house of which only the roof and beams were completed. These houses are built as follows. First, great blocks of wood, shaped like the old stone rick staddles used in Gloucester¬ shire, are planted on large flat stones. Strong posts and beams to support the floor are placed on them about four feet above the ground, and about ten feet above the floor there is an open ceiling of bamboo covered in by a thick thatch of split bamboo with low eaves. Between the roof and the ceiling grain is stored. Underneath the house the pigs and fowls take shelter, and the walls are formed of bamboo mats. Windows are few and small, and the fireplace is an open hearth of stones in the middle of the floor. When new and clean these houses are very comfortable in this climate, but they soon get dirty, begrimed with smoke and full of fleas, and the roof requires constant repairs to keep the rain out. The view from here over the Rangit valley and the Singalela range beyond, with the monasteries of Pemiongchi, Tashsiding and Sanga Chelling, would be very fine, but it was then obscured by haze and smoke from the numerous jungle fires which were made to clear the land for crops.
Next day I descended by a steep but, for Sikkim, fairly good path to the Rangit river, shooting a barking deer on the road. I bathed in the river and swam the pony over with the help of a bamboo rope. A large flock of monkeys were feeding near the river on the flowers of tall trees which I could not identify. After breakfast by the river, I ascended a steep spur where the afternoon sun was quite hot, and camped out at about 4,000 feet, collecting birds on the way.
On the 27th I sent the coolies by a lower road up the Kulhait valley to a village near Sanga Chelling, where they were to await me, and went myself to visit the monastery of Pemiongchi, which, like most things in Sikkim, has been so well described by Hooker that I can add nothing of interest to what he said about it. But it seemed that neither here, nor at Sanga Chelling monastery, where I found only one dilapidated old lama in charge, were the lamas as prosperous as they were formerly. This may have been due to the large immigration of Limboos from Nepal, who were then settling in all the valleys on the Sikkim side of the Singalela range and destroying the forest rapidly. On my way up to Sanga Chelling I shot a pair of the beautiful Trogon Harpactes Hodgsoni. These birds have very dense and soft plumage, and sit on trees, making short flights, like a flycatcher, to catch the insects on which they feed. I also shot a fine jungle cock and some of the Sikkim Kaleege pheasants, and I found an immense mass of a beautiful orchid, well known in English gardens as Cœlogyne cristata, covering a rock with its white and gold flowers.
The next day I crossed the Kulhait river, and while sitting on the bridge to wait for the coolies, I shot a pair of the large spotted black and white Kingfisher, Ceryle guttata, as they flew up the stream. I also got a
