Cormorant, which is not uncommon on the larger rivers at this season, though I do not think they breed in the mountains. A little beyond this I found an old Kuzi who had accompanied Hooker during his journey in Nepal in 1849, and who spoke as well of him as did all the people who remembered him in Sikkim. I was badly stung here by the nettle called Mealum by the natives, and felt the pain of it for two days afterwards, Erythrina and Bauhinia are the two handsomest trees flowering at this elevation of about 4,000 feet.
In the villages I passed on my way upwards I could buy no rice or Indian corn for the coolies, and the scarcity of food of which Hooker so often complained seemed general at this season, though in later times potatoes have been freely grown and produce fine crops on the richest forest at a much higher level than Indian corn or millet will thrive at.
The Limboos are more independent and energetic, and less civil and hospitable than either Bhutias or Lepchas. Though they are not much troubled by caste prejudice, I do not think they intermarry with the Sikkim natives, whom they are gradually ousting from the higher valleys.
I camped at the edge of the virgin forest at about 6,000 feet and was able to buy a sheep for six rupees from a Limboo settler, who had pigs, goats and buffaloes as well, but paid only a very small rent for his land. He would soon become rich and prosperous, whilst rapidly destroying the forest, in which his stock could range at will. The next day I kept on uphill to the Islumbo pass and collected some interesting forest birds and plants, Among the former were two little wren-like birds, Tesia and Pnœpyga, which skulk among the dense bush and are difficult to shoot, two kinds of handsomely mottled thrushes, Oreocincha dauma and O. mollissima, and some pretty blue flycatchers, Nittava and Siphia. Among the plants, Arisæmas with large-veined flowers and long tails were con¬ spicuous and three of those which I introduced were afterwards figured in the Botanical Magazine, namely Arisæma nepenthoides, Plate 6446; Arisæma utile, Plate 6474; Arisæma Griffithi, Plate 6491. Lilium giganteum was also common in damp shady ravines, with veins of the large heart- shaped leaves much more richly coloured than in English gardens, but the flowers not yet out. Paris polyphylla , much larger and handsomer than our English Paris quadrifolia, was also in flower, and, though nominally with eight segments, sometimes had only five or six. Higher up, rhodo¬ dendrons and various kinds of bamboos were abundant, but only one species of the former was yet in flower. Near the top ridge, at about 11,000 feet, appeared a species of bamboo new to me; it was called by my Bhutia collector "Benbum." Another dwarf species grows higher up on this ridge which he called “Heem.”
The commonest bamboo, however, and the most luxuriant at 8,000 to 9,000 feet is the best for fodder; the “ Maling ” of the Nepalese is called “ Pheong.” "Parang ” is another very slender and graceful species attaining thirty feet high, which is found on shady slopes at 7,000 feet. The scientific names are given in Gamble’s Timber of British India.
I camped near the top of the ridge at 11,000 feet at a place where the water was nearly dried up, and there found a very lovely primrose in great profusion, yellow-eyed on very short stems. On a plant only five
