SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
the sun breaks through the clouds, is wonderful. Each leaf and bit of moss sparkles as though set in diamonds, the air is filled with clouds of butterflies of every imaginable colour, the near distance is brilliant, while the middle and far distances shade in blues and purples to deep indigo, and when a glimpse of the snows is obtained at the head of some valley, they stand out, an almost supernatural vision of ethereal beauty, the whole picture made up of the softest of tints not to be equalled, in my opinion, in any other part of the world. The cloud effects are marvellous, the vapour seems to boil up out of the deep valleys as out of some huge caldron, taking the most fantastic shapes and an endless variety of colours as it catches the sun’s rays; then suddenly everything is blotted out into monotonous grey, as though such wonderful sights were too grand for human eyes, until a sudden puff of wind blows aside the veil of mist and discloses again the lovely panorama.
But to return to the journey. We crossed the Teesta, a grand sight in heavy flood, by the cane bridge at Sanklan Sampo. These cane bridges are a feature of Sikhim, and very rarely met with elsewhere. The method of construction is to throw across the stream which is to be bridged sufficient canes to form two side supports. The canes are passed over wooden tressels on each bank of the river, and after stretching, to get them as nearly as possible into the same curve, the ends are fastened to trees, roots or rocks, anything to which they can be made fast. Lengths of split cane or bamboo are then fastened to the cane ropes, thus forming loops, and on these loops two bamboos are placed side by side, making a narrow platform on which an insecure foothold is obtained. This bridge was 220 feet long, but they are often 350 feet. A cane bridge is never easy to cross, and is worse towards the end of the rains, as the cane and bamboo with which it is constructed quickly decay, but my Lepcha coolies thought nothing of it and soon had all the loads across.
From Sanklan Sampo to Be, the road, or rather track, is
64
