SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
The summit of this pass is a knife-edge of rock so narrow that in places 20 feet to 30 feet below the top light can be seen through cracks in the rock, and along this narrow edge the track led for a short distance. The east side was nothing but a mass of rocks everywhere, which made travelling most difficult, and had these been covered with new snow I can quite imagine it being impassable, and I should never have got down without some broken limbs amongst my coolies, while as it was, even without the snow, it was anything but pleasant going.
Some years later, coming from Lachung, I crossed the pass with my wife and daughter. It was quite impossible either to ride up or to be carried in a dandy over such boulders, so they were carried on the backs of two of the strongest Lachung men, splendid specimens, with a chudder (native shawl) tied round them and over the men’s shoulders, two other men helping, one on either side. How they managed to get over the rocks was a marvel, but they did it, and very quickly too, and were soon at the top.
After the first descent of half a mile or so the road was an easy one over and between old moraines, while to the left some firie glaciers came down from Kangchenjhau and Tsen-gui-kang.
My camp that night was close to the hot springs at Momay Samdong, mentioned by Hooker in his Himalayan Journals, with the water at a temperature of 160°. They are very unimportant, the flow of water is small, and they are seldom used now for bathing purposes.
From Momay Samdong I ascended the Donkia-la, 18,100 feet, and had a slendid view over the country to the north; first the Cholamo lakes lying at the foot of the pass, then the rounded hills of the watershed and boundary, and further still the limestone ranges of Tibet. The view though desolate, was very fine, and I naturally longed to explore the unknown country beyond, but this was not to be till many years had passed, so I had reluctantly to turn my back and descend again into the valleys of Sikhim, but
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