EXPEDITIONS AND EXPLORATIONS
is only quite newly fallen snow that has such a speedy effect on the eyes, and I believe it must be the actinic rays from the extremely white snow that causes it. Old snow will also cause blindness when it has the full force of a tropical sun shining on it, but is not nearly so quick in its action.
From this somewhat dreary camp it did not take us long to descend into the pine forests, and we camped at a place called Sebu in the midst of silver firs. I had been for six or seven weeks high up above all vegetation except grass, and the change to the forest was welcome, especially as the weather was again fine. This continued as I marched down the valley, a lovely one with some of the finest trees there are in Sikhim growing in it. One fallen giant, a spruce, that I measured, was 220 feet from the roots to where it was broken off short, and there it measured 6 feet in girth. What had become of the top I do not know, but it was a magnificent specimen. The road was easy the whole way and delightfully soft to walk on, as it was carpeted with moss and pine needles. This valley, the Sebu, would delight the heart of an artist; there are soft glades with streams wandering quietly through them, splendid forests of pine with beetling crags in every direction and glimpses of snow up every side valley. I often wish I could have painted some of these scenes, for my photographs do not do them justice, as they give no idea of the varied and exquisite colouring.
I joined the main Lachung Valley at Yac-cha, some four miles above the village of Lachung, where I was met by the Phodong Lama, and where we remained some time transacting business with the headmen of the valley.
The two villages of Lamteng in the Lachen and Lachung in the Lachung Valley have an unusual and almost communistic government of their own. On every occasion the whole population meet at a “panchayat,” or council, where they sit in a ring in consultation. Nothing, however small, is done without such a meeting, even if it was only to supply me with firewood or to tell off a man to carry
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