CHAPTER VIII
EXPEDITIONS AND EXPLORATIONS IN SIKHIM
From Gangtak over the Giucha-la to Ringen. Loss of a coolie. Camp amongst glaciers and moraines. A snow leopard. Alpine flowers. Avalanches and ice caves. Crossing a difficult gorge. Lepchas and wild bees. The Rungnu. Sakhyong.
In 1890 I made one of my first expeditions to the snows, crossing the Giucha-la Pass and from there making my way to Ringen, following a route the latter part of which had certainly never been traversed by a European, and I doubt by any one, except possibly a very occasional Lepcha. As I intended going to considerable elevations, I started in the middle of the rainy season, in July, in order to have less snow to negotiate and also less chance of snow-storms in the high altitudes. From Gangtak I crossed lower Sikhim, travelling viâ the Pemiongtchi and Dubdi Monasteries, and so far I had no difficulty, as I slept in either village houses or monasteries, but after that I had to take to my tents, which are certainly not comfortable in pouring rain. It came down steadily in sheets while I was at Dubdi, and when the morning for my departure came it was no better; but it is useless to wait for fine weather in Sikhim, so I started in spite of it. The path led up a narrow and very precipitous valley, with virgin forest on either side and dense undergrowth; smaller streams came down to join the main river at almost every hundred yards, and in crossing one of them, my first mishap occurred.
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