the climate; till I accidentally found it to arise from the wormwood,
upon a thick couch of the cut branches of which I was accustomed to
sleep, and which in dry weather produced no such effects.* [This
wormwood (_Artemisia Indaca_) is one of the most common Sikkim plants
at 2000 to 6000 feet elevation, and grows twelve feet high: it is a
favourite food of goats.]

From Chakoong to Choongtam the route lay northwards, following the
course of the river, or crossing steep spurs of vertical strata of
mica-schist, that dip into the valley, and leave no space between
their perpendicular sides and the furious torrent. Immense landslips
seamed the steep mountain flanks; and we crossed with precipitation
one that extended fully 4000 feet (and perhaps much more) up a
mountain 12,000 feet high, on the east bank: it moves every year, and
the mud and rocks shot down by it were strewn with the green leaves
and twigs of shrubs, some of the flowers on which were yet fresh and
bright, while others were crushed: these were mixed with gigantic
trunks of pines, with ragged bark and scored timbers. The talus which
had lately been poured into the valley formed a gently sloping bank,
twenty feet high, over which the Lachen- Lachoong rolled, from a pool
above, caused by the damming up of its waters. On either side of the
pool were cultivated terraces of stratified sand and pebbles, fifty
feet high, whose alder-fringed banks, joined by an elegant cane
bridge, were reflected in the placid water; forming a little spot of
singular quiet and beauty, that contrasted with the savage grandeur
of the surrounding mountains, and the headstrong course of the
foaming torrent below, amid whose deafening roar it was impossible to
speak and be heard.

Illustration--CANE-BRIDGE AND TUKCHAM MOUNTAIN.