Illustration--JUNIPERUS RECURVA (height 30 feet).


CHAPTER XIX.

Routes from Choongtam to Tibet frontier -- Choice of that by the
Lachen river -- Arrival of Supplies -- Departure -- Features of the
valley -- Eatable _Polygonum_ -- Tumlong -- Cross Taktoong river --
Pines, larches, and other trees -- Chateng pool -- Water-plants and
insects -- Tukcham mountain -- Lamteng village -- Inhabitants --
Alpine monkey -- Botany of temperate Himalaya -- European and
American fauna -- Japanese and Malayan genera -- Superstitious
objections to shooting -- Customs of people -- Rain -- Run short of
provisions -- Altered position of Tibet frontier -- Zemu Samdong --
Imposition -- Vegetation -- Uses of pines -- Ascent to Thlonok river
-- Balanophora wood for making cups -- Snow-beds -- Eatable mushrooms
and _Smilacina_ -- Asarabacca -- View of Kinchinjunga -- Arum-roots,
preparation of for food -- Liklo mountain -- Bebaviour of my party --
Bridge constructed over Zemu -- Cross river -- Alarm of my party --
Camp on Zemu river.

From this place there were two routes to Tibet, each of about six
days' journey. One lay to the north-west up the Lachen valley to the
Kongra Lama pass, the other to the east up the Lachoong to the Donkia
pass. The latter river has its source in small lakes in Sikkim, south
of the Donkia mountain, a shoulder of which the pass crosses,
commanding a magnificent view into Tibet. The Lachen, on the other
hand (the principal source of the Teesta), rises beyond Sikkim in the
Cholamoo lakes. The frontier at Kongra Lama was described to me as
being a political, and not a natural boundary, marked out by cairns,