Himalayan Journals — Volume 1: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.Hooker, Joseph Dalton
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Himalayan Journals — Volume 1: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton
Himalaya Mountains -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Himalaya Mountains
Tree-ferns here advance further north than in any other part of
Sikkim. I did not visit the Molli temples, but crossed the spur of
that name, to the Rungbee river, whose bed is 3,300 feet above the
sea; thence I ascended upwards of 3,500 feet to the Changachelling
temples, passing Tchongpong village. The ridge on which both
Pemiongchi and Changachelling are built, is excessively narrow at
top; it is traversed by a "via Sacra," connecting these two
establishments; this is a pretty wooded walk, passing mendongs and
chaits hoary with lichens and mosses; to the north the snows of
Kinchinjunga are seen glimmering between the trunks of oaks, laurels,
and rhododendrons, while to the south the Sinchul and Dorjiling spurs
shut out the view of the plains of India.
Changachelling temples and chaits crown a beautiful rocky eminence on
the ridge, their roofs, cones and spires peeping through groves of
bamboo, rhododendrons, and arbutus; the ascent is by broad flights of
steps cut in the mica-slate rocks, up which shaven and girdled monks,
with rosaries and long red gowns, were dragging loads of bamboo
stems, that produced a curious rattling noise. At the summit there is
a fine temple, with the ruins of several others, and of many houses:
the greater part of the principal temple, which is two-storied and
divided into several compartments, is occupied by families. The monks
were busy repairing the part devoted to worship, which consists of a
large chamber and vestibule of the usual form: the outside walls are
daubed red, with a pigment of burnt felspathic clay, which is dug
hard by. Some were painting the vestibule with colours brought from
Lhassa, where they had been trained to the art. Amongst other figures
was one playing on a guitar, a very common symbol in the vestibules
of Sikkim temples: I also saw an angel playing on the flute, and a
snake-king offering fruit to a figure in the water, who was grasping
a serpent. Amongst the figures I was struck by that of an Englishman,
whom, to my amusement, and the limner's great delight, I recognised
as myself. I was depicted in a flowered silk coat instead of a tartan
shooting jacket, my shoes were turned up at the toes, and I had on
spectacles and a tartar cap, and was writing notes in a book. On one
side a snake-king was politely handing me fruit, and on the other a
horrible demon was writhing.
A crowd had collected to see whether I should recognise myself, and
when I did so, the merriment was extreme. They begged me to send them
a supply of vermilion, goldleaf, and brushes; our so called
camel's-hair pencils being much superior to theirs, which are made of
marmot's hair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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