Pass and Lake, which I have just described; and farther on the left, outside the picture, would be the Chola Pass; and out of the picture on the right of that ridge is the Jyelap Lake, to which I am about to introduce you. This Nimyetso Lake is 10,000 feet only above sea-level.

I have now to ask you to ascend with me to the top of the forest-clad hills in the middle distance of our picture, and then to turn off towards the right; you will then be in the immediate neighbourhood of the next scene, which is the Bidantso, what we

IN THE DISTANCE.

used to call the Blackwater Lake, on account of its unaccountable blackness. This is depicted in the illustration (10). The lake was sketched in a snowstorm, and in the background is Mount Gipmochi. In Sir Joseph Hooker's 'Himalayan Journals' the name Gipmochi is always applied to the mountain which terminates the Chola range. This range you will have observed is the mountain region to which the chief part of my speech this evening has related. At its north-western end rises the Gnarean

CHAP. IV. ATMOSPHERIC EFFECT AFTER A SNOWSTORM. 89

Peak behind the Tumlong Palace, and Mount Gipmochi is at its south-eastern end.

Our illustration of the Blackwater Lake, with Gipmochi in the distance, represents the view in a snowstorm. There had been during the afternoon just that sort of snowstorm which I have previously described; but towards evening some puffs of wind came, the mist and cloud lifted, and the snow ceased. Then we beheld a glorious spectacle, slightly represented in the picture before you. The bright and radiant atmosphere of the world below us seemed at that moment to be shining through the mists of these upper regions-mists which resembled a thin veil of transparent gauze. Anything more lovely than this sort of subdued light-dimly illuminating the lake and its snowy adjuncts, with the sombre Gipmochi in the background, and the retreating clouds with the snowstorm still seeming to rest upon the extreme left of the picture-it is hard to conceive. The altitude of Blackwater Lake above the sea-level may be estimated at 12,000 feet, that is to say 2000 feet above the lake which we have last seen, and somewhat higher than the Bhewsa Lake. It also has in the foreground on the left-hand side some of the scrub rhododendrons which I have

already described. The leaves of the bushes are represented in our view as encrusted with snow. It was near this Blackwater Lake that we were encamped, and we had to pitch the tents on the only tolerable ground we could find, which was a half-frozen and indurated swamp, so that you may imagine the amount of sneezing and wheezing which troubled me and my followers upon that occasion. After a very snowy afternoon, which was just relieved by this gleam of light at sunset, we spent a rough night on this swamp; but towards midnight the sky cleared, the stars came out, and we were enabled during early dawn to commence the ascent to the Jyelap Pass.

Thus I have conducted you by the artistic route to a junction with the commercial and political route already described. We ascended to the Jyelap Pass early in the morning, and

once more came upon one of the glorious sunrises of this region. The landscape, as shown in the illustration (11), included not only Chumalari in the background, but also Changu Kang peak, with the Jyelap Lake in the foreground. In the background of our view of the Chokham Lake, Changu Kang only was represented, and in the background of the Yakla Lake, Chumalari only; but here both are seen, forming upon the whole

the finest background to be found in this region. This Jyelap Lake is a very little one; but behind it, in the middle distance, are once more visible the pink rosy-coloured hills, with Chumbi, combining the district of Chumbi proper and the district of Phari which I have already mentioned. Between this lake and the lower hills there intervenes the valley of Chumbi, one of the deep valleys, which I believe is not more

CHAP. IV. BOUNDARY OF BRITISH AND CHINESE EMPIRES. 91

than 3000 feet above the sea. So that in order to arrive at those rosy-coloured hills from the lake, it would be necessary to dip down many thousand feet and re-ascend many thousand feet. Thus it would probably take two days' march to reach those hills. I have already explained to you that the trade route comes from British territory and Darjiling to this Jyelap Pass under British auspices and management; and at the Jyelap Pass we have reached the extreme boundary of Sikkim, and therefore the boundary of the British Empire. Beyond this commences Tibet, and we hope in future ages that the road from India to China will run over those rosy-coloured hills past the western foot of Chumalari. At the left, or western, base of Chumalari in our picture may be seen the point near which this road from India to China is to cross the central line or backbone of the Himalayas. The country beyond has been beheld by very few European eyes, but the road passes on northwards towards Lhassa, and then joins on to the route which was followed by Bogle and Manning, and which has been so well described in the book by Mr. Clements Markham.

Now, gentlemen, I have reached the conclusion of my geographical speech, and also the end of my small picture gallery; and I hope that pictures, maps and exposition together have given you a clear conception of a part of the line which is intermediate between two of the great empires in Asia. I trust that if you have at all followed me through all the travels and hardships of the march, you have also been rewarded in imagination by the splendid spectacles which you have seen; and I trust that when you go forth from this theatre into the streets outside, you will carry away with you bright visions in your inner minds; that you will have, as it were, Chumalari and Kanchanjanga "upon the brain." But I also hope that you will think with patriotic pride of the achievements of your countrymen in that quarter of the globe-achievements scientific, commercial, and political; that you will have a kindly sympathy towards the labours of the many excellent men who

have travelled in that region-historic men, as Turner, Bogle and Manning, also Dr. Campbell; and such living travellers as Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. Blanford, and Mr. Edgar; and that you will take home with you some idea of the peaceable progress of British influence and British power in that quarter of Asia.