they become the Teesta at Singtam.* [The slope of the bed of the
Lachen from below the confluence of the Zemu to the village of
Singtam is 174 feet per mile, or 1 foot in 30; that of the Lachoong
from the village of that name to Singtam is considerably less.]

On the 15th of August, having received supplies from Dorjiling, I
started up the north bank of the Lachoong, following the Singtam
Soubah, who accompanied me officially, and with a very bad grace;
poor fellow, he expected me to have returned with him to Singtam, and
thence gone back to Dorjiling, and many a sore struggle we had on
this point. At Choongtam he had been laid up with ulcerated legs from
the bites of leeches and sand-flies, which required my treatment.

The path was narrow, and ran through a jungle of mixed tropical and
temperate plants,* [As _Paris, Dipsacus, Circaea, Thalictrum,
Saxifraga ciliaris, Spiranthes, Malva, Hypoxis, Anthericum,
Passiflora, Drosera, Didymocarpus,_ poplar, _Calamagrostis,_ and
_Eupatorium._] many of which are not found at this elevation on the
damp outer ranges of Dorjiling. We crossed to the south bank by a
fine cane-bridge forty yards long, the river being twenty-eight
across and here I have to record the loss of my dog Kinchin; the
companion of all my late journeyings, and to whom I had become really
attached. He had a bad habit, of which I had vainly tried to cure
him, of running for a few yards on the round bamboos by which the
cane-bridges are crossed, and on which it was impossible for a dog to
retain his footing: in this situation he used to get thoroughly
frightened, and lie down on the bamboos with his legs hanging over
the water, and having no hold whatever. I had several times rescued
him from this perilous position, which was always rendered more
imminent from the shaking of the bridge as I approached him. On the