INDIA INKLINS, or it might be called
SINGAPORE SPUTTERINGS.Please return to Lenette Atkinson
Vol. III, No. 4. June 7, 1937.
On M.V. Silverbelle in dock at Singapore. This is chiefly a Sports Edition and deals with treks, most particularly with a trek in Sikkim. We hope that you can all bound Sikkim quickly and accurately. Don't ask the Editor whether she could a year ago. Sikkim is notable for several things: it has an unusually large number of species of ferns and orchids, especially epiphytic orchids; it is notable for the butterflies of the Tista (Teesta) valley; it is the place from which people try to enter Nepal, Bhutan, or Tibet without proper permits. Passes for Sikkim are given for only two weeks, and the visitor must sign a promise not to enter Nepal, Bhutan, or Tibet, but that does no[t] stop everybody.
The Editor was a member of a party which consisted of Miss Alice Van Doren and Dr. Martin of Nagpur, Miss Bain and Miss Beard of Madras, and the Editor. The British were in the majority as Miss Bain and Dr. Martin are Scotch, Miss Beard English, Miss Van Doren and the Editor American. The party assembled in Darjeeling to set out on May 5th by car for Badamtam 6 miles down towards the Rangit River and the trek was to begin there. But under the influence of Mr. Kydd of the Darjeeling Progress Association who attended to all the puttery details of he trek (Permits, passes, Dak Bungalows, coolies, ponies, food, and even a can for the Editor) we decided to walk to Badamtam on the afternoon of May 4th starting at 3, but we were actually ready at 2 and set out for Badamtam. Is anything more needed to show that this was a remarkable party? On trek it was our plan to set out every morning at 7:30 and we did it every time but two and once started at 7 and once at 7:40 because it was raining vigourously at 7:30. All five were always ready. Is that not remarkable?
EQUIPMENT and RETINUE. We each had a woman coolie to carry our bed-rolls - bedding and wraps. Mr. Kydd recommended women as being more helpful than men for certain things; they would make up our beds, and unmake them in the morning, packing the bed-roll; they would attend to our baths; but there wasone [sic] point he never made - they would give us massage when we came in tired and lame. They were very fine women, not highly intelligent, but strong and good-tempered and kind. Two of them were married and their husbands were on the Nanga Parbat expedition this season. We had to carry all necessary bedding as the Dak Bungalows do not even provide mattresses for bungalows below 7,000 ft. except in a few cases; the beds are tape beds which are very comfortable if the tape is stretched tightly. We had two men coolies for our suitcases; three men for food, when we started, but after we reached Gangtok we sent two back and kept the stoutest one, Passagg Dorji who had been on Everest, Kangchenjunga and Nanga Parbat expeditions. Our chief servant was Bardos, the kansamah, who was cook and sirdar both, i.e. he had charge of all the coolies; he was the only one who spoke any English and he was much the most intelligent. They were all Nepalis or Sherpas (Tibetan X Nepali). When we left Darjeeling we had two ponies, Jimmy and Lageh, in charge of two syces who were Tibetans - they were the owners of the ponies. We liked out [sic] coolies and syces very much; they were always good-tempered and they worked well together. For the last part of the trip, the trip up the Chengu Valley, we had two Sikkim ponies, a mule, and two Sikkim syces. The Sikkim and Nepali coolies carry everything on the back supported by a broad band over the head. It is sometimes described as being worn on the forehead, but we did not see any except over the fore part of the head. The authorized load is 56 lbs., and in addition the coolie must carry his own food and bedding. They sit down to put on the load, and they are very helpful to each other.
We had to carry most of our food as we could not depend on supplies except chicken, eggs, and milk at the D.B.s, nor could we get much in Gangtok, even if it is the capital of Sikkim; we bought bread, tinned jam and butter, and onions there. Fruit is very scarce. We started with 8 loaves of bread, butter, a lb. of tea and two of coffee. Mr. Kydd was surprised at the coffee - too much, we could use coffee essence and take more tea - Darjeeling tea is the best in the world. But he said the American influence was too much for him. We had California prunes, apricots, and apple rings; corn flakes and grape-nuts, 5 lbs of bacon, tinned meats - corned beef, saussages [sic], salmon, sardines; many packages of Gruyère cheese, raisins, cashew nuts, biscuits for tea, and more sugar than we needed - we had ten lbs. We also took fresh vegetables and fresh fruit (apples and oranges) which were not on Mr. Kydd's list, and that required an extra coolie as far as Gangtok. The coolies are paid Rs. 1 a day on march, and half that when resting.
We had to carry a camp cot as only two of the D.B.s had more than four beds; we also had to carry our own kerosene, have the lamps filled at every D.B. and the oil emptied out again the next morning, but the kansamah saw that all that was done. Only the Gangtok D.B. had electric lights.
Our route involved three visits to Gangtok. The first and last times we stayed with the Hon. Mary Scott who runs a little Scotch mission quite by herself. She has lived in Sikkim 13 years and has a very nice school there. The second time we were in Gangtok the Hon. Mary was visiting at the Residency so we stayed at the D.B.
Trekking in Sikkim, the Eastern Himalayas is very different from trekking in Kashmir in the Western Himalayas. Sikkim is subtropical which makes it unsuitable for tents - too much rain and too many insect pests. The rainfall in Gangtok is 170 in. per year and it must be twice than [sic] in the Changu valley. In Kashmir the ascents up the valleys are gradual, but in Sikkim it is all up and down; there is very little level road, and no gradual road for very long. The Editorial toes are still black and blue from the descents, chiefly from Darjeeling to the Rangit, and from Gangtok to the Teesta at Dikchu. There are some good roads but more of them are poor, and some could only be called brook beds. An Englishman whom we met in Darjeeling had told us that the road up the Teesta from Gangtok to Singhik was "stony" - typical British understatement - it is pure rock for much of the way, sometimes a sort of causeway made of large irregular stone blocks which makes very difficult walking. In the Changu Valley the roads are cut in the side of the mountains, mere shelves, 5-8 ft. wide, with a sheer drop of a few hundred or a few thousand feet. In some places there were iron guards, but in many of the worst places there was no guard at all,a nd we trusted to the pony or two our own two feet. We felt safer on our own feet, those of us of feeble spirit, but the altitude was sufficient to make us like to ride when we had to make 10 or 11 miles a day. Changu is 12,600 ft.
The trek was as follows.
Darjeeling to Badamtam, 6 miles, from 6500 to 2500 ft. Badamtam D.B.
Badam[t]am to Manjitar on the
Rangit - entrance to Sikkim, 3 m., 2500 to 850 ft.
Manjitar to Namshi 8 m. 850 to 5200 ft. Namshi D.B.
Namshi to Damthong Pass 8 m. 5200 to 6500 ft.
Namthong Pass to Temi. 3 m. 6500 ft. to 5000 ft. Temi. D.B.
Temi to Singtam 8 m. 5000 ft. to 1500 ft
Singtam to Martam 5 m. (by motor) 1500 - 3500 ft. Martam D.B.
Martam to Gangtok 13 m. (by motor) 3500 ft. to 5800 ft. Miss Scott's.
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Gangtok to Dikchu up 4 m. down 9 m. 5800 ft. - 6500 ft. - 2150 ft. Dikchu D.B.
Dikchu to Singhik, 11 m. 2150 ft. to 4600 ft. Singhik D.B. two days.
Singhik to Dikchu. May 12th Coronation Day.
Dikchu to Gangtok, 13 m.
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Gangtok to Karponang, 10 m. 5800 to 9500 ft. Karponang D.B. two days.
Karponang to Changu, 11 m. 9,500 ft. to 12,600 ft. Changu D.B.
Changu to Karponang Karponang D.B.
Karponang to Gangtok. Miss Scott's, two days.
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Gangtok to Kalimpong, 45 m. by motor. Scotch Mission 2 days
Kalimpong to Darjeeling 35 m. by motor.It will be seen that there is much up and down, a nd [sic] this does not count all the minor ascents and descents of the road. A pony is very helpful as one can rest without stopping, or sitting by the roadside. We usually ride half an hour at a time, when we had only two ponies, or some who preferred to ride might ride longer if others preferred to walk.
Vegetation: The vegetation is sub-tropical up to 7000 or 8000, then it is temperate and above that near the snow line it becomes alpine, as is right and proper. Sikkim, although it has an area of only 2800 sq. miles has as man species of flowering plants as the eastern United States and Canada, and many more ferns. There are over 600 spp. of orchids, and 23 spp. of Bamboo. There are tree ferns and filmy ferns - filmy ferns at 10,000 ft. and higher, which seems all wrong - epiphytic ferns everywhere. And as for orchids, we never expected to see so many anywhere. Near the Rangit R. at low altitudes there were ground orchids, but above 4,000 there are epiphytic orchids everywhere, most of them white, but there are yellow, cream, and mauve ones. The trees are hung with various climbers, especially Pothos with leaves 25-30 in. long. The forests are full of arums, especially species of Arisaema (Jack-in-the-pulpit). Most of the trees are new to us and our constant questions was "What do you suppose this is?" We could recognize cinnamon but not much else. There are Rhododendrons from 5000 ft. up but the real display did not begin until about 10,000 ft. Sikkim has been famous for Rhododendrons since 90 years ago when Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker made his notable tour. There are large trees with masses of red flowers, others with white or cream, or pink or mauve. Above the tree line, about 12,000 ft. the Rhodo dendrons [sic] are low and shrubby. Above 10,000 ft. there are lovely primroses, and small buttercups, growing near the snowbanks.
Fauna. The only real disadvantage to a trek in Sikkim, aside from the up and downness is the fauna, the small fauna. All the guidebooks say that "small insect pests abound in the lower valleys." They do. Dikchu is a charming spot on the banks of the Teesta, and one can look across the river and see tree ferns and bananas growing in the forest, but while one is looking some nefarious insect takes a bite. There are mosquitos, malarial mosquitos, so we had to use mosquito nets at Dikchu; there are sand flies, the kind which carry kali-azar, but so far that has not reached Dikchu but it prevails at Singtam so that no trekking party dares to stop there; there are flies rather like the horse-fly which has a vicious bite. We never saw most of the things which bit us, even such pests as flies which bite on the joints of the fingers. We carried the marks of the bites for days, and the bites spoiled our sleep. The other serious pest is the leech which is everywhere, so that we rarely went off of the road in our collecting. The Editor being the most zealous collector fed the most leeches. We carried little packs of salt to put on their tails, or "leech sticks" - a stick with a wet bag of salt on one end. Miss Van Doren was so leech-conscious that she never had any on her, but the Editor could not keep them in her mind. Snakes are not a serious problem is [sic] one keeps out of the forest. Our coolies killed one which was 3 times the length of a cane; and the Editor saw one which had a bright red neck (does a snake have a neck?). No one else saw it and some people try to tell her it was a lizard. It was not.
The butterflies of Sikkim are famous, especially those of the Teesta valley, and many collectors go there to get them, to the annoyance of the Buddhist population. There are many beautiful birds and the ever-present cuckoo. The Editor is more familiar with cuckoo-clocks than with cookoos, having lived in a house with one for five years, and she never got over the habit of counting when the cuckoo began.
The only large animal besides ponies, mules, water buffaloes, and cows, were yaks. They are handsome creatures, much finer than the yaks which we saw in Kashmir. They really looked like the yaks in the good old readers or primers which gave Y is for Yak.
People. The guidebooks say that there are many Hindus in Sikkim, but one is not so conscious of them as of the other groups; they must be diminishing in number. The prevailing type of face is mongolian, broad and flat. The bodies are thick-set. The relatively few Indians are much slimmer. There are Lepchas who are Sikkimese, Nepalis (Hindus) who look more Mongolian than Indian, Tibetans, and Sherpas. It take[s] more than a few weeks to learn to distinguish the types. One group of women wears the apron - a thick striped affair - in the front in orthodox fashion, but another wears it behind. As for jewelery [sic], there is more to the square inch than anywhere we have ever been. Beads of enormous size, chains, ear-rings as big as the palm of the hand, nose rings which hung over the lips, in fact decorations wherever they would stick. Men wear ear-rings as much as women but not the same style. It is stylish to wear a small ring int eh right ear but a large on in the left, a ring 2 in. in diam. with a large turquise [sic] setting. Sometime the left ear-ring will have one set in front of the ear and a contrasting one behind as our Passang Dorji did. Jimmy's syce stuck to the turquoise setting with a sizeable ring in the left ear. Most of the coolies go barefoot, but they may carry shoes for swank, as Miss Bain's Nimi did.
We did not see a European for the first ten days except Miss Scott, but when we started up the Chengu [sic] Valley which is the road to Tibet we met several. We met a Swedish woman, about 27-28, who was trying to go through to Tibet alone with one coolie, and without a pass. She did not sleep in the D.B.s but in the go-downs with the coolies. The authorities were much disturbed about her; they said it was not safe to travel in so small a party; there should never be less than three where there is danger from snow slides or landslides, or bandits (in Tibet). Mr. Kydd said he would not give that coolie any work for a year and he would have to be a rikshaw coolie, as he was told not to go. We met several other parties both men and women. No passes for Tibet are given unless there are men in the party.
Bridges. The valleys are very deep and the walls steep. Most of the bridges are suspension bridges. We saw a bamboo suspension bridge across the Teesta at Dikchu, certainly over 100 ft. long, with two bamboo poles in the bottom of a hammock-like series of more slender bamboo rods supported on stout bamboo stems. It is still in use but probably no Europeans use them. This is to indicate the cross section. It must be at least 75 ft. above the river. There is a very fine suspension bridge above a tributary of the Teesta, 250 ft. long (the Editor paced 104 paces to verify the description), and 250 ft. above the water. On the bridges one is apt to find prayer flags hung from the supports, or flowers laid in suitable places as offerings to the river god.
There are prayer flags everywhere, hung on lines, something like a wash of handkerchiefs; also tall bamboo poles with long prayer flags hanging the length of the pole. Buddhists are the great believers in quantity production in prayer, with their flags and prayer wheels.
The Buddhists in Sikkim are the Red Buddhists, not the yellow as are found in Burma, Siam and Ceylon. It is not the communist red but a plum color, and has no special significance. There are many monks travelling from one monastery to another, and there are lamas to be seen here and there.
The most exciting part of the trip was the trip up the Changu valley, in spite of the fact that it rained every day. The road is described as an engineer feat - a road cut along the side of the mountains. a shelf 5-8 ft. wide, sometimes less. It requires faith in the pony, which was difficult with the Sikkim ponies. One would walk along the edge and it took more muscle than most of us had to hold him in the center of the path. The mule was better; he always took the short path and that might be the inside which he would hug so closely as to scrape the foot out of the stirrup if the rider was not careful. The Editor's first experience riding the mule was along a narrow ledge in a hail storm, carrying an umbrella. She finally abandoned the umbrella to have both hand[s] free for the mule and let the syce carry it. But it was too late to do him much good.
The original plan to go to the Nathu La (Nathu Pass) had to be given up on account of rain and snow. We could not wait indefinitely as the D.B.s were reserved for the Governor of Bengal. We never had a chance to look into Tibet or to see the Queen of Mountains - Cholmari.
The most beautiful part on the trek was the walk between Namshi and Temi, or between Diksu and Singhik. Singhik was the most beautiful stop and we spent an extra day there. From the D.B. verandah we could look up the valley of the Tenlong, 2500 ft. below us and straight up to the summit of Kangchenjunga, 28,0000 ft. high - a sweep of 26,000 ft. We saw "The Snows" both mornings and were up at 5 to enjoy them. F. S. Smythe of the Kangchenjunga expendition thinks the D.B. at Singhik is haunted, but nothing haunted us. We had the most beautiful view we ever expect to see.
On our return to Dikchu we celebrated Coronation Day with a dinner, with appropriate decorations provided in anticipation by the British members of the party. We had a special dinner: soup, sausages, rice, bread pudding. We drank a toast to the King. After dinner we bestowed largesses on our retainers in honour of the day.