Himalayan Journals Part 47

ON THE SOILS OF SIKKIM.

There is little variety in the soil throughout Sikkim, and, as far as vegetation is concerned, it may be divided into vegetable mould and stiff clay--each, as they usually occur, remarkably characteristic in composition of such soils. Bog-earth is very rare, nor did I find peat at any elevation.

The clay is uniformly of great tenacity, and is, I believe, wholly due to the effect of the atmosphere on crumbling gneiss and other rocks. It makes excellent bricks, is tenacious, seldom friable, and sometimes acc.u.mulated in beds fourteen feet thick, although more generally only about two feet. In certain localities, beds or narrow seams of pure felspathic clay and layers of vegetable matter occur in it, probably wholly due to local causes. An a.n.a.lysis of that near Dorjiling gives about 30 per cent. of alumina, the rest being silica, and a fraction of oxide of iron. Lime is wholly unknown as a const.i.tuent of the soil, and only occasionally seen as a stalact.i.tic deposit from a few springs.

A layer of vegetable earth almost invariably covers the clay to the depth of from three to twelve or fourteen inches. It is a very rich black mould, held in its position on the slopes of the hills by the dense vegetation, and acc.u.mulated on the banks of small streams to a depth at times of three and four feet. The following is an a.n.a.lysis of an average specimen of the surface-soil of Dorjiling, made for me by my friend C. J. Muller, Esq., of that place:--

_a._--DRY EARTH.

Anhydrous 83.84 Water 16.16 ------ 100.00

_b._--ANHYDROUS EARTH.

Humic acid 3.89 Humine 4.61 Undecomposed vegetable matter 20.98 Peroxide of iron and manganese 7.05 Alumina 8.95 Siliceous matter, insoluble in dilute hydrochloric acid 54.52 Traces of soda and muriatic acid -- ------ 100.00

_c._--Soluble in water, gr. 1.26 per cent., consisting of soda, muriatic acid, organic matter, and silica.

The soil from which this example was taken was twelve inches deep; it abounded to the eye in vegetable matter, and was siliceous to the touch. There were no traces of phosphates or of animal matter, and doubtful traces of lime and potash. The subsoil of clay gave only 5.7 per cent. of water, and 5.55 of organic matter. The above a.n.a.lysis was conducted during the rainy month of September, and the sample is an average one of the surface-soil at 6000 to 10,000 feet. There is, I think, little difference anywhere in the soils at this elevation, except where the rock is remarkably micaceous, or where veins of felspathic granite, by their decomposition, give rise to small beds of kaolin.

APPENDIX D.

(Vol. i., chapter ii.)

AN AURORA SEEN FROM BAROON ON THE EAST BANK OF THE SOANE RIVER.

Lat. 24 degrees 52 minutes N.; Long. 84 degrees 22 minutes E.; Alt. 345 feet.

The following appearances are as noted in my journal at the time.

They so entirely resembled auroral beams, that I had no hesitation in p.r.o.nouncing them at the time to be such. This opinion has, however, been dissented from by some meteorologists, who consider that certain facts connected with the geographical distribution of auroras (if I may use the term), are opposed to it. I am well aware of the force of these arguments, which I shall not attempt to controvert; but for the information of those who may be interested in the matter, I may remark, that I am very familiar with the Aurora borealis in the northern temperate zone, and during the Antarctic expedition was in the habit of recording in the log-book the appearance presented by the Aurora australis. The late Mr. Williams, Mr. Haddon, and Mr.

Theobald, who were also witnesses of the appearances on this occasion, considered it a brilliant display of the aurora.

_Feb. 14th,_ 9 p.m.--Bax. Corr. 29.751; temp. 62 degrees; D.P. 41.0 degrees; calm, sky clear; moon three-quarters full, and bright.

Observed about thirty lancet beams rising in the north-west from a low luminous arch, whose extremes bore W. 20 degrees S., and N. 50 degrees E.; alt.i.tude of upper limb of arch 20 degrees, of the lower 8 degrees. The beams crossed the zenith, and converged towards S. 15 degrees E. The extremity of the largest was forked, and extended to 25 degrees above the horizon in the S.E. by S. quarter. The extremity of the centre one bore S. 50 degrees E., and was 45 degrees above the horizon. The western beams approached nearest the southern horizon.

All the beams moved and flashed slowly, occasionally splitting and forking, fading and brightening; they were brightly defined, though the milky way and zodiacal light could not be discerned, and the stars and planets, though clearly discernible, were very pale.

At 10 p.m., the luminous appearance was more diffused; upper limb of the arch less defined; no beams crossed the zenith; but occasionally beams appeared there and faded away.

Between 10 and 11, the beams continued to move and replace one another, as usual in auroras, but disappeared from the south-east quarter, and became broader in the northern hemisphere; the longest beams were near the north and north-east horizon.

At half-past 10, a dark belt, 4 degrees broad, appeared in the luminous arch, bearing from N. 55 degrees W. to N. 10 degrees W.; its upper limb was 10 degrees above the horizon: it then gradually dilated, and thus appeared to break up the arch. This appeared to be the commencement of the dispersion of the phenomenon.

At 10.50 p.m. the dark band had increased so much in breadth that the arch was broken up in the north-west, and no beams appeared there.

Eighteen linear beams rose from the eastern part of the arch, and bore from north to N. 20 degrees E.

Towards 11 p.m., the dark band appeared to have replaced the luminous arch; the beams were all but gone, a few fragments appearing in the N.E. A southerly wind sprang up, and a diffused light extended along the horizon.

At midnight, I saw two faint beams to the north-east, and two well defined parallel ones in the south-west.

APPENDIX E.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SIKKIM HIMALAYA, EAST NEPAL, AND ADJACENT PROVINCES OF TIBET.

Sikkim is included in a section of the Himalaya, about sixty miles broad from east to west, where it is bounded respectively by the mountain states of Bhotan and Nepal. Its southern limits are easily defined, for the mountains rise abruptly from the plains of Bengal, as spurs of 6000 to 10,000 feet high, densely clothed with forest to their summits. The northern and north-eastern frontier of Sikkim is beyond the region of much rain, and is not a natural, but a political line, drawn between that country and Tibet. Sikkim lies nearly due north of Calcutta, and only four hundred miles from the Bay of Bengal; its lat.i.tude being 26 degrees 40 minutes to 28 degrees N., and longitude 88 degrees to 89 degrees E.

The main features of Sikkim are Kinchinjunga, the loftiest hitherto measured mountain, which lies to its north-west, and rises 28,178 feet above the level of the sea; and the Teesta river, which flows throughout the length of the country, and has a course of upwards of ninety miles in a straight line. Almost all the sources of the Teesta are included in Sikkim; and except some comparatively insignificant streams draining the outermost ranges, there are no rivers in this country but itself and its feeders, which occupy the largest of the Himalayan valleys between the Tambur in East Nepal, and the Machoo in Western Bhotan.

An immense spur, sixty miles long, stretches south from Kinchin to the plains of India; it is called Singalelah, and separates Sikkim from East Nepal; the waters from its west flank flow into the Tambur, and those from the east into the Great Rungeet, a feeder of the Teesta. Between these two latter rivers is a second spur from Kinchinjunga, terminating in Tendong.

The eastern boundary of Sikkim, separating it from Bhotan, is formed for the greater part by the Chola range, which stretches south from the immense mountain of Donkia, 23,176 feet high, situated fifty miles E.N.E. of Kinchinjunga: where the frontier approaches the plains of India, the boundary line follows the course of the Teesta, and of the Rinkpo, one of its feeders, flowing from the Chola range.

This range is much more lofty than that of Singalelah, and the drainage from its eastern flank is into the Machoo river, the upper part of whose course is in Tibet, and the lower in Bhotan.

The Donkia mountain, though 4000 feet lower than Kinchin, is the culminant point of a much more extensive and elevated mountain ma.s.s.

It throws off an immense spur from its north-west face, which runs west, and then south-west, to Kinchin, forming the watershed of all the remote sources of the Teesta. This spur has a mean elevation of 18,000 to 19,000 feet, and several of its peaks (of which Chomiomo is one) rise much higher. The northern boundary of Sikkim is not drawn along this, but runs due west from Donkia, following a shorter, but stupendous spur, called Kinchinjhow; whence it crosses the Teesta to Chomiomo, and is continued onwards to Kinchinjunga.

Though the great spur connecting Donkia with Kinchin is in Tibet, and bounds the waters that flow directly south into the Teesta, it is far from the true Himalayan axis, for the rivers that rise on its northern slope do not run into the valley of the Tsampu, or Tibetan Burrampooter, but into the Arun of Nepal, which rises to the north of Donkia, and flows south-west for many miles in Tibet, before entering Nepal and flowing south to the Ganges.

Sikkim, thus circ.u.mscribed, consists of a ma.s.s of mountainous spurs, forest-clad up to 12,000 feet; there are no flat valleys or plains in the whole country, no lakes or precipices of any consequence below that elevation, and few or no bare slopes, though the latter are uniformly steep. The aspect of Sikkim can only be understood by a reference to its climate and vegetation, and I shall therefore take these together, and endeavour, by connecting these phenomena, to give an intelligible view of the main features of the whole country.*

[This I did with reference especially to the cultivation of Rhododendrons, in a paper which the Horticultural Society of London did me the honour of printing. Quarterly Journ. of Hort. Soc., vol.

vii., p. 82.]

The greater part of the country between Sikkim and the sea is a dead level, occupied by the delta of the Ganges and Burrampooter, above which the slope is so gradual to the base of the mountains, that the surface of the plain from which the Himalayas immediately rise is only 300 feet above the sea. The most obvious effect of this position is, that the prevailing southerly wind reaches the first range of hills, loaded with vapour. The same current, when deflected easterly to Bhotan, or westerly to Nepal and the north-west Himalaya, is intercepted and drained of much moisture, by the Khasia and Garrow mountains (south of a.s.sam and the Burrampooter) in the former case, and the Rajmahal hills (south of the Ganges) in the latter. Sikkim is hence the dampest region of the whole Himalaya.

Viewed from a distance on the plains of India, Sikkim presents the appearance--common to all mountainous countries--of consecutive parallel ridges, running east and west: these are all wooded, and backed by a beautiful range of snowy peaks, with occasional breaks in the foremost ranges, through which the rivers debouch. Any view of the Himalaya, especially at a sufficient distance for the remote snowy peaks to be seen overtopping the outer ridges, is, however, rare, from the constant deposition of vapours over the forest-clad ranges during the greater part of the year, and the haziness of the dry atmosphere of the plains in the winter months. At the end of the rains, when the south-east monsoon has ceased to blow with constancy, views are obtained, sometimes from a distance of nearly two hundred miles. From the plains, the highest peaks subtend so small an angle, that they appear like white specks very low on the horizon, tipping the black lower and outer wooded ranges, which always rise out of a belt of haze, and from the density, probably, of the lower strata of atmosphere, are never seen to rest on the visible horizon.

The remarkable lowness on the horizon of the whole stupendous ma.s.s is always a disappointing feature to the new comer, who expects to see dazzling peaks towering in the air. Approaching nearer, the snowy mountains sink behind the wooded ones, long before the latter have a.s.sumed gigantic proportions; and when they do so, they appear a sombre, lurid grey-green ma.s.s of vegetation, with no brightness or variation of colour. There is no break in this forest caused by rock, precipices, or cultivation; some spurs project nearer, and some valleys appear to retire further into the heart of the foremost great chain that shuts out all the country beyond.

From Dorjiling the appearance of parallel ridges is found to be deceptive, and due to the inosculating spurs of long tortuous ranges that ran north and south throughout the whole length of Sikkim, dividing deep wooded valleys, which form the beds of large rivers.

The snowy peaks here look like a long east and west range of mountains, at an average distance of thirty or forty miles.

Advancing into the country, this appearance proves equally deceptive, and the snowy range is resolved into isolated peaks, situated on the meridional ridges; their snow-clad spurs, projecting east and west, cross one another, and being uniformly white, appear to connect the peaks into one grand unbroken range. The rivers, instead of having their origin in the snowy mountains, rise far beyond them; many of their sources are upwards of one hundred miles in a straight line from the plains, in a very curious country, loftier by far in mean elevation than the meridional ridges which run south from it, yet comparatively bare of snow. This rearward part of the mountain region is Tibet, where all the Sikkim, Nepal, and Bhotan rivers rise as small streams, increasing in size as they receive the drainage from the snowed parts of the ridges that bound them in their courses.

Their banks, between 8000 and 14,000 feet, are generally clothed with rhododendrons, sometimes to the almost total exclusion of other woody vegetation, especially near the snowy mountains--a cool temperature and great humidity being the most favourable conditions for the luxuriant growth of this genus.

The source of this humidity is the southerly or sea wind which blows steadily from May till October in Sikkim, and prevails throughout the rest of the year, if not as the monsoon properly so called, as a current from the moist atmosphere above the Gangetic delta.

This rushes north to the rarefied regions of Sikkim, up the great valleys, and does not appear materially disturbed by the north- west wind, which blows during the afternoons of the winter months over the plains, and along the flanks of the outer range, and is a dry surface current, due to the diurnal heating of the soil. When it is considered that this wind, after pa.s.sing lofty mountains on the outer range, has to traverse eighty or one hundred miles of alps before it has watered all the forest region, it will be evident that its moisture must be expended before it reaches Tibet.

Let the figures in the accompanying woodcut, the one on the true scale, the other with the heights exaggerated, represent two of these long meridional ridges, from the watershed to the plains of India, following in this instance the course of the Teesta river, from its source at 19,000 feet to where it debouches from the Himalaya at 300.

The lower rugged outline represents one meridional ridge, with all its most prominent peaks (whether exactly or not on the line of section); the upper represents the parallel ridge of Singalelah (D.E.P.), of greater mean elevation, further west, introduced to show the maximum elevation of the Sikkim mountains, Kinchinjunga (28,178 feet), being represented on it. A deep valley is interposed between these two ridges, with a feeder of the Teesta in it (the Great Rungeet), which runs south from Kinchin, and turning west enters the Teesta at R. The position of the bed of the Teesta river is indicated by a dotted line from its source at T to the plains at S; of Dorjiling, on the north flank of the outer range, by _d_; of the first point where perpetual snow is met with, by P; and of the first indications of a Tibetan climate, by C.

Ill.u.s.tration--SECTION OF THE SIKKIM HIMALAYA ALONG THE COURSE OF THE TEESTA RIVER.

A warm current of Air, loaded with vapour, will deposit the bulk of its moisture on the ridge of Sinchul, which rises above Dorjiling (_d_), and is 8,500 feet high. Pa.s.sing on, little will be precipitated on _e_ whose elevation is the same as that of Sinchul; but much at _f_ (11,000 feet), where the current, being further cooled, has less capacity for holding vapour, and is further exhausted. When it ascends to P (15,000 feet) it is sufficiently cooled to deposit snow in the winter and spring months, more of which falling than can be melted during the summer, it becomes perennial.

At the top of ginchin very little falls, and it is doubtful if the southerly current ever reaches that prodigiously elevated isolated summit. The amount of surface above 20,000 feet is, however, too limited and broken into isolated peaks to drain the already nearly, exhausted current, whose condensed vapours roll along in fog beyond the parallel of Kinchin, are dissipated during the day over the arid mountains of Tibet, and deposited at night on the cooled surface of the earth.

Other phenomena of no less importance than the distribution of vapour, and more or less depending on it, are the duration and amount of solar and terrestrial radiation. Towards D the sun is rarely seen during the rainy season, as well from the constant presence of nimbi aloft, as from fog on the surface of the ground. An absence of both light and heat is the result south of the parallel of Kinchin; and at C low fogs prevail at the same season, but do not intercept either the same amount of light or heat; whilst at T there is much sunshine and bright light. During the night, again, there is no terrestrial radiation between S and P; the rain either continues to pour--in some months with increased violence--or the saturated atmosphere is condensed into a thick white mist, which hangs over the redundant vegetation. A bright starlight night is almost unknown in the summer months at 6000 to 10,000 feet, but is frequent in December and January, and at intervals between October and May, when, however, vegetation is little affected by the cold of nocturnal radiation.

In the regions north of Kinchin, starlight nights are more frequent, and the cold produced by radiation, at 14,000 feet, is often severe towards the end of the rains in September. Still the amount of clear weather during the night is small; the fog clears off for an hour or two at sunset as the wind falls, but the returning cold north current again chills the air soon afterwards, and rolling ma.s.ses of vapour are hence flying overhead, or sweeping the surface of the earth, throughout the summer nights. In the Tibetan regions, on the other hand, bright nights and even sharp frosts prevail throughout the warmest months.