It is hardly credible that such large stones come down like rain; but I believe it to be true from actually seeing some imbedded ones as large as pigeon’s eggs. Many people coming from Darjeeling and Tomo-Rinchen-gang for trade declare that what I have said about the size of a hailstone is true. It is not seldom here that when hailstones fall in abundance, the passage is stopped even for a month or more.
Now leaving the snowy part of the mountain and descending two miles, we again walked up an ascent of three miles; and descending still three miles more, we arrived at the post-town of Naktang. There were about twenty houses here, which, a long time ago, were constructed as barracks for a soldier’s station, the large ones are at present used as store-houses for woollen goods. As it rained that day, the road was very bad, and I lodged there that night.
In spite of rain falling furiously, we started on June 16th at five o’clock, and descending through a luxuriant forest for thirteen miles, we arrived at Lingtam and stopped there. If the weather had been fine, we could have gone further that day; but it was rainy all the day, and in addition to this, after leaving the Tibetan domain, we had no necessity for being in a great hurry; and the consequence of slow and loitering steps was that we were obliged to stop there. The next day we again descended for about four miles and came to a place where we felt extreme heat which by contrast was almost unbearable. I took off my clothing and, giving it to the servant, walked on only in an underdress; still abundant perspiration moistened my whole body. Going up toward the south-west, we came to Tsom-Takba and stopped there, as the weather was still rainy. The next day, in spite of rain, we walked three miles, and passing over a bridge, we went another three miles, and stopped in the town of Boetong.
This town lies in the centre of a rich and fertile plain among the Himālaya Mountains. Many people of Nepāl have immigrated to the neighborhood of this town, and in addition to the old cultivated fields, they have added many rice-fields here and there. Though it is under the dominion of England, and taxes are paid to the Government of British India, most of the people are Nepālese, besides a small number of Sikkim people. Along the line of this road the most delightful thing I saw was the planting of rice-fields in the rain. Though most of the Indian rice is inferior and consequently disagreeable to the taste, yet that produced in this part of the Himālaya Mountains is not different from our Japanese rice either in quality or lustre. This Indian rice, when boiled, gives a very agreeable smell and is very sweet to eat. For the cultivation of it they were planting a rice-field that rainy day.
In this town many Europeans are living, and most of them are engaged in farming. It is a very flourishing post-town containing a fine post-office, a Roman Catholic Church, and a school for poor people connected with it. As I walked through the town and came right under the building of the post-office, a Tibetan gentleman, standing on a veranda and looking at the people passing by, turned his face and stared at me with great surprise.
“Come in, Sir,” said he, calling out to me suddenly in a loud voice.
“No, thank you,” replied I, “I am too busy to enter. I am searching for a house to stop in to-night. Will you be so kind as to lodge me?”
“Any thing will do,” said he, “please come in, Sir.”
“Though I go in,” replied I, “I shall be in great trouble if you do not lodge me.”