CHAPTER XV

Leave Yoksun for Kinchinjunga—Ascend Ratong valley—Salt-smuggling over Ratong—Landslips—Plants—Buckeem—Blocks of gneiss—Mon Lepcha—View—Weather—View from Gubroo—Kinchinjunga, tops of—Pundimcliff—Nursing—Vegetation of Himalaya—_Coup d’œil_ of Jongri—Route to Yalloong—Arduous route of salt-traders from Tibet—Kinchin, ascent of—Lichens—Surfaces sculptured by snow and ice—Weather at Jongri—Snow—Shades for eyes.