DARJILING, in lat. 27° 2' 48'' N., and long. 88° 18' 36" E., in Sikkim, it large station and sanatoriutn, 412 miles from Calcutta. The top of the Observatory bill is 7168 feet above the sea. Darjiling ridge, however, varies in height from 6500 to 7500 feet above the level of the sea. The mean rainfall is 130 inches, and mean tem perature, 50°. To the N.W. towards Nepal, the snowy peaks of Kubra and Junnoo (respec tively 24,005 feet and 25,312 feet) rise over the shoulder of Singalelah ; whilst eastward the snowy mountains appear to form an unbroken range, trending north-cast to the great mass of Donkia (23,176 feet), and thence south-east by the fingered peaks of Tunkola and the silver cone of Chola (17,320 feet), gradually sinking into the Bhutan mountains at Giptnoechi, 14,509 feet above sea-level. Darling; was acquired by tho British in 1835 as a sanatorium, a tract of country 139 square miles in extent being ceded by the raja of Sikkim, in return for an allowance of i300 per annum, afterwards raised to £600. Its popula tion has increased from a few scattered tribes to upwards of 100,000, chiefly Murmi and Nepalese (32,338), Ralbansi Koch (23,124), the original Lepclia (3952), Dhimal and Mech (1766), along with Sharpal3hutia,Liinbu, Sanwar, and Chepang, and Brahmans, Rajputs, and ()mon. The IThntia, Lepcha, and Marini are Buddhists, and speak tho Tibetan language. They are strong and active, and incline strongly to the Mongolian rate. The Limbu, Sanwar, and Chepang are of a small Mongolian type, strongest in the Limbn, and their language is referable to either the Tibetan or Indian stan dard. The Meehi, Dhinial, and Caro are lowlatul tribes, with a Mongolian physiognomy, but are neither Hindus, 13uddhists, nor Mahomedans. The Tharoo and Dhunwar are Buddhists or Malto medans, with fair and barely :Mongolian features. The Ralik, Kebant, Amatti, Maralia, Dhanook, and Dom are not Mongolian, but a dark race speaking IIindi or 13engali. Tho Koch or Raj bansi inhabit the Tani of Nepal and Sikkim, and have spread into 13ritish territory.
The mountainous country, at from 1500 to 4000 feet above the sea, is inhabited by the Lizalat, a martial, beardless Mongolian race. From 4000 to
6000 feet, the hills are occupied by the Ltpcha,. the Bhutia, and Murnti. During the summer months, the summit of the great Singaloda spur separating Darjiling fram Nepal is occupied by the Garong, a pastoral race from Nepal, who graze their flocks at heights from 9000 to 14,500 feet, their great flocks being guarded by huge savage black dogs. The Lepcha. Buddhists are aborigines ; they are a fair, beardless, Mongolian race, omnivorous, amiable, and cheerful. They have a written language in a character of their own.
The Limbu are Hindu, Buddhist, and polytheist by turns, as circumstances or convenience require.
The Bhutia are from Bhutan, east of the Tista river. Many of them have beards and moustaches. They have a written language in the Tibetan character. They are Buddhist Mongolians. They are agricultural and pastoral.
The mountain slopes are so steep, that the spurs or little shelves are the only sites for habitation between tbe very rare flats on the river banks and the mountain ridges, above 6000 feet, beyond which elevation cultivation is rarely if ever carried by the natives of Sikkim. The varieties of grain are different, but as many as eight or ten kinds are grown without irrigation by the Lepcha, aud the produce is described as very good, 80-fold. Much of this success is due to the great dampness of the climate ; were it not for this the culture of the grain would probably be abandoned by the Lepcha, who never retnain for more than three seasons in one spot. The geological structure of the mountains of Sikkim is very uniform, the rocks being principally varieties of micaceous shale and gneiss. The soil is generally formed by the disintegration of these rocks, and is covered in some places with vege table mould. At Darjiling the Minchu spring water is a carbonated and sulphuretted chaly beate containing its iron in the peculiar state in which it 'is found in the Bath waters.—B. H. Hodgson, Esg., C.S.; Indi. Anna. Medi. Science, p. 264 ; Hooker, Him. Journ. ; Dr. Thomson in Eth. Soc. Journ.