From the level of the sea to an elevation of 12,000 feet, Sikkim i;)„,,covered with dense forest of tall umbrageous trees At 10,000 feet, on the summit of Tanglo, yew appears. Being opposite to the Gangetic valley, the rainy winds sweep almost without interruption up to the base of Kanchinjinga (28,178 feet), the „most enormous mass of snow in the world. The snow - level is here 16,000 feet. Oak trees, maple and other mountain trees, throw out great knott in the places to which the 13alanophora attach them selves. These knots are hollowed out into wocxlen cups by the Lepcha of Tibet, and some, supposed to be antidotes to poison, are of a peculiar pale-coloured wood, and cost a great sum, but conunon cups cost only 4d. to 6d. They are all imported into Tibet from the Himalaya. The bamboo grows to enormous size, often attain ing a diameter of 7 to 9 inches. For the Him alayan cane-bridges, cane is found of the diameter of to 2 inches, and more than 80 yards long.. Yoksun, in Sikkim, occupies a very warm, sheltered flat, and about it inany tropical genera occur, such as tall batnboos, and various Araliacete, amongst which is A. papyrifera. In Sikkim and Bhutan there are twelve Coniferm. Sikkim is perhaps the most productive in fleshy fungi of any in the world, and Eastern Nepal and Khassya yield also an abundant harvest. The dimensions of many are truly gigantic, and many species afford abuudant food to the natives. Amongst those of East Nepal is a Lentinus, which has the curious property of staining everything which touches it of a deep rhubarb yellow. The Poly pori are often identical with those of Java, Ceylon, and the Philippine Isles, and the curious Tricho coma parndoxurn of Java and Ceylon occurs abundantly on the decayed trunks of laurels. The curious genus 3litrerayees also is scattered here and there, under the form which occurs in Java. Ilymenomyeetes are abundant ; the young shoots and roots of Dimorphanthus edulis are used as food in China and Japan. The genus Boletus through the whole district assumes magnificent forms.
The country of Sikkim and Darjiling is the land of the Lepclia, a Bhot race who are hemrned in between the Newar and other Nepal tribes and the L'hopa of Bhutan on the east, the Lepcha area being barely 60 miles in breadth. His physiognomy is markedly Mongolian, stature short, from 4 feet 5 inches to 5 feet ; face broad and flat, nose depressed, eye oblique, chin beard less, skin sallow and olive, with a little moustache on the lips ; broad chest and strong-armed, but small-boned, with small wrists, hands, and feet. The Lepcha is honest, timid, and peaceful, with mild and frank features ; but they are a dirty, good-natured people, resetnbling in character the Mongol beyond the Chinese wall. The women dress in silk skirt and petticoat, with a sleeveless woollen cloak. The Lepclia man carries a long, .heavy, and straight knife, serving for all purposes to which a knife can be applied. They drink the Murwa, the fermented juice of the Eleusine cora eana, which gives a drink, acidulous, refreshing, and slightly intoxicating, and not unlike hock or sauterne in its flavour. Their song,s and the music of their bamboo flute is nionotonous. They marry before maturity, the brides being purchat3ed by money or service. In the Darjiling district, in
addition to the Europeans, Hindus, and Muhain inadans from the plains, the population consists of Nepalese ; of the Bhoteali from Bhutan, Tibet, and Sikkim ; of the Lepcha and Mcchi, who are considered the prior occupants of Sikkim. The Rajbansi of Sikkim are the Koch or Kooch race, of tbe same descent as the raja of Koch-Babar. In the plains of Sikkim, the Rajbansi and Bengali are in equal numbers. The Mechi inhabit that portion of the terai which lies under tho hills. They are a migratory race, who have .no caste distinctions, and live by cultivating the virgin soil.
A gradual increame of population has taken place under British rule, from a few scattered tribes in 1853. They consist of Brahmans and Rajputs, few in number, with a Sanskritic tongue, and an Indo-European physiognomy, confined to Nepal ; the Rhu, Magas, and Gurong, a mixture of 1Iindus and Mongolians, with features of a type belonging to the latter, comparatively free from caste prejudices, and speaking the Parbatta dialect. They are short and squat highlanders, and make good soldiers. The lihoteah, Lepcha, and Murrill are Buddhist, and speak the Tibetan language. They are strong and active, and incline strongly to the Mongolian race. The Limbo, Sunwar, and Chepang possess a small Mongolian type, strongest in the Limbo, and their language is referable to either the Tibetan or Indian standard. The Meehi,Dhitnal, and Garo are lowland tribes with a Mongolian physiognomy, but are neither Hindus, Buddhists, nor Muhammadans. The Tharoo and Dhunwar are Buddhists or Muhammadans with fair and barely 3longolian features. The Bahir, Kebent, Amatti, Masai* Dhanook, and Dom are not Mongolian, but dark races speaking Hindi or Bengali. The Koch or Rajbansi are a race of dark Hindus inhabiting the terai of Nepal and Sikkim, but who have spread into British territory. The tertn Sikkim Bhoteah is applied to the more recent immigrants from Tibet, who have settled in Sikkim, and are au industrious, well-conducted people. The Bhoteah, again, of Bhutan, to the eastward, bear the worst reputation of any of the nutnerons people who flock to Darjiling. These should not be confounded with any other Bhotean tribes of Tibet, Sikkim, or Nepal The mountain slopes are so steep, that the little shelves are the only sites for habitations between the 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. Firing the forest is so easy in the drier months of the year, that a good deal of cultivation is met with on the spurs, at aud below 5000 feet, the level most affected by the Lepcha, Limbo, and Sikkim Illioteali.—Lathatn's Ethnology ; Gleanings of Science ; Dr. A. Campbell in Royal Geog. Soc. Jour. ; Hooker's Him. Jour. i. p. 358 ; Hoyg's Veg. Kingd. ; Dr. A. Campbell in B. As. Soc. Jour. No. xxix. p. 508 ; Imp. Gaz.
SIL. Emil A slab, a stone on which spices, etc., are ground, resembling an oihnan's grinding stone and mulles, but the surfaces are rough. Sila smanams, or inscriptions on stones, are numerous in the Canarese country.