Note 11 — Chapter I · JOURNEY FROM DARJILING TO TASHILHUNPO.
Reading edition
November 11.—The sky was overcast, and there was rain and sunshine at the same time, a phenomenon the Bhutias call metog-charpa, or “flowery shower.” The village of Hi, by which we passed, contains several Bhutia, Lepcha, and Limbu houses.11 The latter people seem to be prosperous; they cultivate rice on irrigated terraces, and use a plough drawn by buffaloes. A few hundred yards above the River Kalai (also called Kalhait) we saw cardamom patches carefully fenced. The Kalai river, which we found rapid at even this season of the year, rises in the Singli pass, and after a circuitous course of about 20 miles, empties into the great Rungit near the foot of Tashiding hill. Villages are numerous along the river for many miles; they are situated on ridges, which look like lateral ribs of a range running on either side of the Kalai from west to east, generally sending out southerly spurs.