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attains full a thousand feet additional elevation, completely excluding the Panch-choola, &c. from the prospect. To reach this point which probably commands the loftiest peaks of Nunda Devee, would require a whole day, which we could not spare. The path is very practicable according to Puharee logic-" our goats traverse it," a consolation we received more than once. On the whole, I would say, let no one who has no other object, fash himself by coming so far to look at the snowy range. Partial masses are indisputably very grand, but far finer in my opinion is the main line, stretching from Jumnoo tree far down into Nepal, as we see it from Binsur and the loftier points of the Ghagur always indeed, excepting one snowy range seen from another; e. g. the Ruldung group from the Roopia Pass.

We remained nearly two hours at Tantee and then continued our march leisurely towards Khathee, where we arrived at four P. M. and found Messrs. Ellis and Corbett encamped, employed in bear-shooting, after a very pluviose visit to the glacier above. The Mohroo (Tilunga) and Kurshoo oaks are abundant on the eastern exposure of the Dhakree Benaik, but no pines. The descent on the western side is rapid, first through Kurshoo, which soon becomes blended with abundance of Pindrow (Ragha) fir, forming boundless forests on this fine range. Below these, we passed down, through luxuriant meadows, nearly to the Pindur, opposite to a large village, Wachum. Here a path strikes

off to our left to Chiring; and when passable, which it is not now, enables one to vary the return route to Almorah. This long, but in general not very steep descent, led us to a torrent, from which the road again ascends considerably towards Khathee, three miles or so further, the road lying amongst horse-chestnut, Maple, Sumach, mountain Bamboo, Banj, &c. Mohroo oak, Hornbeam, (Carpinus, "Geesh,") Ash, &c. The last hour we walked under a heavy fall of rain, which continued drizzling more or less all night.

Khathee has no permanent village, and at best only a few miserable sheds; the only cultivation half a dozen fields of Chooa, (Amaranthus anardana ;) supplies must be obtained from Soopee, six kros distant, on the upper Surjoo, a flourishing village, under the Putwaree Mulkoo. This gentleman forwarded none till the afternoon of the 16th, which compelled us to rest here for a day.

Khathee consists of some beautiful, open, and swelling lawns, closely

hemmed in by exceedingly steep and lofty mountains, either covered with grass or enveloped in dark forest. On the N. W., about 300 feet below, the Pindur roars along its narrow gully, up which, whenever the clouds cleared a little, several high snowy and black rocky peaks of the great range appeared close at hand. Water boiled at 1950, making the elevation about 9,000 feet; but as the thermometer gave the same result at Diwalee, 10 miles up the valley, and certainly 500 feet higher, 8,500 feet is perhaps the true height of Khathee. The place is a perfect bear-garden; we had not been an hour in camp, before one appeared on the opposite bank of the river, feeding quietly on the locusts. Messrs. Ellis and Corbett have seen half a dozen daily, and on the afternoon of the 16th bagged one of them about half a mile from camp. The mountaineers hold them in great dread and are unanimous in asserting that they not only devour sheep and goats, but even their own species when found dead. They are very fond of the mountain Ash, or Rowan fruit.

The species found here is the common black bear, called indifferently Bhaloo and Reech, terms which Mr. Ogilvy (in Royle's Illustrations) is inclined to think mark two kinds.

The argus and other pheasants are also common in the woods.

The vegetation on our route this day, and about Khathee, is wholly different from that which we have just parted from in the valley of the Surjoo. About 500 feet above Sooring, the Hemiphragma heterophylla began to show itself, scarcely as long as its own name; its godfather was fond of such, and Don observes justly of another of his appellations "Nomen Spermadictyonis nimis auris terribile est servandum." My friend Pilgrim was not so far out, botanically at least, when he compared the Nynee Tal mountains to the Himalaya. On Cheena we find the Kurshoo oak, (Quercus Semicarpifolius,) and on the flat summit of the mountain, this very Hemiphragma; lower down the Pyrus baccata is common by streams, as it is about Khathee and in the Beans country, everywhere under the same name, Bun-mehul, or wild pear. As we advance to the S. E. in these mountains, the various plants, &c. seem not only to occur at lower elevations, but to approach the plains more and more, till in Assam, some of them descend to the valley. In the mountains of Busehur, this Hemiphragma is scarce found under 10,000 feet; here it is common at 8,000. Primula denticulata and

Quercus dilatata, both comparatively rare at Simlah, abound on the crest of the Nynee Tal range almost overhanging the plains at the foot of these hills, reaching to Kalaputhur. We find the Bengal Mudâr, Calotropis gigantea, both the purple and white varieties, in profusion; while, as Dr. Royle observes, the C. Hamiltonii only is found to the N. W. It is curious to mark the exact line of demarcation between different species: the Tree ferns reach to Burmdeo, where the Kalee leaves the hills; Ilex excelsa, unknown in Gurhwal and Sirmoor, is common in Kumaoon, where also I lately found many plants of the Chamaerops Martiana on the Ghagur range, two or three miles S. E. of the Ramgurh bungalow, at about 5,500 feet elevation. The Thakil, a mountain 8,000 feet high, near Petorahgurh, takes its name from this palm. On the Ghagur, Binsur, &c. we also meet as a timber tree, a Michelia, perhaps the Kisopa of Nepal, and in the Dikkolce and Bhumource Passes, Didymocarpus aromatica, called "Puthur-loung❞ "Rock-clove," by the natives. But, probably owing to a milder or a damper climate, not only do plants grow lower down, but also much higher up, in Kumaoon than to the N. W. Thus the Rhododendron arboreum (Boorans), and Andromeda ovalifolia (Uyar), which in Busehur we lose at about 8,500 feet, flourishes in the valleys of the Pindur and Goree fully 2,000 feet higher, reaching the lowest limit of Rhododendron campanulatum, and flowering till June. On the west side of the Dhakree Benaik we first meet the Rhododendron barbatum, about the same size as the latter, or rather larger, and known by the same name Chimool;" it is common above Diwalee. Here also occur Pyrus lanata, "Gulion," crenata, "Moul, or Moulee," and foliolosa, "Sulia, or Hulia ; "the "Moulee" is now ripe, and, though small, is the sweetest wild fruit I know of. At about 7,500 feet, on the eastern side of the mountain, a procumbent species of raspberry, perhaps the Rubus foliolosus of Don, made its appearance, and gradually became more abundant, covering every rock, bank, fallen tree, &c. and reaching up to within three or four miles of the Pindur glacier. It has large white flowers and excellent orange fruit, here called "Gungoor;" the Sinjung of Beans. Should this be identical with the "Ground Raspberry" of Darjeeling, it affords another instance of the approach of species to the plains as they extend S. E. along the Pindur above Khathee. Another Rubus, the rugosus of Don, grows to be a large and very handsome shrub,

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affording copious panicles of large and excellent blackberries. R. concolor is found above Diwalee. The Viburnum nervosum and cotinifolium, "Ginnia" and "Gweea," Millingtonia dillenifolia, "Gwep," Cotoneaster affinis, "Rous or Reooush," with black, not bright red fruit, which Loudon gives it in the Arboretum, a smaller shrub, with fruit of this color, is common, and is called "Koocus," the C. acuminata? the Elaeagnus arborea, "Gheewaee;" the Kadsura grandiflora, "Sillunghetee," Panax decomposita, Sabia campanulata, Rhus Teeturee, Fraxinus floribunda, "Ungou," the finest I have met, Acer villosum and cultratum, the Alder, Alnus obtusifolia, "Ooteesh," Cornus macrophylla, "Ruchia," Betula cylindrostachya, "Haour," or " Shaoul;" and several more trees and shrubs, abound on the mountains of Khathee: with the plants Gaultheria nummularioides, "Bhaloo-bor," Anemone discolor, "Kukreea," Parnassia nubicola, Strobilanthes Wallichii, Euphrasia officinalis, Geranium Wallichianum, Veronica chamaedrys or Teucrium, Halenia elliptica, Pedicularis megalantha, Sibbaldia procumbens, the beautiful club moss, Lycopodium subulatum, "Toola-mooka," 6 to 10 feet long, Roscoea spicata, Hedychium spicatum, Spiranthes amœna, &c. &c.

The Poonia Emodi abounds in the woods and glades here and higher up, and has as often two carpels as one; the natives call it "Bhooniya madeen," ("Yet-ghas" of the Bhoteeahs,) to distinguish it from the "Bhooniya nur," Lilium giganteum, common in the forests along the Pindur; these being considered the male and female of one species; a very humble approximation to the Linnæan system! Among the bushes opposite to Wachum there is abundance of a twining campanulate plant called "Gol-ghunna,"* with large greenish yellow and purplish blossoms, which, as well as the capsules, are eaten by the inhabitants; it is a species of Wahlenbergia or Codonopsis.

September 17th.—After rain all night, and fresh snow on the mountains above us, we left Khathee at 104 A. M. and reached Diwalee, about 10 miles distant, in four and quarter hours. A drizzling rain fell nearly the whole way, rendered doubly disagreeable by the dripping of the thick forest, and especially the luxuriant and most abundant Nigala bamboo,

All these words are spelt according to Dr. Gilchrist's system nearly, which seems best adapted to the English reader; one must protest, however, against its being introduced into names intended for Latin, where u for a, and uo for au are horribly barbarous.

(Arundinaria falcata,) which, from 20 to 30 feet high, overhangs the path in the most graceful but to-day unwelcome clumps; it reaches up within a few miles of the glacier, and is also common on the western face of the Dhakree Benaik; it is very generally in seed, now ripe and ripening. The mountaineers assert that this only takes place every twelve years (a suspicious period), and that then the plant dies. They are certainly so far borne out in this that all the fruit-bearing specimens do seem fading away, and that for several years past I have in vain tried to procure the seed. The Nigala is of infinite use to them for mats, baskets, &c. some of which are very neatly and strongly made. Our route lay first on the left, then for a short distance on the right, and finally returned to the left bank of the Pindur, keeping nearly its level, with the exception of a few short but steep ascents and descents; the two bridges good. The scenery is of the sublimest descriptionthe valley somewhat of the character of the upper Roopin, except that it is much more narrow, the mountains rising like walls to a vast height on each side, broken into great buttresses, and universally invested with the densest forest. Three or four beautiful cascades poured down their boiling water from the woody heights, their volume doubly aug mented by the late and present rain, but one can scarce appreciate the beauty of these things when wet and hungry, and all around with faces expressive of despair. The last of these falls, nearly in front of Diwalee, pours down amongst the ledges of slate rock from a maidan or table-land, which must reach up close to Nunda Devee, and is a favorite beat of the Shikarees. Thar, (wild goat,) moonal, argus, pheasant, &c. being in great numbers. Diwalee, perhaps named from the wall-like cliffs of the Pindur just above, stands in the angle where that river receives on its left bank the Kushinee or Kuphinee river, a stream as large and turbulent as itself, rising in the south-east recesses of Nunda Kot mountain. Their waters are of a dirty milk colour, and the bed of the combined stream is obstructed by some great boulders, against which the waters dash at the pas de charge. We found a good spot for our tents in the angle between the river; above this are several successive terraces, all well adapted for the same purpose, shaded by yew and sycamore trees, but the forest soon terminates upwards in the great bluff snowy spur which separates the rivers. The left or south bank of the Kuphinee is formed by the "Kotela" mountain, the

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