THE FLOBA OF PABASNATH. 258 



miles from Mudobun at the northern base of the mountain ; and 

 from Mudobun to the summit there is a road (6 miles) which 

 you could drive up in a hansom. Along the north base of the 

 mountain is a tea-plantation,- but Parasnath itself is not, I 

 think, likely to be encroached on by planters for many years to 

 come, nor has it yet been injured botanically by visitors. As my 

 visit was a short one, I did not attempt to make a general col- 

 lection of plants': I confined myself mostly to the Monocotyledons, 

 the Gtlumaceae in particular; but there are some Dicotyledons 

 which, though well known, it is hardly possible to keep one's 

 hands off, such as the Begonia, the Sonerila, the Exacum, all 

 abundant. There is only one plant on Parasnath which I cannot 

 get elsewhere (so far as I know), the pink Knoxia brachycarpa, 

 B. Br., which you got here, and which is, I believe, more plentiful 

 in Burma ; I collected a stock of it, and find it produces a very 

 thick woody root, bright yellow when cut across. I collected 

 (which I had not got before on Parasnath) the common orange- 

 tipped AZschynanthus ; and the leaves only of a very large Hoya. 

 I got up into two trees but could find neither flower nor any 

 remains of fruit : I suppose it flowers in April. On the central 

 summit (which is 200 feet lower than the western, i. e. is 4300 

 feet about) there is left a cluster of the problematical Phoenix 

 (acaulis P) : I measured the stem of one, which is 14 feet from the 

 ground to the lowest leaf, and nearly uniformly 34 inches in cir- 

 cumference for its whole length : there are other stems 8-10 feet 

 long. I endeavoured to collect a good set of the large Grasses 

 along the ridge — Cymbopogon, Anthistiria, Pollinia, &c. Living 

 on these I found (not a tree-frog but) a grass-frog ; a very slaty- 

 dirt coloured species. When I coaxed him downwards he seemed 

 to have a horror of terra firma • he jumped about on the Anthi- 

 stirias, holding the culm with his two fore feet, and swinging 

 on them like a bird on a twig. In this season the summit of 

 Parasnath had not one drop of dew in the morning, while at 3000 

 feet the dew was plentiful : this difference, as well as the dif- 

 ference in altitude, will account for the number of plants that 

 grow along the crest of Parasnath but will not descend. I found 

 a Carex I never got here before— a very slender culm, with 1-2 

 remote female grass-green spikes ; it is very nearly (or quite) the 

 same as the low-level Carex which grows in the Teesta gorge in 

 Sikkim. I kept my eye on the Gingers, as they are numerous in 

 species, and abundant in individuals here. The large Amomum 



