NOTICE OF BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS. 171 
into rounded accumulations at the roots and trunks of trees 
and clumps of bamboos, as in the annexed figure. The ex- 
cavations seemed as if they had been formed artificially, and 
were from two to three and even four feet deep, of very irre- 
gular shapes, and seldom communicating with each other. 
After many conjectures, I found the size of the excavations to 
bear exact proportion to the size and height of the nearest ad- 
. joining trees, and that they never appeared but immediately 
under the shade of large branches. The cause thus appeared 
. to be the collection of rain on the foliage of lofty trees, from 
which the water so collected is precipitated in heavy volumes on 
the loose and light soil, excavating it in the manner described. 
“< The trenches are from one yard to ten in length, and 
generally a yard or two yards wide ; and their general figures 
correspond with the form of the interstices between the 
. branches above. The Tea Plants are most numerous along 
the margins of these natural excavations, as well as on the 
accumulations of dry soil, raised around the roots of bamboos. 
The soil is perfectly loose, and sinks under the feet with a 
certain degree of elasticity, derived from dense meshes of 
succulent fibres, prolonged in every direction from various 
roots. Its colour is light grey, perfectly dry and dusty, 
although the surrounding country was still wet from the 
effects of the rain that had fallen for several days immediately 
prior to our visit. Even the trenches were dry, and from 
their not communicating with each other, it seemed quite 
evident that the soil and substratum must be highly porous, 
and different in this respect from the structure of the sur- 
rounding surface of the country. 
“< Extending examinations farther, I found the peculiar char- 
acter of the soil, in regard to colour, consistency, and in- 
equality of surface, disappear, with the Tea Plant itself, beyond 
the extent of a circular space of about 300 yards in diameter." 
“ Again he says (p. 22), of another colony at Nigroo, * sur- 
rounded by tea plants we ascended the mound, the soil of which © 
is light, fine, and of a yellow colour, having no sandy char- - 
acter? < We then traced the plants along the summit of 
