74 CLIMATE AND VEGETATION OF 



the surface-soil of Darjiling-, made for me by my friend C. J. 

 Miiller, Esq., of that place : — 



A.— Dry Earth. 



Anhydrous 83'84 



Water 16-16 



100-0 

 B. — Anhydrous Earth. 



Humic acid 3*89 



Humine . . ■ 4-()l 



Uudecomposed vegetable matter . . . 20-98 



Peroxide of iron and manganese . . . 7-05 



Alumina 8-93 



Silicious matter, insoluble in dilute hydro- 

 chloric acid 54-52 



Traces of soda and muriatic acid ... • • 



100-0 



C. — Soluble in water, gr. 1'26, consisting of soda, muriatic acid, 

 organic matter, and silica. 



The soil from which this example was taken was 12 inches 

 deep ; it abounded to the eye in vegetable matter, and was sili- 

 cious to the touch. There were no traces of phospliates or of 

 animal matter, and doubtful traces of lime and potasli. The 

 subsoil of clay gave only 5*7 per cent, of water, and 5-55 of or- 

 ganic matter. The above analysis was conducted during the 

 rainy month of September, and tlie sample is an average one of 

 the surface-soil at 6000 to 10,000 feet. There is, I think, little 

 difference anywhere in the soils at this elevation, except where the 

 rock is remarkably micaceous, or where veins of felspatliic granite, 

 by their decomposition, give rise to small beds of kaolin. 



At elevations above 10,000 feet, the rocks are generally 

 much harder, the gneisses and schists are baked by metamor- 

 phic action, and more granitic rocks prevailing, a lighter and 

 more sandy soil is met with. Towards the southern parts of 

 Sikkim, the copious rains wash away at once the scanty annual 

 deposit of humus at these great elevations : there is consequently 

 no sward or peat ; the plants, shrubby and herbaceous, growing 

 out of a generally naked soil in tufts. In the northern parts, 

 again, there is a considerable accumulation ; and at equal and 

 greater elevations a sward of CijperacecB and Graminece are 

 found, nourishing a tolerably rich Flora. Further north still, in 

 the Tibetan climates, at 15,000 to 17,000 feet, the climate is 

 too dry for anything but an arid Flora, except along the borders 

 of streams. 



Generally speaking. I conclude that a rich light vegetable 



