EAST NEPAL AND THE SIKKIM HIMALAYA MOUNTAIN'S. l\Q 



and radiating one. The mean daily range is 1 5° to 1 6°, and the 

 thermometer at 3 feet depth stands at 50°. The dew-point is 

 45-8° ; the mean humidity 0"8° to 09°, and the rain-fall about 

 an inch, which generally comes in heavy showers of rain and 

 hail, sometimes of sleet at the equinoxes. 



This is eminently the spring month at Darjiling. Laurels 

 and maples bud and leaf, together with many other trees, but 

 not oaks. The ground is often covered with the long leaf 

 bracts of the Tetrantheras. The large white Michelia flowers, 

 Cherry abiuidaiitly, white Rhododendron {cirgenleum') and the 

 scarlet {arhoreum) in sunny spots. An early leafless Ccelogyne 

 is common on the rocks {C. prfscox?), the small blue gentian 

 covers the ground on grassy banks, with the yellow Fragaria 

 Indica, Tormentilla, a few violets, a pretty blue Mazus, and 

 some few Rubi. The Michelia, cherry, and rhododendrons are, 

 however, the only conspicuous plants of this season and eleva- 

 tion, with a pretty Uisporum in the woods. In the .garden 

 peaches are in full flower, and many plants of the cold season of 

 India, such annuals especially as belong to too cold or dry a 

 climate to survive the damp heat of May and June if sown then — • 

 stocks, for instance. Most other garden flower seeds and bulbs 

 are planted now, as well as vegetables ; the young plants sown 

 previously require transplanting and protection from the hail, 

 which occasionally cuts up tender plants terribly. Potatoes are 

 planted out. Table vegetables are still abundant of the ordinary 

 kinds. Insects commence their attacks on the gardens.* 



April. — Mean temperature 56° ; of maxima 64°, and minima 

 48°; extremes 68° and 38°. Extremes of radiation— solar 125°, 

 terrestrial 33°. Extreme differences — solar 66°, terrestrial 16°. 

 The mean daily range is nearly 16°; sunk thermometer 60°; 

 dew-point 50° ; and saturation 0-80°. Rain 25 inches. 



Most of the trees leaf and many flower in this month, as 

 laurels, oaks, chesnuts. Hydrangea, birch. The smaller blos- 

 somed Michelia and the large magnolias flower in profusion, 

 and the woods at 8000 to 9000 feet in some years look mottled 

 with their great white and red flowers. Maple leaves are broad 

 and red. Birch hangs its catkins. Some pretty and conspicuous 

 shrubs flower, as Adamia cyanea, a Viburnum, white honey- 

 suckle, the beautiful purple Stauntonia, several white and pink 

 Rubi, a very sweet Daphne in the woods (of which jjaper is 

 made), and the curious" genus Helivingia. On the ground 

 AriscBmas appear in profusion, and many other herbaceous plants 

 leaf, as Aralia, Paris, and Polygona. Yellow strawberry, 



* I am indebted to my friend Dr. Campbell, the superintendent of Dar- 

 jiling, for most of the garden memoranda of the month. 



K 2 



