LIXN^EAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 5 1 



over the stony soil, the antelope scouring the sandy flats, and the 

 fox stealing along to his burrow, are all desert and Tartarian 

 types of the animal creation. The shrill whistle of the marmot 

 alone breaks the silence of the scene, recalling the snows of Lap- 

 land to the mind ; whilst the kite and raven wheel through the 

 air, with as steady a pinion as if that atmosphere possessed the 

 same power of resistance that it does at the level of the sea. 

 Still higher in the heavens, long black V-shaped trains of wild 



geese cleave the air One plant alone, a yellow lichen 



(Borrera) is found at this lieight, and that only as a visitor ; for 

 Tartar-like, it migrates over these lofty slopes and ridges, blown 

 about by the violent winds." 



" The Khasias are superstitious, but have no religion ; like the 

 Lepchas, they believe in a supreme being, and in deities of the 

 grove, cave, and stream. Altercations are often decided by 

 holding the disputants' heads under water, when the longest 

 winded carries his point. Pining is a common punishment, and 

 death for grave offences. The changes of the moon are accounted 

 for by the theory that this orb, who is a man, monthly falls in 



love with his wife's motlier, who throws ashes in his face 



they have names for the twelve months ; they do not divide their 

 time by weeks, but hold a market every fourth day. These people 

 are industrious, and good cultivators of rice, millet, and legumes 

 of many kinds . . . They keep bees in rude hives of logs of wood," 



The 'Himalayan Journals' were followed in 1855 by the first 

 volume of the ' Flora ludica ' in conjunction with his old college 

 friend, Thomas Thomson. Though the work was never continued 

 in the form then planned, this volume is famous for its Intro- 

 ductory Essay extending over 260 pages. This essay, besides 

 presenting a masterly analysis of the vegetation and physical 

 features of India, gives us the foundations of the study of syste- 

 matic botany set forth as only Hooker could set them forth. It 

 also shows Hooker as the fearless critic of current methods in 

 systematic botany by which that branch had become encumbered 

 to its serious disadvantage. 



The Indian flora \Aas taken up again later in what is Hooker's 

 greatest floristic work, ' The Flora of British India,' which appeared 

 in seven volumes between the years 1872 and 1897. In addition 

 to this Hooker completed the ' Ceylon Flora' of Henry Trimen, and 

 concluded his labours in this field with 'A Sketch of the Vegetation 

 of the Indian Empire ' (1904). Nor can it be said that Hooker 

 ever laid aside his studies on the Indian Flora, for the closing years 

 of his life were devoted to a monograph of the genus Impatiens. 

 In this connection the following extract from a letter to my 

 father, describing his method of ^^ork (dated Jan. 22, ]908) is of 

 interest : — 



" I have been at work ever since I retired on Impatiens, and 

 have m.onographed all the Indian and Malayan Species — well 



e2 



