46 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. 
pears to me not an independent one, but the débris of clumps of 
Bamboo, or large trees which these insects have destroyed. As they 
work up a tree from the ground, they coat the bark with particles of 
soil glued together, carrying upwards as they go this artificial sheath to 
the bark. A clump of Bamboos is thus speedily killed ; the culms fall 
away, leaving the myriads of stumps coated with sand, which the 
weather soon fashions into a cone of earthy matter. 
Ascending again, the path strikes up the hill through thick forest 
of Val (Vatica robusta) and other trees, spanned with cables of scan- 
dent Bauhinia stems. At about 3,000 feet above the sea, the vegeta- 
tion becomes more luxuriant, and by a little stream I collected five 
species of Ferns, some Mosses, and Hepatice, all in a poor state, 
however. Ficus artocarpifolia (?) with its hanging tufts of naked 
root-like twigs from the limbs, was plentifully covered with fruit. 
Aristolochia, (sp.?) abundant, some Smilacee, Clematis, a terrestrial 
Orchidaceous plant, and Disporum and Roxburghia viridiflora. Still 
ascending, an increased number of Grasses and Cyperacee are seen; 
but the Hamiltonia ceases, and is succeeded by other bushes of Verbe- 
nacee and Composite. The white ant apparently does not enter this 
damper region. 
On ascending to 4,000 feet, the vegetation again changes; the trees 
all become gnarled, stunted, and scattered; and as the steepness also 
increased, we soon emerged from the forest. This was at the foot of the 
great ridge of rocky peaks, stretching about east and west for three or 
four miles. Abundance of a species of Barberry marked most decidedly 
the change in the vegetation, and was frequent over the whole summit, 
mixed with coarse Grasses, Cyperacee, and bushes. 
At noon we reached the saddle of the crest, where stood a small temple, 
one of five or six which occupy various prominences of the ridge. The 
wind blew N.W., and cold to the feel, the temperature 56°. The view 
was beautiful, but the atmosphere too hazy ; to the north, rose ranges of 
low wood , and we saw the course of the Barracker and Adje rivers; 
to the south, lay a flatter country, with lower ranges, and the Dummoo- 
dah river, its all-but waterless bed snowy white from the exposed granite 
rocks with which it strews its course. East and west I saw several 
sharp ridges of the mountain itself, the western considerably the 
highest, and each crowned with a white temple. Immediately below, 
the flanks appear clothed with impenetrable forest, occasionally inter- 
