114 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. 
Temperature of air, 87° 
D 
Noon. aylight of following morning. 
Surface . 110°* è 57^ 
Ime .102 .. : $ : 52 5’ 
S uso MESS ‘ ; ‘ 58 
NU NONO. : a 1 67 
Sos. 5; Pee Band wet. . < : 73 Wet. 
uus 1116: do; do. 14 
16 
Feb. 20th.— From Tura we have again to cross our little army over 
the Soane, the Kymaor searp approaching too near the river on this west 
side to allow our passing along its base. The bed is very unequal, and 
about one mile and a half across (apparently). I Bee xs male Vallis- 
neria flowers, after a great deal of hunting: it is imp to distinguish 
them from the gnats’ eggs with which the pools swarm. The elephants 
were employed again, as at Barrcon, to push the carts across: one of 
them had a bump, in consequence, as large as a child’s head, just above 
the trunk, and bleeding much; but the brave beast disregarded this, when 
the word of command was given by his driver. The stream was very 
narrow, but deep and rapid, obstructed with beds of agate, jasper, and 
chalcedony. A clumsy boat took us over to the village of Dumer- 
solah or Soane-pore, a wretched collection of hovels.. The crops were 
thin and poor, and I saw no Palms or good trees. Squirrels, however, 
abounded, and were busy laying up their stores: descending from the 
trees, these little animals scoured across the road to a field of tares, 
mounted the hedge, took an observation, foraged, and returned up 
the tree with their booty. Quickly they descended and repeated the 
operation of reconnoitering and plundering. 
The bed of the river here is considerably above that at Dearee, 
where the mean of the observations with those of Barroon, made it 
about 530 feet—the mean of those here and on the opposite side at 
Tura gives about 640 feet, a fall of 110 feet in only forty miles. 
The sandy banks of the Soane are full of martens' nests, each now 
containing a pair of eggs. The deserted ones are literally crammed 
with long-legged spiders, which may be raked out with a stick, and 
come pouring down the cliffs like corn from a sack, in quantities quite 
inconceivable. I did not observe the marten to feed on them. 
The Entomology here resembled that of Europe more than I ex- 
pected in a tropical country, where Carnivore, at least Carabidee and 
* Thermometer not registered above this temperature. 
