DR. HOOKER’S MISSION TO INDIA. 361 
Submitting. the above views to the consideration of the enlightened 
author of the * Illustrated Genera of the United States Flora,’ we now 
take leave of this inestimable work, trusting that we shall soon have 
to congratulate the botanical world on the appearance of the third 
volume, which we understand will mainly consist of the important 
family of Leguminosae. 
Extracts from the private Letters of Dr. J. D. Hooker, written during 
` & Botanical Mission to INDIA. 
(Continued from p, 336.) 
CALCUTTA TO DARJEELING IN SIKKIM-HIMALAYA. 
Not only are the roadsides rich in plants, but Lepcha paths, cutting 
off all the zigzags, run in straight lines right up the steepest hill-faces, 
and thus double the available means for botanizing. I need not say 
it is all but impossible to leave the paths of one kind or other, except 
for a yard or two up the rocky ravines: the hill-sides are so very steep 
and densely clothed with forest. Elephants, tigers, and rarely the 
rhinoceros, inhabit the foot of these hills, with wild boars, leopards, &c. ; 
ut none are numerous. The elephant’s path is an excellent specimen 
of engineering —the opposite of the Lepcha track, for it winds judiciously. 
At about 1,000 feet above Punkabarrie, the vegetation is extra- 
ordinarily rich, and appears all the more so from the many turnings of 
the road, affording glorious prospects of the foreshortened tropical 
forests. Shorea (Sal), Gordonia Wailichii bursting into blossom, and 
Cedrela, with Careya, and some others, are still the prevalent gigantic 
timber-trees, scaled by climbing . Leguminose, as Bauhinias and 
with parasitical Orchidea, and still more beautifully with Pothos ( 
dapsus), Peppers, Gnetum, Vitis, Convolvulus, and Bignonie. The beauty 
of the drapery of Pothos-leaves is pre-eminent, whether for the grace- 
ful folds the foliage assumes, or the liveliness of its colour. Of the 
more conspicuous smaller trees, the wild Banana is the most abundant, 
its crown of pale yellow and very beautiful foliage contrasting with 
the darker-leaved plants amongst which it nestles; next comes a 
en Bi 8 A 
