CALCUTTA TO DARJEELING. 365 
long ago decayed away. From the sides and summit of these, supple 
branches hang forth, either leafy or naked ; the latter resembling cables 
flung from one to other trees, swinging in the breeze, their rocking 
motion increased by the weight of great bunches of ferns or Orchidacee, 
which are perched aloft in the loops. Perpetual moisture nourishes this 
dripping forest; and pendulous mosses (Hypna and Neckera) and 
lichens (Borrera and Usnea) are first met with, and in inconceivable 
profusion, 
Two thousand feet higher up, near Mahalderam (from ene the 
last view of the plains is gained), subalpine plants appear,— Uvularia or 
Disporum, Berberis, Paris, &e.; but here, night gathered pink and 
I had still ten miles to go to the nearest bungalow, that of Pacheem. 
The road, tolerably level, still led along the eastern slope of the 
Balasun valley, which was exceedingly steep, and so cut up by ravines, 
that it winds in and out of gullies, whose salient angles seem almost - 
near enough to jump across. Night was ushered in by an impene- 
trably thick fog and Seoéch mist, which made me hurry on apace. 1t 
soon, however, cleared off, with a transient thunder-storm, iiie 
ening the grandeur of the scene. The fog suddenly rose, and, looking 
aloft, the moon danced amongst the tree-tops. To the right the forest 
abruptly ascended ; to the left, the black abyss of the valley, seen 
through the trunks, was really awful; occasionally a bright gleam of 
lightning shot across the sky, followed by a bellowing peal of thunder ; 
and as the wind drove ragged masses of vapour down the valley, like 
smoke from a gun, I could not help likening the effect to that of a 
brave ship firing a salute. 
In no part of the world might the phenomena of the formation and 
dispersion of wreaths of vapour be studied better than here. The 
excessive humidity of the atmosphere, the various densities of the 
strata which so deep a valley encloses, the rarefaction and warmth of 
the air towards its centre, and the coolness of that portion immediately 
surrounding the trees on either side, expose a cloud to great vicissitudes ; 
hence, clouds are ever forming and evaporating; one great mass is station- 
ary, another tearing and blundering along past it and down the hollow, 
dissipating as it approaches the heated plains of India, running head- 
long against the trees of some jutting spur, then quickly condensed 
again, one part hanging like ragged sheep’s-wool to the tree-tops, 
another carried away to utter dissolution, Other dense masses again 
