PREFACE. 
DARIEELING, in the Sikkim portion of the Himalaya, the native country of the plants figured and described in the 
following pages, is situated in lat. 27° N., and long. the same as Calcutta, from which it is distant about 380 miles. 
Its elevation above the sea is 7,200 fect. ‘The mean temperature of the year is about 55° of Fahrenheit, and that of each 
month, as detailed in a Calendar communicated by Dr. Campbell, the Hon. the E. I. C. Resident at Darjecling, to the 
late Lord Auckland, and now lying before me, is as follows :— 
January 0 6 ‘6 41° May ° 0 6 ° 59° September . 9 : 61° 50’ 
February. 0 ~ 48° June. 3 5 a 64° October . 0 0 5 58° 50’ 
March . a 0 5 58° 50 July P 3 0 F 65° November. 0 7 48° 
April. 0 9 : 57° August . 3 3 0 65° December 0 , ° 44° 
“Tn five years,” further observes Dr. Campbell, “there have been three heavy falls of snow: one in December, 1842 ; 
one in January, 1839; and one in February, 1841.” 
The mountain Sinchul, upon a spur of which, looking north, Darjeeling stands, attains an elevation of 9,000 feet, 
and to the west of it, next Nepal, rises another conspicuous mountain, Tonglo, reaching a height of 10,000 feet. Due north 
of Darjecling, at a distance of only sixty miles, the horizon is bounded by the great snowy range (as scen, or rather 
attempted to be shown, in the vignette of the title-page), having for its principal feature the peak of Kincuin-sunGa, which 
has lately been ascertained to be 28,172 feet in elevation, the loftiest mountain yet known in the world. Dr. Hooker thus 
describes his first impressions of this scene :—‘“ Much as I had heard and read of the magnificence and beauty of Himalayan 
scenery, my highest expectations have been surpassed! I arrived at Darjeeling on a rainy misty day, which did not allow 
me to see ten yards in any direction, much less to descry the Snowy Range, distant sixty miles in a straight line. Early 
next morning I caught my first view, and I literally held my breath in awe and admiration. Six or seven successive ranges 
of forest-clad mountains, as high as that whereon I stood (8,000 feet), intervened between me and a dazzling white pile of 
snow-clad mountains, among which the giant peak of Kinchin-junga rose 20,000 feet adove the lofty point from which 
I gazed! Owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, the snow appeared, to my fancy, but a few miles off, and the 
loftiest mountain at only a day’s journey. The heavenward outline was projected against a pale blue sky; while little 
detached patches of mist clung here and there to the highest peaks, and were tinged golden yellow, or rosy red, by the 
rising sun, which touched these elevated points long ere it reached the lower position which I occupied. 
B 
