FOREST AND CRAG 49 



8000 feet woods of Silver Fir occur. The trees at first are of 

 no great size, but their dimensions increased as we ascended. 

 Most of the larger trees have been felled and converted into 

 coffins ; the remains of thousands of them are scattered every- 

 where around. On the decayed trunks of many of these trees 

 large bushes of Rhododendron are growing, thereby proving 

 that the trees have lain there these many years past. Some 

 of the prostrate trunks measured over 150 feet in length and 6 

 feet in diameter. None of this size is now standing, but plenty 

 that are over 100 feet tall occur. The upper part of the 

 ridge is a cliff some 200 feet high, under the lee of which Birch 

 and Maple are common and wild Rhubarb is also found. We 

 discovered a more or less easypath up the cliff, and crossed over 

 at 9700 feet altitude. The highest peak in this range is prob- 

 ably a couple of hundred feet higher. The summit is of hard 

 limestone with rare outcroppings of red sandstone. Stunted 

 wind-swept Silver Fir and various kinds of Currant extend to 

 the summit. Rhododendron and a dwarf Juniper (/. squamata) 

 are also common. The descent was through woods of Birch 

 and Bamboo to an open, grassy, scrub-clad, sloping moorland, 

 through which a considerable torrent flows. The Bamboo, so 

 common hereabouts, is very beautiful, forming clumps 3 to 10 

 feet through. The culms are 5 to 12 feet tall, golden yellow, 

 with dark, feathery foliage ; the young culms have broad 

 sheathing bracts protecting the branchlets. Taken all in all, 

 this is the handsomest Bamboo I have seen.^ 



In the vicinity of the stream shrubs in great variety 

 abound ; of these the Willows, Roses, Spiraeas, Philadelphus, 

 Hydrangeas, odd bushes of Rhododendron Fargesii, and clumps 

 of Aralia chinensis are the principal features. The Rhododen- 

 dron referred to is one of the most beautiful, with compact 

 trusses of white or, more commonly, rosy-red (occasionally 

 deep red) flowers ; the leaves are small, displaying the trusses 

 of flowers to great advantage. This species is usually a bush 

 5 to 8 feet tall, and of about the same dimensions through the 

 head ; more rarely it is 15 to 20 feet tall. The steep grassy 

 slopes are almost devoid of trees ; the fine pasture land 

 and the typical moorland character of this narrow valley 



' In 1910 I successfully introduced it into cultivation. 

 VOL. I. — 4 



