INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 195 



as well as in Balti (in Western Tibet) and in Afghanistan. 

 3. Abies Smithiana, which also inhabits all parts of the Hima- 

 laya, extending into Afghanistan. 4. A. Brunoniana, which 

 is not found further west than the upper part of the valley 

 of the Kali, in Eastern Kumaon. 5. Picea Webbiana, the 

 most alpine of all the species which ranges from Bhotan to 

 Kashmir : it covers the mountains, between 8000 and 12,000 

 feet, with a sombre forest, appearing equally at home in 

 the humid climate of Sikkim and on the arid mountains of 

 Upper Kunawar. 6. Juniperus recurva. 7. */. Wallichiana . 

 8. J. excelsa. 9. Taxus baccata. The two first of the junipers, 

 and the yew, are found in all parts of the Himalaya. 



Two species only are confined to the Eastern Himalaya, 

 namely, Larix (xriffithii and Podocarpus mawophylla; but 

 Pinus Sinensis, so common in Khasia, will perhaps prove to 

 be a native of Eastern Bhotan. The Western Himalaya has 

 four species which are not found in Nipal or the Eastern 

 Himalaya. These are — 1. Pinus Gerardiana, a native of 

 Afghanistan, of Hasora, north of Kashmir, and of the drier 

 valleys of the Himalaya as far as the Satlej. 2. Cedrus 

 Deodara, which is scarcely indigenous in Eastern Kumaon, 

 and ranges from Garhwal to Afghanistan. The deodar is 



, &W **V*~ ^. »•*»„*** ~w ^^ 



closely allied to, if not identical with the cedar of Lebanon, 

 which extends from Syria and the Taurus to the Atlas moun- 

 tains. 3. Cupressus torulosa, which is probably the wild state 

 of the common cypress ; it is a rare plant in the Himalaya, 

 but is found at Niti, near Simla, and at Naini Tal, and may 

 perhaps occur in Western Nipal. 4. Junipei*us communis y 

 found in all the drier parts of the chain from Afghanistan 

 and Kashmir to Kumaon. 



There is no abrupt transition from the flora of the outer 



Himalay 



The amount of 



rain-fall diminishes very gradually as we ascend the great val- 

 leys, and the diminution of humidity is accompanied by the 

 appearance of new types of vegetation. This transition is 

 most observable in the Satlej and Chenab valleys, which lie so 



