198 Dr. Thomson un the Climate and Vegetation of the Himalaya. 



In this belt, which occupies the base of the mountains, the vegetation 

 is of course quite tropical in character, and is too varied to be described 

 in detail. Large cotton trees (Bombax) are in all parts of it particularly- 

 conspicuous from the immense size of their trunks, which are not cylin- 

 drical, but buttressed all round by immense plates which project far for- 

 ward from the main trunk. Numerous fig trees of very various species 

 are also common, especially to the eastward, where many fine forms 

 of these magnificent trees everywhere meet the eye, along with species of 

 Dillenia, Careya, Bauhinia, and Lagerstromia. 



It is from the forest which lies along the foot of the Himalaya that a 

 great part of the timber is derived which is consumed in northern India. 

 In the most eastern part, the most valuable timber is furnished by Lager- 

 stromia regin^e, and perhaps other allied species; further west, the sal 

 Patica robusta, the Shorea robusta of Roxburgh, is that which is most 

 esteemed. The sal extends from the valley of Assam as far west I 

 believe as the Punjab, and is found not only in the forest tract, but also 

 in hot valleys among the mountains. It belongs to a natural order 

 (dipterocarpese) which is peculiarly Indian, and which furnishes many 

 valuable kinds of timber. None of the species, however, except the one 

 under consideration, extend beyond the tropics ; but they abound in the 

 hilly countries of the peninsula as well as in the low ranges of the Malayan 

 peninsula, and I believe in Java and other Indian islands. The sal is so 

 much valued that it has become in accessible places from whence it can 

 easUy be conveyed to the plains, very scarce, and in the vicinity of large 

 towns where there is a great demand for timber, I believe almost extinct. 

 It is therefore less commonly employed than the sissoo, a species of 

 Dalbergia, which is particularly abundant along the foot of the mountains, 

 more especially to the westward, growing in great profusion on gravelly 

 soil, and yielding a most ornamental and valuable wood. 



The forest belt which skirts the base of the mountains rests for the 

 most part upon a dry gravelly soil, which slopes somewhat rapidly, though 

 not perceptibly to the eye, toward the open plains, and is generally dry. 

 Just outside the forest, or sometimes still interspersed with patches of 

 wooded ground, there is generally a low swampy tract, which is lower 

 than the country immediately beyond, and from which the water drains 

 away slowly and with difiiculty. This is the Terai par excellence, and 

 is, from the constant dampness of the soil, and the dense heat of the sum- 

 mer, peculiarly unhealthy. It is too low and too unhealthy to be much 

 cultivated, and is generally covered by a dense jungle of tall grasses, species 

 principally of Saccharum, Arundo, Andropogon and Anthistiria, which rise 

 high enough to cover an elephant, and afford shelter during the greater 

 part of the year for multitudes of tigers and other wild animals ; at the 

 commencement of the cold weather, this long grass is set on fire and 

 burnt down by the inhabitants of the hills, who at that season descend to 

 the level country to feed their cattle and flocks. It is again abandoned 

 to itself at the commencement of the hot season, as soon as grassy vegeta- 



