Geography of the Himalayah Mountains. 31 



season of the year at which it is viewed, a disturbed torrent 

 filling great part of the breadth of its bed, or a clear and 

 small stream shrunk up to occupy only the central portion of 

 the vast flat surface of larger and smaller, rolled and water- 

 worn stones, which are strewed profusely around. The sum- 

 mits, from 500 to 900 feet in elevation, are generally of the 

 clayey, calcareous, alluvial deposition, well known all over 

 India, which by the action of rain and air, and by the heat 

 of the sun, hardens into clift's, often presenting in miniature, 

 the aspect and appearances assumed by more perfectly form- 

 ed rock-formations. During the rainy months, when every 

 tree in the surrounding forests is in a state of green luxu- 

 riance, more lovely scenes cannot be conceived than those 

 formed by the amphitheatres, of which new varieties open to 

 us as we advance, and our view is closed in by those behind, 

 in winding up these gravelly passes, with lofty wooded emin- 

 ences, precipitous steeps, and shady ravines opening on 

 either side. The gigantic scandent bauhinia, the stem of 

 which resembles a snake of the largest size, twines round the 

 trunks of the trees, often hanging its festoons over us from their 

 loftiest branches, bearing its large woody siliquae or flowers 

 which mingle their fragrance with that of the mimosae. 

 Numerous species of Arum Orchidacae, Curcuma and Amom- 

 um, the roots of which have remained inactive and unob- 

 served during the cold and dry seasons, now show their flow- 

 ers and foliage tempting the unwary admirer of nature, by 

 the smiling aspect of all around, to linger in these unhealthy 

 spots, where scarcely any native of the country can remain 

 for a week or two, particularly passing the night, without an 

 attack of remittent fever. As the first tendency to these at- 

 tacks displays itself in disorders of the digestive functions, it 

 has produced a belief among the people, otherwise at a loss to 

 account for the diseases to which they are here subject, that 

 the water by its unwholesome qualities, acts a much more im- 

 portant part in their production, than is probably the case. 



The stratification of the interior of these eminences, Avhere 

 it is often displayed in mural precipices, is almost always the 

 same, consisting of layers of different thickness, dipping a lit- 

 tle to the northward or southward of east, most commonly the 

 former, and at angles of from thirty to forty degrees. These 

 arc generally of a gravelly deposit, studded with the same 



