o 



76 PINUS, OR 



lower and outer ranges of the Himalayas, from Bhotan to 

 Affghan. Dr. Griffith describes it as descending in Bhotan to 

 the low elevation of 1800 or 2000 feet above the sea, while on 

 ranges between the Jumna and Sutlej, it is abundant at from 

 2-500 to 3000 feet of elevation, and finally it becomes stunted, 

 and disappears at Simla, at an elevation of 7000 feet, but 

 occurs in greatest perfection and abundance at Kamaon and 

 Gurhwal, north of the Pindur, at from 2500 to 7000 feet of eleva- 

 tion, and which places seem little else than one great forest of 

 the Cheer Pine. It has a rough bark, divided by deep fissures 

 into large and longish plates, and the stem of the larger trees 

 arc about 12 feet in girth, with a clear stem 40 or 50 feet from 

 the ground, and with an exceedingly picturesque head, very 

 irregular in outline, as the branches are irregularly and thinly 

 scattered along the stem. A. large quantity of tar and turpen- 

 tine is extracted from the wood, and the chips are used for 

 candles in India, and called " Chamsing" (night-lights) ; and, 

 according to Dr. Hooker, ink is made in Sikkim from the char- 

 coal of the burnt leaves mixed with rice-water. 



It is called " Cheer" by the hill people in India; a word, 

 according to some, meaning " Bark," or " Rind," so conspicuous 

 on old trees ; but, according to others, from its milk or turpen- 

 tine, which it produces in great abundance. It is called 

 " Sulla" by the mountain people from Nepal to Busehur, a term 

 denoting " to spread fragrance," which this tree does to a 

 remarkable extent. On the upper banks of the Jhelum river 

 it is styled by the people " Anunder ;" and throughout Kangara 

 and the eastern hills it is named "Cheel," "Gulla," and "Thansa," 

 or " Thanshing." There are two varieties : one, which has its 

 woody fibre twisted, but open in the grain, and of a white 

 colour, and called " Kutcha" by the natives ; the other, in 

 which the fibres are straight, has reddish and compact wood, 

 and is called " Pucka ;" but this character is not permanent, as 

 sometimes the wood, though white, is compact and straight- 

 fibred. The reddish wood, however, is preferred by the natives, 

 and sold under the name of " Dadar." The twisted kind, being 





