CiiAi'. XXIX. 



SIKKIM. 



513 



but rains commence in May, and continue with little inter- 

 mission until October. The bounding mountains are very 

 lofty, and snow-clad throughout a great part of their extent ; 

 but the central range in Sikkim, which separates the Tista 

 from its great tributary the llangit, is depressed till very far 

 into the interior. The rainy winds have thus free access to 

 the heart of the province. 



The snow-level is at 16,000 feet ; and the mean monthly 

 temperature of the English hill station at Darjeeling, which 

 is 7430 feet above the sea, and in lat. 27° 3' N., is as fol- 

 lows : — 



Darjeeling. 



MONTH. 



January 



February 



March . . 



April 



May 



June 



Mean 

 temperature. 



40 



42 



50-7 



55-9 



57-6 



Gl-2 



MONTH. 



July .. 

 August .. 

 September 

 October . . 

 November 

 December 



Mean 

 temperature. 



61-4 



61-7 



.09-9 



58 



50 



42 



The annual rainfall is 122"2 inches. 



Of course no chinchona-plant would flourish in such a 

 climate ; and in the latitude of 27° it will be necessaiy to 

 seek for suitable sites in much lower situations than in the 

 hill districts of Southern India, which are in corresponding 

 latitudes to those of the chinchona forests. In the Neil- 

 gherries the sites have been selected at the same altitudes as 

 those at which the plants are found in South America, but in 

 the Eastern Himalayas the localities must probably be chosen 

 upwards of a thousand feet lower for each species — the G. 

 Gondaminea and its companions perhaps at 5000, and the 

 G. succirubra between 3000 and 4000 feet. 



2 L 



