DEHRA 219 



possesses a climate in which the vegetation of the 

 tropics and some of that of the temperate regions can 

 equally flourish. Rice, sugarcane, wheat, and red 

 pepper are cultivated in the fields, while the rose and 

 the white raspberry grow wild in the hedges. The 

 mango tree attains a height and girth unknown 

 elsewhere ; and on the slopes of the mountains are 

 to be found the walnut tree and the wild apricot. In 

 the spring-time the fields near the forests are literally 

 carpeted with a flower much resembling the English 

 primrose, but larger and of a richer and more brilliant 

 yellow. 



The town of Dehra is ideally pretty. The grass 

 huts of former days have given place to the neatest 

 of houses. Many of them are gaily painted, and most 

 are coated with the beautiful white Indian chunam. A 

 canal of mountain water flows along the principal 

 street, falling at intervals in miniature cascades. On 

 the east of the town there extends a grove of mango 

 trees, reputed to be the most extensive in Upper India ; 

 it is said to have consisted originally of no less than 

 a tenth of a million of trees, and on that account is 

 known as the " Laci Bagh," or grove of one hundred 

 thousand ; but of the correctness of this tradition I 

 was always a little doubtful. 



Within the town itself there is a smaller grove ; it 

 surrounds the tomb of his Holiness the Gooroo Nanuck. 

 The white dome of the tomb, rising above the trees, 

 contrasts most pleasingly with their deep green foliage. 

 Close adjoining the town, on the north, are the canton- 

 ments and the English station, with its white houses 



