Information respecting Botanical Travellers. 121 



otherwise composed of oaks and rhododendrons. At PhuUung they 

 were endeavouring to keep alive the wild indigo of Assam ; a spe- 

 cies of Ruellia, but its appearance showed that it was unsuited to the 

 climate. The country about Tassangsee is picturesque, with large 

 woods of Pinus excelsa, which here has much the habit of a larch ; a 

 few villages are visible on the same side of the KooUong, and a little 

 cultivation. The place is said to be famous for its copper manufac- 

 tures, such for instance as copper caldrons of large dimensions ; but 

 I saw nothing indicating the existence of manufactures, unless it 

 were a small village below the castle, and on the same side of the 

 Koollong, which looked for all the world like the habitation of char- 

 coal burners. Snow was visible on the heights around, and espe- 

 cially on a lofty ridge to the north. We found Tassangsee to be very 

 cold, owing to the violent south or south-east winds ; the thermo- 

 meter however did not fall below 34°. Its elevation is 5270 feet, the 

 vegetation entirely northern, consisting of primroses, violets, willows, 

 oaks, rhododendrons, and pines ; very fine specimens of weeping 

 Cyprus occur near this place. 



Feb. I4th. Snow became plentiful as we approached Sanah. This 

 we foimd to be a ruined village, only containing one habitable house. 

 It is situated on an open sward, surrounded with rich woods of oaks 

 and rhododendrons, yews, bamboos, &c. Its elevation is very nearly 

 8000 feet. 



Feb. I5tk. We started at the break of day, as we had been told 

 that the march was a long and difficult one. We proceeded at first 

 over undulating ground, either with swardy spots, or through ro- 

 mantic lanes ; we then ascended an open grassy knoll, after passing 

 which we came on rather deep snow. The ascent continued steep 

 and uninterrupted until we reached the summit of a ridge 11,000 

 feet high. Although we had been told that each ascent was the last, 

 we found that another ridge was still before us, still steeper than the 

 preceding one, and it was late in the day before we reached its sum- 

 mit, which was found to be nearly 12,500 feet. Above 9500 feet, 

 the height of the summit of the grassy knoll before alluded to, the 

 snow was deep ; above 10,000 feet all the trees were covered with 

 hoar-frost, and icicles were by no means uncommon. The appear- 

 ance of the black pines, which we always met with at great eleva- 

 tions, was rendered very striking by the hoar-frost. Everything 

 looked desolate, scarce a flower was to be seen, and the occasional 

 fall of hail and sleet added to the universal gloom. The descent 

 from the ridge was for the first 1500 feet or thereabout, most steep, 

 chiefly down zigzag paths, that had been built up the faces of pre- 



Ann. Nat. Hist, Vol.5. No. 29. April 1840. k 



