546 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO I789. 



lumboo, prove a descent on that side, which the eye could not detect. This 

 part of the country, being the most elevated, is at all times the coldest; and the 

 snowy mountains, from their heights and bearings, notwithstanding the distance, 

 are certainly those seen from Purnea. The soil on the Thibet side of the moun- 

 tain is sandy, with much gravel and many loose stones. On the road found the 

 aconitum pyreneum, and 2 species of the saxifraga. See a large flock of chowry 

 tailed cattle; their extensive range of pasture seems to make amends for its 

 poverty. 



From Faro to Duina, Sept. 15, pass over an extensive plain, bounded by 

 many small hills, oddly arranged; some of them detached and single, and all 

 seem composed of sand collected in that form, having the plain for their general 

 base. At Duina found a few plots of barley, which they are now cutting down, 

 though green, as despairing of its ripening. The thermometer, at 6 o'clock in 

 the morning below the freezing point, and the ground partially covered with 

 snow. 



Road to Chalu, Sept. 1 6. Continue on the plain ; find 3 springs forcing their 

 way through the ground with violence, and giving rise to a lake many miles in 

 extent, stored with millions of water-fowl and excellent fish. Of the first saw 

 the cygnus, solan geese, many kinds of ducks, pintados, cranes, and gulls of 

 different sorts. The springs of this lake are in great reputation for the cure of 

 most diseases. I examined the water, and found it contain a portion of alum 

 with the selenitic earth. On the banks of the lake I found a crystallization, 

 which proves to be an alkaline salt; it is used by the natives for washing, and 

 answers the purpose as well as pot-ash. The pasture which is impregnated with 

 this salt is greedily sought after by sheep and goats, and proves excellent food for 

 them. The hills are chiefly composed of sand incrusted by the inclemency of 

 the weather and violent winds, seeming at first view composed of freestone. 



Road to Simadar, Sept. 17. Pass a lake still more considerable than the 

 former, with which it communicates by a narrow stream, about 3 miles long. 

 There never was a more barren or unpromising soil; little turf, grass, or vegeta- 

 tion of any sort, except near the lake. See a few huts, mostly in ruins and de- 

 serted. The only grain in this part of the country is barley, which they are 

 cutting down every where green. Pass 2 springs, one of them slightly impreg- 

 nated with alum. They form the principal source of a river, which empties it- 

 self in the Burrampooter near Tissoolumboo. The wind from the eastward of 

 south is now the coldest and most piercing; passing over the snowy mountains 

 and dry sandy desart before described, it comes divested of all vapour or mois- 

 ture, and produces the same effect as the hot dry winds in more southerly situa- 

 tions. Mahogany boxes and furniture, that had withstood the Bengal climate 

 for years, were warped with considerable fissures, and rendered useless. The 



