486 [Assembly 



missioned by the Horticultural Society of London, to travel through 

 China, in order to collect ornamental garden plants. The expectations 

 of all the gardening world, were not disappointed for the adventurous 

 excursions of that traveller have procured for Europe, a considerable 

 number of very interesting plants, some of which, have already become 

 generally cultivated. 



We also published recently an account of one of those fine flower- 

 ing plants, the Weigdia Rosea, now growing abundantly .in the Van 

 Houtte garden, at Ghent. 



But the success of Mr. Fortune, is now greatly eclipsed by that 

 of another traveller Mr. i. Dalton Hooker, who before his voyage to 

 Borneo, which was his principal object, had the idea of making ex- 

 cursions through India, and especially through the immense Himalayan 

 chain, so little explored hitherto by Europeans. We do not know 

 yet what discoveries are reserved for him in Borneo, but we are already 

 sure that those which has he made in the mountains of India, are suffi- 

 cient to secure the glory and the fortune of any collector. They will cer- 

 tainly constitute an epoch in the calendar of Horticulture. If space 

 would permit, we would gladly go into details of a journey so rich in 

 observations of all kinds, peculiarly in ornamental plants, but we are 

 compelled to restrain ourselves to a small number of pages, for we can 

 merely glean among the discoveries of our traveller. 



On leaving Calcutta, he shaped his course directly to the north, and 

 only stopped at Darjeeling, a town situated on the crest of the sub- 

 Himalayan chain, of Sikkim, which is on an elevation of about 6000 

 to 7000 feet above the ocean level. Here the climate is very like 

 that of middle Europe, the result of its elevation and its latitude 27° 

 north. In fact the medium temperature of the year is withjn a trifle 

 the same as that of Paris, but the winter is rather milder ; occasionally 

 snow falls abundantly. Dr. Campbell found the snow deep, three years 

 out of five. We have said Darjeeling is situated on the sub-Hima- 

 laya chain, but we must not confound it with Himalaya, properly so 

 called, which is situated a little farther north. The heights which 

 surround Darjeeling, those colossal mountains showing all their gran- 

 deur — nothing can convey to others the sensations of the traveller, 



