62 CEDKUS. 



the ground. Scales firmly and closely imbricated when young, 

 but deciduous when matured ; broad, thin, smooth, quite entire 

 on the margins, of a rusty-brown colour, and full of resinous 

 matter on the outside, in the shape of numerous transparent 

 tears. Seeds wedge-shaped, soft, and full of turpentine; 

 wings, obovate and membranaceous. 



In the Himalayas the Deodar occupies a great vertical belt 

 or range, flourishing from about 5500 to 12,000 feet of elevation, 

 mixed up for the first 1500 feet with Pinus longifolia, while 

 for the last 3000 or 4000 feet of elevation it accompanies Abies 

 Smithiana and Picca Pindrow. It is found on all the higher 

 mountains from Nepal . up to Cashmere ; and Dr. Griffith 

 describes it as occurring in vast forests and of great size 

 towards Kafiristan, where it is called " Nokhtur," and flourishes 

 at an elevation of from 6000 to 10,000 feet above the sea. But 

 to see the Deodar in its greatest perfection, one must visit the 

 snowy ranges and lofty mountains of the interior, far from the 

 influence of the plains, and where, for nearly half the year, it is ' 

 enveloped in. snow; there, its dimensions become gigantic. In 

 Lower Kamaon there is an extensive forest of very fine trees 

 from 20 to 27 feet in girth ; and Major Madden measured one 

 tree in 1830 which measured 36| feet in circumference fully 

 five feet from the ground; and on a subsequent journey 

 he saw several on the northern declivity of the Booram and 

 Eoopin Passes not under 30 feet in girth, and from 150 to 200 

 feet high. The timber has a peculiar and strong odour, so that 

 no insects will touch it ; the grain is open, straight, not liable 

 to warp, even if in thin boards, and exposed to the weather, 

 and may be considered the best wood of its class in tlie world ; 

 but like all other woods of that class, if cut young it will soou 

 decay when in contact with damp ; but after its timber the 

 most valuable product is its turpentine, which when rubbed on 

 any other kind of timber, renders it less liable to decay and 

 the ravages of vermin. 



The Deodar Cedar is called " Kelon," " Kolan," and " Kolain," 

 in Gurhwal, all Sanscrit variations for Cedar, and its resinous 



