NATURALIST IN INDIA. 167 



" Between two meeting hills it bursts away 

 Where roeka and woods o'erhang the turbid stream ; 

 There, gathering triple force, rapid and deep, 

 It boUs, and wheels, and foams, and thunders through." 



We descend from the alluvial plateau and cross a stream, 

 mount the opposite bank, and are soon lost among the pro- 

 fusion of tree and shrub which clothe the mountains to the 

 river's brink. Pursuing the little footpath along the left bank, 

 now wandering through forests of the noble deodar,* anon 

 under the leaves of the wild cherry, the mulberry, wood- 

 apple, or chestnut ; whilst mountain-wards, like a huge wall, 

 the schistose rocks rise hundreds of feet above him. If it is 

 spring he wiU mark the beautiful " forget-me-not " on the path- 

 way, or the gaudy tiger-lily, with its broad, smooth, sagittate 

 leaves. In the gaps of the forest the eye wanders up many a 

 solitary pine-clad glen, where the snow lags long in sheltered 

 portions. Above the wail of the forest the roar of the 

 troubled waters deadens almost every other sound, save the 

 shrill pipe of the blue water-thrush, or the chirp of the chest- 

 nut bellied redstart, as they sport among the rocks. The 

 wUd rose is seen mingling its beautiful flowers with those 

 of the pomegranate, whilst the ivy and many other graceful 

 creepers twine around the trees and adorn the bosky cover. 

 In such situations, among the mulberry-trees laden with 

 their luscious fruit, you may come on a black bear feed- 

 ing. He will not tarry when he sees man, but if suddenly- 

 surprised and hard pressed, often shows fight, and attempts 

 to hug his victim by rearing on his hiud legs, offering 

 at the same time a good aim to the cool-headed sports- 

 man. The right bank of the river rises upwards into wood- 



* " The deodar has not been seen east of Nepal." By some the old 

 familiar cedar of Lebanon is considered an uniisual variety of the Himalayan 

 deodar. (See Hooker's Him. Jowmal.) 



