240 FLORA INDICA. 



lence of the winds^ which in the Khasia sweep with tremen- 

 dous force over the nearly level hill-tops. 



The flora of the Naga hills is only known by the few notes 

 published in Griffith's journals, as the collections which he 

 made there have not been distributed. Except Liquidambar 

 and Kaulfussia Assamica, Griffith notes no plants as differing 

 from those of the Khasia; the general forms are therefore 

 certainly the same. He especially alludes to the absence of 

 Conifera, of which however a species is said to abound on the 

 hiUs of Manipur, to the southward. Of genera indicating 

 elevation, he mentions Acer, Vaccinia, Daphne, Berberis, 

 Bucklandia, Crawfurdia, Viburnum, and Cyathea, all equally 

 typical of elevation in the Khasia and Eastern Himalaya. 

 At lower levels, Oaks, Gordonia, Camellia, Mesua, Bucklandia, 

 Magnolia, ^sculus, Pandanus, Areca, Caryota, and tree-ferns, 

 are indicated as prevalent forms. 



4. Cachab and Silhet. 



The valley, or rather marshy plain of the river Siirma, which 

 lies to the south of the Khasia mountains, very much resem- 

 bles the Assam valley in its general features. It is an open 

 plain, scarcely raised above the level of the sea, which is three 

 hundred miles distant, and presenting here and there a few 

 scattered hills : below, it expands into the Jheels of Eastern 

 Bengal, and contracts in its upper part, as the spurs of the 

 Tippera and Naga hills encroach upon it, separating fertile 

 plains by narrow ridges covered with dense forest. The moun- 

 tains which skirt this plain on the north nowhere attain an 

 elevation of more than 7000 feet, and those on the south are 

 very low and everywhere covered with dense forest. The cli- 

 mate is the same as that of Bengal and Assam, but more 

 healthy ; the rains are heavy, the winter more mild, and the 

 spring moist and not hot. The rain-faU at Silhet is very 

 great, more than 200 inches having been registered ia one 

 year. At Cachar it is equally heavy. 



The vegetation of the open plains of Silhet is the same as 



