Junk 1849. SIKKIM PINES. 45 



of Abies Brunoniana (" Scmadoong ") is like the others in 

 appearance, but is not durable ; its bark is however very 

 useful. The spruce {Abies Smithiana, " Seh ") has also white 

 wood, which is employed for posts and beams.* These 

 are the only pines whose woods are considered very useful ; 

 and it is a curious circumstance that none produce any 

 quantity of resin, turpentine, or pitch ; which may perhaps 

 be accounted for by the humidity of the climate. 



Pinus longi folia (called by the "Lepchas " Gniet-koong," 

 and by the Bhoteeas "Teadong") only grows in low valleys, 

 where better timber is abundant. The weeping blue juni- 

 per (Juniperus recurva, "Deschoo"), and the arboreous 

 black one (called " Tchokpo " f ) yield beautiful wood, like 

 that of the pencil cedar, \ but are comparatively scarce, as 

 is the yew [Taxus baccata, " Tingschi "), whose timber is 

 red. The " Tchenden," or funereal cypress, again, is valued 

 only for the odour of its wood: Pinus excelsa, " Tongschi," 

 though common in Bhotan, is, as I have elsewhere remarked, 

 not found in east Nepal or Sikkim ; the wood is admirable, 

 being durable, close-grained, and so resinous as to be used 

 for flambeaux and candles. 



On the flat were flowering a beautiful magnolia with glo- 

 bular sweet-scented flowers like snow-balls, several balsams, 

 with species of Convattaria, Cotoneaster, Gentian, Spircea, 

 EupJiorbia, Pedicularis, and honeysuckle. On the hill-side 

 were creeping brambles, lovely yellow, purple, pink, and 



* These woods are all soft and loose in grain, compared with their European 

 allies. 



f This I have, vol. i. p. 256, referred to the /. excelsa of the north-west Hima- 

 laya, a plant which under various names is found in many parts of Europe and 

 many parts of Europe and North America ; but since then Dr. Thomson and I 

 have had occasion to compare my Sikkim conifers with the north-west Himalayan 

 ones, and we have found that this Sikkim species is probably new, and that /. 

 excelsa is not found east of Nepal. 



% Also a juniper, from Bermuda (J. Bermudiana). 



