July, 1849. VEGETATION OF FALUNG PLAINS. 89 



They did not come to maturity this year, as I found 

 on again visiting this spot in October ; but their tops had 

 afforded the poor Tibetans some good vegetables. The 

 mean temperature of the three summer months at Palung 

 is probably about 40°, an element of comparatively little 

 importance in regulating the growth and ripening of 

 vegetables at great elevations in Tibetan climates ; where a 

 warm exposure, the amount of sunshine, and of radiated 

 heat, have a much greater influence. 



During the winter, when these families repair to Kam- 

 bajong, in Tibet, the flocks and herds are all stall-fed, with 

 long grass, cut on the marshy banks of the Yarn. Snow 

 is said to fall five feet deep at that place, chiefly after 

 January ; and it melts in April. 



After tea, I ascended the hills overhanging the Lachen 

 valley, which are very bare and stony ; large flocks of 

 sheep were feeding on them, chiefly upon small tufted 

 sedges, allied to the English Car ex pilidaris, which here 

 forms the greatest part of the pasture : the grass grows 

 mixed with it in small tufts, and is the common Scotch 

 mountain pasture-grass {Festiica ovina). 



On the top of these hills, which, for barrenness, reminded 

 me of the descriptions given of the Siberian steppes, I 

 found, at 17,000 feet elevation, several minute arctic plants, 

 with Rhododendron ?iivale, the most alpine of woody 

 plants. On their sterile slopes grew a curious plant 

 allied to the Cherleria of the Scotch Alps, forming great 

 hemispherical balls on the ground, eight to ten inches 

 across, altogether resembling in habit the curious Balsam- 

 bog [Bolax glebarid) of the Falkland Islands, which grows 

 in very similar scenes.* 



* Arenaria rupifraga, Feuzl. This plant is mentioned by Dr. Thomson ("Travels 

 in Tibet," p. 426) as common in Tibet, as far north as the Karakoram, at an 



