CHAPTER XXVII. 



Leave Dorjiling for Calcutta — Jung Bahadoor — Dr. Falconer — Improvements in 

 Botanic Gardens — Palmetum — Victoria — Amherstia — Orchids spread by seed 

 — Banyan — Cycas — Importation of American plants in ice — Return to Dorji- 

 ling — Leave with Dr. Thomson for the Khasia mountains — Mahanuddy river 

 — Vegetation of banks — Maldah — Alligators — Rampore-Bauleah — Climate 

 of Ganges — Pubna — Jummul river — Altered course of Burrampooter and 

 Megna — Dacca — Conch shells — Saws — Cotton muslins — Fruit — Vegetation 

 — Elevation — Rose of Bengal — Burrampooter — Delta of Soormah river — Jheels 

 — Soil — Vegetation — Navigation — Mosquitos — Atmospheric pressure — 

 Effects of geological changes — Imbedding of plants — Teelas or islets — 

 Chattuc — Salubrious climate — Rains — Canoes — Pundua — Mr. Harry Inglis — 

 Terrya Ghat — Ascent to Churra — Scenery and vegetation at foot of mountains 

 — Cascades. 



I was chiefly occupied during January and February of 

 1850, in arranging and transmitting my collections to 

 Calcutta, and completing my manuscripts, maps, and sur- 

 veys. My friend Dr. Thomson having joined me here, for 

 the purpose of our spending a year in travelling and bota- 

 nising together, it became necessary to decide on the best 

 field for our pursuits. Bhotan offered the most novelty, 

 but it was inaccessible to Europeans; and we therefore 

 turned our thoughts to Nepal, and failing that, to the 

 Khasia mountains. 



The better to expedite our arrangements, I made a trip 

 to Calcutta in March, where I expected to meet both Lord 

 Dalhousie, on his return from the Straits of Malacca, and 

 Jung Bahadoor (the Nepalese minister), who was then en 

 route as envoy to England. I staid at Government House, 





