July, 1850. VIEW FROM CHILLONG. SYONG. 291 



therefore upwards of 340 miles in one direction, and the 

 visible horizon of the observer encircles an area of fully thirty 

 thousand square miles, which is greater than that of Ireland ! 



Scarlet-flowered rhododendron bushes cover the north 

 side of Chillong,* whilst the south is grassy and quite bare; 

 and except some good Orclddece on the trees, there is little 

 to reward the botanist. The rocks appeared to be sand- 

 stone at the summit, but micaceous gneiss all around. 



Continuing northward from Moflong, the road, after five 

 miles, dips into a very broad and shallow flat- floored valley, 

 fully a mile across, which resembles a lake-bed : it is 

 bounded by low hills, and is called " Lanten-tannia," and 

 is bare of aught but long grass and herbs ; amongst these 

 are the large groundsel (Senecio), Bipsacus, Ophelia, and 

 Campanula. On its south flank the micaceous slates strike 

 north-east, and dip north-west, and on the top repose beds, 

 a foot in thickness, of angular water-AVorn gravel, indi- 

 cating an ancient water-level, 400 feet above the floor of 

 the valley. Other smaller lake-beds, in the lateral valleys, 

 are equally evident. 



A beautiful blue-flowered Clitoria creeps over the path, 

 with the ground- raspberry of Dorjiling. From the top a 

 sudden descent of 400 feet leads to another broad flat 

 valley, called "Syong' (elevation, 5,725 feet), in which is 

 a good bungalow, surrounded by hedges of Prinsepia 

 utilis, a common north-west Himalayan plant, only found 

 at 8000 feet in Sikkim. The valley is grassy, but other- 

 wise bare. Beyond this the road passes over low rocky hills, 

 wooded on their north or sheltered flanks only, dividing 

 flat-floored valleys : a red sandy gneiss is the prevalent 

 rock, but boulders of syenite are scattered about. Extensive 



** These skirt a wood of prickly bamboo, in which occur fig, laurel, Aralia, 

 Bcehmeria, Sniilax, Toddalia, wild cinnamon, and three kinds of oak. 



u 2 



