292 KHASIA MOUNTAINS. Chap. XXIX. 



moors (elevation, 6000 feet) succeed, covered with stunted 

 pines, brake, and tufts of harsh grasses.* 



Near the Dengship-oong (river), which flows in a narrow 

 valley, is a low dome of gneiss altered by syenite. The pre- 

 valent dip is uniformly south-east, and the strike north-east ; 

 and detached boulders of syenite become more frequent, 

 resting on a red gneiss, full of black garnets, till the descent 

 to the valley of Myrung, one of the most beautiful spots in 

 the Khasia, and a favourite resort, having an excellent 

 bungalow which commands a superb view of the Himalaya \ 

 it is 5,650 feet above the sea, and is placed on the north 

 flank of a very shallow marshy valley, two miles broad, 

 and full of rice cultivation, as are the flat heads of all 

 the little valleys that lead into it. There is a guard 

 here of light infantry, and a little garden, boasting a 

 gardener and some tea-plants, so that we had vegetables 

 during our four visits to the place, on two of which occa- 

 sions we stayed some days. 



From Kala-panee to Myrung, a distance of thirty-two 

 miles, the road does not vary 500 feet above or below 

 the mean level of 5,700 feet, and the physical features 

 are the same throughout, of broad flat-floored, steep-sided 

 valleys, divided by bleak, grassy, tolerably level-topped 

 hills. Beyond Myrung the Khasia mountains slope to 

 the southward in rolling loosely- wooded hills, but the 

 spurs do not dip suddenly till beyond Nunklow, eight miles 

 further north. 



On the south side of the Myrung valley is Nungbree 

 wood, a dense jungle, occupying, like all the other woods, 



* These are principally Andropogon and Brachypodium, amongst which grow 

 yellow Corydalis, Thalictrum, Anemone, Parnassia, Prunella, strawberry, Eupato- 

 rlum, Hypericum, willow, a Polygonum like Bistorta, Osmunda regalis and another 

 species, Lycopodium alplnum, a Senecio like Jacobcea, thistles, Gnaphalium, Gen- 

 tians, Iris, Paris, Sanguisorba and Agrimonia. 



