314 JYNTEA HILLS. Chap. XXX. 



We crossed the river* twice, proceeding south-west to 

 Mooshye, a village placed on an isolated, flat-topped, and 

 very steep-sided hill, 4,863 feet above the sea, and perhaps 

 3,500 above the Oongkot, which winds round its base. A 

 very steep path led up slate rocks to the top (which was of 

 sandstone), where there is a stockaded guard-house, once 

 occupied by British troops, of which we took possession. 

 A Labiate plant (Mesona WaUicldand) grew on the ascent, 

 whose braised leaves smelt as strongly of patchouli, as 

 do those of the plant producing that perfume, to which it 

 is closely allied. The P'oga&temon Patchouli has been said 

 to occur in these parts of India, but we never met with it, 

 and doubt the accuracy of the statement. It is a native of 

 the Malay peninsula, whence the leaves are imported into 

 Bengal, and so to Europe. 



The summit commands a fine view northward of some 

 Himalayan peaks, and southwards of the broad valley of the 

 Oongkot, which is level, and bounded by steep and pre- 

 cipitous hills, with flat tops. On the 25th we left Mooshye 

 for Ainwee in Jyntea, which lies to the south-east. We 

 descended by steps cut in the sandstone, and fording the 

 Oongkot, climbed the hills on its east side, along the 

 grassy tops of which we continued, at an elevation of 4,000 

 feet. Marshy flats intersect the hills, to which wild ele- 

 phants sometimes .ascend, doing much damage to the rice 



* Podostemon grew on the stones at the bottom : it is a remarkable water- 

 plant, resembling a liver- wort in its mode of growth. Several species occur at 

 different elevations in the Khasia, and appear only in autumn, when they often 

 carpet the bottom of the streams with green. In spring and summer no traces 

 of them are seen ; and it is difficult to conceive what becomes of the seeds in 

 the interval, and how these, which are well known, and have no apparent 

 provision for the purpose, attach themselves to the smooth rocks at the 

 bottom of the torrents. All the kinds flower and ripen their seeds 

 under water ; the stamens and pistil being protected by the closed flower 

 from the wet. This genus does not inhabit the Sikkim rivers, probably owing 

 to the great changes of temperature to which these are subject. 



