316 JYNTEA HILLS. Chap. XXX. 



seen elsewhere among the hill tribes of India. It is fast 

 crumbling away, and is covered with tropical plants, and a 

 beautiful white-flowered orchis * grew in the mossy crevices 

 of its stones. 



From Amwee our route lay north-east across the Jyntea 

 hills to Joowye, the hill-capital of the district. The path 

 gradually ascended, dipping into valleys scooped out in the 

 horizontal sandstone down to the basalt ; and boulders of 

 the same rock were scattered about. Fields of rice 

 occupy the bottoms of these valleys, in which were placed 

 gigantic images of men, dressed in rags, and armed with 

 bows and arrows, to scare away the wild elephants ! Slate 

 rocks succeed the sandstone (strike north-east, dip north- 

 west), and with them pines and birch appear, clothing 

 the deep flanks of the Mintadoong valley, which we 

 crossed. 



The situation of Joowye is extremely beautiful : it occu- 

 pies the broken wooded slope of a large open flat valley, 

 dotted with pines ; and consists of an immense number of 

 low thatched cottages, scattered amongst groves of bamboo, 

 and fields of plantain, tobacco, yams, sugar-cane, maize, 

 and rice, surrounded by hedges of bamboo, Colquhounia, and 

 Erythrina. Narrow steep lanes lead amongst these, shaded 

 with oak, birch, Podocarpus, Camellia, and Araliacece ; 

 the larger trees being covered with orchids, climbing palms, 

 Pothos, Scindapsus, pepper, and Gnetum ; while masses of 

 beautiful red and violet balsams grew under every hedge 

 and rock. The latter was of sandstone, overlying highly 

 inclined schists, and afforded magnificent blocks for the 

 natives to rear on end, or make seats of. Some erect stones 



* Diplomeris ; Apostasia also grew in this gulley, with a small A rundina, some 

 beautiful species of Sonerila, and Argostemma. The neighbourhood was very ricli 

 in plants. 



