Feb. 1848. ASCENT OF PARAS-NATH. 21 



trees, which these insects have destroyed. As they work up 

 a tree from the ground, they coat the bark with particles of 

 sand glued together, carrying up this artificial sheath or 

 covered way as they ascend. A clump of bamboos is thus 

 speedily killed ; when the dead stems fall away, leaving the 

 mass of stumps coated with sand, which the action of the 

 weather soon fashions into a cone of earthy matter. 



Ascending again, the path strikes up the hill, through 

 a thick forest of Sal (Vateria robusta) and other trees, 

 spanned with cables of scandent Bauhinia stems. At 

 about 3000 feet above the sea, the vegetation becomes more 

 luxuriant, and by a little stream I collected five species of 

 ferns and some mosses, — all in a dry state, however. Still 

 higher, Clematis, Thalictriim, and an increased number of 

 grasses are seen; with bushes of Verbenacece and Com/posit ce. 

 The white ant apparently does not enter this cooler region. 

 At 3500 feet the vegetation again changes, the trees all 

 become gnarled and scattered ; and as the dampness also 

 increases, more mosses and ferns appear. We emerged 

 from the forest at the foot of the great ridge of rocky peaks, 

 stretching E. and W. three or four miles. Abundance of 

 a species of berberry and an Osbeckia marked the change in 

 the vegetation most decidedly, and were frequent over the 

 whole summit, with coarse grasses, and various bushes. 



At noon we reached the saddle of the crest (alt. 4230 

 feet), where was a small temple, one of five or six which 

 occupy various prominences of the ridge. The wind, 

 N. W., was cold, the temp. 56°. The view was beautiful, 

 but the atmosphere too hazy : to the north were ranges 

 of low wooded hills, and the course of the Barakah and 

 Adji rivers ; to the south lay a flatter country, with lower 

 ranges, and the Damooda river, its all but waterless 

 bed snowy-white from the exposed granite blocks with 



