102 OUTER HIMALAYA. CHAr. IV. 



sallow complexion is deceptive as indicating a sickly 

 constitution. They are a mild, inoffensive people, indus- 

 trious for Orientals, living by annually burning the Terai 

 jungle and cultivating the cleared spots ; and, though so 

 sequestered and isolated, they rather court than avoid 

 intercourse with those whites whom they know to be 

 kindly disposed. 



After proceeding some six miles along the gradually 

 ascending path, I came to a considerable stream, cutting 

 its way through stratified gravel, with cliffs on each side 

 fifteen to twenty feet high, here and there covered with 

 ferns, the little Oxalis sensitive*, and other herbs. The road 

 here suddenly ascends a steep gravelly hill, and opens out 

 on a short flat, or spur, from which the Himalaya rise 

 abruptly, clothed with forest from the base : the little 

 bungalow of Punkabaree, my immediate destination, 

 nestled in the woods, crowning a lateral knoll, above 

 which, to east and west, as far as the eye could reach, 

 were range after range of wooded mountains, 6000 to 

 8000 feet high. I here met with the India-rubber tree 

 (Ficus elasticd) ; it abounds in Assam, but this is its 

 western limit. 



From this steppe, the ascent to Punkabaree is sudden 

 and steep, and accompanied with a change in soil and 

 vegetation. The mica slate and clay slate protrude every- 

 where, the former full of garnets. A giant forest replaces 

 the stunted and bushy timber of the Terai Proper; of 

 which the Buabanga and Terminalias form the prevailing 

 trees, with Cedrela and the Gordonia WallichiL Smaller 

 timber and shrubs are innumerable ; a succulent character 

 pervades the bushes and herbs, occasioned by the 

 prevalence of Urticece. Large bamboos rather crest the 

 lulls than court the deeper shade, and of the latter there is 



