May, 1848. FROGS. CONTINUE THE ASCENT. 165 



Wightia : the latter is the most remarkable, and I add a cut 

 of its grasping roots, sketched at our encampment. 



Except for the occasional hooting of an owl, the night 

 was profoundly still during several hours after dark — the 

 cicadas at this season not ascending so high on the moun- 

 tain. A dense mist shrouded every thing, and the rain 

 pattered on the leaves of our hut. At midnight a tree- 

 frog (" Simook," Lepcha) broke the silence with his 

 curious metallic clack, and others quickly joined the 

 chorus, keeping up their strange music till morning. 

 Like many Batrachians, this has a voice singularly unlike 

 that of any other organised creature. The cries of beasts, 

 birds, and insects are all explicable to our senses, and we 

 can recognise most of them as belonging to such or such 

 an order of animal ; but the voices of many frogs are like 

 nothing else, and allied species utter totally dissimilar 

 noises. In some, as this, the sound is like the con- 

 cussion of metals ; in others, of the vibration of wires or 

 cords ; anything but the natural effects of lungs, larynx, 

 and muscles.* 



May 21. — Early this morning we proceeded upwards, 

 our prospect more gloomy than ever. The path, which still 

 lay up steep ridges, Avas very slippery, owing to the rain 

 upon the clayey soil, and was only passable from the hold 

 afforded by interlacing roots of trees. At 8000 feet, some 

 enormous detached masses of micaceous gneiss rose 

 abruptly from the ridge, they were covered with mosses 

 and ferns, and from their summit, 7000 feet, a good view 

 of the surrounding vegetation is obtained. The mass of 

 the forest is formed of: — (1) Three species of oak, of which 

 Q. annulata ? with immense lamellated acorns, and leaves 



* A very common Tasmanian species utters a sound that appears to ring in an 

 underground vaulted chamber, beneath the feet. 



