1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 83 



(Elensine coracana), cheena (Panicum miliaceum), till (Sesaraum ori- 

 entale), and various species of Phaseolus. Puralee boasts a small bungalow 

 of one room, which is cooler than a tent, but by no means so clean, being 

 infested with almost all the insect plagues of Egypt. 



September 6th. — To Kotkhaee, twelve miles, which we walked in 

 five hours ten minutes. The road lies for three miles or so, up the 

 right bank of the Girree, and then crosses by a good Sanga to the left 

 bank, along which it continues for the rest of the route in a constant 

 and rather wearisome series of ascents, descents, and sinuosities. 

 Kotkhaee, " the Fort of the Fosse," is a picturesque spot at the junction 

 of several streams from the east and north, which first here give the 

 Girree the character of a small reach, about the same size as the Hosilla 

 in Kemaon, and like it rising short of the snowy range. The thermo- 

 meter boils here at 202°, which gives about 6,000 feet elevation, about 

 500 more than is generally allowed to Kotkhaee. An excellent bunga- 

 low of two rooms had just been finished by Mr. Erskine, 150 or 200 

 feet above the left bank of the river. Across the stream, on a precipitous 

 rock at the angle formed by the Girree, and a stream from Huttoo, is 

 " the palace" of the Kotgooroo chief ; it is an emblem of his own mind, 

 being a ruin, which only shines under the brush of the painter. Conse- 

 quent on the imbecility of the chief, the district has long been under 

 British management. A clump of cypress (Cupressus torulosa) grows 

 in the vicinity of the palace ; the other trees are chiefly Kail pine 

 (Pinus excelsa.) On the route to-day I noticed in the corn fields abun- 

 dance of the pretty Hibiscus trionum, for which Dr. Royle goes as far 

 as China. A species of Vicia, resembling V. cracca, is common amongst 

 the thickets. Considerable quantities of iron are smelted at and around 

 Kotkhaee, and conveyed on mules to Simla and the plains. 



September 7th. — To Deorah or Dehrah, about twelve miles, in five and 

 three-quarter hours. Three miles from Kotkhaee the road crosses to the 

 right bank of the Girree, and then leaves the glen to ascend the Shunkun 

 Ghatee, over the high neck joining the Koopur mountain on the SE., with 

 Toombroo and Huttoo on the left. The Pass is probably from 9,000 to 

 9,500 feet above the sea, and on the ascent occur Abies smithiana, Picea 

 pindrow, and in considerable numbers, Populus ciliata : this I find, the 

 natives of the plains invariably mistake for the peepul. If the word 

 populus comes from peepul, it would go to prove that the separation of 



