1849.] excursion from Darjiling to Tonglu. 433 



May 2\st. — Early this morning we proceeded upwards, our pros- 

 pects more gloomy than ever. The road, still carried up steep ridges* 

 is very slippery, owing to the rain upon the clayey soil, and only passable 

 from the hold afforded by interlacing roots of trees. At 8000 feet some 

 enormous detached masses of micaceous gneiss rise abruptly from the 

 ridge ; these are covered with mosses, ferns, Cyrtandrece and Begonice 

 and creeping Urticece. Such masses occur on all the sharp ridges, and 

 at all elevations, they project awkwardly through the soil, and are 

 strangely confused and distorted in the stratification, down even to the 

 ultimate lamination of the mica, felspar and quartz. They are split 

 and never in situ, generally strangely shattered, and are evidently not 

 the mere exposed top of any continuous rock forming the nucleus of the 

 mountain. The invariably sloping faces of these hills and spurs, never 

 broken into precipices, and never presenting fiats or table-lands, are 

 signs of their internal composition being a shattered mass. A uniformly 

 dipping stratified rock of any extent would, if raised at the angle of 

 the slopes of these hills, present a precipitous face somewhere ; but 

 the ranges of 4 — 8000 ft., ramify and inosculate in all imaginable 

 directions, without presenting a bold face any where near Darjiling. 

 The road cuttings from the plains to the Sanatarium, as well as the 

 landslips, reveal highly inclined continuous strata, all variously distorted 

 and much dislocated, but these are only at the foot of the hills. Above 

 4000 ft. all appears a strangely piled mass of gneiss rocks, with no 

 uniformity of dip. Amongst these the red clay lies deeper or shallower 

 as the masses are so disposed as to retain it or otherwise. 



These rocks are sealed by the roots of trees, and from their summit 

 (7000 ft.) a good view of the surrounding vegetation is seen. The 

 mass of the forest is formed of (1) oak, 3 species of which, q. annulata? 

 with immense lamellated acorns, and leaves sometimes 1 6 inches long, 

 is the noblest in stature and the most abundant. (2) Chestnut. (3) 

 Laurinece, of several species, beautiful forest trees, straight-holed and 

 umbrageous above, chiefly Tetranthera and Cinnamomum. (4) Mag- 

 noliacce, three species of Michelia. Other trees are Pyries, Sauranja, 

 both an erect and climbing species, Olea, Cherry, Birch, Alder, Maple, 

 {Acer), Hydrangea, and one species of Fig, Holly, several Araliaceous 

 trees, Sambucus arborescent Rhododendrons commence here with the 

 R. arboreum, which only occurs at one spot near Darjiling, (Mr. 



