240 Scientific Enquiries in Kumaon. [No. 3. 



From Lieut. R. Strachey, Esq. 

 To J. Thornton, Esq. Secretary to Government, N. W. P. 



Sir, — I have the honor to inform you that, in accordance with the 

 permission granted to me by the Honorable Lieutenant Governor, I left 

 Kumaon on the 4th Ultimo, having then brought to a conclusion my 

 operations in that province. 



In my letter to your address of the 3d April 1849, I explained fully 

 the progress that I had made in my undertaking up to that date, and 

 it will now therefore be only requisite that I should state what has 

 been done in addition since that time, and to submit for the considera- 

 tion of the Honorable Lieutenant Governor, my views as to the plan that 

 should be adopted for the publication of the results of my enquiries. 



The first object to which my attention was directed, the construc- 

 tion of the section of the Himalaya explanatory of its Botanical Geo- 

 graphy, is still of necessity left incomplete ; but the materials for its 

 compilation are very ample, and the additional knowledge that has 

 been acquired by Major Madden and myself during the past year, will 

 be of much value in completing this part of my undertaking. 



The provisional drawings of that part of the line which was best 

 known, to which I referred in my letter above alluded to, were com- 

 pleted and have been submitted to the Honorable Lieutenant Governor. 

 A memoir to accompany and explain these drawings was drawn out by 

 Major Madden, but owing to my not having had any opportunity of 

 conferring with that gentleman on the matter and to my attention having 

 been unavoidably diverted to other objects that came more immediately 

 before me, this paper has not been yet brought into a form suitable 

 for publication. 



The whole of my herbarium which now contains upwards of 2,000 

 species is now on its way to Calcutta, whence it will be sent on to Eng- 

 land. On its arrival there I propose to undertake the comparison of 

 the whole of it with properly named specimens, such as are to be found 

 in the great Botanical collections in Europe, and then to draw out a 

 fresh section with all the care that can be bestowed upon it. 



I should likewise propose to draw out, if it be practicable, a catalogue 

 of all the plants contained in my herbarium. This would form a valu- 

 able index to the Botany of this part of the Himalaya, and in it could 

 be embodied descriptions of new plants, and identifications of synonyms, 



