1848.] The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon, 595 



But the glory of the Thakil mountain is its Palm, Chamaerops Mar- 

 tiana, to which it is also indebted for its name ; it commences at about 

 6500 feet, but reaches its perfection in numbers and size towards the 

 summit, where, at about 7800 feet, it occurs, chiefly on the N. W. 

 aspect in clusters and lines, growing from 20 to 30 feet high, with a 

 superb crown of dark fan-shaped leaves, rattling loudly to the breeze. 

 To the Anglo-Indian, who associates the Palm with heat, sea, and level 

 plains, it is startling to meet one thus, growing on the mountains above 

 the Pines ; with, and actually above, the Holly, Maple, Oak, Yew, with 

 beds of Primula at its foot ; it is in botany what in zoology would be 

 the lamb and the lion feeding together. The fact, however, has its 

 parellel in America, where in about 4° north, on the Andes of Quindiu 

 and Tolima, Humboldt discovered the Ceroxylon Andicola at from 5800 

 to 9500 feet elevation. " The association," says this illustrious travel- 

 ler and philosopher, " of Palms and Coniferoe which we have noticed in 

 the coal measures continues through all the succeeding formations, 

 until far into the tertiary period. In the present day, it may almost be 

 said that these families avoid each other's presence." Yet he states 

 that on the western slope of Mexico, Corypha dulcis is mixed up in 

 forests of Pinus Occidentalis. At Dwarahat, elevated 5000 feet above 

 the sea, Phoenix sylvestris flourishes as a large tree, with Pinus longi- 

 folia all around. Baron Humboldt, no doubt from the imperfection of 

 his materials, appears to have had an inadequate idea of the Himalayan 

 palms : he says (Cosmos) " scarcely is a single palm-tree found so fai 

 north as the beautiful vallies of Kumaoon and Nepal." Yet Dr. 

 Griffith enumerates Licuala peltata, Wallichia oblongifolia, Areca gra- 

 cilis, and several more, as natives of the Darjeeling mountains ; others 

 will probably be added to the list whenever the great belt of richly 

 wooded mountains thence to Kumaoon, has been explored ; just now, 

 it is not better known than Timbuctoo. Dr. Griffith distinguished 

 Chamaerops Martiana by its superior stature and yellow fruit from 

 Chamaerops Khasyana, which he describes as a low tree, with blue fruit. 

 The last is that of the Thakil Palm, but the stature of the trees fully 

 equals his measure of Ch. Martiana. If the color of the fruit be taken 

 as the test, we have here this second species of palm, adorning a range 

 8000 feet above the level of the sea ; 4000 feet lower, Phoenix sylves- 

 tris is in abundance ; while, at the base of the mountain, the hot, but 



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