254 Notes of an Excursion to the Pindree Glacier. [March, 



via Moorcroftiana ? Delphium vestitum. At Dooglee, the Potentilla 

 atrosanguinea, " Bhooi-kaphul" commences, and is common towards the 

 glacier, and near the latter only, occurs Aconitum heterophyllum ; 

 " Utees ;" both plants being-common-on Muhasoo at Simlah, at about 

 8500 feet. Are these anomalies of the retreat of the alpine plants and 

 the advance of the temperate ones, in these vallies, to be explained by 

 the fact of their thorough exposure to the sun, from their nearly exact 

 north and south direction ? Amongst the rocks above Dooglee I 

 found a shrub which the people called, from its bright red berries^ 

 <c Dhoor-hank" mountain arum : the Triosteum Himalayanum, I believe ; 

 and if so, the most north-west locality in which it has yet been found. 

 Either from the hardness of my bed and " dampers," or the wild 

 sublimity of the scenery, and perpetual war of the cascades, " deep 

 calling unto deep, at the noise of the waterfalls," finding sleep impos- 

 sible, I passed a good portion of the night in conversation with Ram- 

 singh and his companions* and amongst other things endeavoured to 

 convince them, but without much even apparent effect, of the propriety 

 of eating beef; not all their deference and adulation could make them 

 admit its innocence ! and yet they are well skilled in the most ready 

 flattery. When we first met Ramsingh, we asked him whether he had 

 ever been to Budreenath, and his reply was — " No I why should 1 1 

 you are my Budreenath." Enquiring now a little into his history and the 

 affairs of his village, it soon became too evident that even in these 

 sequestered glens — where one might expect to discover an Arcadia — the 

 very same bad passions are at work as in the netherworld, — envy,hatred^ 

 malice, jealousy ; in short the complete "Black Battalion" of human 

 frailties and passions. If my informant spoke truth, Mulkoo, the Put- 

 waree of Soopee, by the grossest oppression, had despoiled him of house,, 

 lands, and flocks ; while, according to Mulkoo, Ramsingh, by engrossing 

 the glacier as his peculiar property, robs him of his lawful quota of the 

 rewards which accrue from the visiters. Truly of all " the fables of 

 the ancients" that of the Golden age appears to be the most unnatural 

 and incredible. " Croyez-vous, dit Candide, que les hommes se soient 

 tonjours naturellement massacres, comme ils font anjourd'hui ; q'uils 

 aient tonjours ete menteurs, fourbes, perfides, ingrats, brigands, foibles, 

 volages, laches, envieux, gourmands, ivrognes> avares, ambitieux, 

 sanguinaires, calomniateurs, debauches, fanatiques, hypocrites, et sots I 



