1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 83 



Government of India, informing the President of the despatch of a 

 copy of " A memorandum descriptive of the various tribes of Mysore" 

 by Major Puckle. 



Also the following extracts from a letter from Mr. W. T. Blanford, 

 on the Zoology &c. of Abyssinia. 



Mr. W. T. Blanford writes from Zoulla, Annesley Bay, on the 

 29th January. — 



" My last letter to you was written, I think, on the 7th or 8th. 

 The chief ordered me off to Undril or Mayen to look up the water 

 supply ; so I started on the 10th. I marched by the regular marches ; 

 Koomeylee the first day, 13 miles from this, across the plain, which 

 is sandy, with a peculiar ever-green bush for about 3 or 4 miles, and 

 then stony, over beds of coarse gravel washed from the hills by 

 torrents, till close to Koomeylee. Almost the only tree is a very 

 thorny Acacia, certainly distinct from the e Babul' of India, and very 

 flat on the top, almost mushroom shaped. Besides the long white 

 thorns of the dwarf Acacia of India, it has recurved hooks along the 

 branches. 



" At Koomeylee the hills begin ; all of gneissose and schistose 

 rocks, with, a steady north and south, strike, clipping at low angles to 

 the east. They roll over to the east, and 10 miles up the pass have 

 higher dips ; and thence continue steadily dipping to west or nearly 

 so at angles above 60° up to near Senaffe. There is a very large 

 supply of water at Koomeylee, which, the engineer officer there 

 thinks, is due to a stream running beneath the gravel of the valley 

 forming the pass ; but this can scarcely be, for the temperature of the 

 water is over 90°, and a stream could not, at this time of the year 

 especially, be hotter than the annual mean temperature, which can 

 scarcely exceed 85° at the outside. 



" The second march is up the valley of the Koomeylee stream to- 

 Upper Sooroo. Ten miles from Koomeylee, the valley narrows to a 

 high gorge, with precipitous rocks and running water. This, of 

 course, looks as if water ran beneath the sand under the whole valley ;. 

 and it probably does so to some extent. The scenery in the Sooroo gorge 

 is very fine. All the hills are covered with very thin scattered scrub, 

 chiefly Acacia. In the valley are small patches of jungle, increasing 

 in number above.. 



