Tea in the District of Kangra. 77 
luxuriance, hundreds being five and six feet high, and from 
them, last season, 227 lb. of teas, Pouchong, Souchong, 
and Bohea, were prepared, samples of which have been for- 
warded to Calcutta, for transmission to the Honourable the 
Court of Directors, in order that their quality may be tested 
by the home brokers. In addition to the teas, the nurseries 
yielded about a ton of seeds. The luxuriant growth of the 
plants induced his Lordship, the Governor-General, after 
personal inspection, to sanction the formation of an extensive 
plantation ; and for this purpose, I selected the waste plain 
of Holta, at the base of the Chumba range, in about north 
latitude 32°, and longitude 76° 30’, a large, highly-undulat~- 
ing tract of waste land, bounded on either side by two con- 
siderable streams, the Awa to the east, and the Nigal to 
west, which take their rise to the north in the snows of the 
Chumba range. These rivers completely command the plain ; 
and their waters can, at any time, be made available for irri- 
gation, when adroughty season occurs, and it is deemed ne- 
cessary. 
The plantation is from 3500 to 4000 feet above the level 
of the sea, and its soil consists of a rich black vegetable 
mould, varying in thickness from two feet to six inches, 
which rests. upon a sub-soil of stiff red clay. In this clay 
boulders of granite abound, forming a characteristic mark of 
this valley. These boulders occur of all sizes, varying from 
fifty feet in height, and three hundred feet in circumference, 
to the size of a pea, and in every locality; and to the alkali 
in the felspar which they contain, is owing, in a great mea- 
sure, the fertility of the soil. In all places the drainage is 
good ; the whole land being highly undulating, and dipping 
under an angle, varying from 4° to 25°. The plain (if such 
a term can be applied to a tract of land consisting of a series 
of small hills and valleys, spurs issuing from the Chumba 
range and dipping to the south), is of great extent, almost 
entirely waste, and used by the baeparees for grazing their 
cattle. On it but few trees are met with, consisting of the 
Cheer (Pinus longifolia), oak (Quercus incana), ayer (An- 
dromeda ovalifolia), &c., characteristic of considerable 
altitude, 
