OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



229 



" Kolon" " Kolan" " Kolain" variations of a common Gurh- 

 wal name, are undoubtedly from the same root as " Kelon" the 

 Cedar. P. longifolia is universally distinguished on the hither 

 side of the N.W. Himalaya as " Sulla" " Sullee" wherever 

 the term " Cheel" is appropriated to Pinus excelsa. In Koo- 

 nawur, however, P. longifolia preserves its name " Cheer" 

 " Cheel" with the addition of the indigenous term " Sthee " or 

 " Shthee." In Kumaoon it is known indifferently as Cheer and 

 Sulla, but the latter is considered the proper Khusiya name. 

 " Siyahee-ka- Sulla, Binsur-ka-Ba?ij" the pines of Siyahee, 

 the oaks of Binsur, is an Almorah proverb, of which the point 

 lies rather in the alliteration than in the nature of things. The 

 tree occurs in the greatest perfection and abundance on both 

 mountains, and, indeed, seen from any commanding elevation, 

 outer and central Kumaoon and Gurhwal, north to the Pindur, 

 from 2,500 to 7,000 or 7,200 feet elevation, appear little else 

 than one great forest of Cheer pine, succeeded at that level by 

 oaks. Like our Anglo-Saxon race, it is jealous of the presence 

 of rival colonists ; and these, like so many Celts or Eed Indians, 

 are driven to a distance, or to shady ravines, where the pine 

 does not thrive. 



In a synopsis of the Indian Coniferce, at the end of his Hima- 

 layan Travels, Dr. Hoffmeister gives the limits of P. longifolia 

 at 5,000 and 8,000 feet : but so far as the general line of forest 

 is in question, this is certainly too high ; though a few stunted 

 trees may here and there even exceed that limit by a few hundred 

 feet. As to the error in the lower limit there can be no doubt. 

 Dr. Griffith has already been quoted as fixing it in Bhotan to 

 1,800 — 2,000 feet; in Sikhim, where it only occurs in one 

 place, Dr. Hooker informs me that its upper limit is 2,000 to 

 2,500 feet : the Lepcha name is " Gniet-koong." At Ramesur 

 bridge, on the Surjoo, in eastern Kumaojn, 1,500 feet above the 

 sea, it descends within 100 feet of the river ; and in following 

 the course of the Ganges from Hurdwar to Sreenugur, we first 

 meet it on the floor of the valley at about 1,600 feet, near Seeta- 

 kotee, 8 miles above Deopryag.* Now, though this may be 



u His beauteous tall pines, when the elephants heal 

 By friction on them, the sharp twitching they feel 

 Athwart their big foreheads — a liquor distil 

 Of milky-white hue o'er each fir-covered hill : 

 Whose well-diffused fragrance makes every dark height 

 And table-land pregnant with od'rous delight." 



* Continuing our examination of the Uluknunda and its affluents north- 

 ward, we find Pinus longifolia disappearing between Josheemuth and 

 Pundkesur at about 6,500 feet : on the Mundakinee, it ceases at about the 

 same elevation a little below Goureekoond : a limit of fully 500 feet less 



