252 



OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFEBS. 



whatever, not even a straggler ; with very few and rare excep- 

 tions, a dense humid forest extends up to that level." P. longi- 

 Jblia, moreover, occurs only in one place : the statement alone 

 of which facts is sufficient to prove the wonderful difference 

 which must exist between the climate of Sikhim and that of 

 Busehur : analogous in fact to that between Bengal and Sirhind. 

 From Don's Prodromus we learn that it is found on Gosainthan, 

 in Nepal, being there, as in Kumaoon, confined to the Himalaya 

 and its immediate branches ; none of the sub-Himalayan moun- 

 tains being here sufficiently elevated for its growth. It seems 

 to have been first discovered by Captain Webb, in S.E. Gurhwal, 

 near Ramnee, on one of the spurs of the colossal Trisool, be- 

 tween the Pindur and the Uluknunda rivers ; a tract which for 

 the first time has just (June, 1849) been explored by Lieut. 

 Richard Strachey (and in September was visited by myself), 

 who writes to me, that this fir is common on these and on the 

 Pilgwenta ridge, behind Josheemuth, the Pindrow being in- 

 variably some thousand feet below. East of this, towards the 

 sources of the Pindur, Surjoo, Ramgunga, and other rivers in 

 Kumaoon, it is the last fir that occurs, in approaching the gla- 

 ciers in which they rise. In central Gurhwal, we first meet it 

 on the summit of Doodootolee, at a distance of 45 miles from 

 the plains, and still further N.W. on the Tyn or Manma Teeba, 

 30 miles from the plains : in this locality, Moonshee Murdan 

 Alee assures me, that the very remarkable anomaly is exhibited 

 of the Pindrow being entirely absent. Occurring so near as 

 Soorkhunda Devee, and so generally in subordination to Picea 

 Webbiana, the fact is almost incredible, and yet it receives 

 countenance from Dr. Royle's silence in his list of habitats. 

 (Dr. Falconer fully bears out the Moonshee, February, 1850.) 

 Dr. Hoffnieister (p. 497) found Picea Webbiana "shooting up 

 to 150 feet " (and 24 in girth, MS.) along the great spurs S.E. 

 of Reithal, on the Bhagiruthee Ganges ; though in the synopsis, 

 p. 503, 80 feet only are assigned as the height, and by a mani- 

 fest oversight, 6,500 as the inferior limit : his papers were 

 drawn up in haste, and amidst many interruptions ; and from 

 p. 497 it appears likely this last number was intended for Abies 

 Smithiana. I was myself in error in doubting the existence of 

 Picea Webbiana on the Choor mountain, the boundary between 

 Joobul and Sirmour ; it is in abundance on the N.E. side for 

 the last 1,500 or 2,000 feet, commencing nearly where the 

 Pindrow ceases, about the middle zone of Quercas scmecarpi- 

 folia (where snow remains till the middle of May), and accom- 

 panying that oak with Betula bhojpatra and Rhododendron cam- 

 panulatum, nearly to the summit, 12,150 feet, when, however, 

 it is beaten down and starved to a mere straggling bush. The 



