OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



253 



distance from the plains of Sirhind is 27 to 30 miles. Dr. 

 Royle quotes this mountain amongst others as the location of 

 Picea Pindrow at 10,000 to 12,000 feet, but I do not think it 

 ever much exceeds the former limit, and the fact that there are 

 no pines in Sikhim below this level, will account for Dr. Hooker 

 having missed the Pindrow there. 



Dr. Hoffmeister (p. 501) mentions P. Webbiana at Nagkunda 

 and above Kot-gurh, but I have examined that neighbourhood 

 minutely, and never observed it there, nor even on Huttoo, 

 which rises 1,500 feet higher, and where Betula bhojpatra and 

 Rhododendron lepidotum occur sparingly ; nevertheless, as on 

 the main ranges trees certainly ascend higher and descend lower 

 than on such detached summits as the Choor, it is probable 

 10,000 feet is (a few hundred feet more or less) the lower limit 

 of Abies Webbiana, on the south face of the Himalaya : and that 

 whenever we read of A. densa in Dr. Griffith's Bliotan journey, 

 below this, we may understand the Pindrow to be intended. 

 If the former, and not the spruce fir, be, as I suppose, Gerard's 

 " Khutrow " or " Rooce pine," he fixes its highest limit in 

 lat. 31° 20', at 11,780 feet on the south face of the Himalaya, 

 and at 12,591 on the north ; a near approximation to the 13,000 

 feet assigned by Dr. Griffith for Bhotan. On Doodootolee 

 mountain the Pindrow gives place to Picea Webbiana at about 

 9,700 feet : the same on Toongnath, where the latter ceases 

 with all forest at about 11,200 feet: the temple itself being 

 11,493 feet, and the Chundur Sikhur Peak, immediately above, 

 12,134; as lately determined by Mr. John Strachey : the map, 

 on some insufficient observation, omitted altogether by Captain 

 Webb in his pamphlet of revised heights, gives the temple 9,989 

 only. Near Kolara, on the north face of Pilgwenta {i.e. Pil- 

 coonta hill, map), Picea Webbiana ceases at 1 1,500 or 12,000 

 feet : nor does the Pindrow show itself till we descend at least 

 a thousand feet. " Not one specimen of the fir tribe is to be 

 seen on the way to Kedarnath," says Dr. Hoffmeister, p. 496. 

 This is but partially true, for the Pindrow occurs on the road 

 side below Bheemoodiyar ; while P. Webbiana, though rare, 

 reaches the limit of forest. The deficiency is to be accounted 

 for by the eastern exposure of the route from Goureekoond up- 

 ward : across the river (Kalee Gunga) both species are in abund- 

 ance in their proper zones. 



If sought in its proper zone, P. Webbiana is by no means 

 " one of the rarer species." On the northern side of the Shatool 

 Pass it forms most dense and extensive forests below the birch, 

 at Ating Wodar ; and is even still more magnificent lower 

 down between the Ootulmai Ghatee and Panwee village. On 

 the southern face of Shatool, above Rol, it does not flourish ; 



