OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



255 



erect, it is clear the leaves of Abies Smithiana have, by some 

 mistake, crept into the description (written before a reference to 

 the Arboretum Britannicum showed the error to lie in the 

 erect position assigned to the cones of the last). 



As to the value of the silver fir as timber, Captain Webb 

 states, that " the wood even equals in the texture of its grain 

 and in odour the Bermuda cedar," but this requires qualification : 

 Mr. Batten calls it " white and not very good." By the kind- 

 ness of Captain W. Jones, Engineers, I am enabled to annex 

 the results of experiments carried on by him at Almorah on the 

 strength of pine timber, amongst which is the Raisulla, considered 

 to represent P. Webbiana : the fragments fully bear out Mr. 

 Batten's opinion, being white, very soft, rather coarse-grained, 

 and without any odour of Bermuda cedar : the specimens, how- 

 ever, may be Pindrow (known as Raisulla on Bhutkot, the 

 nearest site to Almorah), but this is too closely allied to the 

 silver fir to allow the supposition of much difference in the nature 

 of the timber : and though it were otherwise, the localities of 

 P. Webbiana are too remote and difficult of access to admit 

 its being brought to market, or even much used by the N.W. 

 Himalayan mountaineers. 



The vernacular terms to express Picea Webbiana are, for the 

 most part, identical with those of the Pindrow. It is the Ragha 

 and Rao Ragha of Kumaoon and S.E. Gurhwal ; Chilrow of 

 central Gurhwal and Tiroch ; Morunda of N.W. Gurhwal and 

 the Roopin valley, in Busehur ; Kulrai of Rol ; and a Spun" 

 of Koonawur, under which name it is frequently mentioned in 

 Captain A. Gerard's Journals. On the Choor, my guides called 

 it Kilounta, which appears to be merely a Sanscrit compound 

 ("end of the pine"), to signify the fir-cone, which is properly 

 "ronk" in the Joobul dialect. The observations of Captain 

 A. Gerard, made under favourable circumstances and with 

 excellent instruments, are of much interest generally, but in 

 some cases lose much of their value from the want of precision 

 in the nomenclature, which unfortunately is always the verna- 

 cular. Thus in the account of Koonawur, p. 67, he gives the 

 upper limits of the Khutroiv, 12,000 feet : as the Rai or Ryung 

 (Abies Smithiana) is distinguished in the list there given, I 

 conclude that Picea Pindrow, or rather from the great elevation 

 P. Webbiana is intended. On the north face of the Busehur 

 snowy range he notes (Appendix) the " Khutrow or Rooee " 

 pine at 12,591 feet, and 11,780 in another locality. He further 

 mentions the " Pindrow or Row :" but, on Huttoo, correctly 

 separates " Ro" {Abies Smithiana) from *" Pindrow" His 

 " Rdoo " of Muhasoo, " covered with large creepers" (Hedera 

 and Ampelopsis), is certainly Abies Smithiana, which, on Choor, 



vol. v. t 



