260 



OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFEES. 



The idea, it is true, strictly considered and in its most apparent 

 application, involves a physiological blunder, and is otherwise 

 reprehensible in our eyes ; but the Hindoo was contented with 

 a certain congruity or natural fitness of the outward and visible 

 sign, and is far from participating in our very modern fastidious- 

 ness. It remains to be considered whether the cone of Bacchus, 

 Atys, &c, is not to be interpreted in this Indian sense; the 

 symbol was evidently ancient and widely diffused, and with 

 the lotus (equally mystical in the Hindoo system), is frequently 

 represented on the sculptures recently discovered at Nineveh, 

 and described in the Athenceum. Compare too Gibbon's account 

 of the Syrian deity, selected by Heliogabalus as his chief object 

 of worship. But the example of a Bishop discussing alter- 

 nately tar- water and Plato, can alone justify this and similar 

 digressions. 



The most southern point to which the cedar has yet been 

 traced, is indicated in Captain R. B. Pemberton's report on the 

 Eastern Frontier, where we find that " Cedars of gigantic size 

 crown the summits of the loftier ranges, immediately west of 

 Muneepoor ;" an interesting region, which, with the Singfo 

 mountains S.E. of Assam, carrying the zone of perpetual snow 

 furthest south in Asia, we may hope will be shortly illustrated 

 by the researches of Dr. Hooker. Captain Pemberton's cedar 

 is not absolutely certain ; and some doubt must rest on the Abies 

 or Pinus cedroides of Dr. Griffith, which he describes as common 

 from 7,500 to 9,800 feet on the mountains of Bhotan, a tall 

 handsome tree, with the habit of a cedar, attaining six feet in 

 diameter, and occurring next below Abies densa, {Journals, 

 pp. 245, 265, 266, 273, 276.) Dr. Hooker is inclined to think 

 Abies Brunoniana is intended ; but at p. 246, both are specified, 

 (with the reservation indeed, that A. Brunonis itself was unde- 

 cided,) and towards the end of the Journey, (pp. 276, 277, 286, 

 295,) all doubt seems to have ceased, and it is entered " cedar," 

 without any qualification.* As Captain Pemberton was in 

 company, we may suppose it to be also his Muneepoor tree. 



on the opposite bank, which is 23,900, to say nothing of still loftier points 

 to the southward. The Ruldung or Chhota Kylas Peaks in Koonawur, 

 though reputed a mere chip of the Tibetan mountain, are, in reality, higher, 

 being 21,400. 



* In a letter from Captain Pemberton, printed in the J. A. S., May, 1838, 

 461-2, "cedars" are twice mentioned ; first on the Doonghala Pass, exactly 

 corresponding with Griffith's entry (p. 245) of abundant Abies cedroides ; 

 and next on the Rodoola Pass (pp. 257 to 259, inadvertently headed Dhong- 

 laila Pass), where the Journals mention no pines but Abies pendula, spinu- 

 losa, and densa. Nevertheless Dr. Hooker informs me, that Bhotiyas who 

 have seen the Deodar in the Darjeeling gardens do not recognize it, which 

 strongly militates against the supposition of its being indigenous to their 



