OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



263 



does not give the limit of the cedar, which is here probably 

 under 11,000 feet ; and it is remarkable how the account of the 

 vegetation reaching up to the glacier coincides with what we 

 know of the lower limit (about 12,000 feet) of other Himalayan 

 glaciers, and induces a suspicion that the elevation (13,800 feet) 

 assigned to the Cow's-mouth is too much. 



The gorge of the Jahnuvee or Jad Gunga, the more remote 

 but still cis-Himalayan source of the Bhagiruthee, as far as 

 Neelung, probably 10,500 feet, is, in like manner, " covered in 

 most parts with a forest of cedars," which cease in the next stage 

 upward, Soonam, where no trees grow except a few willows and 

 stunted cypress (more probably juniper). 



S.W. of Gungotree, in Lower Gurhwal, extensive groves of 

 cedar, apparently indigenous, occur on the flanks of Tyn Teeba, 

 as at Oontur village, &c, and it is wild in profusion on 

 Deobun, a fine mountain (9,000 feet) of Jounsar, between the 

 Tons and the Jumna. 



Beyond this to N. W. specification is needless ; the cedar is 

 established alike on the central and the culminating ranges, as 

 far at least as Tezeen in Afghanistan ; here and at Olipoor (or 

 Otipoor) Dr. Griffith (as already cited, Journals, pp. 461, 464, 

 and J. A. S. No. 118, p. 798) was inclined to believe that it 

 ended abruptly : but there is reason to suspect its further exten- 

 sion. Dr. Robertson {Calcutta Journal of Nat. Hist., Oct. 

 1841, p. 330) states, that " various species of pines (Chulghozeh, 

 fyc.) and Cedars are found, along with the oak, elm, ash, and 

 juniper," in the Kohistan of Kabul. This tract was not ex- 

 plored by Dr. Griffith ; but the passes to Bameean, further west, 

 have no forest of any kind ; while the ambiguity of the term 

 cedar in common parlance leaves it doubtful whether Dr. 

 Robertson did not mean the tree juniper of Shawl and Bilo- 

 chistan. The Afghans call the Deodar " Nokhtur" perhaps 

 from its pungent leaves.* 



In Kashmeer, as I understand from Mr. Winterbottom, the 

 cedar abounds on the Peer Punjal and Baramoola mountains, 

 from 5,000 to 8,000 feet ; but is rare on the eastern ranges, the 

 west faces of which are occupied, as usual, chiefly by Picea. 



The N.E. limits of Cedrus deodara are uncertain, but in all 

 probability it never extends beyond the N.E. face of the Hima- 

 laya. According to Dr. Lindley, in the Penny Cyclopedia 



* Much probably remains to be discovered of the Conifera of their 

 country. Lieut. Irwin {J. A. S., November, 1839, p. 898) says, that they 

 " distinguish at least seven kinds " of pine, and notes the districts where 

 they are found, but without any specification except the names Julghozeh 

 and Shout y ; the last (P. longijblia ?) "remarkable for its being so com- 

 bustible, that the natives use it as a torch." 



