38 



MISHMEE MOUNTAINS. 



Yesterday evening I visited Khosha's house, which is of immense 

 length, and considerably longer, though not so high from the ground 

 as Ghaloom's : it is divided into upwards of twenty apartments, on 

 the right hand side of the passage are ranged the skulls of the cat- 

 tle Khosha has killed, including deer and pigs ; on the other side 

 are the domestic utensils, the centre of the floor is occupied by a 

 square earthen space for fire-place : the bamboos, of which the floor 

 is composed being cut away. From the centre of each room over the 

 fire-place, hangs a square ratan sort of tray, from which they hang 

 their meat or any thing requiring smoke ; their cooking utensils are, I 

 believe, confined to one square stone vessel, which appears to answer 

 its purpose remarkably well. The women appear to have no shame ; 

 they expose their breasts openly, which from their dirty habits by no 

 means correspond with the exalted character of the sex. On hills 

 to the N. E. of Khosha's first residence, forests are very visible, 

 descending far down the sides. 



On an open spot a little distance from Premsong's, there is a fine 

 view of the course of the Lohit, and of the more remote (now) snowy 

 ranges. The hills beyond this exactly answer to Wilcox's description, 

 being very high, and all descending as it were unbroken to the Lohit. 



Went out for about two hours over a tolerably level portion of 

 the hill, covered with Artemesia ; found abundance of interesting 

 plants, Crawfurdia campanulacea, a Clematis, Acer, Prunus, Camel- 

 lia axillaris, Cyathea, Myrica, Rhus, Sedgwickia, Polygala, Galium ; 

 and a beautiful very fragrant climbing Composita. 



Great part of the side of the hill is covered with a small 

 hard bamboo, which forms excellent walking sticks. An Urticea 

 foliis peltatis, was among the novelties. The Paeen Panee forms the 

 nearest ravine. The Polygonum, paniculis densissimis, is a certain 

 indication of some elevation. I observed Calamus, and Torenia asia- 

 tica. There is likewise a large Mimoseous plant, which we found in 

 fruit. 



Nov. 15th. — Spent the greater part of the day attempting to reach 

 the summit of Laim-planj-thaya, but my guide did not know the 

 way. We ascended for upwards of four hours, slowly of course, but 

 were still a long way from its summit. The face of the mountain 

 is entirely occupied by woods, with but little underwood. Found 

 abundance of plants, chiefly ferns, only saw 4 Orchideae, of which 2 

 were in flower. The novelties were a Polygonatum, Camellia, and 

 Quercus lamellata. 



