MITIIUN, A PECULIAR RUMINANT. 



41 



that they dress their hair a la mode Chinoise ; their houses are built 

 on posts, and raised from the ground : they erect forts like the Chinese, 

 and have plenty of fire-locks. They have also abundance of cattle, 

 consisting of about seven kinds, but no Mithuns ; and three sorts of 

 Horses, which alone they use as beasts of burden. Their staple food is 

 Ahoodan. The Mithun of the Mishmees appears to me intermediate 

 to a certain degree between the Bison and the wild Bull ; their head is 

 very fine, and as well as the horns that of a Bull, but their neck and 

 body have, so to say, the same awkward conformation as those of the 

 buffalo. I have not seen a large living one ; the largest head I saw 

 was three feet from tip to tip of the horns, the diameter of the 

 forehead being probably about one- third of the above. 



Nov. 2'2nd. — Returned to Loong Mockh. I cannot reconcile Wil- 

 cox's description of Ghaloom's old site with the reality, because the 

 scenery is decidedly fine, embracing the Tidding, and the (in compa- 

 rison with the near surrounding hills) gigantic Laim-planj-thaya, 

 which from this presents the appearance of a vast cone with a peaked 

 summit. Premsong's village is obviously at a considerable elevation. 

 Found another Acrostichum, a Bolbophyllum, a rare Aristolochia 

 foliis palmatis, 7 lobis, subtus glaucis ; sapor peracerbus, floribus 

 siphonicis. The Huttaya I have not seen : it occurs at a greater dis- 

 tance in the mountains than I have been. In addition to the plants 

 I have gathered, Asplenium nidus is very common. Tradescantia 

 and Camelina both occur ; Ricinus also occurs, the Mishmees do not 

 however put it to any use ; Melica latifolia is common on some of 

 the hills. Anthistiria arundinacea occurs in abundance. Likewise 

 a small Areca and Chloranthus. 



It is at Ghaloom's old site that these hills commence putting on 

 an interesting appearance, those previously seen, excepting however 

 Thuma-thaya, being entirely covered with tree jungle ; but beyond 

 this site, the lower spaces unoccupied by jungle become much more 

 numerous. The Mishmee word for bitter, is Khar. Query — why 

 should not the name of the plant Coptis teeta, be changed to Coptis 

 amara, although .the species of the genus Coptis are probably all 

 bitter ? Sauraussa and Bombax both occur at Ghaloom's, as well 

 as Pentaptera ; Sesamum is used for oil. 



I should have mentioned the top of the hill, surmounted in going 

 immediately from Loong Panee towards Ghaloom's, is occupied 

 almost entirely by a species of Fraxinus. 



On my arrival at Ghaloom's on the 20th, I found that the coolies 



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