262 



BOOTAN. 



Observed Rhododendron microphylla on the loftier ground ; very 

 high land, 18,000 feet visible to the south along the course of 

 Tung-chiew, covered with heavy snow : Abies pendula is occasionally 

 a beautiful tree, 100 feet high, and in appearance something like a 

 cedar, the finest occurs at a monastery under a bluff rock, about one 

 and a half mile from Bhoomlungtung on the Tung-chiew; Daphne 

 papyriferas occurred at 9,000 feet. The heaps of earth piled up in 

 the fields before sowing, consist of burnt rubbish, the ashes are 

 subsequently spread out. The manure consists entirely of vegetables : 

 here I find that the pine leaves are piled up, and formed into ma- 

 nure by fermentation. 



March 2nd. — Byagur, the Soobah's house is about 500 feet above 

 us, and is a huge rambling edifice. We are in a village situated in 

 a rather capacious valley, percolated by a large river, twice the size 

 of the Tung-chiew, which is crossed by an ordinary bridge, the river 

 runs close to the hills, which form the left bank, the right is a sort 

 of plain, occupied by wheat cultivation, and which has apparently 

 at a former period, been the bed of the river. In this valley other 

 villages are visible, but they are small, and nothing indicates either 

 fertility or prosperity. The valley is surrounded on all sides by high 

 mountains, those towards Bhoomlungtung being lowest. To the 

 north-east very high land is visible. The ridge which separates us 

 from Tongse is, in the highest parts, certainly 1 2,000 feet, and covered 

 with snow. The people are dirty to an excess. 



Crow, sparrow, Alauda, are the birds here. Saw a fox, an animal 

 of some size, with a beautiful brush. The botany is poor, the hills 

 are clothed with the usual grasses, abundance of Abies pendula. 

 The khets or fields present the old Lamium and Crucifera. The 

 only trees are one of Q. ilecifolia, and one or two of Salix lanata. 



March 3rd — Cycnium is found here, but is put to no use. The 

 crops which are now springing up are very poor, the soil being ex- 

 tremely bad, they are irrigated by means of canals, but terraces are 

 not in use, the ground being too level, the embankments are much 

 smaller than those used in rice cultivation. 



The place is bleak in the extreme, and here, as often on the western 

 face of the Himalaya, at this season a fierce diurnal wind rises 

 directly the sun gets power, which always blows up the ravines or 

 against the streams ; draining these, it dies away towards evening, 

 generally. It is cold in the extreme, and must check vegetation ex- 

 tremely. Syras, common here, as at Bhoomlungtung. 



