PINETUM DANICUM. 



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journey he saw several on tlie northern dechvity of the Booram and 

 Roopin Passes not under 30 feet in girth, and from 150 to 200 feet 

 high. The timber has a peculiar and strong odour, so that no insects 

 will touch it ; the grain is open, straight, not liable to warp, even if 

 in thin boards and exposed to the weather, and may be considered 

 the best wood of its class in the world ; but, like all other woods of 

 that class, if cut young it will soon decay v/hen in contact with damp. 

 Next to its timber, the most valuable product is its turpentine, which 

 when rubbed on any other kind of timber renders it less liable to 

 decay and the ravages of vermin. 



The Deodar Cedar is called "Kelon," "Kolan," and " Kolain " 

 in Gurhwal, all Sanscrit variations for Cedar and its resinous products. 

 In Kunawur it is known as the " Kelmung" by the Arian population, 

 and about Simla as that of " Keloo," " Kelou," and "Keoulee," all 

 vernacular terms for resin or its extracts. The Hindostanee names 

 "Devadaru," "Deodara," and "Dewar" are all derived from 

 *^Deva," or ^'Derva" (deity), and '^daru" (timber or tree), and 

 rendered by Sanskrit writers as "Tree of God," "Spirit-bearer," 

 "Divine tree," and "Lord of Cedars." In Kafiristan the tree is 

 called " Nokhtur," on account of its prickly or pungent leaves ; and 

 the people of Nepaul , Cashmere, and Persia apply the same names and 

 terms as those used by the hill people in India, and hold it in equal 

 veneration. It has not yet been found in a wild state either in 

 Eastern Nepaul or Sikkim, although these gigantic sons of snoAV fringe 

 the bare rocks and fix their roots where there appears to be very little 

 soil, on the lofty passes from Nepaul to Cashmere ; and, according to 

 Captain Pemberton (in his " Report on the Eastern Frontier"), the 

 most southern point to which the Deodar has yet been traced is the 

 summit of the lofty ranges immediately west of Munipoor, an 

 interesting region, which, with the Singfo Mountains, south-east of 

 Assam, carry the zone of perpetual snow farthest south in India. The 

 Deodar also grows to extraordinary dimensions on all the higher 

 mountains throughout the Western Himalayas, and occurs in vast 

 forests in Kunawur, Kamaon, Kooloo, Mussoorie, and on the Chumbra 

 range in Kangara, at elevations varying from 6,000 to 12,000 feet. 

 At Rashulah, in Kooloo, a forest exists with trees from 18 to 24 feet 

 in girth, at four feet from the ground ; and according to Dr. Jameson, 

 of two trees measured by him near Mulari, in Gurhwal, at an elevation 

 of 11,000 feet, one girthed 26 feet at three feet from the ground, and 

 the other 27 feet ; but, as a general rule, the finest trees always are 

 found growing on the north side of barren mountains, in thin, poor 

 soil, formed from the decomposition of granite, gneiss, mica, or clay- 

 slate. Captain Johnson, in his " Excursion to the Sources of the 

 Jumna," states that the peaks on the northern side of the Boorung 

 Pass were completely hidden by forests of gigantic Deodars, some of 

 which measured 33 feet in circumference, and were from 60 to 70 feet 



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