1336.] 



Notices of Boohs. 



153 



surface, that the wells are from one to three hundred feet deep j while 

 to theN. E. the alluvial plains of the great Gangetic valley are spread 

 along the foot of the Himalayas, and with the gigantic system of 

 mountains to which they are attached constitute the chief objects of 

 Mr. Royle's research. 



" Their ascent from the sea, in the bay of Bengal, is so gradual and 

 uniform that Saharunpore, nearly at the foot of the Himalayas, where 

 the East India Company has a botanical garden, long under his super- 

 intendence, is only 1,100 feet above the level of Calcutta : and a line 

 drawn between them, through Delhi and Benares, with the ascertain- 

 ed elevation given to it proper to both these places (viz. 800 and 328 

 feet) would be nearly quite straight. The range of temperature at 

 Saharunpore (lat. 30° N.) is from the freezing point in January to 

 105° in June, when the commencement of the rainy season prevents 

 any increase of heat. This range admits of the cultivation of rice, 

 millet, Sorghum vulgare, and tropical grains, as well as of the spring- 

 ing up of many annuals which require heat and moisture ; but the 

 extremes of temperature being far removed from each other in point of 

 time, and the rise and fall being very gradual, a moderate climate is 

 also obtained, from November to the end of March, which allows of 

 the cultivation of wheat, barley, and other European grains, and the 

 existence of species allied to, or identical with those of more temperate 

 regions of the globe. And this double vegetation is a characteristic of 

 an extensive tract of country in this direction. The fruit-trees of tem- 

 perate climates, as the vine, orange, apple, pear, peach, &c, are thus, 

 in particular, found to thrive well in districts of the great plain of 

 India, in which they are in close juxta-position with plants of very 

 different character, and requiring generally a very different soil and 

 climate. 



" In approaching the base of the Himalayas a close jungle is every 

 where met with, and this produces the opposite effect, for by causing 

 shade, moisture, and a less free radiation, it carries tropical plants into 

 a temperature much colder than they would bear under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances. As the jungle becomes short and scrubby, in ascending 

 the mountains, this effect ceases, but not before it produces the appa- 

 rently anomalous circumstance of an equally tropical vegetation being 

 found, at Deyra, at the elevation of 2,000 feet, as at Saharunpore in 

 a somewhat lower latitude, and almost 1,000 feet less elevation. The 

 palms are thus here brought in close contact with many of the 

 hardiest conifer m. 



"After penetrating through the jungle, which with more or less dense- 

 ness rises to 5,000 feet, tropical shrubs entirely disappear ; and from 

 the extreme rapidity of the ascent the zones of different characters of 



