1836.] 



Notices of Books. 



155 



the growth of plants is proportionate. Perennial roots are protected, 

 while annuals and the herbaceous parts of perennials are destroyed. 

 The character of the vegetation rapidly changes in ascending. The 

 more delicate plants disappear, and the vegetation becomes exclu- 

 sively Alpine. Cultivation ascends, on the south side, only as high 

 as from 9,000 to 10,000 feet : but on the north it is found as high as 

 12,000, though in both cases the crops are frequently cut green. Mag- 

 nificent trees are found above this range ; and far above them again 

 a close sward of highly succulent pasture is every where met with. 

 The prevailing woods are Quercus, pines of many sorts, (especially P. 

 Wehbiana, Deodoara, Excelsa and Morinda,) Rhododendron, Taxus, 

 Betula, Acer, Cerasus and Populus. The smaller trees are species of 

 Juniperus, Salix, and Ribes. The grasses chiefly belong to Agrostis, 

 Poa, Festuca, Bromus and Phleum. Ferns are not common ; but 

 mosses and lichens abound. 



" The striking circumstance above adverted to, of the line of culti- 

 vation and perpetual snow rising higher on the north than on the south 

 side of the Himalayas, is well known : as is also, we believe, the rea- 

 son usually assigned for it, viz., the lofty, yet comparatively level sur- 

 face of the country to the north, from which heat is powerfully radi- 

 ated into the adjoining atmosphere. But Mr. Royle adds the fur- 

 ther fact, that precisely as the burning plains of India are left behind, 

 and the outer passes of the mountains are penetrated, does this effect 

 become progressively apparent. Thus cultivation on the southern 

 flanks of the Himalayas no where rises above 6,000 feet : within the 

 first passes it rises to 7,000; within the next to 8,000, and so on. In 

 part the low level immediately over the plains of India may be attri- 

 buted to a difficulty of irrigating, which is there also found ; but this 

 neither accounts for it altogether, nor can it be considered even a pow- 

 erful cause. 



" Mr. Royle's statements regarding the fauna of the upper region 

 of the Himalayas are extremely few. The range of temperature with- 

 in the jungle district he considers to be from 32° to 105° ; and at 

 6,500 feet elevation, it has been found to be from 27° to 80°, with a 

 medium temperature of 55°. His meteorological observations are 

 not, however, formally given in any of the parts of his work yet pub- 

 lished ; and we shall not now carry our analysis of it further, content 

 with having in the mean time indicated where a vast number ofin« 

 teresting statements regarding a most interesting portion of the globe 

 may be found. 1 ' 



