BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE LAKHIMPUR DISTRICT, ASSAM. 
Brahmaputra (occupying only five days) affords few. facilities for the 
observance of the details of the Flora, but it allows one to note the 
chief features of the country and its vegetation. In my case, unfor- 
tunately, the view was circumscribed by the obscurity caused by the 
haze over the country. 
Up to within a short distance of Gauhati the banks of the river 
are low, and the depressed expanses of sand on either side are 
absolutely bare or are covered with extensive savannahs of tall 
grasses. The scenery is, therefore, extremely monotonous. Forests 
are confined to the mountain ranges seen in the distance and to the 
small peculiarly isolated hills which are scattered throughout Assam. 
The country is well-wooded around Gauhati which lies at the base of 
the northern slopes of the Khasia Hills. Low ranges of hills clothed 
with trees are seen on the opposite side of the river. Again the 
country is botanically poor until we arrive at Tezpur where the valley 
narrows considerably. The undulating hills here bear scrubby vege- 
tation. Further on there are successions of grassy wastes, cultivated 
land and forests now more imposing in appearance and enlivened by 
the white flowers of AIsculus punduana which is very common. 
Towards Dibrugarh the forests are of still greater extent and at 
Sadiya and in the great forest of Makum they ‘seem boundless as 
they sweep through the plain up to the rugged heights of the encir- 
cling Himalayas of whose Natural History in this most interesting 
region we possess but fragmentary knowledge. The increase of 
elevation between Goalpara (150 feet) and Sadiya (440 feet) is only 
290 feet, a remarkable fact when we lake the distance between these 
places into consideration. 
To supplement this meagre account of the Assam Valley^ and 
especially of its lower area, I take the liberty of transcribing the 
excellent remarks concerning the sequence of the vegetation fur- 
nished by Dr. (now Sir Dietrich) Brandis in his “Suggestions regard- 
ing Forest Administration in Assam. He classified the forests and 
waste lands of Assam as follows 
“ Grass lands often with scattered trees (semul, e.g.). 
Second.— Sk\ Forest. 
Third — Forests of sissu and khair with other deciduous trees. 
Fourth, — Mixed forests. Semul {Bombax malabaricum)^ Ster^ 
culia vtllosay Albtssia procera^ Spondias mangifera^ Anthvcephalus 
Cadamba^ Semecarpus Anacardium, Careya arborea^ Dille^tta pen^ 
tiigynay Lager s trie nit a parvijlora, etc. 
Fifth, — Evergreen forests nhich vary exceedingly in different 
parts of the Vijiley. Species of Awoora, Michelia, Maottoltct, Quer* 
