MEGALITHS 335 
the scenery was splendid, far more beautiful than any part 
of the Himalaya, and much more BraziHan in character ; 
with groves of Areca Palm, fine rocks and a better mixture 
of brushwood and large trees than the complete forest of 
the Sikkim Himalaya presents. The vegetation was quite 
different, everything new to us. 
The outstanding features were the heaviness of the rainfall 
and the abundance of plant hfe. At the very start they filled 
nearly a ream with the plants collected on their walk from 
Punduah before breakfast. 
To Ms Father 
June 21, 1850. 
Scattered Pandani and the wonderful Stonehenge-hke 
tombs of the natives are the arresting objects of the view ; 
the former quite out of the places with which we associate 
their presence ; the latter singularly in harmony with the 
moorland scene, whether as recalling the Druidical remains, 
or the erratic boulders of our own bleak open counties in 
England and Scotland, they are wild uncouth objects. 
Of the weather ' most horrible ' is the term, I beheve, 
for all the time between May and October ; we are con- 
sidered to be singularly fortunate in getting out to any 
distance for seven days out of ten— for the first three it 
rained a deluge ; and then the said clearance comnienced, 
which is unprecedented in the memory of the oldest inhabi- 
tant. 
Thick fog and torrents are the prevailing character, 
the rainfall equalling often in forty-eight hours the whole 
annual English fall. The statements are incredible, and I 
have set up my rain-gauges to see for myself ; it is windy too, 
which is bad for me, as the rain gets on my spectacles and 
stops work ; the damp is of course ruinous. 
With half a dozen collectors at work and three good coal- 
fires burning in the drying bungalow, it was very hard work 
for Hoffman (his servant) and six men to get the plants 
changed and papers dried daily. 
I had no idea [he continues] of the richness and variety 
of the Flora, nor can tjou ever have of the bulk of tropical 
