INTRODUCTION 
xlix 
with many of the same shrubs which are there abundant. The 
ridge close to Nagkanda is much drier, and has fewer peculiar 
plants, the resemblance to the Simla flora being there very 
remarkable. 
Since Thomson wrote the foregoing, upwards of fifty years ago, 
considerable changes have taken place, mainly due to the felling 
of timber trees and the clearing of large areas for the cultivation 
of the potato and other crops. 
Mr. J. S. Gamble has kindly supplied the following notes 
descriptive of the conditions a few years ago : — 
The town of Simla occupies the slopes of the peak of Jako, 
8,053 feet, from which radiate three principal spurs : to the west 
the long spur which runs out to the village (bazar) of Boileauganj, 
beyond which is the outlying hill of Jatogh ; to the north the 
Elysium Hill spur, covered with houses, in a forest of white oak 
and rhododendron ; and to the south the spur of Chota Simla. 
Eastwards the slope is precipitous, falling to the village of Sinjoli 
on the main ridge along which, though first through a tunnel, 
passes the chief road into the interior of the mountains. 
The whole of the slopes of these spurs down to a level of 6,000 
feet, and in some valleys still lower, has been acquired by the 
Government from the rulers of the Native States to which the land 
originally belonged, Patiala, Kuenthal, and Koti, and is managed 
by a Municipal Committee who have taken great pains to preserve 
the forest vegetation so that the station of Simla presents a marked 
contrast to the country outside, which is characterised by bare 
grassy slopes with occasional villages and patches of cultivation 
wherever the slope is sufficiently easy to admit of terracing, and 
with patches of forest in ravines and on the steeper hillsides. In 
recent years a considerable improvement has been effected, and 
under the enlightened advice of the Punjab Government, the 
rulers of the adjoining States, and especially the Raja of Patiala, 
have introduced measures of forest conservancy, so that much of 
the formerly destroyed forest is now in process of reconstitution. 
The forest of Simla is now managed under a special working 
plan which aims first at its preservation. The Jako peak and its 
nearer spurs are covered to the north and east chiefly with forests 
of white oak, Quercus incana, through which self-sown deodars are 
constantly endeavouring, if not checked, to push their way. The 
lower slopes and those of the Elysium spur have mixed with the 
oak much Rhododendron arboreum of large size and beautiful 
appearance when in flower, and many specimens of the pretty 
white-flowered Pieris ovalifolia. The western slopes of the Jako 
d 
