498 
Notes of a trip from Simla to the Spiti Valley. [No. 5, 
At this village I got the skin of the lesser flying squirrel, the fur 
of which is beautifully soft; the larger species I have shot at dusk 
in my own compound in Simla, and both appear pretty generally 
diffused and not rare, though from their crepuscular habits they are 
not often seen. 
2 Qth, Gauger a , 11294 ft. # —This is a mere camping ground, about 
500 feet below the upper limit of trees. Wild thyme and other 
flowers abounded and a species of potentilla, with thicker and more 
downy leaves than that which grows at a lower elevation. Many of 
the plants which occur at high elevation are possessed of an aroma¬ 
tic fragrance and leaves furnished with down, as though to meet the 
increased rigour of the climate. 
27 thy Lipe. —On quitting camp, the road immediately commences to 
ascend, and crosses a pass of some 14000 feet, to which no name is given 
in the map. Wild flowers were growing in great profusion near the 
summit among the rocks, and some way down on the other side birch¬ 
es and rhododendrons. Lipe is situated on the northern bank of a 
considerable stream, which is crossed by means of a wooden bridge. 
A little above Lipe vast beds of river sands and shingles, some 250 
feet thick, are seen reposing on the rocky slopes of the gorge, some 
600 feet above the present level of the river ; and much of the culti¬ 
vated land below the village is on a river terrace which has been 
abandoned by the stream during a comparatively recent period, the 
river having worn for itself a deep channel, almost a rapid, on the 
opposite side. Close to the river are extensive vineyards, but the 
present year has been unfavorable for grapes, especially about Chini 
where the vines have almost entirely failed. About Lipe there was 
better promise of fruit, but it was too early in the season when I was 
there, to get any. 
28 tli, Tabang, 11755 ft. # --A very short march, the road rising con¬ 
siderably from Lipe and crossing a low pass, near the summit of which 
I noticed small rhubarb plants among the furze covering the hill side, 
and also a few straggling cypresses, which certainly ill-deserved the 
poetic epithet of Aerial or lofty cypress, 1 * being little else than mere 
bushes. The camping ground is a mere depression in the bleak hill 
side, above the village. The water of a spring close by was 44°. Not- 
* “Non sine nutanti platano, lentnque sorore 
Flannnati Pkaethontis et aeria cupressu” Catullus Nup. Pel. et Tliet, 
