CLIMATE AND VEGETATION OF THE HIMALAYAS. 
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14,000 feet, will, as I hope, furnish important data. I also made other physical observations, such as, 
on the dew, the radiation, and with the photometer, and I kept a complete register of the wind. 
Botany was always my first care, for I collected, noted the uses, and the local names in the 
Bhothia, Ghorka, and Lepcha languages; and, above all, measurements of altitude, for which the 
barometer or the sextant were constantly in use. 
My collections are very rich from the temperate and sub-arctic zones, where the Rhododendrons form 
woods (!) at 10—12,000 feet, with, and even above some species of Pinus. The Fig ascends to 9000 feet, 
parasitical Orchidece up to 10,000 feet, with Asclepiadeee, Cucurbitaceae, and many others, proving that 
the tropical genera ascend to a greater height in Sikkim than in any other region of the earth, which, in 
my opinion, is greatly owing to the uniformly great elevation of the sub-Himalaya, and, still more, to 
the vicinity of the ocean, and the prevalence of the south-east wind, which passes over the unbroken 
plains of Bengal. Species of Pinus are very rare. Balanophoreae rise to 9000 feet; Palms to nearly 
7000; wild Musa, and Tree-ferns to the same height. 
I think I was tolerably industrious in geological matters. The appearance of the granite, which forms 
the peaks of all the mountains above 20,000 feet, and the astonishing contours of its projections along 
the main chain, and of the slope of every branch of the Kanchain, are wonderfully fine. Perpendicular 
cliffs of stratified rock, 4000 feet thick, of a brilliant red, and contorted in a manner unequalled else¬ 
where, are intersected by gigantic veins of quartz, porphyry, eurite, &c. Isolated mountain masses of mi¬ 
caceous slate and gneiss are piled to a height of 20,000 feet, and all is on a scale of complication and vast¬ 
ness that bids defiance even to recollection. I saw no limestone, no fossils. The whole Himalaya here is 
formed of micaceous and aluminous slate, gneiss, and granite, which, I believe, contains both soda and 
potash. Ores are rare ; some tin, iron, chrome, and much manganese ore. I found no fine minerals, 
no volcanic matters, but one warm spring of pure water. 
I have prepared three sections of the Himalayas, from the crest of the mountain chain to the border 
of the plains, containing physical, geological, meteorological, botanical, and zoological explanations. I 
did nothing in magnetism and electricity. My map is founded on accurate determinations of the la¬ 
titude, with which numerous measurements of the angles of direction have been connected. Watches 
can hardly preserve their regularity in such a country. 
On my return, and after 1 had arranged my collections, I set out, with my good friend Hodgson, to the 
foot of the mountain chain, where we investigated together the botany and geology of the hot valleys of 
Terai, kept a meteorogical journal, and sought out evidences of the water terraces and ledges, which 1 
have now traced from the border of the plains up to a height of 16,000 feet. There I found coal, (not 
workable), and weak traces of the tertiary deposits of the north-west; graphite, non, and lime, deposited 
from springs. The characters of the gradual retraction of the waters from the foot of the chain, are 
beautifully spread out there to a distance of thirty miles from the mountains. 
At present, I am preparing for another trip to the snow region.* The Rajah's opposition, and the 
rainy season will, indeed, oppose obstacles in the way of this new undertaking : but I know the people, 
and like them; and, if I could find Coolies who would venture to cross the passes, though it were only 
four of them, I would certainly measure the Thibet Plain, at the foot of the Kanchain; but Chinese vi¬ 
gilance is unconquerable ; the people, though good and friendly in all other respects, fear their Rajah 
and the Chinese; the former sells families as slaves into Bhotan, on the slightest provocation ; and I can 
only obtain independent people from Bhotan, where they fear neither God nor man, nor—Dr. J. D. 
Hooker, who, nevertheless, would have to share the adventure! I, therefore, cannot undertake any¬ 
thing with such persons. I expect to be absent some months, and hope to carry on a series of me¬ 
teorological observations high up in the passes, simultaneously with those in Darjeeling and Calcutta. 
In the accompanying map I have given the position of the passes approximately; I have sought 
Lachen and Lachoom, the former of which should run out into the plains of Thibet without descent. 
Vexatious as it is, I cannot visit it. I have given up all thoughts of Upper Assam. 
Thomson has been at the Kurakorum Pass, (placed somewhat too far north in your map), the height 
of which amounts to about 18,000 feet. He travelled for three days through a plain, which is 17,500 
feet high, (the same height as that of Pamir), and, probably, forms a prolongation of the great node of 
Kuenlin and Bolor. What a glorious approximation your guess at the height of Chumalari is to 
Waugh’s measurement.f 
* In this trip the Doctor and his friend, Dr. Campbell, were both made prisoners; a fact with which our readers are already 
acquainted, as well as with their release. 
t Alluding to Humboldt’s assertion that the Chumalari could not be 26,COO English feet; it is now found to be only 23,929 
feet high. 
