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cucumbers, and gourds. Near Tassesudon, the road is lined with 
many different species of the rose, and a few jessamine plants. The 
soil is light, and the hills in many places barren, rocky, and with very 
little verdure. The rock in general laminated and rotten, with many 
small particles of talc in every part of the country, incorporated with 
the stones and soil. Some limestone, and appearance of good chalk. 
Several good and pure springs of water. 
Tassesudon and its neighbourhood abound with all the plants we 
have already mentioned. The hills are chiefly wood, with firs and 
aspen. I have not yet been able to find an oak tree, and the ash is 
seldom to be met with. The elder, holly, bramble, and dog-rose are 
common. Found the birch tree, cypress, yew, and delphinium. Many 
different species of the vaccinium, of which the bilberry is one, and 
the cranberry another. Towards the top of the adjacent mountains, 
met with two plants of the arbutus uva ursi, which is a native of the 
Alps, the most mountainous parts of Scotland, and Canada. 
I have likewise seen a species of the rhubarb plant (rheum undula- 
turn) brought from a distance, and only to be met with near the sum¬ 
mits of hills covered with snow, and where the soil is rocky. The 
true rhubarb (rheum palmatum) is likewise the native of a cold cli¬ 
mate ; and though China supplies us with much of this drug, it is 
known to be the growth of its more northern provinces. Tartary, and 
a part of the Russian dominions. The great difficulty is in drying the 
root. People conversant in that business say, that one hundred pounds 
of fresh root, should not weigh above six pounds and a half, if properly 
dried, and it certainly has been reduced to that. I have seen eighty 
