Zones.—In descending from Darjeeling,the zones of vegetation are well marked. At a little below 7000 feet, or between 6000 and 7000, by (1) the oak, cliesnut, and magnolia. (2) Immediatelybelow 6500, the tree-fern appears (Alsophila gigantea, Wall.), a widely-distributed plant, common to the Himalaya from Nepal eastward to the Malay Peninsula, Java, and Ceylon. Of this Dr. Hooker saw but one species in the mountains ; a very similar, or possibly distinct species, grows at the foot of the outer range. (3) Palms; a species of Calanius, the renoul of the Lepchas. The fruit of all the Calami are eaten by the Lepcbas, and the stems of larger species applied to various economic purposes. This, though not a very large species, climbs lofty trees, and extends some 40 yards through the forest; 6500 feet is the upper limit of palms in the Sikkim Himalaya, and one species alone attains so great an elevation. Four pther Calarni range between 1000 and 6000 feet on.the outer hills, some of which are found 40 miles distant from the plains. Among the other palm§ of Sikkim is the Simong, a species of Caryota, which is rare, and ascends to nearly 6000 feet. Firin,g. the forest is so easy in the drier months of the year, that a good deal of cultivation is met with on the spurs at and below 5000 feet, the level most affected by the Lepchas, Limbn, and Sikkim Bhoteas. The mountain slopes are so steep, that these spurs, or little shelves, are the only sites for habitations between the very rare flats on the river banks and the mountain ridges, above 6000 feet, beyond which elevation cultivation is rarely if ever cartied by the natives of Sikkim. The varieties of grain are different, but as many as 8 or 10 kinds are grown without irrig,ation by the Lepchas, and the produce is described as very good (80-fold). Much of this success is due to the great dampness of the climate ; were it not for this, the culture of the grain would probably be abandoned by the Lepchas, who never remain for ruore than three seasons on one spot. A large bamboo (Pao, LEPCHA) is the prevailing plant near the base of these valleys ; it attains a height of 40 to 60 feet, and the culms average in thickness the hinnan thigh ; it is unarmed, deep-green or purplish, and used for large water-vessels. Besides this there are nearly a dozen kinds of bamboo known to the Lepchas and all have been pointed out. A timber of the Himalaya, universally adopted for ploughshares and other purposes requiring a hard wood, is the Singbrang-kun of the Lepchas, which ascends 4000 feet on the moun tains. In very dry soils it is replaced by sal (Aratica robusta), and more rarely by the Pines longifolia. Sterculim, of two species, are common, as Pmderia fcetida, which, as well as many Cucur bitacem, peppers, Gnetum, Porana, a few Con volvulacem, and many Asclepioidem, Iloya, etc., climb high. A troublesome dipterous insect swarms on the banks of the streams ; it is very small, floatincr like a speck before the eye. The bite of this (the Peepsa) leaves a small spot of extravasated blood under the cuticle, very irritating if not opened. A white-flowered rue,
Ruta albiflora, is sometimes cultivated, and very common ; truly wild at elevations of 3000 to 7000 feet ; it is commonly used for all diseases of fowls, mixed with their food. Two species of bamboo, Payong and Praong of the Lepchas, here replace the Pao of the foot of the hills. The former flower abundantly, the culms, 20 feet high, being. wholly a diffuse panicle of inflor escence. The Praong bears a round head of flowers at the apex of the leafy branches.
Timbers.—A thousand feet above Punkabari in the Outer Himalaya, the prevalent timber is gigantic, and scaled by climbing Leguininosm, as the Bauhinia and Robinia which sometimes sheath the trunks or span the 'forest with huge cables joining tree to tree. Their trunks are also clothed with parasitical orchids, and still more beautifully with Pothos (Scindapsus), peppers. Gnetum, vines, convolvulus, and Bignonim. The beauty of the drapery of the Pothos leaves is pre-eminent, whether for the graceful folds the foliage assumes, or for the liveliness of its colour.
From one steppe, the ascent to Punkabari is sudden and steep, and accompanied with a change in soil and vegetation. The mica-slate and clay slate protrude everywhere, the former full of garnets. A giant forest replaces the stunted and bushy timber of the Terai proper ; of which the Duabauga and species of Terminalia form the prevailing trees, with Cedrela and the Gordonia 1VaIlichii. Smaller timber and shrubs are in numerable ; a succulent character pervades the bushes and herbs, occasioned by the prevalence of Urticacefe. Large bamboos rather crest the hills than court the deeper shade ; and of the latter there is abundance, for the torrents cut ft straight, deep, and steep course down tho hill flanks ; the gulleys they traverse are choked with vegetation, and bridged by fallen trees, whose trunks are richly clothed with Dendrobium Pierardi and other epiphytical orchids, with pendulous Lycopodia, and many ferns, Hoya, Seitamineve, and similar types of the hottest and dampest climates. The forest is truly magnificent along the steep moun tain sides. The proportion of deciduous trees is considerable, partly probably due to the abund ance of the Dil!cilia, Cassia, and Sterculia, whose copious fruit is all the more conspicuous from the leatless condition of the plant. The white or lilac blossoms of the convolvulus, like Thunbergia and other Acanthacefe, were the predominant features of the shrubby vegetation, and very handsome. All around, the hills rise steeply 5000 or 6000 feet, clothed in a dense deep-green drip ping forest. Torrents rush down the slopes, their position indicated by the 'dipping of the forest into their beds, or the occasional cloud of spray rising above some more boisterous part of their course.
Trade.—British India is largely independent of all other countries for its supplies from the vege table kingdom.
' The Indian nut alone Is clothing, meat, and trencher, drink and can, Boat, cable, sail, and needle, all in one.' But its imports are also considerable ; in 1882-83, as under :—