KaleeWiat..
Pass, leading from llic Gai
ges to llie Biispa
Harung I'ass, behind Sungla
Between Jaka a:id the Roopln Pass .
I Near Simla
I Mount Jako (highe:
Muhasoo
I Upper limit, u,8oo feet Dr Jamieson, Ll. R. Stracliey. and Mr
CommiMioner liatten.
A spur of Toongnatli, associated with Dr H offnieister.
bus nurindo and below Picea Pin-
Alongthe Beeskooi stream below Deorali
in Joobnl, nearly down to the
I'ubur, opposite Raeengurgh
Between the Shutool Pass and Panwc
Below Cliansoo
Cumnion on the mountains ..
Uppermost Pine, both on north and
sonlh face, reaching to 11,500 feet on
the former and 8500 on the latter
600 feet above Picert H'rbiiami
Associated wilh ihe lowermost specimens
of y/cm Webbiana
Chiefly below Piua Webbiana
7000 and S425 feet above the sea
On the sou ihe rn facc
Reaches 9000 feet
9500 to 10.000 feet
Abounds ac 5500 feet, and here only or
the shaded side of the mountains
Probably its lowest sice; little more
than 5000 feet above tlie sea
Wcstom Thibet
Mountains in lat. 35J'
North of Jellalabad, .ind not e
farther west than the 69' of e
On the northern slope of ihe r
whicli are lofty and inow-dad almost
Ihrousjhout the year
Captain A. Gerard,
Dr Thomson, " West
Major Madden.
Dr GrifTith, " luncrary."
Hooker, "Flora Indica,"
Dr Hooker, " Flora Indicc
and 256, and collection .11
One tiling strikes us in following the above range of this tree, and that is, that it seems, with only one
or two exceptions, to be confined to the southern range or main axis of the Himmalayas. The mam
range runs through or forms the frontier of Bhotan, Nepaul, Gurliwal, Busehur, Simla, Kunawur, Baiti,
Gilgit, Kafiristan, and AfTghanistan, Sikkim, which is a southern parallel branch of the same range, has
no Pinus excelsa. Kumaon, however, does not atflually form j>art of it, but is much nearer it than Sikkim,
and it has the tree in abundance.
The occurrence of the tree near Jellalabad, in Kafiristan, and on the Safed Koh range, south of the
Cabool in Affghanistan, is rightly considered by Dr Hooker a mere continuation of the Himmalayan
distribution. The Himmalaya itself goes no farther west than the mountains of (ailgit, but turns
southward; and it is on this southward extension of that range that the tree is found in Affghanistan,
Pinus cxcclsa is therefore stridly a tree of the main range of the Himmalaya Mountains, a fadt not
without significance when we remember that, according to geologists the two ranges of the Himmalayas
were elevated at different periotls. Its most northern habitat is that in the Gilgit Mountains, in ht. 35!°
N., and its most southern in Bhotan, in lat. 27°, Its highest recorded elevation above the sea is 12,140
feet (at least, that is given by Capt Gerard for the Leem, which is the s.ime tree), and its lowest is
5000 feet, it having been once obseiT-'cd by Dr (}riffidi {op. ciL, jx 231;) in Bhotan, in company with
P. longifolia, as low as 5400 feet.
History.—The first author who drew attention to this si)ecie.s was Dr I'rancis 11
ilton, who
e Pinus
gathered it in 1802, near Narainhetty, and noticetl it in his " Account of Ncpaul" under the name
Sirobus, from which he did not separate it, Dr Wallich ne.\t determined its charaders, and
P. cxcclsa. He brought home many good specimens in various states, .some of which he pla
hands of Mr Lambert, who published it as a new si)ecies in the second edition of his " (kn
amed it
(1 in the
. Pinus,"
under
under the name given to it by Dr Wallich, and the remainder are still in his collcction in the fHissession
of the Linna;an Society, Since then its history is almost ctinfined to the discovery of additional
localities and the ascertainment of its geographical range-
Its Bhotiya name is Lumshing, Lamshing, or Lemshing.
Its Nepaulese name is Deeoshera, Deoologho.see, or Dhoop (words lieionging to the Newarree and
Parbuttee languages).
Its name in Kumaon is R.-esula or Ra:sulla (meaning King of I'irs in the I lindostanee languagej,
Guriiwal „ Cheela, Kuel, Tschir, or Tschil,
Busehur ,, Cheel,
Joobul „ Chceltoo, Chcctoo, Cheeoo,
Simla „ Kyi or Kel, Kael.
Kunawur,, Leem,
Kashmir Kair,
„ Kafiristan,, Piunee.
It was introduced into Britain by Dr Wallich about 1S27, Lamlicrt says, " I have been fortunate
in raising many young plants of this fine spccies, which, however, are still so small that 1 have not yet
ventured to put them out in the open ground ; but 1 have little doubt, considering the great elevation at
which it is found, but that h will prove equally hardy with the Weymouth Pine," His expectation has
been quite borne out, the tree having proved perfectly iiard>-, :ind it is now generally ilistributed throughout
Britain,
Properties and Uses.—The wood is very soft, and consequently in its native countrj' is only used
for building and other economic purposes where better kinds of Pine timber are not procurable. In
Bliotan, however, it is said b>' Capt. , S. Webb to be preferred to every other timber which grows there,
but neither the Deodar nor the Pinus longifolia arc found in Bhotan, In the Western Himmalayas it is
placed next after the Deodar and the Cheer (P. longifolia) for usefulness. It is very resinous, Capt,
Webb says, in a letter quoted by Lambert, that it yields in great quantities a pure and liquid turpentine by
the slightest incision. The coiie has generally also some resinous drops adhering to the tip <if the scales;
but Capt, Webb's remark doubdess applies to the timber, which is, like that of the other \\ eymouth Pines,
white, soft, and easily worked. It is said to be much esteemed in Bu.sehur as fuel for smelting iron. In
Kashmir Baron Ilugel says it is preferred for burning lime.
Major Madden, on the authority of Capt, II. Strachey, says that chips of Pinns (excelsa?) are
importetl from Poldar to Zanskar of Ludakh, where they are used for candles, and called Lashi or cliansliing,
i.e., night wood; and that in Nepaul knots of this, or P. longifolia, arc cut into slips for torches,
called Diyaloo.
Culture.—-\s already said, the tree is perfc6lly hardy in this country-. It also thrives m France.
Germany, Belgium, &c. Professor Orsted includes it among the hardy j)ines in Copenhagen, but Mr
Schubeler does not mention it as one of the forest trees cultivated in Norway and Sweden.
Mr Palmer's tables, of the worst effefls of the cold In this country in i860, give, out of 95, only
fi\'e places where it proved fatal. 11 is abstract is as follows:—
[ " ]