on the spur which forms its western boundary. This
ridge is crossed close to the point where it is given off
by the main range, and the road, winding round its most
projecting part, enters a fir-wood, and, turning back very
abruptly in an opposite direction, proceeds eastward
along the northern face of the Kussowlee range.
The plainward face of this range, along which the
road from Kalka ascends, is quite devoid of forest. The
lower part is covered with scattered jungle, to use a most
expressive Indian word, of small shrubs, almost all of forms
common in the plains. Carissa and Adhatoda are the
most common, with RotUera tinctoria, a plant which does
not extend far into the plains, and a scandent leguminous
shrub, apparently a species of Mucuna. Around the few
houses which occur on the ascent, the bamboo occurs
planted, as well as the mango, and other common cultivated
trees of the Indian plains. At an elevation of
about 4000 feet, an alteration in the vegetation begins
to be perceptible. The thin jungle of plain shrubs disappears,
the few shrubs which still occur, are generally
scattered bushes of Hamiltonia, Nyctanthes, Prinsepia,
Scutellaria, and Rubus, but the slopes are usually bare
and grassy. Ferns and mosses appear in the crevices of
the rocks, and the first individuals of those species which
predominate in the temperate zone, are found in shady
spots where they are sheltered from the sun. At the
same elevation Euphorbiapentagona makes its appearance.
This tree, which is confined to the hottest and driest
slopes of the Himalaya, is remarkable for its peculiar
shape, its thick fleshy five-angled branches, and its milky
juice. It is nowhere to be met with in the plains of
Upper India, but is common throughout the subtropical
belt of the Himalaya from Kamaon westward.
A glance at the map will serve to show that the great
Himalayan mountain range, dividing the waters of the
Sutlej from those of the Jumna, holds a nearly due east
and west course in its middle part, but that at its western
extremity it bends round to the south, and terminates in
the Indian plain, not far from the town of Nahan, and
that (among many others) the Kussowlee ridge is a branch
from it, running in a north-westerly direction, and separating
the waters of the more western branch of the
Gambar, from the small tributaries of the Gagar, which
find their way to the plains on the left hand.
The ridge upon which the station of Kussowlee is built,
nowhere attains an elevation-exceeding 7000 feet. It is
very narrow, and often rocky and precipitous immediately
below the crest on the plainward face, which dips very
suddenly. The inner slope is somewhat less abrupt, and
is covered from the summit to perhaps 1000 feet below
it, with an open forest of a species of fir (Pinus longi-
folia), which, in general appearance and mode of growth,
much resembles the Scotch fir, but is distinguished by
the very great length of its leaves. The barracks for the
troops and the houses of the residents are scattered over
the northern slope, or perched on the narrow summit of
the ridge.
The shrubby and herbaceous vegetation which occurs
scattered among the fir-wood, is so markedly different
from that which prevails at the base of the mountains,
and during the greater part of the ascent, that the traveller
appears suddenly transported into a new world.