m the forest below, the latter of which continued in
sight for many miles to the northward. Descending
to a valley some ferns were met with, and a more
luxuriant vegetation, especially of the nettle tribe.
Wild bananas formed a beautiful, and to me a novel
feature in the woods.
The conical hills of the white ants were very
abundant. The structure appears to me not an
independent one, but the débris of clumps of bamboos,
or of the trunks of large trees, which these insects
have destroyed. As they work up a tree from the
ground, they coat the bark with particles of sand glued
together, carrying up this artificial sheath or covered
way as they ascend. A clump of bamboos is thus
speedily killed; and the dead stems fall away, leaving
the mass of stumps coated with sand, which the action
of the weather soon fashions into a cone of earthy
matter.
Ascending again, the path struck through a thick
forest of Sal (Vateria robusta) and other trees, spanned
with cables of scandent Bauhinia stems. At about
3000 feet above the sea, the vegetation became more
luxuriant, and by a little stream I collected five species
of ferns and some mosses,—all in a dry state, however.
The white ant apparently does not enter this cooler
region. At 3500 feet the vegetation again changed,
the trees all becoming gnarled and scattered ; and as
the dampness also increased, more mosses and ferns
appeared. We emerged from the forest at the foot of
the great ridge of rocky peaks, stretching E. and W.
three or four miles. Abundance of a species of
berberry and an Osbeckia marked the change in the
vegetation most decidedly, which were frequent over
the whole summit, with coarse grasses, and various
bushes.
At noon we reached the saddle of the crest (alt.
4230 feet), where was a small temple, one of five or six
which occupy various prominences of the ridge. The
wind, N. W., was cold, the temp. 56°. The atmosphere
was unfortunately hazy, nevertheless the view was
beautiful. To the north were ranges of low wooded
hills, and the course of the Barakah and Adji rivers;
to the south lay a more level country, with lower ranges,
and the Damooda river, its all but waterless bed snowy-
white from the exposed granite blocks with which its
course is strewn. East and west rose several sharp
ridges of the mountain itself; the western considerably
the highest. Immediately below, the mountain flanks
appeared clothed with impenetrable forest, here and
there interrupted by rocky eminences; while to the
north the grand trunk-road crossed the plains, like a
white thread, as straight as an arrow, spanning the beds
of the mountain torrents with picturesque bridges.
On the south side the vegetation was more luxuriant
than on the north, though, from the heat of the sun,
the reverse might have been expected. This is owing
partly to the curve taken by the ridge being open to
the south, and partly to the winds from that quarter
being the moist ones. Accordingly, trees which I had
left 3000 feet below on the north flank, here ascended
to near the summit, such as figs and bananas. A shortstemmed
palm was tolerably abundant, and a small