PUNKABAREE BUNGALOW AND BASE OF THE HIMALAYA.
cleared spots; and, though so sequestered and isolated,
they rather court than avoid intercourse with those
whites whom they know to he kindly disposed.
After proceeding some six miles along the gradually
ascending path, I came to a considerable stream,
cutting its way through stratified gravel, with cliffs
on each side fifteen to twenty feet high, here and
there covered with ferns, the little Oxalis sensitiva,
and other herbs. The road here suddenly ascends a
steep gravelly hill, and opens out on a short flat, or
spur, from which the Himalaya rise abruptly, clothed
with forest from the base; the little bungalow of
Punkabaree, my immediate destination, nestled in the
woods, crowning a lateral knoll, above which, to east
and west, as far as the eye could reach, were range
after range of wooded mountains, 6000 to 8000 feet
high.
From this steppe, the ascent to Punkabaree is
sudden and steep, and accompanied with a change
in soil and vegetation. A giant forest replaces the
stunted and bushy timber of the Terai Proper; of
which the Duabanga and Terminalias form the prevailing
trees, with Cedrela and the Gordonia Wallichii.
Smaller timber and shrubs are innumerable ; whilst a
succulent character pervades the bushes and herbs,
occasioned by the prevalence of the nettle tribe. Large
bamboos rather crest the hills than court the deeper
shade, and of the latter there is abundance, for the
torrents cut a straight, deep, and steep course down
the hill flanks : the gulleys they traverse are choked
with vegetation and bridged by fallen trees, whose