Extensive moors succeed, covered with stunted pines,
brake, and tufts of harsh grasses.
We descended to the valley of Myrung, one of the
most beautiful spots in the Khasia, and a favourite
resort, having a superb view of the Himalaya: it
is two miles broad, and full of rice cultivation. There
is a guard here of light infantry, and a little garden,
boasting a gardener and some tea-plants, so that
we had vegetables during our four visits to the place,
on two of which occasions we stayed some days.
From Kala-panee to Myrung, a distance of thirty-
two miles, the road does not vary 500 feet above
or below the mean level of 5,700 feet, and the features
are the same throughout, of broad flat-floored, steepsided
valleys, divided by bleak, grassy, tolerably level-
topped hills.
We twice visited a very remarkable hill, called
Kollong, which rises as a dome of granite, 5,400 feet
high, ten or twelve miles north-west of Myrung, and
conspicuous from all directions. The path to it strikes
westerly along the shallow valley of Monai, in which is
a village, and much cultivation. Near this there
is a large square stockade, formed of tall bamboos
placed close together, very like a New Zealand “ P a ; ”
indeed, the whole country much recals the grassy
clay hills, marshy valleys, and bushy ridges of the
Bay of Islands.
The hills on either side are sometimes dotted with
pine-woods, sometimes conical and bare, with small
elumps of pines on the summit only; while in other
places are broad tracts containing nothing but young
trees, resembling plantations, but which, I was assured,
are not planted; on the other hand, however, it is
stated that the natives do plant fir-trees, especially
near the iron forges, which give employment to all the
people of Monai.
All the streams rise in flat marshy depressions
amongst the hills with which the whole country is
covered ; rock is hardly anywhere seen, except in
the immediate vicinity of Kollong, where are many
scattered boulders of gneiss, of which are made the
broad stone slabs, placed as seats, and the other
erections of this singular people. We repeatedly
remarked cones of earth, clay, and pebbles, about
twelve feet high, upon the hills, which appeared to be
artificial, but of which the natives could give no
explanation. Wild apple and birch are common trees,
but there is little jungle, except in the hollows, and on
the north slopes of the higher hills. Coarse long
grass, with bushes of Labiate and Composite plants,
are the prevalent features.
Kollong rock is a steep dome of red granite,
accessible from the north and east, but almost perpendicular
to the southward. The elevation is 400
feet above the mean level of the surrounding ridges,
and 700 above the bottom of the valleys. The south
or steepest side is encumbered with enormous detached
blocks, while the north is clothed with a dense forest,
containing scarlet tree-rhododendrons and oaks; on
its skirts grew a white bushy rhododendron, which
we found nowhere else. The top was covered with
matted mosses, lichens, Lycopodiums, and ferns,