shrub, but disappears at 14,000 feet. The polyanthus grows at 11,000 feet, and has been noticed springing up as fast as the snow melts; buttercups and dandelions have been found at 12,600 feet; and a campanula has been seen in flower at the height of 16,800 feet. The corn grown on these heights, consists chiefly of wheat and barley. The limit of the successful cultivation of wheat, is about 10,000 feet above the sea; of barley, about 13,000 feet; rye and buck wheat do not succeed beyond 11,500 feet. A fine greensward, admirably adapted for pasture, still occurs, but this ceases at 14,600 feet above the sea; after which, the mosses and lichens prevail. The Himalayah Mountains rise very suddenly from the low plains of India, but on the northern side they are flanked by the elevated table-land of Tibet. The different height of the snow-line on the northern and southern sides of this range, has been before mentioned, and also, that this variation has been attributed to the radiation or the reflection of the sun's rays, from the elevated plains of Tibet; the snow-line being thus raised to 16,000 feet on that side, whilst on the Indian side, it does not exceed 12,500 feet. The line of cultivation varies with the snow-line, and it is a remarkable fact, that precisely as the low plains of India are left behind, and the traveller enters the depths of the mountains, does he find this line more elevated. Thus, on the southern flanks of the Himalayah, cultivation nowhere extends above 6000 feet, but within the first passes, it rises to 7000, within the next, to 8000 feet, though in no part it exceeds from 9000 to 10,000 feet, until we arrive at the northern side, where it extends to 13,000 feet above the sea.

The forests of India are on an extensive scale, and include many plants known only as shrubs in our climate, but which there appear as timber trees; among such may be mentioned the rhododendron, "with blossoms red and bright," of which gun-stocks are made, the privet, and a bramble as thick as a stout man's arm. In these forests we likewise meet with many trees greatly resembling our

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own, or which are closely allied to British species, and others which have almost become naturalized in Britain; thus, we find the walnut, ash, hornbeam, weeping willow, which in Nepal attains a magnificent size; and a species of oak, the trunk of which sometimes reaches the height of 80 or 100 feet before the branches spread. In the less elevated plains, however, the vegetation assumes a different character, and a vast number of plants occur, peculiar to warm latitudes, and incapable of thriving in temperate climates. Among these, are the teak (fig. 133), the sandal wood (fig. 115), the tree fern of Nepal, 45 feet in height; the rapidly growing bamboo (fig. 210), whose stems or culms, clothed at the top with copious dark green foliage, frequently exceed 100 feet in height, and which literally constitute forests. The celebrated banyan of India, also, usually called the peepul tree (fig. 93),

Branching so broad and long, that in the ground

The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother tree.

These trees are constantly planted near the Hindoo temples. A banyan tree growing on the banks of the Nerbuddah, is described as covering an immense area, the circumference of the space occupied by the parent tree, and its numerous "daughters," exceeding 2000 feet; 320 large trunks have been counted, and the smaller ones exceed 3000, whilst each of these is continually sending forth branches and pendent roots, to form other trunks. It is said that 7000 men have obtained shelter under this very remarkable tree, or group of trees.

But among the grandest features of Indian scenery, the palm trees stand pre-eminent, including the superb palmyra, or flabelliform palm, the fan palm (fig. 174), thorn-leaved palm (fig. 182), the date palm, and the cocoa-nut palm, which the Hindoos profess to apply to 365 different uses. Whilst the high table-lands of India include the trees of temperate zones, and the carrot, turnip, and radish, rank among their indigenous productions; in the low districts we

meet with the boswellia, which produces gum olibanum; with ginger, nutmeg, and spikenard; sugar cane, cotton, and indigo (fig. 64); the cashew nut, and the elastic gum vine (Urceola elastica), which, as well as some species of fig, affords caoutchouc. The fruit trees also are very numerous, comprising the orange, lemon, lime, shaddock, pomegranate, pine-apple, tamarind, musk melon, water melon, guava, fig, mulberry, rose apple, mangosteen (fig. 28), and mango, the latter valuable tree being in fruit, and rarely failing of producing abundant crops in the hot dry season, (occurring in the months of May and June,) at which period, other vegetables are usually parched up; besides the yet more important plantain (Musa paradisaica), whose graceful form is represented in the accompanying cut.

The flowering plants of India are no less varied than its fruits, and are distinguished for their splendour and beauty. Nothing can exceed the richness of the vegetation during the monsoon. The lakes, and other waters of this region, also abound in many highly curious aquatic plants. Water lilies of various hues are very numerous; and among these, the most remarkable is the Cyamus nelumbo, or sacred bean of India, whose splendid flowers of a full rose colour, are embosomed in leaves of the tenderest green.

Among the animals which more particularly characterize Continental India, may be mentioned the solemn ape, the common Indian monkey, the Asiatic lion, the royal tiger (fig. 13), leopard, panther, cheetah, or hunting leopard (fig. 17), hyæna, wild cat, Indian ichneumon, porcupine, hare, pangolin or manis (fig. 62), called by the natives “the tiled cat," from the scales being arranged like tiles on the roof of a house; the elephant, rhinoceros, wild hog, nylghau (fig. 94), four-horned antelope, sheep, goat, buffalo, and Brahmany bull, with its remarkable hump, which curious appendage, however, this noble animal loses, if employed as a beast of burden. We have seen, whilst considering the northern regions of Europe, that the cow and sheep diminish in size in those high latitudes; a similar effect