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Himalayan Journals — Volume 2 by J. D. (Joseph Dalton) Hooker
page 19 of 625 (03%)
the broad terraces of gravel, some of which are upwards of a mile
long, and 200 feet above the stream: they are covered with boulders
of rock, and are generally opposite feeders of the river.]
I especially noticed _Aristolochia saccata,_ which climbs the
loftiest trees, bearing its curious pitcher-shaped flowers near the
ground only; its leaves are said to be good food for cattle.
_Houttuynia,_ a curious herb allied to pepper, grew on the banks,
which, from the profusion of its white flowers, resembled
strawberry-beds; the leaves are eaten by the Lepchas. But the most
magnificent plant of these jungles is _Hodgsonia,_ (a genus I have
dedicated to my friend, Mr. Hodgson), a gigantic climber allied to
the gourd, bearing immense yellowish-white pendulous blossoms, whose
petals have a fringe of buff-coloured curling threads, several inches
long. The fruit is of a rich brown, like a small melon in form, and
contains six large nuts, whose kernels (called "Katior-pot" by the
Lepchas) are eaten. The stem, when cut, discharges water profusely
from whichever end is held downwards. The "Took" (_Hydnocarpus_) is a
beautiful evergreen tree, with tufts of yellow blossoms on the trunk:
its fruit is as large as an orange, and is used to poison fish, while
from the seeds an oil is expressed. Tropical oaks and Terminalias are
the giants of these low forests, the latter especially, having
buttressed trunks, appear truly gigantic; one, of a kind called
"Sung-lok," measured 47 feet in girth, at 5 feet, and 21 at 15 feet
from the ground, and was fully 200 feet high. I could only procure
the leaves by firing a ball into the crown. Some of their trunks lay
smouldering on the ground, emitting a curious smell from the mineral
matter in their ashes, of whose constituents an account will be found
in the Appendix.

Birds are very rare, as is all animal life but insects, and a small
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