is full of orange groves, whose brilliant green is particularly
conspicuous from above. At the saddle below Mamloo are some jasper
rocks, which are the sandstone altered by basalt. Fossil shells are
recorded to have been found by Dr. M'Lelland* [See a paper on the
geology of the Khasia mountains by Dr. M'Lelland in the "Bengal
Asiatic Society's Journal."] on some of the flats, which he considers
to be raised beaches: but we sought in vain for any evidence of this
theory beyond the pebbles, whose rounding we attributed to the action
of superficial streams.

It is extremely difficult to give within the limits of this narrative
any idea of the Khasia flora, which is, in extent and number of fine
plants, the richest in India, and probably in all Asia. We collected
upwards of 2000 flowering plants within ten miles of the station of
Churra, besides 150 ferns, and a profusion of mosses, lichens, and
fungi. This extraordinary exuberance of species is not so much
attributable to the elevation, for the whole Sikkim Himalaya (three
times more elevated) does not contain 500 more flowering plants, and
far fewer ferns, etc.; but to the variety of exposures; namely,
1. the Jheels, 2. the tropical jungles, both in deep, hot, and wet
valleys, and on drier slopes; 3. the rocks; 4. the bleak table-lands
and stony soils; 5. the moor-like uplands, naked and exposed, where
many species and genera appear at 5000 to 6000 feet, which are not
found on the outer ranges of Sikkim under 10,000.* [As _Thalictrum,
Anemone,_ primrose, cowslip, _Tofieldia,_ Yew, Pine, Saxifrage,
_Delphinium, Pedicularis._] In fact, strange as it may appear, owing
to this last cause, the temperate flora descends fully 4000 feet
lower in the latitude of Khasia (25 degrees N.) than in that of
Sikkim (27 degrees N.), though the former is two degrees nearer
the equator.