enters a shallow, wild, and beautiful valley, through which it runs
for several miles. The hills on either side are of greenstone capped
by tabular sandstone, immense masses of which have been precipitated
on the floor of the valley, producing a singularly wild and
picturesque scene. In the gloom of the evening it is not difficult
for a fertile imagination to fancy castles and cities cresting the
heights above.* [_Hydrangea_ grows here, with ivy, _Mussoenda,
Pyrua,_ willow, _Viburnum, Parnassia, Anemone, Leycesteria formosa,
Neillia, Rubus, Astilbe,_ rose, _Panax,_ apple, _Bucklandia, Daphne,_
pepper, _Scindapsus, Pierix,_ holly, _Lilium giganteum_ ("Kalang
tatti," Khas.), _Camellia, Elaeocarpus, Buddleia,_ etc. Large bees'
nests hang from the rocks.]

There is some cultivation here of potatoes, and of _Rhysicosia
vestita_ a beautiful purple-flowered leguminous plant, with small
tuberous roots. Beyond this, a high ridge is gained above the valley
of the Boga-panee, the largest river in the Khasia; from this the
Bhotan Himalaya may be seen in clear weather, at the astonishing
distance of from 160 to 200 miles! The vegetation here suddenly
assumes a different aspect, from the quantity of stunted fir-trees
clothing the north side of the valley, which rises very steeply 1000
feet above the river: quite unaccountably, however, not one grows on
the south face. A new oak also appears abundantly; it has leaves like
the English, whose gnarled habit it also assumes.

The descent is very steep, and carried down a slope of greenstone;*
[This greenstone decomposes into a thick bed of red clay; it is much
intersected by fissures or cleavage planes at all angles, whose
surfaces are covered with a shining polished superficial layer; like
the fissures in the cleavage planes of the gneiss granite of