[Teemboo to Chupcha:  m291.jpg]

At Diglea we had an opportunity of seeing the mode of building in this part of Bootan; the houses are made of mud, which is trampled and beat down by men, who perform sundry strange evolutions while so employed; the mud is beat down in a frame-work; it is from the different layers formed that the lines seen outside finished houses result.  The mode is slow, but must give great firmness.

May 14th.—­Ascended to the Gylong village, above Chupcha, and then to the naked ridge.  The village may be estimated as being 8,700 or 8,800 feet above the sea, and that part of the ridge to which I ascended as 9,800 or 10,000 feet.  The ascent is uninterrupted up to the village; it winds through a fine fir wood, after diverging from the road to Panga, after that it is quite open, scarcely a shrub being met with until the ridge is surmounted.  On turning to its northern face, woody vegetation becomes pretty abundant, and 500 feet below, woods occur.  This is contrary to what usually happens; the south faces of mountains being supposed to be better wooded than the others, but in Bootan the difference would seem to be due to the piercing winds blowing from south, or up the ravine of the Teemboo.  The scenery was very pretty, both in the woods before reaching the village, and from the ridge:  vast quantities of snow visible to the north and north-east.  I ascended to within 1,000 feet of snow, and I think that at this season, an elevation of 11,000 feet is required in open places to secure the presence of snow:  it is obvious that local circumstances, such as shelter, etc. may cause it to descend nearly to 9,000 feet, and it is as obvious that snow will descend lower down a mountain of 15,000 feet high than one of 12,000; the difference in the beds of snow causing a greater reduction of temperature in the one than in the other.  In an isolated mountain, an elevation of 11,000 feet will be required for the presence of snow in May.

At 8,000 feet, Baptisia, Viburnum canum, Umbellifera toxicaria, Colquhounia, Deutzia, the Symphoria of Teemboo.

At 8,200 feet, Salix, Abies spinulosa straggling, Rhododendron microphylla commences, the bruised has a terebenthaceous odour, Ilex, Gaultheria flexuosa, Parus major:  variegated shortwing, Papilio machaonires.

At 8,300 feet, Saxifraga ligularis.

At 8,400 to 8,500 feet, Limonia, Viburnum grandiflorum or canum, Berberis asiatica, Mespilus microphyllus, Populus oblonga, Rhododendron ochrolena, Clematis grata viola lutea,* Epipactis, Hemiphragma.

At 8,700 feet, Rhododendron microphyllum very common, Ribes, Bupleuri sp.,* Rosa fructibus hispidis,* Rubia hispida, Sambucus, Berberis integrifolia, an vero distincta.

At 8,800 feet, Viola pusilla, Fragaria vesca and lutea, Baptisia, Rosa, Sphaerostemma, Clematis grata, Pinus pendula, etc.

At 9,000 feet, commencement of sward, no trees, except stunted shrubs of Pinus pendula, Mespilus microphyllus, Baptisia, Gnaphalium Pedicularis,* Rosa, Bistorta,* leaves with margins not united to the margins of pitchers of Nepenthes and Cephalotus, Pteris aquilina, Prunella, Rhododendron microphyllum, Euphorbia, Taxaxacum, Potentilla, Thymus, Primula Stuartii.