Nov. 18th.—­Found more of the Rafflesiacea on low hills along the Paeen; it was attached to the roots of the same species of Cissus, on which it was found before. {40} I also gathered a Euonymus and a fine Engelhardtia.  The hairs of the fruits of Engelhardtia create a disagreeable itching.  All the Mishmees decline shewing me the road a foot in advance of this place.  I tried every way I could think of, to overcome their objections, but to no purpose.  They have so little regard for truth, that one cannot rely much on what they say:  I begin to think that it is all owing to the Tapan Gam, who I suspected was insincere in his professions.

Nov. 19th.—­Yesterday evening Premsong arrived, he is a man about 35, the best looking of all the Gams:  but has rather a cunning Jewish face.  The brandy I gave him made him at first wonderfully obliging, for he seemed disposed to enter into my views.  This morning however he came with Khosha and Tapan, by whom it was at once obvious that he has been overruled; not only will he not take me to the Lama Dais (plains,) but he won’t even shew me the road to Truesong’s, a Digaroo, whose village is only distant about five days’ journey.  Premsong I know wishes to go, induced by the promise of 200 Rs. but he is afraid of incurring the displeasure of Khosha, etc.  I shall therefore return towards Deeling, and devote a few days to botanising on Thuma-thaya.

Nov. 20th.—­Returned to Ghaloom’s:  gathered the Martynia, finely in flower, and observed the Rafflesiacea along the banks of the Lohit.

Nov. 21st.—­Halted at Ghaloom’s, the Rafflesiacea is found all about, anth. bilocular, apice poro-gemino dehiscent, pollen simplex, materie viscosa cohaerenti, ovula antitropa, tegumento unico.  Made every arrangement with Premsong.  According to this Gam we are to go up the Diree, and then cross over high mountains, leaving the Lohit entirely.  He says the Lamas wear trowsers, socks and shoes, and that they dress their hair a la mode Chinoise; their houses are built on posts, and raised from the ground:  they erect forts like the Chinese, and have plenty of fire-locks.  They have also abundance of cattle, consisting of about seven kinds, but no Mithuns; and three sorts of Horses, which alone they use as beasts of burden.  Their staple food is Ahoodan.  The Mithun of the Mishmees appears to me intermediate to a certain degree between the Bison and the wild Bull; their head is very fine, and as well as the horns that of a Bull, but their neck and body have, so to say, the same awkward conformation as those of the buffalo.  I have not seen a large living one; the largest head I saw was three feet from tip to tip of the horns, the diameter of the forehead being probably about one-third of the above.