Himalayan Journals, vol 2 by J. D. Hooker (great reads TXT) 📖

"Gardeners'

Chronicle," 1852, p. 627, under the name of AEcidium Thomsoni.

This is allied to the Hexenbesen of the German forests, but is a

finer species and quite distinct. _Polyporus oblectans, Geaster

limbatus, Geaster mammosus, Erysiphe taurica, a _Boletus infested with Sepedonium mycophilum, Scleroderma verrucosum, an AEcidium,

and a Uromyces, both on Mulgedium Tataricum, about half-a-dozen Agarics, one at an altitude of 16,000 feet above the Nubra river, a Lycoperdon, and Morchella semilibera, which is eaten in Kashmir, and exported when dry to the plains of India, make up the list

of fungi.

The region of Sikkim is perhaps the most productive in fleshy fungi of any in the world, both as regards numbers and species, and Eastern Nepal and Khasia yield also an abundant harvest. The forms are for

the most part European, though the species are scarcely ever quite

identical. The dimensions of many are truly gigantic, and many

species afford abundant food to the natives. Mixed with European

forms a few more decidedly tropical occur, and amongst those of East Nepal is a Lentinus which has the curious property of staining

every thing which touches it of a deep rhubarb yellow, and is not

exceeded in magnificence by any tropical species. The Polypori are often identical with those of Java, Ceylon, and the Philippine Isles, and the curious Trichocoma paradoxum which was first found by

Junghuhn in Java, and very recently by Dr. Harvey in Ceylon, occurs abundantly on the decayed trunks of laurels, as it does in South

Carolina. The curious genus Mitremyces also is scattered here and there, though not under the American form, but that which occurs in Java. Though Hymenomycetes are so abundant, the Discomycetes and Ascomycetes are comparatively rare, and very few species indeed of Sphoeria were gathered. One curious matter is, that amongst the

very extensive collections which have been made there is scarcely a single new genus. The species moreover in Sikkim are quite different, except in the case of some more or less cosmopolite species from

those of Eastern Nepal and Khasia: scarcely a single Lactarius or Cortinarius for instance occurs in Sikkim, though there are several in Khasia. The genus Boletus through the whole district assumes the most magnificent forms, which are generally very different from

anything in Europe.

APPENDIX C.* [The tables referred to, at v. i. chapter ii, as under Appendix C., will be found under Appendix A.]

ON THE SOILS OF SIKKIM.

There is little variety in the soil throughout Sikkim, and, as far as vegetation is concerned, it may be divided into vegetable mould and stiff clay--each, as they usually occur, remarkably characteristic in composition of such soils. Bog-earth is very rare, nor did I find

peat at any elevation.

The clay is uniformly of great tenacity, and is, I believe, wholly

due to the effect of the atmosphere on crumbling gneiss and other

rocks. It makes excellent bricks, is tenacious, seldom friable, and sometimes accumulated in beds fourteen feet thick, although more

generally only about two feet. In certain localities, beds or narrow seams of pure felspathic clay and layers of vegetable matter occur in it, probably wholly due to local causes. An analysis of that near

Dorjiling gives about 30 per cent. of alumina, the rest being silica, and a fraction of oxide of iron. Lime is wholly unknown as a

constituent of the soil, and only occasionally seen as a stalactitic deposit from a few springs.

A layer of vegetable earth almost invariably covers the clay to the depth of from three to twelve or fourteen inches. It is a very rich black mould, held in its position on the slopes of the hills by the dense vegetation, and accumulated on the banks of small streams to a depth at times of three and four feet. The following is an analysis of an average specimen of the surface-soil of Dorjiling, made for me by my friend C. J. Muller, Esq., of that place:--

a.--DRY EARTH.

Anhydrous 83.84

Water 16.16

------ 100.00

b.--ANHYDROUS EARTH.

Humic acid 3.89

Humine 4.61

Undecomposed vegetable matter 20.98

Peroxide of iron and manganese 7.05

Alumina 8.95

Siliceous matter, insoluble in dilute hydrochloric acid 54.52

Traces of soda and muriatic acid --

------ 100.00

c.--Soluble in water, gr. 1.26 per cent., consisting of soda,

muriatic acid, organic matter, and silica.

The soil from which this example was taken was twelve inches deep; it abounded to the eye in vegetable matter, and was siliceous to the

touch. There were no traces of phosphates or of animal matter, and

doubtful traces of lime and potash. The subsoil of clay gave only 5.7

per cent. of water, and 5.55 of organic matter. The above analysis

was conducted during the rainy month of September, and the sample is an average one of the surface-soil at 6000 to 10,000 feet. There is, I think, little difference anywhere in the soils at this elevation, except where the rock is remarkably micaceous, or where veins of

felspathic granite, by their decomposition, give rise to small beds of kaolin.

APPENDIX D.

(Vol. i., chapter ii.)

AN AURORA SEEN FROM BAROON ON THE EAST BANK OF THE S0ANE RIVER.

Lat. 24 degrees 52 minutes N.; Long. 84 degrees 22 minutes E.;

Alt. 345 feet.

TheE following appearances are as noted in my journal at the time.

They so entirely resembled auroral beams, that I had no hesitation in pronouncing them at the time to be such. This opinion has, however, been dissented from by some meteorologists, who consider that certain facts connected with the geographical distribution of auroras (if I may use the term), are opposed to it. I am well aware of the force of these arguments, which I shall not attempt to controvert; but for the information of those who may be interested in the matter, I may

remark, that I am very familiar with the Aurora borealis in the

northern temperate zone, and during the Antarctic expedition was in the habit of recording in the log-book the appearance presented by

the Aurora australis. The late Mr. Williams, Mr. Haddon, and Mr.

Theobald, who were also witnesses of the appearances on this

occasion, considered it a brilliant display of the aurora.

Feb. 14th, 9 p.m.--Bax. Corr. 29.751; temp. 62 degrees;

D.P. 41.0 degrees; calm, sky clear; moon three-quarters full,

and bright.

Observed about thirty lancet beams rising in the north-west from a

low luminous arch, whose extremes bore W. 20 degrees S., and N. 50

degrees E.; altitude of upper limb of arch 20 degrees, of the lower 8 degrees. The beams crossed the zenith, and converged towards S. 15

degrees E. The extremity of the largest was forked, and extended to 25 degrees above the horizon in the S.E. by S. quarter. The extremity of the centre one bore S. 50 degrees E., and was 45 degrees above the horizon. The western beams approached nearest the southern horizon.

All the beams moved and flashed slowly, occasionally splitting and

forking, fading and brightening; they were brightly defined, though the milky way and zodiacal light could not be discerned, and the

stars and planets, though clearly discernible, were very pale.

At 10 p.m., the luminous appearance was more diffused; upper limb of the arch less defined; no beams crossed the zenith; but occasionally beams appeared there and faded away.

Between 10 and 11, the beams continued to move and replace one

another, as usual in auroras, but disappeared from the south-east

quarter, and became broader in the northern hemisphere; the longest beams were near the north and north-east horizon.

At half-past 10, a dark belt, 4 degrees broad, appeared in the

luminous arch, bearing from N. 55 degrees W. to N. 10 degrees W.; its upper limb was 10 degrees above the horizon: it then gradually

dilated, and thus appeared to break up the arch. This appeared to be the commencement of the dispersion of the phenomenon.

At 10.50 p.m. the dark band had increased so much in breadth that the arch was broken up in the north-west, and no beams appeared there.

Eighteen linear beams rose from the eastern part of the arch, and

bore from north to N. 20 degrees E.

Towards 11 p.m., the dark band appeared to have replaced the luminous arch; the beams were all but gone, a few fragments appearing in the N.E. A southerly wind sprang up, and a diffused light extended along the horizon.

At midnight, I saw two faint beams to the north-east, and two well

defined parallel ones in the south-west.

APPENDIX E.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SIKKIM HIMALAYA, EAST NEPAL,

AND ADJACENT PROVINCES OF TIBET.

Sikkim is included in a section of the Himalaya, about sixty miles

broad from east to west, where it is bounded respectively by the

mountain states of Bhotan and Nepal. Its southern limits are easily defined, for the mountains rise abruptly from the plains of Bengal, as spurs of 6000 to 10,000 feet high, densely clothed with forest to their summits. The northern and north-eastern frontier of Sikkim is beyond the region of much rain, and is not a natural, but a political line, drawn between that country and Tibet. Sikkim lies nearly due

north of Calcutta, and only four hundred miles from the Bay of

Bengal; its latitude being 26 degrees 40 minutes to 28 degrees N.,

and longitude 88 degrees to 89 degrees E.

The main features of Sikkim are Kinchinjunga, the loftiest hitherto measured mountain, which lies to its north-west, and rises 28,178

feet above the level of the sea; and the Teesta river, which flows

throughout the length