Himalayan Journals — Volume 2: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.Hooker, Joseph Dalton
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Himalayan Journals — Volume 2: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton
Himalaya Mountains -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Himalaya Mountains
Descending, we rode several miles along an excellent road, that runs
to Tipperah, and stopped at the bungalow of Seetakoond, twenty-five
miles north of Chittagong. The west flank of the range which we had
crossed is much steeper than the east, often precipitous, and
presents the appearance of a sea-worn cliff towards the Bay of
Bengal. Near Seetakoond (which is on the plain) a hill on the range,
bearing the same name, rises 1,136 feet high, and being damper and
more luxuriantly wooded, we were anxious to explore it, and therefore
spent some days at the bungalow. Fields of poppy and sun (_Crotalaria
juncea_), formed most beautiful crops; the latter grows from four to
six feet high, and bears masses of laburnum-like flowers, while the
poppy fields resembled a carpet of dark-green velvet, sprinkled with
white stars; or, as I have elsewhere remarked, a green lake studded
with water-lilies.
The road to the top of Seetakoond leads along a most beautiful
valley, and then winds up a cliff that is in many places almost
precipitous, the ascent being partly by steps cut in the rock, of
which there are 560. The mountain is very sacred, and there is a
large Brahmin temple on its flank; and near the base a perpetual
flame bursts out of the rock. This we were anxious to examine, and
were extremely disappointed to find it a small vertical hole in a
slaty rock, with a lateral one below for a draught; and that it is
daily supplied by pious pilgrims and Brahmins with such enormous
quantities of ghee (liquid butter), that it is to all intents and
purposes an artificial lamp; no trace of natural phenomena being
discoverable.
Illustration--SEETAKUND HILL.
On the dry but wooded west face of the mountain, grows _Falconeria,_
a curious Euphorbiaceous tree, with an acrid milky juice that affects
the eyes when the wood is cut. Beautiful _Cycas_ palms are also
common, with _Terminalia, Bignonia, Sterculia,_ dwarf _Phoenix_ palm,
and Gurjun trees. The east slope of the mountain is damper, and much
more densely wooded; we there found two wild species of nutmeg trees,
whose wood is full of a brown acrid oil, seven palms, tree-ferns, and
many other kinds of ferns, several kinds of oak, _Dracaena,_ and
figs. The top is 1,136 feet above the sea, and commands an extensive
view to all points of the compass; but the forests, in which the ashy
bark of the Gurjun trees is conspicuous, and the beautiful valley on
the west, are the only attractive features.
The weather on the east side of the range differs at this season
remarkably from that on the west, where the vicinity of the sea keeps
the atmosphere more humid and warm, and at the same time prevents the
formation of the dense fogs that hang over the valleys to the
eastward every morning at sunrise. We found the mean temperature at
the bungalow, from January 9th till the 13th, to be 70.2 degrees.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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