On one occasion I ascended the steep hill at the fork; it was dry and rocky, and crowned with stunted pines. Stacks of different sorts of pine-wood were stored on the flat at its base, for export to Tibet, all thatched with the bark of _Abies Brunoniana._ Of these the larch (_Larix Griffithii,_ "Sah"), splits well, and is the most durable of any; but the planks are small, soft, and white.* [I never saw this wood to be red, close-grained, and hard, like that of the old Swiss larch; nor does it ever reach so great a size.] The silver fir (_Abies Webbiana,_ "Dunshing") also splits well; it is white, soft, and highly prized for durability. The wood of _Abies Brunoniana_ ("Semadoong") is like the others in appearance, but is not durable; its bark is however very useful. The spruce (_Abies Smithiana,_ "Seh") has also white wood, which is employed for posts and beams.* [These woods are all soft and loose in grain, compared with their European allies.] These are the only pines whose woods are considered very useful; and it is a curious circumstance that none produce any quantity of resin, turpentine, or pitch; which may perhaps be accounted for by the humidity of the climate. _Pinus longifolia_ (called by the Lepchas "Gniet-koong," and by the Bhoteeas "Teadong") only grows in low valleys, where better timber is abundant. The weeping blue juniper (_Juniperus recurva,_ "Deschoo"), and the arboreous black one (called "Tchokpo")* [This I have, vol. i. Chapter XI, referred to the _J. excelsa_ of the north-west Himalaya, a plant which under various names is found in many parts of Europe and many parts of Europe and North America; but since then Dr. Thomson and I have had occasion to compare my Sikkim conifers with the north-west Himalayan ones and we have found that this Sikkim species is probably new, and that _J. excelsa_ is not found east of Nepal.] yield beautiful wood, like that of the pencil cedar,* [Also a juniper, from Bermuda (_J. Bermudiana_).] but are comparatively scarce, as is the yew (_Taxus baccata,_ "Tingschi"), whose timber is red. The "Tchenden," or funereal cypress, again, is valued only for the odour of its wood: _Pinus excelsa,_ "Tongschi," though common in Bhotan, is, as I have elsewhere remarked, not found in east Nepal or Sikkim; the wood is admirable, being durable, close-grained, and so resinous as to be used for flambeaux and candles.