~Simla~ (31.6 N., 77.1 E.) lies on a spur of the Central Himalaya at a mean height exceeding 7000 feet. A fine hill, Jakko, rising 1000 feet higher, and clothed with _deodar_, oak, and rhododendron, occupies the east of the station and many of the houses are on its slopes. The other heights are Prospect Hill and Observatory Hill in the western part of the ridge. Viceregal Lodge is a conspicuous object on the latter, and below, between it and the Annandale race-course, is a fine glen, where the visitor in April from the dry and dusty plains can gather yellow primroses (Primula floribunda) from the dripping rocks. The beautiful Elysium Hill is on a small spur running northwards from the main ridge. Simla is 58 miles by cart road from Kalka, at the foot of the hills, and somewhat further by the narrow gauge railway. [Illustration: Fig. 149. Trans-border traders in Peshawar.] ~History.~--Part of the site was retained at the close of the Gurkha war in 1816, and the first English house, a wooden cottage with a thatched roof, was built three years later. The first Governor General to spend the summer in Simla was Lord Amherst in 1827. After the annexation of the Panjab in 1849 Lord Dalhousie went there every year, and from 1864 Simla may be said to have become the summer capital of India. It became the summer headquarters of the Panjab Government twelve years later. The thirty houses of 1830 have now increased to about 2000. Six miles distant on the beautiful Mahasu Ridge the Viceroy has a "Retreat," and on the same ridge and below it at Mashobra there are a number of European houses. There are excellent hotels in Simla, and the cold weather tourist can pay it a very pleasant visit, provided he avoids the months of January and February.