Independent of the above, Mr. HODGSON of Nipal sent a series of upwards of eighty well preserved skins of birds, with the intention of their being placed in the Museum, as the originals from which some of the plates of his forthcoming great work have been taken; but circumstances having rendered it desirable to send them for the examination of a naturalist of eminence in England, they were, on his promising speedily to replace them, delivered over, by directions from the Secretary, for transmission there.

With regard to the financial arrangements, the Secretary did not think himself empowered to advance for contingencies any sum beyond that voted by the Society. But that sum being nearly absorbed by the salaries of Mr. BOUCHEZ and his nephew, who is employed to assist him, I have paid the remainder of the charges myself; and in this manner expended Co.'s Rs. 138 15 6, more than I have received. A few words may be expected from me as to the future management of the Museum. Much has been urged against expending the funds of the Society for this purpose; and a strong protest on the same side, signed by five Members, has also been given in. So far as my own feelings are in question, I shall be happy to yield to this or any other view of the subject taken by the majority. Although I do not agree with those who think money ill expended, which is expended upon an object that contributes to further the pursuits of any considerable portion of the Society. And my respect for the protest would not have been less had it been signed by the older Members of the Society, instead of by those who had been elected only two or three months before the proceedings took place, against which they thought proper to protest; who mistook the mere lodgment of money in public securities for a vested fund; and who had not, I believe, any one of them, ever seen the Museum previous to, or since the new arrangements were made! Under these circumstances I am not inclined to allow much weight to the protest, nor to sacrifice our Museum in accordance with the views of the protestors. It is true, a substitute for a Curator has been proposed in a committee, each member of which should undertake a particular department; and as a body assisting with their advice, and superintending the operations of the Curator, such a committee would be of great service; but as an executive engine, a committee is always worse than useless, and I anticipate nothing but failure in the scheme. If your Curator is not a paid and responsible officer, you will, in effect, have no Curator at all; and if you have no Curator, you will have no Museum; while I am sure a Museum is, in the present direction of men's minds towards natural history, essential to the well-being, if not even to the existence of the Society. If our own funds cannot support our Museum as it should be supported, we ought to apply to the Goverment to assist us; when, judging from the liberal views of science taken by the present Governor General, and the anxiety he has evinced to encourage that of natural history in particular; coupled with the fact that the Court of Directors have ever been the patrons of zoological pursuits; there is little fear of our making the application in vain. I think the advantages of adopting this plan would be great and manifold; our Museum would be placed on a vigorous and permanent footing; and be the means of enhancing the prosperity of our institution, and of conferring no light benefit upon the public: while we should soon be able to wipe off the reproach so repeatedly and justly thrown upon the name of Englishmen in the East,-of leaving to distant nations the task and the honor of gleaning in our own field the treasures of natural history, which we ourselves are indifferent and too ignorant to reap.

J. T. PEARSON.

Resolved, that the Report be referred to the Committee of Papers for the purpose of drafting such arrangement as the Society's funds may permit for the maintenance of the Museum of natural history on the most efficient footing.

JOURNAL

OF

THE ASIATIC

SOCIETY.

No. 65.-May, 1837.

I.—Journal of a visit to the Mishmee hills in Assam.

By WM. GRIF

FITH, M. D. Madras Medical Establishment.

{In a letter to Captain F. JENKINS, Political Agent, N. E. Frontier; communicated by Government to the Asiatic Society, the 5th April, 1837.]

In pursuance of my intention of visiting the Mishmee hills, as soon as the season was sufficiently advanced, I left this station on the 15th October, and proceeded up the Brahmapútra, or Lohit, to the mouth of the Karam Pánee, which we reached on the third day. I thence ascended this river, which is a mere mountain stream, for a similar period, at the expiration of which I had reached its extreme navigable point at that season of the year, even for the small boats which I employed. At Chonpúra the rapids of the Brahmapútra commence, and thence they increase rapidly in frequency and violence; so much so, that the river is only navigable for small boats one day's journey above the mouth of the Karam. No villages exist on the great river, the extreme banks of which are clothed with heavy tree jungle. It is much subdivided by islets formed of accumulations of sand and boulders these islets being either scantily covered by coarse species of sugar, or tree jungle, or grass and tree jungle. The Karam is a considerable stream, consisting of a succession of rapids; its banks are clothed with very heavy tree jungle, among which the simul*, údalt, and a species of alder occupy conspicuous places. On the second day of its ascent we reached the Kamptee village Palampan, situated about a mile inland in a southerly direction; it is small and of no consequence, although the Rája is of high rank.

At this village my attention was first directed to a very valuable native dye, the room of the Assamese; with this dye all the deep blue cloths so much used by the Kamptees and Singphos are prepared. What is more curious, it belongs to a family (Acanthacea), the constituents of which are generally devoid of all valuable properties-it is a species of Ruellia, and is a plant highly worthy of attention. Leaving the boats, I proceeded up the Karam, the general direction of which is about E. S. E., and after a tedious march of five hours over small boulders, reached the first Mishmee village on the route. This village is called Jingsha, deriving its name, as appears to be always the case, from the Gam it is about six miles from the foot of the hills-it is small, the number of houses not exceeding ten, and possesses apparently very few khets. The Gam is a man of inferior note. After a halt of two

days to enable my people to bring up the provisions, &c., I left for Brahma-kúnd, which, from Captain WILCOX's description, I imagined to be the usual route to the interior. Brahma-kúnd lies to the E. N. E. of Jingsha, from which place it is distant by the path, which is very circuitous, about twelve miles. The route at first follows another bed of the Karam to the S. W., thence ascending the Daí Pánee to the eastward, thence diverging to the north through a heavy tree jungle, and after traversing this for about an hour ending at the kúnd, to which place the descent is steep, but short. Of this celebrated place much has been said, but no description at all answers to it, as it exists now. The scenery is bold, the hills on either side of the river being very steep but of no great height, and the kúnd, or reservoir itself is totally lost in the contemplation of the immensely deep bed of the river and the gigantic rocks visible in every direction. The extreme width of the bed of the river is certainly upwards of one hundred yards, but of this only the left half is occupied by the stream. The kúnd is contemptible, and unless the attention were especially directed to it, would quite escape observation. The Deo Panee is a paltry attempt at a waterfall. The course of the river is slow and sufficiently tranquil, but to the eastward there is a violent rapid ending about sixty yards from the kúnd itself. This reservoir owes its existence to the projection of two rocks into the Lohit; at this season it contains but little water. The fuqeer's rock is a huge mass perforated near its summit; its extreme apex is accessible, but with difficulty; it does not represent Gothic spires, this appearance, so far as I know, being limited to shell-limestone. At this romantic spot I staid three days, paying particular attention to the vegetation of the place, which presents some curious features, of which the most

remarkable is the existence of a species of maple and one of rue: the former being an inhabitant of Nipal. the latter of considerable elevations on the Khasiya ranges. I was met here by TAPAN GAM, the chief of the kúnd, who claims all the offerings invariably made to the deity by every native visitor of whatever rank or religion he may be.

After examining the adjoining hills, over which the route pursued by Lieutenant WILCOX lay, I was convinced of the impracticability of proceeding, at least with the usual description of Assamese coolies. I was therefore compelled to retrace my steps to Jingsha, having previously arranged with TAPAN GAM for guides to shew me the usual route. At Jingsha I was delayed for several days in bringing up rice, which had been kindly forwarded from Sadiyá by Lieutenant MILLAR, and without which I knew it would be impossible to visit the interior. From Jingsha I proceeded up the Karam in an easterly direction, diverging thence up the Kussing Pánce in a N. E. direction, thence skirting the foot of the hills, through remarkably heavy bamboo jungle. After a long march we descended a low hill to the Laí Pánee, but at a higher point than any previously visited. The following day I commenced the ascent, passing during the day a small Mishmee village without a name, and halting on the slope of a hill in heavy tree jungle. Commencing our march early next morning, we ascended and descended several considerable hills, and at noon reached Deeling, the Dilling of Captain WILCOX. This is a small village consisting of a few houses, scattered in various directions, and opposite to it on the great mountain Thumathaya is another called Yeu: there is about this place a good deal of cultivation. It was here that I came upon the route previously followed by Captain WILCOX. This I followed as far as GHALOOM's: it is correctly described in that officer's memoir on Assam and the neighbouring countries. Our halts were as follows:-on the third day the bed of the Lohit; on the fourth at the mouth of the Lung; on the fifth at GHALOOM's, whose village has been removed to the banks of the Lohit, and at a distance of about one hour's march in advance from the old site. From GHALOOM's I proceeded to KHOSHA'S, whose village is on the north bank of the Lohit. I crossed the river, which is here about forty yards wide, and as usual deep and tolerably rapid, on a bamboo raft, no one but the Mishmees venturing by the suspension canes, which are here stretched over a space of about eighty yards, and at a formidable height from the stream. From KHOSHA'S I proceeded to PRIMSONG's, whose village is at a much higher elevation than any of the others: but PRIMSONG was unfortunately absent. This was the extreme point to which I was enabled