x and a Cuscuta. The mountain on the base of which
Premsong's house is situated, is a very high one; it is the one that is
so striking from Ghaloom's old site: it is named Laimplan-thaya; its
summit, which is a high peak, is very rugged, partially clothed with
vegetation, in which, as in all the others of the same height autumnal
tints are very distinct. Thai-ka-thaya is a smaller peak to the S.S.W.
of Premsong's house. One of my Mishmee Dowaniers tells me that the
Mishmee (Coptis) teeta Khosha gave me last evening, is cultivated near
his native place; its flower buds are just forming and are enclosed in
ovate concave squamae. The leaves are of a lively green, not unlike
those of some ferns, but at once to be distinguished by the venation; it
is very evident that the Mishmees know nothing about the period of its
flowering, as they told me it flowered in the rains, at the same time as
the _dhak_ flowers in Assam; the radicles are numerous, tawny yellowish,
the rhizomata are rugged tortuous, the bark and pith are of yellow orange
colour, the woody system gamboge: this is the same in the petioles: it
tinges the saliva yellow. It is a pure intense bitter of some
permanence, but without aroma: it is dried over the fire, the drying
being repeated three times. Judging from it in its fresh state, the test
of its being recently and well dried is the permanence of the colors. The
_Bee_ flowers during the rains: its flower, (_on dit_) is white and
small; they pretend that it is very dangerous to touch, causing great
irritation; both Coptis teeta, and Bee, are found on high hills on which
there is now snow; one of them, the Ummpanee or Moochee, is accessible
from hence in three days.

The Mishmee name for the Teeta, is _Yoatzhee_; of Bee, _Th'wee_; _Ghe_-
_on_ is the Mishmee name for the smelling root, which the Assamese call
Gertheon. The smell of this is a compound of Valeriana and Pastinaca; it
is decidedly aromatic, and not at all disagreeable, it is white inside
and abounds in pith, but has scarcely any taste.

Yesterday evening I visited Khosha's house, which is of immense length,
and considerably longer, though not so high from the ground as Ghaloom's:
it is divided into upwards of twenty apartments, on the right hand side
of the passage are ranged the skulls of the cattle Khosha has killed,
including deer and pigs; on the other side are the domestic utensils, the
centre of the floor is occupied by a square earthen s