Page:Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, Part 2.djvu/211

760 as a low shrub, but• it is also met with as a small tree mixed with the phalahi and toni1 (I believe Acacia leucopIika), which last as well so the JlaanJ are utterly useless except as fuel. The &wk (Butea frtmtlosa) and the hiss (Cappanis sepiaria) are almost unknown, while Capp. and aphylla grows to the size of a small tree, and in the month of April its scarlet flowers have a showy appearance mixed with the white blossoms of the phakhi. The raliere (Bignons.z undulata) is found not uncommonly and is very brilliant when in flower: this with a small liliacious plant is a curious instance of plants from the Sewalik hills reappearing in so very dissimilar an habitat. Of large trees the peepul is the only one of usual occurrence: sometimes the Ta,nanx Fras or Phar,ni, as it is named in this part of the country, is found of a considerable size. The sissu extends even to the borders of the desert. Sirrss i3 seldom to be seen; mangoe, or james never. The Nirn is very rarely to be met with only near some Mnsalman saint’s tomb. • In the most south.westerly part of this tract bordering the desert,. considerable quantity of alkali is manufactured from a species of salsola° and forms a considerable article of commerce under the name of sa The population of the third tract difers very much from that of the former ones, in the more northern parts the zesnindars are moady Musalmia Rajpñts, with few Jats among them; but as we come southward the proportion gradually changes till in the Tihara a Musalmn is scarcely to be found and the zemindars are almost universally Juts and of the Sikh persuasion; in thatpartofthecountryalsotheKaharor bearer caste disappears, and among the lower people the sweepers, assuming the title of Rangrethas, are the most numerous. Lastly. a few words on the two strips of land bordering the .Iumae and the Sutlej. The Kho4ir of the former may be considered as upper and lower, the upper contained within the branches of the Jumea meeting nest Rajghat, is almost entirely populated by Goojurs. The soil is odd, palate, but I have subsequently found atipules on the young branches of the full-sized tree, though they are smaller in proportion to the leaf than ía the shrub; besides the pricklea are much more numerous on the shrub than on the tree. • It is a curious circumstance that I found a species of .a1.ols near As.bsie growing in a single salt-pan, and not another to be found, anywhere in the neighbourhood for miles, though I searched every salt.pan for it.