Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/295

Rh tall clusters. One of the islands (known as Brahma's) has a small willow tree growing on it. It had another shrub also which looked like a rose and the writer was told that it was a rose. This island also bore a flag on a tall pole placed their by the Brahmans. The only other prominent plant on the islands was an aroid which could not be identified further.

All along the margins of the lake the ground at the time of the visit, the rainy season was very swampy. The aquatic plants growing on the bank of the lake were chiefly the following:—Some grasses and sedges, including Phragmites; a Nymphaea, a Trapa, Polygonum barbatum, a Ceratophyllum, a Lemna and an Azolla.

It may be mentioned that the islands move by the action of the breeze, the reeds acting as sails, though the Brahmans there believe in their supernatural and independent movement.

I was told that the level of the lake rises slightly during the rains, but the lake has a permanent supply of water from a subterranean spring and there is a permanent outlet also.

No boats are available at Riwalsar and everything necessary for the investigation should be arranged for beforehand.