MR. M. P. EDGEWORTH—FLORULA MALLICA. 179 
Florula Mallica. By M. P. Enozwonzn, Esq., F.L.S. 
[Read May 1, 1862.] 
Tue paper which I now offer to the Society is the result of my 
botanical observations in the Multan division of the Punjab, where 
the Malli resided in the time of Alexander. During an official 
residence of five years, I have visited every portion of it, but 
unfortunately not always at the most favourable season for botany ; 
therefore further explorations may add some other species to the 
somewhat meagre flora now to be described, particularly in the 
northern portion. It is, however, interesting as a region of bo- 
tanic geography osculating between that of the North-west of 
India and that of Sindh and Arabia. 
The Multan division, comprising the districts of Jhung, Gogaira, 
and Multan (15,494 square miles, of which only 1221 are cul- 
tivated), is a tolerably natural one as a botanical sub-section. It is 
triangular, bounded on the south by the Sutlej, on the west by 
the Jhilum and the Chenab after their junction, except for a short 
distance, where the boundary is the edge of the Sandy Desert (or 
Thall) of the Sind Sagar Doab, on the north-east by an irregular 
line running from Kot Isa Shah across the Vichan Doab (often 
termed by us, though not by the inhabitants, the Chaj or Jech) to 
a little above Chandniot, and thence in a nearly straight line to 
the Sutlej, nearly opposite Mamdot. It thus embraces some of 
the detached hills which form the remarkable ranges which shoot 
up suddenly out of the plain, rising to the height of 1000 feet at 
Kirana in the Vichan Doab, and finally descend near Shahkot in 
the Rechnab. Those near Chandniot are about 400 feet, and at 
Shahkot not about 150. They consist of sandstone and slate, and 
are very barren. 
Thus the division consists of the lower extremities of the three 
Doab— the Vichan, Rechnab, and Bari. We might include the 
Bist also ; but the total drying of the old Beas has obliterated that 
distinction, as obtained in the Ayin Akbari in the 16th century. 
Each Doab consists of two distinct portions, the cultivated 
strip of low land bordering the rivers (Küchhi) and the central 
higher land (Bar), This word appears to be a corruption of the 
Arabic barr, which is defined by Col. Chesney, in his ‘ Euphrates,’ to 
be a dry desert of hard clay, more or less covered with bushes and 
grass. The term was probably applied by the Arab conquerors, 
who have left traces of their language in the village dialect, in 
several Arabic words not usually in the Urdu. 
