302 MESSRS. LACE AND HEMSLEY ON THE 
browsed by herds of sheep and goats, it is only occasionally more 
than a few inches high. It is curious that this species does not 
extend either to Quetta or Peshin. 
Between Ulgai and Gwäl, the stony ground at the base of the 
hills, and the hills between Gwäl and the Surkhab valley, are 
dotted with trees of Pistacia mutica, var. cabulica ; but this tract 
is chiefly remarkable for the presence of Stocksia brahuica, a stiff 
spinous shrub, 6 to 12 fi. high, with scanty foliage and yellow 
flowers produced in April to May, usually before the leaves 
appear. Its fruit, like a brownish-grey pea, is enclosed in an 
inflated bag of a brilliant yellowish-red colour. This locality 
appears to be the southern limit of this shrub. Another charac- 
teristic plant of this region is Ebenus stellata. Prunus eburnea 
also occurs, and Delphinium persicum, Onobrychis dealbata, 
Crucianella glomerata, Campanula Griffithii, a species of Acan- 
tholimon, Paracaryum asperum, Onosma stenosiphon, Convolvulus 
leiocalycinus, Salvia spinosa, and Euphorbia densa are amongst 
the most common plants. In the beds of dry watercourses 
Microrhynchus spinosus, a leafless spiny member of the Com- 
posite, is very characteristic of poor sandy soil. 
Vegetation of the Peshin Valley. 
The Peshin valley is roughly 36 miles long from east to west, 
and 15 miles broad ; it is much intersected by watercourses with 
perpendicular banks, sometimes 50 to 80 ft. high, but in which 
there is little water except during the time of floods. The 
elevation varies from 5200 to 4500 ft. Between these water- 
courses there are extensive plains, a very small part of which is 
cultivated, owing to want of water. Two irrigation schemes 
lately completed have enabled some thousands of acres to be 
cultivated that formerly could only be utilized occasionally for 
rain-crops ; but still the greater part of the valley must always 
remain uncultivable either from insufficiency of water or on 
account of the salts in the soil. 
Many of these plains are covered for miles with bushes of 
Artemisia and Haloxylon Grifithii, the root-stocks of which con- 
stitute the chief fuel of certain villages in the winter, and their 
twiggy, leafless branches seem all that the flocks of sheep and 
goats have to feed upon during that season. The smoke from 
the wood of the Artemisia is said to be very injurious to the 
eyes, but the wood of Haloxylon Griffithii is rather prized by 
blacksmiths for making charcoal. 
