184 DR FRANCIS HAMILTON on the Plants of India, 



Angga by British valour and prudence ; for, in the time of ALEX- 

 ANDER, Angga was no doubt the chief seat of Hindu power, as 

 Palibothra seems to have been seated opposite to Rajamahal in 

 Angga, although on the skirts of Magadha, which in latter times 

 was the great seat of authority. 



Before the end of the rainy season I returned down the ri- 

 vers, and ascending the Gagra, entered the district of Gorakhpur, 

 forming a considerable portion of Cosala, the territory of the 

 powerful Family of the Sun, who reigned at Oude (Ayudhiya). 

 During the dry season 1813-14, I remained in the district of 

 Gorakhpur, where I made large additions to my botanical obser- 

 vations, both from the forests of the country, and from the neigh- 

 bouring parts of Nepal, from whence I procured many plants. 



When the rainy season commenced I again embarked, and 

 proceeded up the Ganges to Futehgar, where I had again an op- 

 portunity of examining the vegetable productions of the ancient 

 kingdom of Kuru, through the centre of which the Ganges 

 passes ; for it includes both banks of the Ganges and Yamuna, 

 being bounded on the east by Kosala, and on the west by Pang- 

 chala, now called the Punjab, or the country watered by the five 

 rivers joining the Indus from the north-east. 



Having thus examined a considerable portion of the Gange- 

 tic plain, always considered the proper seat of the Hindu race, 

 descended from a colony of civilized persons calling themselves 

 sons of BRAHMA, who in the earliest ages settled at Vithora (Be- 

 toor Rennell), and gradually extended their power over what is 

 now called Hindustan, I shall proceed to give some general ac- 

 count of the vegetation of this fertile tract, which, without any 

 thing that can be called a hill, extends from the Indus to the 

 Eastern Ocean, and from the Vindhiyan to the Himaliya moun- 

 tains. 



This plain, extending in length about fourteen degrees of 

 longitude, in the middle latitude of 25, and in breadth from two 



