EDGEWORTH'S ACCOUNT OF THE SIKH STATES. 211 
not even a single well, therefore not only the cattle but even 
the inhabitants very much depend on ponds (éobas) for their 
support. In dry seasons villages are often temporarily aban- 
doned in consequence of the failure of water. "Therefore it 
is a custom that those who take water out of a pond pay for 
it by digging and carrying out a basket-full of earth for every 
pot they fill with water, so that the cavity is gradually en- 
larged and deepened. 
“The appearance of this part of the country is highly pecu- 
liar. The fields are as it were basins surrounded by long 
low rolling hillocks of dry sand, either quite bare or clothed 
with a peculiar vegetation, and are almost universally sur- 
rounded by high thick hedges to protect them from the deer ; 
these fences are made of dry thorns heaped loosely together, 
generally running along the summits of the sandhills, and 
between them lie the narrow roads barely wide enough for a 
hackery to pass. 
* The vegetation on these sandhills consists principally of a 
Species of Artemisia of a most delicious fragrance, and an 
aromatic species of Andropogon resembling A. Twarancusa. 
(Is either of these, or which of them is, the Nardus of 
ÅRRIAN ?) 
“ This Andropogon is much liked by cattle, and is said to © 
communicate its peculiar flavour to the milk. Besides it there 
are species of Cenchrus and Pennisetum, one of which is a most 
disagreeable torment to walkers, the sharp recurved hooks | 
of its involucre fastening to one’s clothes and even to the 
skin; its seed however sometimes is used as food in times of 
great scarcity, The leaves both of this species and of two 
or three others which are indifferently termed dhaman afford 
excellent fodder and are the principal grass for horses, instead 
of the dhub, which is very rare. The madar,* Calotropis Hamil- 
: ; _* This is remarkable for bearing on its roots a curious parasiti ical speci : 
-Of Orobanche, with very thick stalks from one to four inches in v 
full of almost pure water, which it must have elaborated from the milky — 
-juice of the madar, and derived from sandhills so dry that it is difficult to 
