De : ; _ Ше ground. The reason why it is alwa 
_ to the surrounding soil having been wa 
8 DR. J. E. T. AITCHISON ON THE BOTANY OF 
&c., formed dense thickets, in which hogs were said to abound. Ав we descended the 
river the extent of cultivation rapidly increased, owing primarily to the banks of the 
river being low and allowing of easy irrigation, and secondarily to the greater area of 
the low land, the higher banks of the river gradually receding much further back. 
Comparatively speaking, by far the greater amount of land capable of cultivation lies 
fallow, owing to the paucity of inhabitants. We met a number of people who had been 
sent by the Afghan ruler to colonize some of the land on this river, but there is 
room for almost any amount of population. "Villages, though never very common, 
gradually increased in number, and inhabitants beeame more numerous after we passed 
Lundi, where I saw the first cultivated mulberry-trees, and heard cock-crowing for the 
first time, the latter a sure sign of habitations. The chief erops observed were wheat, 
barley, millet, pulse, tobacco, water-melons and various other Cucurbitacee, oil-seed 
(Sesamum), Carthamus, and a little cotton. In some localities we saw quantities of crushed 
straw being stacked for the use of cattle during the winter, whereas in other places the 
heads of the corn and millet had only been detached, the straw being left; but this might 
have been due to a want of labour. Some poor specimens of Indian corn were seen ; but 
of this, I was told, very little was ever grown. Тһе amount of cotton produced was not 
sufficient for the needs of the population, as we saw large numbers of cattle laden with 
cotton being brought from Persian territory. The people possessed innumerable sheep 
and goats; the wool of the former goes to Persia; the hair of the latter is employed for 
local requirements. On cultivated land Alhagi Camelorwm seemed to spring up like a 
second crop, after the removal of the wheat or barley, and covered some of the fields so 
closely that one could scarcely eredit that a erop of corn had preceded this wilderness. 
Here, for the first time, I saw as a weed in fields, and apparently а most troublesome one, 
Prosopis Stephaniana, which, as will be hereafter seen, was met with extending to Bala- 
morghab in the Badghis, and Meshad in Khorasan. It occurred usually as а low thorny 
bush, from three to four feet high, but it was occasionally seen fully ten feet in height. 
The fruit is, scarcely without an exception, attacked by an insect, which, although it does 
not injure the seed, causes the pod to develop into a bloated, twisted, bright-coloured 
gall. This gall-affected fruit is collected and employed in dyeing and tanning. Тһе 
shrub is greedily browsed upon by all cattle. Capparis spinosa, as a straggling bush up 
to six feetin height, and spreading like a bramble, was dotted over the country, especially 
on land that had once been under cultivation. Artemisia campestris and А. maritima, 
Xanthium strumarium, Crozophora tinctoria, and a Euphorbia were common everywhere. 
The irrigation-channels were lined with Arundo, Phragmites, &c., and Cynodon Dactylon 
was profuse. Near villages were orchards enclosed within walls, and containing chiefly 
mulberries, vines, plums, and apricots. A large Tamarisk (T. articulata Р) was, with the 
exception of Populus ewphratica, the only indigenous tree in this country. It was in 
greatest abundance on our march between Rudbar and Koh-haja, growing solitarily 
on low mounds, a fact recognized by the inhabitants, who call it the * mound-tamarisk.”” 
. It grows to a great size; I measured one fifteen feet in circumference at six feet from 
уз found growing on а mound is due, I believe, 
shed away. 1t is noteworthy that I never saw 
