28-i THE SALT KANGE. 



portion of this Doab. Running through this Doab we have the 

 Salt range, which gives to it its distinguishing characters. The 

 range has generally a north-east and south-westerly course, and 

 sending out innumerable spurs of low elevation, and seldom rising 

 above 2500 feet. Near to Jhelum there is one mountain in 

 altitude about 4000 feet. In form the summits are generally 

 round-backed, conical, or peaked, showing the soft nature of the 

 rocks of which they consist. The middle of the Doab, particularly 

 near Rawulpindee, is well cultivated, but the country raviney in 

 the extreme, great cuts many feet in breadth, and twenty or thirty 

 feet in depth, intersecting the country in all directions. This, too, 

 is a characteristic mark of the Hazara country, and so much do 

 ravines prevail, as to render it necessary to make a detour of 

 several miles, the road being winding in the extreme, in order to 

 avoid them. 



The country of the Salt range may, in general, be characterised 

 as barren in the extreme, with, here and there, rich valleys. The 

 hills are unfitted for cultivation of any kind, owing to their dry 

 sterile character, and even Grasses grow with difficulty. Species 

 of Salsola and Achyranthes prevail, and towards the middle and 

 upper portion of the Doab, the Cowzeitun, or wild Olive (Olea ?), 

 a species of Dodonasa, and the Orthanthera viminea are charac- 

 teristic of the hilly country. In the ravines and beds of small 

 streams, the Oleander and Nerium odovum are common. In similar 

 localities it occurs in the Swalik range, and Dr. Royle* mentions 

 that it is found in water-courses in Syria, Egypt, and Barbary, and 

 in the south of Spain. In the Himalayahs the same species occurs 

 to an altitude of G000 feet. The commonest shrubs of the open 

 country are the Celastrus spinosus, Justicia adhatoda, and the 

 Mimosa albispina, a mere variety of Acacia arabica, and so named 

 on account of its white spines by Griffith. Associated with those 

 plants we find the following : — 



Asparagus. 

 Barleria. 

 Dalbergia Sissoo. 

 Zizyphus Napeca. f 



Zizyphus vulgaris. 

 Acacia rnodesta. 

 Phyllanthus. 

 Buddleia Neemda. 



* Royle's Illustrations, 

 f The leaves and fruit are extensively collected to feed cattle, and it is 

 said that cows so fed give rich milk. By Sir H. Elliot it has been identified 

 with the famous fruit of the Lotophagi (Howd. iv. p. 177), Swpp. Gloss, by 

 H. M. Elliot. 



