XIII 

 AT THE SIGN OF THE FARASH 



THE far ash tree [Tamarix articulata), re- 

 garded from the point of view of a huraan 

 being, is everything that a tree should not 

 be. Its wood has little or no commercial 

 value, being of not much use even as fuel. Its needle- 

 like leaves afford no shade. It has a dusty, dried-up, 

 funereal appearance. During the day it absorbs a large 

 amount of the sun's heat, which it emits, with interest, 

 at night-time, so that if, on a hot-weather evening, you 

 happen to pass near a far ash tree you cannot fail to 

 notice that the temperature of the air immediately 

 surrounding it is considerably higher than it is else- 

 where. Each farash tree becomes, for the time being, 

 a natural heating stove. In appearance the farash is 

 not unlike a stunted casuarina tree. It is what botan- 

 ists call a xerophile ; it is addicted to dry, sandy soil, 

 and is found only in the more desert-like parts of Sind 

 and the Punjab. The one redeeming feature of the 

 farash tree is the shelter it affords to the fowls of the air. 

 Its wood is so soft and so liable to decay that the tree 

 seems to have been evolved chiefly for the benefit 

 of those birds which nest in holes. The interior of 



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