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NOTE ON THE FLOATING ISLANDS OF 

 RIWALSAR. . 



BY 



S. E. Kashyap. 



Professor of Botany, Government College, Lahore. 



In July 1916, Marietta Pallis published an interesting paper on 

 " The Structure and History of Plav : the floating fen of the Danube" 

 in the Journal of the Linnean Society (Vol. XLIII, No. 291). I 

 believe it is not generally known among botanists that a'similar floating 

 fen on a small scale occurs in the Outer Himalayas in Mandi 

 State. The writer had an occasion to visit the place in August 1919 

 and though it was not unfortunately possible to undertake a detailed 

 investigation of the floating islands or to make a large collection of 

 plants, some interesting observations were however made. This note 

 has been written with a view to induce somebody else with a better 

 opportunity to investigate the place in greater detail. 



The islands as stated above are met with in Mandi State in the 

 freshwater lake at Riwalsar, which is for this reason held sacred by 

 the Hindus and the Tibetans (Buddhists) for whom it is an important 

 place of pilgrimage. The lake lies about 10 miles south-west of 

 Mandi, surrounded by hills and some 5,000 feet above sea-level- The 

 Mandi State Gazetteer says practically nothing about the fen. The 

 only information given there in connection with this paper is : — " The 

 circumference of the lake ; exceeds a mile and its waters are of immense 

 depth. There are many large floating islands on its surface and this 

 singular fact is attributed to its sancity." 



No data are available as to the exact depth of the lake, its 

 circumference or the exact size of the islands. 



The first point of botanical interest is that the floating islands are 

 formed by Phragmites like the Plav mentioned above. A few other 

 plants are also met with in addition but they do not contrjbute much 

 to the formation of the islands. 



The total number of the islands is seven. The largest (known as 

 Parbati's island) is, as seen from a distance, of a few yards about 20 

 yards long and about 4 yards wide and has rounded ends. The others 

 are much smaller. The islands are formed practically wholly by a 

 species of Phragmites, apparently P. communis, which forms very 



