$26. DR. HOOKER’S MISSION TO INDIA. 
rocky ledge to more broken ground, the Olibanum, Catechu, Diospyros, 
Terminalias, Phyllanthus, Emblica, and a host of old friends of the 
Dunwah pass, greeted me. 
Rajub-bund, or “ the pleasant spot,” is the fitting name of this little 
loch, which is a tarn in a depression of the sandstone rocks, surrounded 
on three sides by little cliffs, and covered with the brushwood of the 
above-mentioned trees. It is a wild and pretty place, much like some 
birch-bordered, rocky pool in Scotland or Wales, sequestered and pic- 
turesque. Here again the 4ponogeton, and not crested Villarsia appeared, 
with several Potamogetons, Chara, Zannichellia, and a floating Ufricu- 
laria, lt was dark before I got back, with heavy clouds and vivid 
lightning approaching from the south-west. The day had been very 
hot (Ther. at 3 o'clock P.m., 90°), the evening too; but the baro- 
meter did not foretell the coming tempest, which broke with fury at 
7 P.M., blowing open the doors, and accompanied with vivid lightning 
and heavy thunder, close by and all round the town, though not one drop 
of rain fell. It lasted only an hour, passing on to the north-east. 
Euphorbia ligulata is commonly used here for hedging, and on ex- 
amining its thick succulent stems, I was surprised to find the pith sep- 
tate, as in the young wood of the Wallnut. This reminds me that Brong- 
niart refers some of the characteristic coal-plants to Euphorbiacee ; ; 
and a cast of the axis of an ill-understood accompanyin m 
the coal-measures presents a septate pith, and has, on these slender 
grounds, been placed in the same Natural Order with Juglans. 
shall look for septate piths now: there is no cause to suppose them 
rare. 
In the clear dry mornings of these regions, a curious optical pheno- 
menon may be observed, of a sunrise in the west, and sunset in the east. 
In either case, beautiful and well-defined beams rise from the horizon to 
the zenith, often crossing to the opposite horizon. It is a beautiful 
feature in the firmament, and equally visible, whether the horizon be 
cloudy or clear, the white beams being projected against a dark vapour 
or the blue serene indifferently. The zodiacal light shines from an 
hour or two after sunset till midnight, with singular brightness, almost 
excelling the milky way 
