INTRODUCTION. n 



matic fever, although that disease continued to be 

 prevalent in the neighbourhood. In the swampy- 

 regions of the Punjab district in India the sunflower 

 is grown in some places in large plantations with 

 marked success, its influence tending to remove 

 malaria, and thus benefit the health of residents in 

 those districts. The Agri-Horticultural Society of the 

 Punjab, after investigating the subject, published a 

 report in which the extension of the cultivation of this 

 useful plant was strongly recommended. 



This curious subject would hardly have fallen in its 

 place in any of the subsequent chapters and is there- 

 fore alluded to here, in connection with another one 

 to be presently mentioned, rather than be omitted 

 altogether. The influence of vegetation on climate 

 has already received attention in another place,^ and 

 needs no repetition, although it has an affinity 

 with the facts just referred to. At the same time we 

 might have shown how, and why, such kind of 

 vegetation, as that of the mangrove, aids in per- 

 petrating such a malarious atmosphere as the 

 Eucalyptus is believed to cure. As an illustration 

 of the manner, and the extent, to which the vegeta- 

 tion of a country may be modified and completely 

 changed by external circumstances, we may refer to 



1 " Natural History Rambles : The Woodlands," by M. C. 

 Cooke. 



