162 Brigade- Surgeon J. E. T. Aitchison's Notes on Products 



thrcnigliout the winter. Under protection, and in a suita)jle 

 locality, it grows to a great size in bulk, Ijut never to any 

 height, as at Nusliki, where I measured several trees, which 

 at 6 feet from the ground were 9 feet 6 inches in girth. 

 At Maidiabad I saw two superb trees on the 1st September 

 1885, giving splendid shade, and under one of these a large 

 school was being conducted. The wood is considered useless 

 except for fuel; owing to its extreme lightness it makes 

 excellent rafts. The leaves are good fodder for camels and 

 goats, which browse on them whenever they have the oppor- 

 tunity. In the desert country of Baluchistan it was cultivated 

 at some of the shrines. 



Populus nigra, Linn., var. pyramidalis, Salicinej;. 



The Lombardy, or Black Poplar, safeda, safeddr, kahicda, 

 I only met with this tree cultivated in orchards and near 

 houses. At Nasarabad, on the 4th September 1885, I saw 

 a garden laid out with these trees exactly as are the great 

 hdghs in Kashmir, only this was a small garden making a 

 great attempt at something fine and historical. The wood 

 is considered good for beams for roofing purposes, and is 

 employed in the manufacture of boxes for packing fruit in, 

 especially for those used in transmitting fresh grapes to 

 India. 



Porcupine — Hysteix species. 



Posh — Jiyi — ^a covering, a mantle, a garment, the 



bark of a tree. 

 Poshdh — i^U^j — clothes, garments. 

 Fosh-e-khdm, or pash-e-khdm. 



This is said to be a tree cultivated at Kala-nao, Maimana, 

 and Panjdeh. On breaking up the fruit a gum is obtained 

 called zioft ; this is used in medicine, being spread on paper like 

 a plaster, and applied over the part of the body where the 

 patient suffers pain. On burning, the zuft gives out a strong 

 pleasant odour. The above is all the information I could 

 obtain regarding this tree. Zuft, of course, is a resin, and 

 the tree may be a Pine, but my informant would not have 

 it so, and as he was usually very accurate in his information 

 I merely note his statements. As the tree is a cultivated 



