of Western Afghanistan ami North-Eastcrn Persia. 169 



for sale iu the bazaars of all the villages, bemg much used 

 in the diet of the natives mixed with other food-stuffs. The 

 following plants are cultivated throughout the country to 

 yield the various kinds of pulse : — The Field-bean, ViciA 

 Faba; the Haricot or French bean, Phaseolus vulgaris; 

 Phaseolus Muxgo ; and the field-pea, Pisu.m sativum. It 

 was only in Khorasan, and at an elevation of 3000 feet and 

 upwards, that I met with the following being cultivated : — 

 The Gram of the Punjab, CiCEii arietixu.m ; the Lentil, Lens 

 ESCULENTA ; the Vetch, ViciA Ervilia ; and the Chickling- 

 Vetch, Lathyrus sativus. In most cases these were grown 

 without irrigation, but a good crop was dependant upon the 

 sufficiency of the dew-fall. 



The Field-bean was conspicuous wherever it was grown, 

 from being cultivated in strips round the margins of fields of 

 cotton. These beans are usually eaten by the Afghans cooked 

 with meat ; the flour is never used for bread, being considered 

 as too heating a diet, but goats and sheep are fed on it. The 

 pulse of Lathyrus sativus was not known to be productive 

 of injury to health, but I was told that a pea, called langash, 

 which I did not meet with, was conducive to sickness. 



Pulush — CousiNiA species. The leaves are employed 



in making tinder. 

 Pumpkin — Cucurbita Pepo (?). 



Punica Granatum, Linn. Lythrarie^. 



The Pomegranate, and fruit, dnccr ; the flower, gul-ndr ; 

 the rind of the fruit, post-dndr, ndspdl ; the dye, rang-i-post- 

 dndr ; the Punjabi for the indigenous shrub, ddru, ddrivi ; 

 Salt-range, duruni; Kuram Yallej, tudngar. On this journey 

 I only met with the cultivated shrub, which was common in 

 the orchards. The natives told me that the indigenous plant 

 existed in the hills near Anar-dara ; it is well known in 

 Baluchistan, and passes eastwards along the Suliman range 

 to the Kuram Valley, where I collected it. In the lower outer 

 hills it is met with along the whole of our frontier, from 

 Kohat to Abbotabad, the Salt-range, Eawulpindi into Kashmir, 

 along the banks of the Jhelum river, Jamu, in the arid outer 

 hills below Simla, whence it extends into Kamaon. De 

 CandoUe, in his Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 238, Eng. 



TRAXS. BOX. SOC. VOL. XVIII. T 



