of Western Afghanistan and North-Eastern Persia. 215 



valued for their timber, which is considered specially well 

 adapted for making their rice-mills. The bark of the young 

 shoots is employed in the raw state as twine or rope. The 

 galls hlsa, kise, kesa, are not employed. 



Um — uma, hum, humci. The usual names for 

 Ephedra pachyclada. 



In Baluchistan these are equally applied to Periploca 

 APHYLLA. I never heard this name applied to a Tamarisk, 

 though the Tamarisks when young are much more like the 

 Ephedra than is the Periploca. 



Umha — cotton pods, the fruiting pods of Gossypium 



HERBACEFM. 



Under — z'w, frequently corrupted, to sir, or zil. 



Ungernia trisphaera, Bunrie. AMARYLLmEji 



The so-called black skinned or pig onion, pldz-khuki, is a 

 very characteristic bulbous plant, but not an onion at all. 

 The large flask-shaped bulb consists of innumerable layers 

 of thin, black, membranaceous coverings surrounding a very 

 small growing axis. These bulbs are collected for feeding 

 camels with. There are two species, this one with salmon- 

 coloured flowers, the other with yellow flowers which I did 

 not see. 



UxRiPE FRViT—dkhkush, dkhkuk. 



Urd — dj — Hindustani for the Pulse, Phaseolus 



RADIATUS. 



Ursus specie.-: 



The Bear. The natives said that between Bala-morghab 

 and jMaimana in the hills, both a red and black bear were 

 known, but I could not get any skins, nor did I ever come 

 across a skin in the Bazaars. The Persians on all occasions 

 made much fun out of my enquiries relative to the locale 

 of these animals ; they always ended by saying, " do not be 

 the least anxious, you will soon know as much about them 

 as we do," alluding of course to the Russians. The black 

 bear, khul, the red bear, khirs, khirsa. 



