ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF FORESTS IN IKDIA. 89 



Sindh a large portion of these forests consists of the habool (Acacia 

 arabica), more or less pure, with a shade so dense that very little 

 grass or herb grows under the trees. In northern Sindh extensive 

 shrub forests of tamarisk, with standards of acacia and a poplar 

 (Populus Euphrutica), cover large tracts along the banks on both 

 sides of the river. As the Indus changes its course from time to 

 time, leaving dry last year's bed, and breaking through at another 

 place, forming a new channel, the fresh banks and islands which are 

 thus thrown up are covered at once by a dense growth of self-sown 

 seedlings of tamarisk, with a sprinkling here and there of the acacia 

 and poplar; while in other places large tracts of old forests are 

 carried away by the encroachments of the river. Outside these 

 forests, a little further inland, but still to a certain extent under the 

 moistening influence of the river, are vast tracts of kundi or jhund, 

 an acacia-like tree (Prosopis spicigera), Saloadora, and an arborescent, 

 lealiess Caper (Capparis aplajlla); and further north, in the Punjab, 

 where the rainfall is more regular, and its annual amount approaches 

 or exceeds ten inches, dry and scanty woods, mainly composed of 

 Prosopis, Capparis, and Salvaclora, cover a vast extent of country on 

 the high ground between the rivers of that province. These wood- 

 lands are commonly known under the name of rukhs, and they 

 extend far into the second zone, which may be termed the dry region 

 of India, and in which the normal rainfall is between fifteen and 

 thirty inches. 



There are two zones of dry country, — one surrounding the arid 

 region on the north and east, in a belt from 100 to 200 miles wide, 

 leaving the foot of the Himalayan range about Umballa, touching the 

 Ganges at Futtehgurh, and including Delhi, Agra, Jhansi, Ajmere, 

 and Deesa. This I propose calling the northern dry zone; its natural 

 forest vegetation is scanty, but better than that of the arid region. In 

 some of the states of Eajpootana there are extensive woodlands care- 

 fully preserved, to furnish cover for game, a regular supply of wood and 

 grass, and in times of drought, pasture for the cattle of the vicinity. 

 In the north these woods consist of Acacia and Prosopis; further 

 south, mainly of a species of Anogeissus, a beautiful tree, with small 

 leaves, drooping branches, and dense foliage, which clothes the slopes 

 of the old fort of Chittore and other hills in Meywar, and is the 

 principal tree of the sacred groves of that country. On the Aravulli 

 hills in Meywar, where cultivation mainly depends on the water 

 stored up in tanks, the value of preserving the scanty thorny scrub 

 on the hills, in order to regulate the filling of the tanks from 



VOL. VII. PART I. g 



