•122 Capt. N. VicaiVs Notes on the Botany of Sinde. 



with little to be seen except Salsolce and Tamarisk, and even 

 these affect the borders of desert places. 



The tamarisk on the borders of the desert in some places 

 yields a considerable quantity of manna ; it exudes from the bark 

 of the younger branches in the form of translucent tears. It is 

 collected in some abundance in the neighbourhood of Meher, 

 south of Larkhana, and used to adulterate sugar ; my servants eat 

 a considerable quantity of it without being in any way affected. 

 In fact they were wonder-stricken, and returned thanks to God 

 for having miraculously created sugar in the desert jungle. I had 

 about a seer of it for near a year ; it remained unaltered, and was 

 at last destroyed by exposure to rain. 



This species of manna is noticed by Dr. Boyle in his ' Illus- 

 trations of Botany/ p. 214. I saw neither flowers nor fruit, so 

 cannot speak as to the species, but the shrub has the habit and 

 appearance of T. gallica. 



The little desert of Sinde flanks the base of the Hala range, 

 varying from ten to twenty-five miles (or more) in breadth, ex- 

 tending in a southerly direction to beyond Meher, where it nar- 

 rows to three or four miles, and there are more or less extensive 

 patches of desert nearly as far south as the Munchaul Lake. In 

 a northerly direction branches of the desert extend to near Mit- 

 tun Kote, flanking the base of the Boogtee Beloch hills (spurs 

 of the Halas) upon which Deyrah and Kahun are situated. This 

 tract is sometimes called the Burshoree desert, from the name of 

 a halting-place on the other side, N.W. of Shikarpoor. The soil 

 is a hard-baked yellow clay, often exhibiting proofs of lacustrine 

 or alluvial origin, generally extremely arid and devoid of all ve- 

 getation. In some places even in the heart of the desert Salsolce 

 are abundant, in others the surface for miles is perfectly naked; 

 in many places saline matter abounds, efflorescing and whitening 

 the surface, or cementing the soil, which crackles under the feet 

 as if ice-bound ; saltpetre is or has been manufactured at the 

 southern end of the desert. It will be seen that but for the 

 Indus this desert would form a branch of the great Jeysulmeer 

 desert, which in some places south of Bhawulpoor approaches 

 the Indus so closely that its sands are poured into the stream ; 

 hence we may expect the vegetation on the borders of both to be 

 somewhat similar. 



Not far south of Bhawulpoor a species of Anabasis, very 

 like (if not identical with) A.florida, makes its appearance; this 

 plant abounds on the borders of the desert, and on both banks 

 of the Indus wherever the desert approaches. 



The borders of the Sinde desert are usually belted with sand- 

 hills, and outside them a belt of Acacia catechu of greater or less 

 breadth. 



