TlIK TEAK EEGIOX. 219 



any economic value be found to attach to any portion of 

 the tree, the supply would be practically unlimited ; and 

 reproduction of the forests would be easy in the extreme, 

 large stakes when stuck in the ground during the rainy 

 season rapidly taking root and shooting into trees. 

 This quality of the tree has recently been taken 

 advantage of by the railway company for the con- 

 struction of live fence-posts on which to stretch their 

 fencing wires. The Salei is of a highly social character, 

 emulating in this respect the Sal {Shorea), but admit- 

 ting in a greater degree than it the companionship 

 of other species. The principal of these are the Saj 

 {Pentaptera) : the Torch wood tree (Cochlospermum), 

 with its bright yellow solitary flowers gleaming on the 

 extremities of its naked branches ; and the Ironwood 

 tree {HardidcJcia binata), which is perhaps the most 

 graceful forest tree in these regions. 



The aspect of these vast forests of the Bosivellia, 

 of which the country about the Tapti is a specimen, 

 and which cover, I should say, fully one-half of the 

 whole of this trap region, is very remarkable. During 

 the height of the monsoon (July to October) the grass 

 is careen, and the trees have thrown out a thin foliaj^e of 

 small, bricrht green pinnated leaves. The river beds, 

 too, are then filled by foaming torrents, and the fervour 

 of the sun is moderated by a canopy of gray clouds. 

 At this season one might almost mistake the valley 

 for a scene in some northern primeval wilderness. But 

 gradually, as the clouds clear off and the rain ceases, 

 a change occurs. The rivers shrink in their beds, till a 

 tricklincr stream in a wide bed of boulders represents 

 the resistless mountain torrent of a month before, 

 while the higher gullies are utterly dried up. The 



