31 



Pohli (Carthamum oxyacantha), a thorny weed with yellow flowers, a 

 -near relation of safflower, is common in the Punjab, and in the north-west of 

 the province poor people in times of scarcity use the seeds as food. They 

 also contain oil. 



9. In the sand hills of the Thai of Mianwali, Muzaffargarh and Jhang 



Hindwina (rcelon*), eynosym titak (smaller). me , 10nS are a Catch Cr P' Th e rinds are 



fed to cattle. Pandit Hari Kishan 

 Kaul has given me a note on the subject : 



" The melon is split up, the seeds separated and the pulp eaten by men, the shell being 

 given to the cattle. "Where melons grow in great abundance, the pulp and the shell are both 

 thrown to the cattle, only the choicest melons being reserved for men. The seeds are dried, 

 parched, and eaten like parched gram, or in years of scarcity pounded into flour and eaten in 

 the form of cakes. Camels are not fed on melons, partly because they are considered injurious 

 for camels and horses, and partly because camels have plenty of other fodder. They are, 

 however, allowed to eat the creeper, and, when grazing in melon fields, do not mind picking up 

 as many small melons as they can." 



70. Indigofera tinctoria : natural order, Legiiminosa. For botanical 



description see Fuller and Duthie's 



3nl (indigo). --.. , , * , _. , , ._ 



Field and Garden Crops, part I, page 43, 

 and plate XII. 



The cultivation of indigo for the dye and the supply of seed to the 

 Behar planters was once important in the eastern districts, but the area under 

 the crop there is now quite insignificant. It is noted in the Bohtak Gazetteer 

 (page 104) that "latterly it is said to have been tested as a fodder crop." 

 Several of the wild Indigoferas are in the list of fodder plants in volume III of 

 the Dictionary of Economic Products, but it does not include the " kathi " or 

 Indigofera gerardiana so common in the low hills. Indigo is still cultivated 

 to a considerable extent in Multan, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan for 

 the sake of the dye which is exported to Afghanistan, Bokhara and Yarkand 

 {Multan Gazetteer, page 215). 



71. Acknowledgments are due to the officers named in this note and to 



Mr. Lall, Settlement Officer of Gujran- 

 wala, and to M. Sant Singh, President 



of the Kalsia Council, for their ready response to requests for information. 



Mr. Dunnett has kindly agreed to correct the proofs in my absence. 



J. M. DOUIE, 

 26th January 1912. 



