INDIA 41 



forest-growth, succeeded by a zone of conifers and 

 rhododendrons, stretches up to 11,500 feet. The alpine 

 zone of pastures and shrubberies, of screes and herb 

 coverings, ascends to 16,000 feet. 



On the north-west, the Himalayan vegetation, 

 especially in the lower reaches, loses more and more 

 its sub-tropical character and profusion. In the 

 Indus district the climate is decidedly dry, and the 

 vegetation assumes increasingly, at least at the lower 

 and middle elevations, a somewhat mediterranean aspect 

 with stout, evergreen, round-headed, hard-leaved trees, 

 walnuts, oaks, pines, firs, and deodars. Many of the 

 slopes are either completely denuded or thinly dotted 

 with a loose evergreen scrub equivalent to the Mediter- 

 ranean ' garigue '. The woods are loose, often scattered, 

 with hardly any undergrowth or ground vegetation. 

 This district is extremely suitable for the cultivation of 

 maize and wheat. 



The Indus Desert is really part of the vast system of 

 tropical deserts oi the Old World and the easternmost 

 corner of the arid belt of the Sahara-Arabia-Persia series. 

 The bulk of the monsoon from the Arabian seas is 

 deflected towards the east by the Vindhyas, leaving but 

 an unimportant part for the plain of the Indus. Thus 

 the rainfall which is always irregular hardly rises above 

 ten inches yearly. The centre of this area is formed by 

 the hot desert of Thar, a low and monotonous plain, one 

 of the dreariest places on earth. It is approached through 

 concentric belts of increasing barrenness : a main zone 

 may be distinguished, extending on the west to the foot 

 of the Baluchistan highlands, and on the north to the 

 foot of the Himalayas. This zone may be compared 

 with the Somali ' nyika ', and is covered with a scattered 

 and herbaceous vegetation, with a thin dotting of thorny 



