ON THE FLORA OF VUTGU. 757 



one. it was just the tact, cm the one ham!, thai the flora of Dutch is 

 vorv incompletely known awl, on the other, thai Cutch occupies an 

 almost isolated position, thai induced me in December Inst, to pay a 

 \i-it to that out-of-the-way country. If 1 am now able to add some- 

 thing to our previous knowledge i f die Botany of Uutch, ii is greatly 

 due to the untiring efforts of my companion, the Rev. H. Sierp, s..t., 

 Professor of Chemistry, who, with valuable suggestions and practical 

 aid, was a great help to me throughout the who] • journey. 



As the phvsical aspects and metei rological conditions of a country 

 determine the special character and development of it- vegetation, ii 

 is advisable to give first a short sketch of the territory of < 'nidi. 

 I consider this less superfluous because comparatively very few are 

 personally acquainted n ith ( lutch, and it' others try to form an idea as 

 to its physical configuration, 1 am afraid, the picture they draw of 

 Cutch will not be accurate, not to say incorrect, if I am allowed to 

 draw a conclusion from m\ own experiences. 



The Province of Cutch extends from 20° 17' to 24 N. Lai, and 

 t;* 2»'>' to 71° 10' E. Long., being crossed by the parallel of the 

 tropic of cancer about 14 miles north of the capital, Bhuj. On the 

 north, east, and south-east it is bounded by the Rami ; on 1 he south b} 

 the Gulf of < 'utch, on tin 1 west by the Arabian Sea, and on the north- 

 wesi by the eastern branch ol the Indus. Its extreme length from 

 east to west is 160 miles ;ini ' its extreme breadth 70 from north to 

 south, while in one place it is only 35 miles wide. It contains about 

 i'p,,'ii)(i square miles, exclusive of the Grand Rami, which, including the 

 islands with rhe portion hounded by the Gujarai Ooasl in the easf and 

 south-east covers an area of It), 000 square miles. Perhaps the most 

 striking feature to the visitor of Cutch is the sterility of the country. 

 Sand) plains and naked rocky hilK present a strong contrast to the 

 more fertile parts of India. The barrenness is increased b\ the scarcity 

 of trees and general absence of anything that can be called jungle. 

 " From the sea on the south and west, and from the Rami on the 



north and east, the ast of Cutch is in some places very slightl) 



raised and fringed with mangrove swamps. In other parts it rises 

 in rows of sand hills, or as in the north-west, in broken rocky cliffs. 

 Inland, especially on the south and east, are broad plains, some deep 

 soiled and well tilled, others bare and furrowed with water-courses. 

 Beyond these plains rise the central lands of the province, in places 



