of the Himalayan Mountains. 



349 



birds in the author's collection, &c. ; the continuation of the work from 

 HemerocallideEB, in p. 389., to Algae, which terminates in p. 443. The al- 

 phabetical indexes are, Greek names of plants and drugs referred to in 

 Persian and Arabian works on Materia Medica ; list of plants and subjects 

 treated of; fossil plants figured; index of zoological subjects; index of 

 plants and drugs in Arabian and Persian authors on Materia Medica ; list of 

 plates; and, lastly, alphabetical list of 197 plants which are figured. 



The plates in the present Part are. Fossils of the Sub-Himalayan, or Se- 

 walik Hills ; Ericaulon '^oW'^dnum ; i/ordeum JEgiceras, a cultivated barley ; 

 and Andropogon Calamus aromaticus, which Dr. Royle considers to be the 

 sweet calamus of the ancients. 



Such are the contents of the last Part of this most learned, elaborate, and 

 truly useful work, which must sooner or later find its way into all good 

 libraries, public or private, not only in Britain but in every country. 



As the influential part of the population of India will in all probability be 

 the descendants of Britons, it is interesting to examine how far the climate 

 will admit of their adopting the habits and practices of their parent country. 

 The horticulture and floriculture of Britain may be indulged in, more or less, 

 in every part of the world ; but the landscape-gardening exhibited in English 

 parks and pleasure-grounds must necessarily be of limited extent, from the 

 difficulty of procuring surfaces of green turf throughout the year. For this 

 reason we have thought it appropriate to select a quotation bearing on this 

 subject : — 



" Europeans in India prefer, or indeed only give their horses, the creeping 

 stems and leaves scraped off the ground by the grass-cutter, of that grass, 

 which is known by the name of doob, or doorba, Cynodon Dactylon Pers. 

 var. indica Hort. Brit, (the species is a native of England, and is shown 

 in fig. 44.), and which flowers nearly all the year, and is fortunately by far 

 the most common in every part of India. In 

 Northern India it is a common practice to form 

 lawns and pastures of moderate extent by plant- 

 ing pieces of the creeping stems of this grass." 

 (p. 421.) 



" The base of the Himalayas is clothed with 

 a dense grass jungle, among which species of 

 Saccharum and Andropogon are the most con- 

 spicuous and the tallest, but, when full grown, 

 necessarily too coarse to serve either for pas- 

 ture or for hay ; they are, therefore, yearly burnt 

 down, after which the young blade springs up, 

 affording excellent pasture for herds of cattle. 

 As we ascend the mountains, tropical forms 

 gradually disappear, and those of temperate 

 regions take their place ; while at certain elevations, where the cold of 

 winter is severe, and the temperature of the rainy season equable and 

 moist, at the same time moderately high, we find many species of grasses of 

 tropical genera, perfectly at home, in situations which are, in winter, covered 

 with snow ; but, as these elevations have their own peculiar species belonging 

 to European genera which are able to withstand the winter's cold, there is 

 at all times abundant pasture in the neighbourhood of most of the Hima- 

 layan villages, and, according to the season of the year, the sheep and cattle 

 are driven to different ranges and elevations. The sward upon these moun- 

 tains is exactly like, though somewhat more luxuriant than, that met with on 

 the mountains of Scotland or of Wales ; and the sheep and cattle fed on 

 them have the fineness and flavour of those fed on grain in the plains of 

 India." (p. 423.) 



It would thus appear that the wealthier inhabitants of India may have 

 country seats resembling those of England in the mountainous regions ; and, 

 probably, when the country is intersected by railways, a wealthy citizen of 



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