1S76.J of the Great Indian Desert. 80 



During a recent traverse of the desert, I have tried to find evidence of 

 its condition in late geological times, and although'the result is mainly nega- 

 tive, some facts appear to point to a recent condition of things when the 

 sea did flow some distance up the Indus valley. At the same time I have 

 not met with any evidence in favour of the view that the great plain of 

 the desert has recently emerged from the sea. The route followed was 

 froni the Indus near Sehwan, via Umarkot in the Thar and Parkar district 

 of Sind, to Balmir, and thence to Jodhpur in Rajputana, returning from 

 Jodhpur, via Jaysalmir, to Eohri on the Indus. 



§ 4. Physical Characters of the Desert. Botany and Zoology. — It 

 is as well before entering further into the subject to point out the chief 

 peculiarities of the Great Desert. The term conveys an imperfect idea, 

 because the tract of country is neither barren nor uninhabited ; it is cover- 

 ed with shrubs and bushes in general, and in places small trees are found ; 

 moreover, although the population is thin, villages are scattered throughout, 

 and immense herds of camels, cattle, sheep, and goats are kept and pastur- 

 ed. Tbe desert is, in fact, a great sandy tract entirely destitute of streams 

 of water, and with but few hills of rock, and a large portion of the surface 

 consists of sand-hills of considerable height and is known locally as Thar 

 (Thurr). When rain falls, crops of bajri {PLolcits spica) are raised. When 

 rains fail, the population lives principally on the milk of cattle and on im- 

 ported grain. 



Throughout the sandy tracts tbe vegetation* consists mainly of four 

 plants known as Phog (Sindhi Tob) (Calligonum polygonoides), Bhiii (Sindhi 

 Balnlsa) (Aerva Javanica), Ldna (Anabasis multiflora) , and Mart, a coarse 

 grass growing in tufts. Ldna, although very common in some places, is rare 

 or wanting throughout large tracts. Phog and Bhui are peculiar to the sand- 

 hills themselves ; Mart, besides abounding on the sand-hills, covers the large 

 sandy plains, which in many parts extend for miles. It is a coarse grass 

 with a hard woody stem, and appears to be one of the principal plants eaten 

 by cattle and horses. Another common plant on the sand-hills is Kip (Or- 

 thanthera viminea). Between the sand-hills Maddr (Calotropis procera) , Pilu 

 (Sindhi Kahar or jar) (Salvadora Persica),Kejri (Acacia rupestr 'is ?),Kiril 

 (Capparis aphylla), Ber (Zizyphus jit,juba) , and a few other plants are com- 



the Indus after the Ganges had been cut off from the lake by another rise of land. 

 He considers that by this means a marine dolphin has become converted into Platanista 

 and then the animal has been transferred to the second river after being cut off from 

 the first. The question of the origin of Platanista it is unnecessary to discuss ; the 

 migration of the original form from one river to the other has probably been due to 

 some of the tributary streams, such as the Satlej or Jamna, being transferred from one 

 drainage-area to the other. This would be effected by a very trifling change of level. 



* I am indebted to Dr. King for the identification of these plants ; of some, as 

 Mart, I unfortunately did not take specimens. 



