298 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA 



the parts where it grows. The saj alone grows in any 

 quantity along with it. Some of the hills are covered with 

 the ordinary species of forest trees of other parts; the 

 species of vegetation appearing, as I have said before, to 

 depend much on the geological formation. 



The valleys themselves are generally open and free 

 from aU underwood, dotted here and there by belts and 



SAL FOEESTS IN THE HAION VALLEY. 



islands of the noble sal tree, and altogether possessing much 

 of the character ascribed to the American prairies. In 

 their lowest parts the soU is deep, black, and rich, covered 

 with a growth of strong tall grasses. As the valleys merge 

 into the hilly ranges, the soils become lighter and redder, 

 from the lateritic topping that here overUes the basaltic 

 and granitic bases of the hills ; the grasses are less rank and 

 and in many places springs of clear cold water 



coarse : 



