FIEEWOOD. 



MEMORANDUM ON THE STRIHAEIKOTA JUNGLE. 



The banks of Cochrane's Canal are clothed with saline plants 

 (Salsola, Salicomia, and Suceda), which, with their succulent 

 cylindric leaves, may be seen in great abundance wherever the 

 salt water or marsh extends : their ashes afford soda by incinera- 

 tion. The canal is lined by rows of young trees (Gasuarina 

 muricata, Melia azadirach, and Pongamia glabra), and there is a 

 hedge of Parkimonia aculeata on both sides, thriving as well as 

 can be expected in an exposed situation and on a sterile soil. 

 These valuable improvements have been effected since I last tra- 

 velled by this canal in 1851. The Palmyra palm (Borassus 

 flabelliformis) grows spontaneously in vast abundance along the 

 narrow strip of land between Pulicat Lake and the sea. Other 

 trees begin to appear at some distance beyond Coromandel (pro- 

 perly Kdra-manml), where the tract of jungle under considera- 

 tion increases in breadth ; but the trees are nowhere of large 

 size, and there is no part which can be designated forest, the 

 general appearance being that of a dense, scrubby jungle. The 

 length of this belt is under forty miles, varying in width from 

 half a mile to eight miles; but it has not been accurately sur- 

 veyed, and is not so broad as usually represented, or the area 

 has diminished in extent. The fine loose sand blown by the 



Fig. 7. 



wind along the flats has a tendency to collect round every 

 obstacle, even a blade of grass ; and a succession of mounds are 



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