INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 133 



range to the norths and by the island of Ceylon to the east. 

 Wc have, therefore, in the southernmost part of India, in a 

 latitude between 8° and 10° N., a hot, arid climate, resembling 

 that of Egypt, like which it produces the best quality of senna 

 and cotton, and many wild plants characteristic of the Egyp- 

 tian Flora, which avoid humidity, and are not known else- 

 where in the Peninsula. Of this, two remarkable instances 

 are Cocculus Leceba, and Capparis aphylla. 



As a whole, the vegetation of the Camatic is neither rich nor 

 varied. The climate being very arid except during the north- 

 cast monsoon, the humid flora is entirely absent. There is 

 no forest, except on the flanks of the higher mountains, 

 which bound the province on the west, or rise from its plains ; 

 and there the vegetation resembles that of the drier parts of 

 Ceylon or of the Mysore hills. The shrubby flora of the 

 open plains consists chiefly of Capparlde<e, Rhamnacea, Aca- 

 cia, and spinous Rubiacea, Alangium, Azima, Carissa and 

 Calotropis gigantea, Ehretia buooifolia, Gmelina, Salvadora, 

 Antidesma, Pisonia, and such like shrubby plants. The only 

 Palms are a Calamus and Phoenix, besides the commonly cul- 

 tivated Cocos, Borassus (which characterizes dry countries), 

 and Areca. Along with these, grow many shrubs which are 

 spread over the whole of the drier parts of India, as far as 

 the Himalaya. Many of the annual plants have an equally 

 wide range, especially those of the rains, which are scarcely 

 different from those of the Gangetic valley. As there is no 

 winter, there are no northern types found in any part of the 

 Camatic. • 



The vegetation of the hilly parts of the Camatic has yielded 

 no peculiarities. Most of the hills are of too trifling elevation 

 to exhibit any marked difference of mean temperature ; and 

 even the Salem range, from the isolated position of its masses, 

 appears to present fewer peculiar features than more continuous 

 mountain masses of even less elevation. The flanks are co- 

 \ crcd with dense bamboo jungle, and the summit is bare and 

 fi'rassy, except in ra\'incs and along the streams. A detailed 



