146 FLOKA INDICA. 



11. Bandelkhand. 



The district of Bandelkhand^ including the small state of 

 Eewahj which has the same physical featureSj occupies the 

 northern slope of the Vindhia range^ from the borders of Ba- 

 har on the east to Gwalior on the west. The watershed of 

 that range is included within the province of Malwahj but 

 long, flat-topped spurs descend towards the Jumna, separating 

 the broad valleys of numerous rivers which flow northward. 

 A little east of Gwalior these spurs extend almost to the 

 Jumna, but further east they recede from the river, and, when 

 viewed from the northward, appear to form an amphitheatre 

 of precipices, so as to give the plain of Bandelkhand the ap- 

 pearance of a vast bay of the sea surrounded by sandstone 

 cliffs, which again advance almost to the river not far from 

 Mirzapm". The greatest width of the plain is about thirty 

 miles, and near the hills many scattered insulated rocks occur, 

 behind which the surface rises in a succession of steps, sepa- 

 rated by level platforms, to the height of 2000 feet, whence 

 it slopes gradually up to the watershed of the Nerbada, the 

 average elevation of which is perhaps 2500 feet. 



The plain of Bandelkhand near the Jumna is fertile and 

 well cultivated, but the interior is generally barren, except in 

 the valleys. Many lakes, which are all partly artificial, diver- 

 sify the surface, and the hills are covered with low jungle. 

 Its seasons are those usual in northern India. The rains 

 commence in June and terminate in September, but, from 

 the central position of the province, they are less heavy than 

 in Malwah. The dry season is intensely hot, and there is a 

 weU marked cold season. 



For our knowledge of the vegetation of Bandelkhand, we 

 are mainly indebted to Mr. Edgeworth, who has published* a 

 catalogue of the plants of the district of Banda. He enume- 

 rates 605 species of phsenogamous plants ; few of these differ 

 from those common in the Dekhan and Gangetic plain, and 

 the hill species are mostly common in the subtropical Hima- 



* In the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. 



