INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 151 



the mountains is the same which prevails all over India in 

 those hilly districts in which there is a moderate rain-fall be- 

 tween June and September, and dry weather for the remain- 

 der of the year. The moisture-loving types of Malabar and 

 the Concan do not occur^ and the common trees are Butea 

 frondosa, Acacia Catechu, Cassia Fistula, Careya arborea, 

 and all those trees which are common in the tropical parts of 

 the middle Himalaya. The same vegetation extends north- 

 ward along the west face of the Arawali range, and probably 

 on the Katiwar hills. In the valley of the Nerbada, which is 

 more humid, a more varied flora will probably be met with. 



14. SiNDH. 



The province of Sindh extends from the sea on the south 

 to the borders of the Panjab on the north. Westward it is 

 bounded by the mountains of Beluchistan, and on the east it 

 is continuous with the desert of Marwar. Sindh is an alluvial 

 plain watered by the various branches of the Indus. For the 

 most part it is perfectly level, but a few low hUls (spurs from 

 the Beluch mountains) here and there, as at Eori, Hyderabad, 

 and Karachi, advance close to the Indus. 



The climate of Sindh is perfectly arid, little or no rain falling 

 at any period of the year. Now and then, however, exceptional 

 seasons occur, when heavy showers fall at intervals, especially 

 at the commencement of the south-west monsoon, at which 

 time there is a considerable rain-fall in the mountains of Be- 

 luchistan and Afghanistan. The average rain-fall of Sindh is 

 not more than four or five inches, but occasionally upwards of 

 twenty inches of rain have been registered. Even with this 

 amount of rain, however, the climate is so dry that the air does 

 not remain humid for any length of time, the storms being 

 transitory in duration. The heat is therefore very great, and 

 the mean temperature probably as high as anywhere in India. 



Though extremely fertile where irrigation is practicable, 

 Sindh is, in consequence of the great dryness of the air, na- 

 turally sterile. There is no forest of large trees ; and though 



