INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 245 



island. At the same place we find the northern limit of 

 Casuarina equisetifoUa, the most northerly species of the 

 family of Casuarinece, which is chiefly confined to Australia. 

 The Indian species is extensively cultivated throughout Ben- 

 gal. On the low islands along the coast the vegetation is very 

 scanty, and chiefly consists of creeping grasses, with Dilivaria, 

 Excmcaria, Tamarix, Rhizophoreoe, Acrostichum aureum, and 

 a Composite shrub. 



Our knowledge of the flora of these provinces is chiefly de- 

 rived from Roxburgh's ' Flora Indica ;' many of the most in- 

 teresting species published there having been communicated 

 to him from Tippera and Chittagong. Our own small col- 

 lection, which was made in the months of December and 

 January, amounts to about 600 species. 



6. Arracan. 



The province of Arracan is a narrow belt of land, 290 

 miles long, hemmed in between the sea and the Aeng or 

 Youmadang range of mountains, which lies very near the 

 coast. It is traversed from north to south by a large river, 

 navigable for a considerable distance into the interior; and 

 by numerous smaller rivers, all of which have tidal channels, 

 and form a sort of delta along the coast, which is skirted by 

 many islands. FVom the proximity of the mountains to the 

 coast, and their considerable elevation, the rain-fall is very 

 great, amounting to 160 and 180 inches annually. 



The botany of Arracan is quite unknown, and the climate 

 of the interior is veiy unhealthy. Along the sea-coast are 

 forests of mangroves, and there is in all the valleys veli^ exten- 

 sive rice cultivation, the plains being inundated during the 

 monsoon. Tobacco of superior quality is also cultivated. The 

 mountains may be expected to produce the same plants as 

 are found in the Malayan peninsula, to which the climate ap- 

 proximates very closely ; they are clothed with heavy forests 

 and bamboo jungle. The gamboge is said to be found in the 



