1864.] 



On the Vegetation of the Jhelum District. 



291 







district. It is situated in Lat. 32° 56' N. Long. 73° 47' E. (A. K. 

 Johnston, 1855) and is about 671 feet above the sea level. It may be 

 considered as occupying the centre of the Jhelum Tract. Nearly a 

 mile to the west of this is situated the Military cantonment, once 

 occupied by a large force of native troops, but since the mutiny, all 

 but left to ruin. 



The Jhelum Tract is the plain country enclosed within the Khari- 

 an and Eatian ranges of hills, with the Jhelum river running in the 

 midst. It commences at the fort of Mungla, and ends some miles 

 above Jelallpore, where the Kharian range and Surafur hills close in 

 upon the river. It consists on the whole of a beautiful plain, which, 

 near the bases of these hills, is cut up into ravines, but afterwards 

 opens out into richly cultivated flat land. This, on the Jhelum side, 

 is divided into three parts, by the wide sandy beds of the Kuhan 

 (or Bukrala) and Boonah nullas. 



The geological formation of this tract consists of — • 



1st. Eecent tertiary, close to the river, which, in some places, as 

 at Doolial and Cyngoee, is made up of a rich mould yielding profuse 

 and good successive crops, 



2nd. Pleistocene tertiary • this lies below the recent tertiary, but 

 the latter disappears as we go inland, and the Pleistocene crops out 

 upon the surface, containing beds of kunkur at the river, of some 

 value, with a tolerable amount of surface soil. 



3rd. As we approach the base of these ranges of hills, viz., the 

 Eatian, &c, we enter upon a Miocene tertiary country, characterised 

 by deep water- courses or ravines full of huge boulders, shingle and 

 sand. From this the hills suddenly rise up, consisting of clay, marl, 

 conglomerates, and sandstone, the last containing fossils similar to 

 those found in the Sewalik range of hills, of which the geology of 

 these hills is supposed to be the counterpart. 



Water is obtained in this tract at little cost and labour, from 

 wells about 20 feet deep, which yield a plentiful supply, fresh and 

 sweet. A well is to be met with, attached to every village, and 

 to many there are several, all worked with the Persian wheel. Their 

 water is not used for irrigation, excepting for tobacco and small 

 patches of cotton, but chiefly for gardens: the former of these 

 crops indeed may be regarded as garden produce. Water is not 

 raised from the river for irrigation. One stream of fresh water, the 



