760 Botanico- Agricultural account [Sept. 



as a low shrub, but it is also met with as a small tree mixed with the 

 phalahi and rerul (I believe Acacia leucophlceaj, which last as well as 

 the Jhand are utterly useless except as fuel. 



The dhak ( Butea frondosa) and the hins (Capparis sepiaria) are 

 almost unknown, while Capp. andaphylla grows to the size of a small tree, 

 and in the month of April its scarlet flowers have a showy appearance 

 mixed with the white blossoms of the phalahi. The rahere ( Bignonia 

 undulataj is found not uncommonly and is very brilliant when in flower : 

 this with a small liliacious plant is a curious instance of plants from the 

 Sewalik hills reappearing in so very dissimilar an habitat. 



Of large trees the peepul is the only one of usual occurrence : some- 

 times the Tamarix Fras or Pharmi, as it is named in this part of the 

 country, is found of a considerable size. The sissu extends even to the 

 borders of the desert. Sirris is seldom to be seen ; mangoe, or jamun 

 never. The Nim is very rarely to be met with only near some Mu- 

 salman saint's tomb. 



In the most south-westerly part of this tract bordering the desert, a 

 considerable quantity of alkali is manufactured from a species of 

 salsola* and forms a considerable article of commerce under the name 

 of sajji. 



The population of the third tract differs very much from that of the 

 former ones. In the more northern parts the zemindars are mostl^ 

 Musalman Rajputs, with few Jats among them ; but as we come south- 

 ward the proportion gradually changes till in the Tihara a Musalman 

 is scarcely to be found and the zemindars are almost universally Jats and 

 of the Sikh persuasion ; in that part of the country also the Kahar or 

 bearer caste disappears, and among the lower people the sweepers, 

 assuming the title of Rangrethas, are the most numerous. 



Lastly, a few words on the two strips of land bordering the Jumnc 

 and the Sutlej. 



The Khadir of the former may be considered as upper and lower, 

 the upper contained within the branches of the Jumna meeting near 

 Rajghat, is almost entirely populated by Goojurs. The soil is cold, 



pulate, but I have subsequently found stipules on the young branches of the 

 full-sized tree, though they are smaller in proportion to the leaf than in the 

 shrub ; besides the prickles are much more numerous on the shrub than on the 

 tree. 



* It is a curious circumstance that I found a species of salsola near Ambala. 

 growing in a single salt-pan, and not another to be found, anywhere in the 

 neighbourhood for miles, though I searched every salt-pan for it. 



