DISTINCT ZONES OF VEGETATION. 



437 



Desideratum. — Required to ascertain positively whether the shingle 

 and boulders are in all cases not derived from the boundary moun- 

 tains : that they are not in many cases is clear, witness the declivities 

 of slate rocks, totally incapable of assuming the form of boulders. 

 The proportions of the cultivated to the uncultivatable land is previ- 

 ously given rather in favour of the tillable portion, this is always a 

 light, almost impalpable powder, consistent when wetted : generally 

 the soil owes any fertile qualities it has here, to the presence of water ; 

 thus the Dusht-i-Bedowlut produces nothing beyond its indigenous 

 plants from having no water. 



The transition from the extremely bare mountains of the Hindoo- 

 koosh as seen on the road to Bamean, to the well wooded ones of 

 the Himalaya, takes place at Jugdulluck, the hills, round which, 

 produce plenty of Baloot : in this direction, the forests become 

 much thicker as we proceed to the eastward. There is a mountain 

 near Jallalabad, which at once arrests the attention from its being 

 wooded. Nothing like it occurring between this and Cabul, on any 

 part of the chain of mountains distinctly referrable to the Himalayas. 

 Wooded as this is, it is nothing to the woods on the mountains 

 about Pushut, the size of these has been well demonstrated by the 

 late snows : some bare places occur, which appearances, Abdool says 

 are from cultivation of Kohistanes. Baloot abounds, Dodonea also 

 is now coming into flower ! a curious fact pointing out its nor- 

 thern qualifications, although in form it is very like a Mergui 

 Dodonea. 



24M. — A clear day after a night of heavy rain, still no appear- 

 ance of settled weather ; walked in the afternoon towards the Dhurrah 

 at the south side of the valley. The bouldery slope presented an abrupt 

 bank of a considerable angle, and its limits were most marked from 

 that of the tillable soil ; as we approached the foot of the ghat, the 

 fragments became larger, they are angular, and have been little if at 

 all worn; thence I walked eastwards to a small isolated ridge of 

 limestone, perhaps a mile from the foot of the boundary chain, and 

 returned to camp. In this direction, which is that of the torrents, 

 occasionally rushing out of the Dhurrah, the transition between the 

 mountain slope, and the tillable soil, was gradual, the action of water 

 carrying farther down small fragments, and turning some of the 

 fields into a sandy shingly soil : the depth of the beds of these tor- 

 rents here, is perhaps four feet, the section being a mass of very 

 unequal fragments. 



