42.2 Capt. N. Vicary^s Notes on the Botany of Sinde. 
with little to be seen except Salsola and Tamarisk, and even 
these afFeet the borders of desert places. 
The tamarisk on the borders of the desert in some places 
yields a considerable quantity of manna ; it exudes from the bark 
of the younger branches in the form of translucent tears. It is 
collected in some abundance in the neighbourhood of Meher, 
south of Larkhana^ and used to adulterate sugar ; my servants eat 
a considerable quantity of it without being in any way affected. 
In fact they were wonder-stricken^ and returned thanks to God 
for having miraculously created sugar in the desert jungle. I had 
about a seer of it for near a year ; it remained unaltered, and was 
at last destroyed by exposure to rain. 
This species of manna is noticed by Dr. Royle in his ^ Illus- 
trations of Botany/ p. 214. I saw neither flowers nor fruit, so 
cannot speak as to the species, but the shrub has the habit and 
appearance of T. gallica. 
The little desert of Sinde flanks the base of the Hala range, 
varying from ten to twenty-five miles (or more) in breadth, ex- 
tending in a southerly direction to beyond Meher, where it nar- 
rows to three or four miles, and there are more or less extensive 
patches of desert nearly as far south as the Munchaul Lake. In 
a northerly direction branches of the desert extend to near Mit- 
tun Kote, flanking the base of the Boogtee Beloch hills (spurs 
of the II alas) upon which Deyrah and Kahun are situated. This 
tract is sometimes called the Burshoree desert, from the name of 
a halting-place on the other side, N.W. of Shikarpoor. The soil 
is a hard-baked yellow clay, often exhibiting proofs of lacustrine 
or alluvial origin, generally extremely arid and devoid of all ve- 
getation. In some places even in the heart of the desert Salsolce 
are abundant, in others the surface for miles is perfectly naked ; 
in many places saline matter abounds, efllorescing and whitening 
the surface, or cementing the soil, which crackles under the feet 
as if ice-bound ; saltpetre is or has been manufactured at the 
southern end of the desert. It will be seen that but for the 
Indus this desert would form a braneh of the great Jeysulmeer 
desert, which in some places south of Bhawulpoor approaches 
the Indus so closely that its sands are poured into the stream ; 
hence we may expect the vegetation on the borders of both to be 
somewhat similar. 
Not far south of Bhawulpoor a species of Anabasis, very 
like (if not identical with) A.florida, makes its appearance; this 
plant abounds on the borders of the desert, and on both banks 
of the Indus wherever the desert approaches. 
The borders of the Sinde desert are usually belted with sand- 
hills, and outside them a belt of Acacia catechu of greater or less 
breadth. 
