260 
NOTi^S. 
A good travelling servant is of course a necessity in nearly all districts, 
as no English is spoken even by the bungalow servants. Hotels are 
to be found in most of the larger towns, and thé inclusive charge is 
usually Rs. 5 per diem. Travelling in the country districts is very 
cheap, especially in the south. Most parts of India are now accessible 
by rail in a short time, and the fares are extremely low. 
My first tour was from Bombay to Colombo, by way of the Ghats, 
Poona, Bangalore, Madras, Ootacamund, and the Anamalais. My 
second was from Calcutta into the Khasia Mountains of Assam and 
into the Sikkim Himalaya. The two thus cover some of the most 
botanically interesting districts of India. 
The flat low-country of the Konkan and the lower western slopes 
of the Ghats east of Bombay resemble the country between Colombo 
and Kandy, but the vegetation is far less rich, though of the same 
type. Many familiar Ceylon trees still occur, but the rainfall dis- 
tribution is very difterent, an enormous precipitation in the summer 
monsoon and a drought from November to May. The more Malayan 
types of vegetation seem to disappear gradually, as the climate in going 
northwards from Galle to Bombay changes from the well-distributed 
rainfall and constant humidity of the former to the violent contrasts 
that mark the latter. Distribution of rainfall appears to be of much 
greater effect than total rainfall ; the total in the Bombay Ghats is 
very high indeed. The difference also shows in the cultivated palms 
on the coast, which in the Bombay District are mainly palmirahs, not 
cocoanuts. The general effect of the whole district in December is 
one of great dryness, only to be matched in Ceylon in a few districts 
of the north and south-east. All exposed places have a brown or 
yellow colour from the dry grass. 
The configuration and scenery of the western side of the Ghats is 
not unlike that of the Adam’s Peak region, but far less rich, and with 
more precipitous valleys ; many of these are almost canons, with the 
streams pouring into their heads over lofty precipices. They are 
themselves usually well wooded, but the tableland above, which is at 
an average level of about 2,500 feet, is mostly open grass country, 
intersected by rocky stream beds, which in December are almost all 
dry. I stayed at two centres for the study of the rivers, Igatpuri at 
the top of the Thul Ghat on the Calcutta Railway (good furnished 
bungalow) and Khandala at the top of the Bhor Ghat on the Madras 
line (hotels). The former is very dry, and the lower slopes of the 
Ghat are covered with teak forest. The latter is an excellent head- 
quarters for the study of the flora, and though the open tableland is 
no richer than the dry Uva patanas, which it much resembles, the 
valleys contain an interesting jungle flora. On the eastern side of the 
watershed the land slopes away gradually into the tableland of the 
Deccan, with quiet rivers meandering through irrigated cultivated 
country of little botanical interest. The chief tree is the Babul, 
