OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 383 
Goats are fond of its leaves, and the herdsmen (goriyas) chew its bark 
with catechu as a cheap substitute for the regular pan. 
I have included under this name more than one of the species of 
Royle and others, which, as existing here and to the north-west, 
seem to me, after collecting them in many places hundreds of miles apart, 
to be only variations of one species. 
52. E. serrata, Rox : panden puna. Uncommon outside the hills, 
but occasionally planted at villages, I presume on account of its fine 
honey- scented flowers. 
Its wood is not valued here, but in some parts of the Peninsula is 
found to be tough, light, easily worked, and durable, and is much used 
for sword-belts and gun-stocks. 
53. Emblica officinalis, Gcert : areola, amla. A well-known small 
but handsome tree with very smooth ash-coloured bark, common, planted 
at villages, &c, in the plains, and found all over the forest. Its hard, 
strong, straight-grained wood is valued for gun-stocks, &c.,and is said to 
be particularly durable under water. 4^ X lj yds. 1/2. 
The leaves, bark, &c, are used medicinally in various parts of India, 
but the fruit is universally the chief product. It is not edible as plucked, 
being intensely sour (whence the native name), but is collected all over 
India for dietetic and medicinal purposes. It is made into pickle (dchdr) 
and the soft part dried (ddl-donld) is eaten as a relish. In medicine it 
is esteemed as a tonic and purgative, being generally administered in the 
form of " black salt/' in which it is combined with common and other 
salts. It is also used for washing the hair, in making ink, and along 
with some of the other myrobalans and iron filings in dyeing black. 
1 maund — /3. 
In these forests it is gathered about January, and one person will earn 
about one anna a day selling what he collects to pansaris at one maund 
for a rupee. 
54. Eriopkorum comosum, Wall : bhabar. Commonly supposed to 
yield all the grass for rope so called, and probably does yield part of it, 
(see Andropigon, No. 8). It grows abundantly on the cliffs of the 
Siwaliks, as well as outside the forest, on the walls of the Fort at Nujee- 
babad, &c. 
55. Erythrina suberosa, Rox : doldhak, rimgari. The " coral tree," 
easily distinguished by its corky bark with distant wide longitudinal 
wrinkles, and long prickles on the younger branches, and its fine red 
flowers which appear before the leaves. Its wood is soft, white, and 
tough, and is largely used for making the hoops of sieves {chalni he ghera) 
for which purpose a log is first cleverly split into radiating segments 
and then each of these into long strips concentrically. Cart load — /10 ; 
for 20 sieves — /l. 
56. Falconeria insignis, Royle, Khinna. The timber of this small 
