70 BOTANICAL TOUR IN THE LAKHIMPUR DISTRICT, ASSAM, 
and Ficus religiosa all form good trees. Melia Azederach is also 
commonly planted and I saw a few bushes of Punica granatum 
in full flower. The gardens in the compounds of the European 
residents are tastefully arranged and most of them contain plants 
of showy Indian orchids which thrive on the trees. 
At this season of the year the river is at a very low ebb leaving 
beaches of glittering white sand on both bank? 
In travelling to Sadiya the railway again proves a convenience 
as it runs to a tea plantation [named Talap. The journey is com- 
pleted by a walk of lo miles and a voyage of 6 
From Talap a good road runs to Saikwa at present a village 
and market place where few supplies can be obtained, but formerly 
it was also a military outpost. 
The greater part of this route is through rice-cultivated land 
broken in many parts by forests, generally of secondary growth, 
which become continuous as the Brahmaputra is approached. The 
rice fields which had become marshy since the heavy rainfall of the 
previous week were full of Sagittariay Ammannia^ Polygonum 
sagittatum^ P. strigosum^ and other common species of Polygonum^ 
Jussisea suffruticosa and a profusion of Cyperaceous plants. The 
arboreal and shrubby vegetation was mainly identical with that of 
Makum. ^sculus punduana is exceedingly abundant and the 
undergrowth is tangled and dense. Cuscuta rejiexa covered the 
latter, in many places, with its festoons of slender interlacing stems 
and white flowers. 
From Saikwa Ghkt the last 6 miles to Sadiya on the opposite 
bank are covered by a voyage in dug out canoes which are poled 
rapidly enough up stream by two men in each. The ordinary 
country boat built up of separate planks does not seem to be in use 
in this part of the river which is wide but rather shallow, and its 
sandy banks are skirted by forests of great extent. 
The military outpost of Sadiya, situated close to the right bank, 
of the river, is surrounded by far reaching stretches of grass savan- 
nahs interspersed by coppices of small trees. A large annual bazar 
was formerly held here to the mutual advantage of traders from the 
wild tribes in the mountains and merchants from the low countries, 
but I believe they were discontinued a year or two ago on account 
of the virulent epidemics which broke out among these large gather- 
ings of people. 
In favourable situations in Sadiya, the trees are of noble growth 
compared with those that form the copses. 
In addition to the grass lands at this isolated settlement a 
