A new Iris occurs in abundance: near this in wettish parts of the valley a Vicia, Muscari, Hyacinthus and others as before. The chief cultivation is wheat, irrigated in plots: the soil when saturated with water, forming a clayish, adhesive, finely pulverulent mass, which cakes on drying. A watermill for flour, having a horizontal wheel acted on by the stream as in Bootan occurs; the grain drops in from a pyramidal cone fixed over the two horizontal stones, in the upper of which there is a hole. The apparatus is very rude.
The height attained by me on the eastern ridge being about 8,300 feet; that of the 2nd range, will be 9,300 feet at least, and the height of the peak or highest ridge, cannot be less than 11,000 feet.
30th.—Continue to halt. There is a good deal of cultivation about this place, but the crops will not be ripe before August: it is principally wheat; munjit is also cultivated on trenched ground: the young sprouts have a good salad-like flavour. The Suddozye Lora runs through the valley, about two miles from the town: it is a small stream, crowded here and there with bulrushes, sedges, etc. Towards its banks there is a good deal of Santonica, but elsewhere there is no good fodder, and wherever this is the case the camels eat Iris, and destroy themselves. The valley is sprinkled over with villages and orchards, and is picturesque enough. In one spot, where water runs over the surface, it is delightfully green and velvety, covered with short grass and trefoil, Carex, etc.
In cornfields in this direction, Berberidea ranunculiflora is very common, Muscari, Hyacinthus, Taraxacum, Plantago. Of animals the Jerboa, sent to Macleod by Mr. Mackenzie, of the Artillery, several specimens having been caught here: presenting affinities obviously with the hare, and analogies with the Kangaroo. Macleod has just given me, from his namesake of the 3rd Cavalry, a tadpole-like animal, very similar to one from the Khasiya Hills. I fear it is a tadpole, but I keep the specimen lest it should be a Lepidosiren.
The orchards here consist of cherry, and a pomaceous tree which also is cultivated at Shikarpore, and on the skirts occasionally of willows, which, were they unmutilated, would be handsome trees. The Punjabi name of the pomaceous one is Sai-oo, of the cherry or plum Aloochah.
Senecionoid glauca is extremely common towards the river, but is not eaten by camels. In the streams arising from springs a Myriophylloides is very common; as also in some places, Ranunculus aquaticus, Beccabunga, Mentha piperitioid, a Sicyoid, Juncus, Coniferæ, and Cariceæ, all small.
Along the banks of the river, there is a good deal of a small thorny shrub with white bark and fleshy clavato-spathulate leaves. Themopsis is extremely common, Crucifera glauca ditto, Peganum less so, Achilleoides is very common. In damp spots a Lotus (out of flower) occurs. The ground is covered in many places with an efflorescence of saltpetre.
Quettah.—The country was so disturbed throughout the greater part of the line, and attacks on followers so frequent, that I did not go out so much during the last few days as I otherwise would. The only plant that seems to a considerable extent local, is the larger Asphodel, which is however found occasionally towards Kuchlak. Within the last few days vegetation has rapidly progressed; the orchards bursting into leaf, and the whole plain, where uncultivated, is assuming a greenish tint. I have nothing to add respecting the botany, except having found Ceratophyllum and two species of Chara, one a very interesting species from having the joints furnished with semi-reflexed, very narrow leaves, it is apparently Dioeceous, there is also a Naiad, much like that found at Dadur. No Lemnæ occur among the vegetation: there is some sort of pea cultivated: but the chief object is wheat, then next to it in extent is Lucerne, which is cultivated in plots; the ground being laid out as in wheat, so as to allow of irrigation.
The climate is variable; rain generally falls every four or five days, before this happens it becomes hot and hazy, afterwards it is very cold and clear: the alternations are hence very great. From the thermometer immersed in the fount of a spring gushing out from a Kabreeza, the mean temperature would appear to be 56°. Water running in cuts close to it, was 66°. A Tauschia occurs in abundance near the spot, and is remarkable for illustrating the nature of the leaves of the upper parts; it is curious that all such have a peculiar aspect. (For other plants of this neighbourhood, see Cat. and Icones.)
The town although the third in Khorassan, is a miserable place and has a deserted aspect, the houses are of the most temporary construction, and the hill is crowned by a poor half-ruined kucha fort; the gates of the town are ornamented with wild goats’ horns and heads. There is no trade, and the place is stated to be plundered often by Caukers. Orchards—apricots of large size, and very large cherry trees, a pomaceous plant with the habit of poplar, occurs; the Ulmus of this place is one of the largest sized trees; no walnuts.