will do duty for a bottle. From the sap of the palm-tree is brewed the taree or toddy, a favourite drink among the lower classes. Another kind of palm yields the betel-nut, which natives of every class and both sexes delight to chew. The saul and deodar are largely used for railway sleepers, and in districts where coal is dear, forest timber serves as fuel for steamers and railway trains.

All over India there are two harvests yearly; in some places three. Bájra,* jowár,† rice, and some other grains are sown at the beginning and reaped at the end of the rainy season. The cold weather crops, such as wheat, barley, some other kinds of grain, and various pulses, are reaped in the spring. It is a mistake to suppose that the people of India live entirely on rice. Rice is grown mainly in some parts of Lower Bengal, in British Burmah, the Concan, and Malabar. In Hindústán and the Punjab the staple food is wheat and millet; in the Deccan a poor kind of grain called ragee. Berár, Khándesh, and Guzerat yield large crops of cotton, while the sugar-cane abounds in Rohilcund and Madras. The poppy-fields of Málwa and Bengal yield the opium which forms a main source of Indian revenue. Indigo and jute are raised in Bengal. Coffee has become the staple product of the hill districts in Coorg, Wainad, and the Neilgherries. The tea-gardens of Assam, Cachár, Sylhet, and the southern slopes of the Himálayas from Kangra to Darjeeling furnish ever-increasing supplies of good tea. The quinine-yielding chinchona is grown in forests yearly

Holcus Spicatus.-A small round grain, very nourishing. + Holcus Sorgum.-Common in Levant, Greece, and Italy. Cynosurus coroianus.

increasing on the Neilgherry and Darjeeling Hills. Another medicinal plant of great value, the ipecacuanha, seems to thrive in the Sikkim Terai. Cardamoms and pepper abound along the Western Ghauts, hemp and linseed are largely exported, and tobacco is widely grown throughout India.

Of fruit and vegetables there are many kinds. Mangoes, melons, pumpkins, guavas, custard-apples, plaintains, oranges, limes, citrons, and pomegranates, abound everywhere; figs, dates, peaches, strawberries, and grapes thrive well in many places; apricots, apples, and black currants grow wild in the hills, as the pineapple does in British Burmah. Cucumbers, yams, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and many vegetables grown in England, are raised abundantly for general use. "Flowers of every shape and hue, and often of the richest scent, from the rose and jasmine to the oleander and the waterlily, spangle the plains, cover the surfaces of lakes and ponds, or glimmer in climbing beauty among the woods. The rhododendrons of the Himálayas grow like forest trees, and crown the hill-side in April and May with farspreading masses of crimson blossoms. From the rose-gardens of Gházipúr is extracted the attar, a few drops of which contain the gathered fragrance of a thousand flowers.*"

Fauna.-The jungles are alive with elephants, bears, wild buffaloes, tigers, leopards, panthers, and hyænas. Wolves and jackals prowl among the ravines in quest of deer and other prey. The lion, inferior in size and courage to his African brother, is chiefly to be found in the wilds of Rajpootana and Guzerat; the camel in the * Trotter's "History of India."-Introduction.

sandy regions of the North West; the one-horned rhinoceros among the swamps of the Ganges. Deer of

many kinds abound everywhere. Snakes, poisonous and harmless, haunt the jungles and glide among the ruins of old cities. Wild boars are common in Bengal and Western India. Monkeys abound in most parts of the country. The rivers swarm with fish, and alligators bask like huge lizards along their banks. Horses and ponies of divers breeds are used chiefly for riding, while the fields are ploughed and the carts and carriages of the country are drawn by bullocks of the Brahmini or humped species. In many parts of India oxen still serve as carriers of merchandise. Buffaloes are generally kept for milk and ploughing.

Sheep and goats are very

common, and the goat of Thibet supplies the soft pashmína of which Indian shawls and other articles of clothing are made.

The woods re-echo with the harsh cry of the peacock and the lively chattering of parrots, woodpeckers, and other birds of gay plumage; to say nothing of those which are common to India and the West. Eagles and falcons are found in some places; kites, vultures, and crows may be seen everywhere. The great adjutant stork of Bengal with much gravity does scavenger's duty in the most populous cities. Pheasants, partridges, ortolans, quail, snipe, wild-geese and ducks in great variety and abundance tempt the sportsman. The sparrow has followed the Englishman into the Himalayas. It is worth remarking however that song-birds are almost as rare in India as snakes in Ireland.*

* Vide Appendix A "Life in the Jungle;" or, "The Sportsman's Paradise."

CHAPTER IV.

MINERALS.

Precious Stones-Coal-Iron-Mineral Oil-Tin.

Precious Stones.-Of mineral wealth India possesses her fair share. It is true her once renowned wealth in diamonds and other gems has disappeared and the famous mines of Golconda have ceased to yield their former treasures; but opals, amethysts and garnets, jasper and carnelians are still found in various places, and gold is washed in small quantities from her streams. More useful minerals are now however the most diligently sought for.

Coal.-India possesses extensive coal fields, and of late years, and notably during the scarcity of this fuel in England in 1871 and 1875 much capital has been invested in opening up collieries. At Raneegunge near Calcutta several mines have been worked for the past twenty years with more or less success, and on the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsular Railways native coal is chiefly used. The low prices, however, at which English and Australian coal is now being delivered at the seaports of India operates against the development of this branch of native industry.

Iron.-Iron is also known to exist in many parts, but more particularly in the sub-Himalayan districts of Kemaon and Gurwal and in the Madras Presidency. It

is very pure and abundant, but the absence of coal in the immediate vicinity of the ironstone prevents it being worked. Sooner or later, probably, arrangements will be made to convey the iron ore to the Bengal coal fields, and coal from Bengal to the iron-producing districts; and a trade will spring up similar to that now so extensively and profitably conducted between ports on the Spanish coast and our own great iron towns on the east coast of England, or in the progress of chemical science ere long means may be found for extracting the metal from the ore by some more economical process than the present costly system of smelting, with its excessive consumption of fuel.

Mineral Oils.-In Burmah there is a considerable and growing production of mineral oils.

Tin.-In the Malay peninsula the rich mines of tin are beginning to be worked; but both of these industries are yet capable of great extension.