DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0312
CHAP. XII.
CHENAB AND
SUTLEGE.
277
expansion of these has been exaggerated, and it
rarely extends two miles from the banks of either
river.
The only place of note on the Chenab, below its
junction by the Garra, is Ooch. It stands four
miles westward of the river, and no doubt owes its
site to the junction of two navigable streams in the
vicinity. The country around it is highly cul-
tivated : the tobacco plant, in particular, grows most
luxuriantly ; and after the season of inundation,
the tract is one sheet of green fields and verdure.
The productions of the gardens are various ; the
fig, vine, apple, and mulberry, with the "falsa"
which produces an acid berry, may be seen, also
the " bedee mishk" (odoriferous will,ow). Roses,
balsams, and the lily of the valley, excite a pleasing
remembrance, and there are many plants foreign to
India. A sensitive shrub, called " shurmoo," or
" the modest," particularly struck me: its leaves,
when touched, close and fall down upon the stalk,
as if broken. Indigo is reared successfully. Wheat
and other grains are cultivated in preference to
rice, which does not form here, as in Sinde and the
lower provinces of the Indus, the food of the people,
though it may be had in great quantities.
CHENAB AND
SUTLEGE.
277
expansion of these has been exaggerated, and it
rarely extends two miles from the banks of either
river.
The only place of note on the Chenab, below its
junction by the Garra, is Ooch. It stands four
miles westward of the river, and no doubt owes its
site to the junction of two navigable streams in the
vicinity. The country around it is highly cul-
tivated : the tobacco plant, in particular, grows most
luxuriantly ; and after the season of inundation,
the tract is one sheet of green fields and verdure.
The productions of the gardens are various ; the
fig, vine, apple, and mulberry, with the "falsa"
which produces an acid berry, may be seen, also
the " bedee mishk" (odoriferous will,ow). Roses,
balsams, and the lily of the valley, excite a pleasing
remembrance, and there are many plants foreign to
India. A sensitive shrub, called " shurmoo," or
" the modest," particularly struck me: its leaves,
when touched, close and fall down upon the stalk,
as if broken. Indigo is reared successfully. Wheat
and other grains are cultivated in preference to
rice, which does not form here, as in Sinde and the
lower provinces of the Indus, the food of the people,
though it may be had in great quantities.