1 CLIMATE AND SEASONS. : 13
2 The salt range produces, besides the mineral that gives it its name, anti-
3 mony, alum and sulphur. Mandi also produces iron and common salt. In
4 the salt range of Makhad and on the left bank of the Indus coal is found.
5 Gold in small quantities exists in the beds of the Chinab, Karo and Soan,
6 and graphite, or plumbago, in the Pir Panjal range, in Kashmir.
7 The climate of the Panjdb presents extremes of heat and cold. In the
8 regions extending along-the southern base of the Himdlayas, the south-west
9 monsoon blows, and the rainfall is abundant. But in places distant from
10 both the hills and the sea the heat is excessive and very little rain falls.
11 The Himalayan tract enjoys an annual rainfall ranging from 70 to 120
12 inches; the submontane zone of Sialkot, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpir and
13 Ambdla, which skirts the foot of the mountains, from 30 to 40 inches; the
14 eastern plains from 14 to 20 inches; the north central districts from 20 to 26
15 inches, and the western plains from 5 to 11 inches. The monsoon season,
16 upon which depend the autumn crops and spring sowings, lasts from the
17 middle of June to the end of September. The spring harvest depends
18 largely on the winter rains of January. The hot weather proper begins
19 with April. The heat in the summer is intense; scorching winds blow,
20 the earth is parched, vegetation withers, and many trees are shorn of their
21 leaves. In Multén, in the extreme south-west, the heat is so oppressive as
22 to be proverbial. At Lahore the thermometer has been known to rise to
23 112° in a tent artificially cooled. Bernier, with his experience of the
24 burning Arabian desert, describes the climate between Lahore aud Kashmir
25 at this season as much more distressing, and mentions his dread each
26 morning of being unable to survive till the evening. Some of his companions
27 actually died from the heat, even in the shade. A kind of hot wind which
28 blows “in the deserts of Bahdwalptr and Biltchistdn is often fatal to
29 travellers, even though natives, whom accident exposes to its fierce blast.
30 The extreme heat of the summer begins to moderate about the middle of
31 September, and towards the beginning of October the weather changes, and
32 the nights become fairly cool, though the days are still hot. In June, when
33 the heat is intense, great piles of clouds appear and the south-west monsoon
34 bursts with little warning. With thunder and lightning come furious
35 storms of wind, and this war of the elements is followed by heavy torrents
36 of rain, which cool the atmosphere and make the vegetation green. The
37 pleasant showery weather continues for three months. The winter, which
38 even Englishmen find cold, lasts till the end of March. In the beginning of
39 January the weather is cold and bleak; sharp frosts are common, and water
40 exposed to the air freezes at night in all parts of the Province.
41 Except in the hills the flora of the Panj&b contains comparatively little
42 that is indigenous. There are no natural forests in the plains ; extensive tracts
43 occur covered only with grass, shrubs and bushes, principally babils of the
44 mamosa species. Even the date palm is an exotic tree, introduced by
45 the .Mahomedan invaders of Sindh in the early days of the Khalifat.
46 The wild palm, which produces no fruit, and the pilw (Salvadora
47 Persica) which bears fruit, largely consumed by the people of the bdr
48 Jungle, are abundant in sandy tracts; as are various species of willow, the
49 pipal (Ficus religiosa) and the banian. The mango is largely cultivated
50 in the south-east of the Panjib and attains a high degree of perfection
51 about Multan and Hoshiarpur. Clumps of trees are found around village
52 sites and in the environs of towns; and diverse species of acacia and
53 tamarisk, the téhli, called siss% in Eastern India, largely used for build-
54 ing purposes, the ném (Melia azadirachta), the tulst (Ocymum sanctum),
55 madar (Tropea), karmal, or wild rue, byr, or jujube (Zizyphus jujuba),
56 Climate.
57 Seasons.
58 i Natural produc-
59 ions.
60 Trees.
61 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh J i eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com