LONDON : BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.

PREFACE.

Having accompanied Sir James Ross on his voyage of discovery to the Antarctic regions, where hotany was my chief pursuit, I was anxious to add to my acquaintance with the natural history of the temperate zones, more knowledge of that of the tropics than I had hitherto had the opportunity of acquiring. My choice lay between India and the Andes, and I decided upon the former, being principally influenced by Dr. Falconer, the Superintendent of the H. E. I. C. Botanic Garden at Calcutta. He drew my attention to the fact that we were ignorant even of the geography of the central and eastern parts of these mountains, while all to the north was involved in a mystery equally attractive to the traveller arid the naturalist.

The portion of the Himalaya best worth exploring,

was selected for me both by Lord Auckland and Dr.

Falconer, who each recommended Sikkim, as being

ground untrodden by traveller or naturalist. Its ruler

Ti PREFACE.

was, moreover, all but a dependant of the British government, and it was supposed, would therefore be glad to facilitate my researches.

No part of the snowy Himalaya eastward of the north-west extremity of the British possessions had been visited since Turner's embassy to Tibet in 1789 ; and hence it was highly important to explore scientifically a part of the chain which from its central position might be presumed to be typical of the whole range. The possibility of visiting Tibet, and of ascertaining particulars respecting the great mountain Chumulari, which was only known from Turner's account, were additional inducements to a student of physical geography; but it was not then known that Kinchin-junga, the loftiest known mountain on the globe, was situated on my route, and formed a principal feature in the physical geography of Sikkim.

My passage to Egypt was provided by the Admiralty in H. M. steam-vessel " Sidon," destined to convey the Marquis of Dalhousie, Governor-General of India, thus far on his way. On his arrival in Egypt, his Lordship did me the honour of desiring me to consider myself in the position of one of his suite, for the remainder of the voyage, which was performed in the " Moozuffer," a steam frigate belonging to the Indian Navy.

During the passage out, some days were spent in

PBBFACB. Tii

Egypt, at Aden, Ceylon, and Madras. I have not thought it necessary to give here the observationB made in those well-known countries ; they are detailed in a series of extracts published in the *'London Journal of Botany,*' from letters written to my private friends. Arriving at Calcutta in January, I passed the remainder of the cold season in making myself acquainted with the vegetation of the plains and hills of Western Bengal, south of the Ganges, by a journey across the mountains of Birbhoom and Behar to the Soane valley, and thence over the Vindhya range to the Ganges, at Mirzapore, whence I descended that stream to Bhaugulpore; and leaving my boat, I then struck north to the Sikkim Himalaya.

In the course of this narrative, I shall give a sketch of the rise, progress, and prospects of the Sanatarium, or Health-station of Dorjiling, and of the anomalous position held by the Sikkim Bajah. The latter circumstance led indirectly to the detention of Dr. Campbell, the superintendent of Dorjiling (who joined me in one of my journeys), and myself, by a faction of the Sikkim court, for the purpose of obtaining from the Indian Government a more favourable treaty than that then existing. This mode of enforcing a request by doTice violence and detention, is common with the turbulent tribes east of Nepal, but was in this instance aggravated by violence towards my fellow-prisoner.

ftt PBSFACB.

throu^ the ill will of the persons who executed the cnrders of their superiors, and who had been punished by Dr. Campbell for crimes committed against the British and Nepalese governments. The circum-•tances of this outrage were misunderstood at the time; its instigators were supposed to be Chinese; its perpetrators Tibetans; and we, the offenders, were assumed to have thrust ourselves into the country, without authority from our own government, and contrary to the will of the Sikkim Eajah; who was imagined to be a tributary of China, and protected by that nation, and to be under no obligation to the East Indian government.

Dr. T. Thomson joined me in Doqiling towards the end of 1849, afi;er the completion of his arduous journeys in the North-West Himalaya and Tibet, and we spent the year 1850 in travelling and collecting in the Khasia mountains; returning to England together in 1851.

Pw

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

IHTBRIOB OV THB TEMPLB AT PIMIONOOHI . . FbohTISPIBOX.

OLD TAMABHTD T&ES8 15

OBOssnro the aoAin, with thb ktmorb bills a thb outavob 40

BQVATORIAL SUV-OIAL 68

BQUDTOOTIAL SITH-DIAL 69

BRASS AZIMUTH OIBOLB 70

XOHOHTB ON THB 0AN0B8, WITH THB OURBUOKPORB HILLS Of

THB DI8TAN0B 80

PXniKABARBB BUNGALOW AND BA8B OV THB HIMALAYA . . . 94

LBPOHA OIRL AND B00DHI8T LAMA 119

LBPOHA AMULBT 132

PINBS (PINUS LONOIVOLIA), RUNOBBT TALLET .... 139

OANB BRIDOB 141

LBPOHA WATBR-OARRIBR WITH A BAMBOO OHUNGI 147

CLASPING ROOTS OF WIGHTLA 155

SIMONBONG TBMPLB 162

TRUMPET MADE OV A HUMAN THIGH-BONE 163

TIBETAN AMULBT 166

TIBETAN OHARM-BOX 188

TAMBUR RIYBB AT THB LOWER LIMIT OV WIBB .... 197

WALLANOHOON TILLAGE 200

demon's head 216

ancient moraines in thb tangma tallet . . 224

z LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page BIAORAX OV TBI GLACIAL TK&RA0E8 AT TBI fORK OF THE

TAVGXA TALLST 282

BKULLB OV OYZfl A1CX09 235

KAHOLAOHKX PA88 287

AVOIKVT XORAINBS IH TBI KAMBAOBEX TALLST 248

FBXIOHGOBI GOOXPA AND 0BAIT8 271

8IUUX LAXA8 WITB PEATIHG OTLIHDSR AND DOBJB ; TBE

LATERAL FIGURES ARE X0HK8 OR GTL0NG8 . 275

SO-XAVI 8T0XB 278

IXPLE1IEVT8 USES Of BOODBIST TEMPLES 296

GROUP OF CBAIT8 AT TAS8IDING 298

DOORWAT 801

tOUTBSRV TEBPLB 802

XIDDLB TXXPLB ^^^

ALTAR AVD IMAGES 804

PLAV OF TBE SOUTB TEMPLE 805

TEMPLE AHD WEEPDIG 0TPRES8 815

KIEOBIKJUEGA AED PUEDIM FROM MOV LEPOBA . 828

MAITTRA, TBE 8IZTB OR OOMING BOODDB 884

ALTAR AED SOHG-BOOM AT T0K8UK 889

BBURMA RAJAB'S SEAL.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Sunderbnnds yegetation—Calcntta Botanic Ghurden—Leaye for Bard-wan—BAJah*s gardens and menagerie—Coal-beds, geology, and plants of—Lac insect and plant—Knnker—Cowage—Effloresced soda on soU—Glass, manufiicture of—Atmospheric yapours— Temperature, &c.—^Mahowa oU and spirits—Maddaobnnd—Jains —^Ascent of Parasnath—^Vegetation of that mountain

CHAPTER IL

Doomree—^Vegetation of table-land—^Birds^-Iientenant Beadle— Hot springs of Soongkoond—Plants near them—Cholera-tree— Olibanmn—^Palms, form of—Donwah Pass—^Trees^ natiye and planted—Wild peacock—^Poppy fields—Oleography and Geology of Behar and Central India—Toddy-palm—^Baroon—^Lizard— Aurora Borealis—Cross the Soane—Sand, ripple-marks on— Eymore hills—^Botas fort and palace—Nitrate of lime—Change of climate—^Lime stalagmites, enclosing leayes—Spiders, &c.— Scenery and natural history of upper Soane yalley—^Bhel fruit —Dust-storm — Alligator—Catechu— CocMospermwn —Leaf• bellows—Scorpions—Tortoises—Florican—Limestone spheres— Coles—Tiger-hunt—Bobbery 22

CHAPTER III.

£k-powa Ghat—Sandstones—Shahguiy —Gum-araWc—Mango-Fair—^Biyubbuiid—Storm—False sunset and suniise-—Bind hi

z LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS.

Page DIAGRAM OF TBI GLACIAL TBBRA0E8 AT TBI fOML Of TBS

TAVOMA TALLIT 282

SKULLS Of OYU AVICOH 235

KAHGLAOBKK PA88 287

AVOIEHT MOBAnrBS » TBI KAMBAOBEX TALLXT . 248

PmiOHOOBI GOOXPA AMD 0BAIT8 271

BIVUM LAXA8 WITB PBATIHO OTLINDS& AND DOBJB ; TBB

LATBBAL flOUBBS ABE X0HK8 OB GTL0NG8 . 275

DO-ICAHI 8T0XB 278

IXPLBXXHT8 U8XD IB BOODBIST TBXPLB8 296

GBOUP Of 0BAIT8 AT TAS8IDING 298

DOOBWAT 801

tOUTBBBV TXICPLB 802

XIDDLB TXXPLB 803

ALTAB AVD IXA0B8 804

PLAV Of TBB 80UTB TBXPLB 805

TBMPLB AXD WBBPDIO 0TPBBS8 815

XIBOBIHJimOA AHD PUNDIX PBOX XOH LBPOBA . 828

XAITTBA, TBB SIZTB OB OOXING BOODDB 834

ALTAB AND SONO-BOOX AT T0K8UN 389

DBUBXA BAJAB'8 BBAL.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Sunderbnnds yegetation—Calcntta Botanic Ghurden—^Leaye for Bard-wan—BAJah*s gardens and menagerie—Coal-beds, geology, and plants of—Lac insect and plant—Knnker—Cowage—Effloresced soda on soil—Glass, manu£Etctnre of—Atmospheric yapours— Temperature, &c.—^Mahowa oil and spirits—Maddaobnnd—Jains —^Ascent of Parasnath—^Vegetation of that mountain

CHAPTER n.

Doomree—^Vegetation of table-land—^Birds^-Iientenant Beadle— Hot springs of Soongkoond—Plants near them—Cholera-tree— Olibanmn—^Palms, form of—Donwah Pass—^Trees^ naiiye and planted—Wild peacock—^Poppy fields—G^eography and Geology of Behar and Central India—Toddy-palm—^Baroon—^Lizard— Aurora Borealis—Cross the Soane—Sand, ripple-marks on— Eymore hills—^Boias fort and palace—Nitrate of lime—Change of climate—Lime stalagmites, enclosing leayes—Spiders, &c— Scenery and natural history of npper Soane yalley—^Bhel frnit —Dust-storm — Alligator—Catechu — CocMospermum —Leaf-bellows—Scorpions—Tortoises —Florican— Limestone spheres— Coles—^Tiger-hunt—^Bobbery

CHAPTER III.

£k-powa Ghat —Sandstones—Shahgunj — Gum-aralric—Mango— Fair—Biyubbuiid--Storm—False sunset and sunrise—Bind hills

zi| OONTBNTS.

PAoa —Minapore—ICannfiictorety importi, &c—Climate of—Thuggee

— Chonar — Benares — Moeqne — Obsenratory — Sar-nath —

Ghasepore — Bose-gardens—lianufiictory of Attar—Lord Com-

wallis* tomb—Ganges, scenery and natural history of—Pelicans

—^Vegetation—Insects—Dinapore—Patna—Opium godowns and

manufacture—^Monghyr—Hot Springs of Seetakoond—Bocks of

Snltan-gunj—^Bhagulpore—Temples of Mt. Manden—Coles and

native tribes—Bhagulpore rangers—Horticultural gardens. 58

CHAPTER IV.

Leave Bhagulpore—Colgong—Himalaya, distant view of—Cosi, mouth of—^Difficult navigation—Sand-storms—Caragola-Ghat— Pumea—Ortolans—Mahanuddee, transport of pebbles, &c.— Betel-pepper, cultivation of—Titalya—Siligoree—^View of outer Himalaya—Terai—^Mechis—Punkabaree—Foot of mountains— Ascent to DoijUing—Cicadas—Leeches—Animals—Eursiong, spring vegetation of—Pacheem—Arrive at Dorjiling—Dozjiling, origin and settlement of—Ghrant of land from Bajah—Dr. Campbell appointed superintendent—Dewan, late and present—Aggressive conduct of the latter—Licrease of the station—Trade^Titalya &ir—Healthy climate for Europeans and children—Livalids, diseases prejudicial to 85

CHAPTER V.

View from Mr. Hodgson's of the snowy mountains—Their extent and elevation—Deceptive appearance of elevation—Sinchul, view from and vegetation of—Chumulari—^Magnolias, white and purple -^Bhododendron Dalhou8i», arboreum and argenteum—Natives of Doijiling—Lepchas, origin, tradition of flood, morals, dress, arms, ornaments, diet—cups, origin and value—^Marriages— Diseases—^Burial—^Worship and religion—Biijooas—Kampa Bong, or Arratt—^Limboos, origin, habits, language, &c.—Moormis— Magras—Mechis—Comparison of customs with those of the natives of Assam, Ehasia, &c 112

CHAPTER VL

Excursion from Doijiling to Great Bungeet—Zones of vegetation— Tree-ferns—^Palnus—^Leebong, tea plantations—Ging—^Boodhist

PAOR

remains—Tropical yegetation—Pinefl—Lepcha clearances—Forest fires—^Boodhist monuments—Fig—Cane bridge and raft over Rungeet—^India-mbber—Tel Pote—Butterflies and other insects —Snakes—Camp—Junction of Teesta and Rnngeet—Return to Doijiling—Tonglo, excursion to—Bamboo flowering—Oaks— Peei>sa—Simonbong, cultivation at—Buropean fruits at Doijiling —Plains of India 133

CHAPTER VII.

Continue the ascent of Tonglo—Trees—Lepcha construction of hut— Simsibong—Climbing-trees—Frogs—Ticks—Leeches—Summit of Tonglo—Rhododendrons—Yew—Rose—^Aconite—Bikh poison— English genera of plants—Ascent of tropical orders—Comparison with south temperate sone—^Heayy rain—Temperature, &c.— Descent — Simonbong temple — Furniture therein — Praying-cylinder—Thigh-bone trumpet—Morning orisons—Present of Murwa beer, &c 163

CHAPTER VIII.

Difficulty in procuring leave to enter Sikkim—Obtain permission to travel in East Nepal—Arrangements—Coolies—Stores—Servants —Personal equipment—Mode of travelling—Leave Doijiling— Gbong ridge—Behaviour of Bhotan coolies—Nepal frontier— Myong valley—Dam—Sikkim massacre—Cultivation—Nettles— Camp at Nanki on Tonglo—^Bhotan coolies run away—View of Chumulari—Nepal peaks—Sakkiasung—Hombills—Road to WaUanchoon^Scardty of water—Singular view of mountain-valleys—Encampment—My tent and its furniture—Evening occupations—Dunkotah—Cross ridge of Sakkiazung—^Yews— Silver-firs—View of Tambur valley—^Pemmi river—Pebbly terraces—Holy springs—Enormons trees—Luculia gratissima— Ehawa river—Arrive at Tambur—Shingle and gravel terraces— Natives, indolence of—Canoe ferry—Votive olSerings—Bad road —Temperature, &o.—Chingtam village, view from—Mywa river and GKiola—Honse—Boulders—Chain-bridge—Meepo, arrival of —Fevers . « 167

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

PAOB

Leave Mywa—Sospennon bridge—Landslips—Vegetation—Bees* nests—Glacial phenomena—Tibetans, clothing, ornaments, amulets, salutation, children, dogs—Last Limboo village, Taptiatok —Beautiful scenery—Tibet Tillage of Lelyp— Edgeworthia — Grab-apple—Chameleon and i>orcnpine—Praying machine— Ahies JBrunoniana —European plants—Grand scenery—^Arrive at Wallanchoon—Scenery around—Trees—Tibet houses—Manis and Mendongs—Tibet household—Food—Tea-soup—Hospitality —Yaks and Zobo, uses and habits of—Bhoteas—Tak-hair tents —Guobah of Walloong—Jhatamansi—Obstacles to proceeding— Climate and weather—Proceed—^Rhododendrons, &c.—Lichens — Poa armua and Shepherd's purse—Tibet camp—Tuquoroma — Scenery of pass—Glaciers and snow—Summit — Plants, woolly, &c. . 189

CHAPTER X

Betnm from WaUanchoon pass—^Procure a bazaar at village—^Dance of Lamas—Temple and convent—Leave for Eanglachem pass— Send part of party back to Duzjiling—Yangma Ghiola—^Drunken Tibetans—Guobah of Wallanchoon—Camp at foot of Great Moraine—^View fix)m top—Geological speculations—Height of moraines—Cross dry lake-bed — Glaciers—More moraines— Terraces—^Yangma temples—Jos, books and furniture—^Peak of Nango—Arrive at village—Cultivation—Scenery—^Potatos—State of my provisions—Pass through village—Gigantic boulders— Terraces—^Wild sheep—^Lake-beds—Sun's power—^Piles of gravel and detritus—Glaciers and moraines—Pabuk, elevation of— Moonlight scene—^Return to Yangma—Temperature, &c.—Geological causes of phenomena in valley—Scenery of valley on descent 217

CHAPTER XI.

Ascend Nango mountain—Moraines—Y^etation—Honey-combed surface of snow—^Perpetual snow—Top of pass—View—Elevation—^Distance of sound—Plants—Temperature—Sceneiy—Cliffe

CONTENTS. XT

PAOC

of granite and hurled boulders—Camp—Descent—PbeoHantn— Larch—Distribution of Deodar—Eambachen village—Cultivation—Moraines in valley, distribution of—Picturesriue lake-beds, and their vegetation—Tibetan sheep and goats— Cryptogramma crispa —Ascent to Choonjerma pass—View of Junnoo—Rocks of its summit—Misty ocean—Nepal peaks—Top of pass—Temperature, and observations—Gbrgeous sunset—Descent to Talloong valley—Lose path—^Night scenes—Mask deer .... 240

CHAPTER XII.

Yalloong valley—Find Eanglanamo pass closed—Change route for the southward— Picrorhiza —Cross Talloong range—View— Descent—Yew—Vegetation—Misty weather—Tonghem village —Ehabang—Tropical vegetation—Sidingbah Mountain—View of Einchinjunga—Ehabili valley—Ghorkha Havildar's bad conduct —Ascend Singalelah—Plague of ticks—Short commons—Cross Islumbo pass—Boundary of Sikkim—Eulhait valley—Lingcham —Keception by Eajee—Hear of Dr. Campbell's going to meet Bajah—Views in valley—Leave for Teesta river—Tipsy Eajee— Hospitality—Murwa beer—Temples—Long Mendong—Burning of dead—Superstitions—Cross Great Bungeet—Purchase of a dog—Marshes—Lamas — Dismiss Ghorkhas—Bhotea house— Murwa beer 258

CHAPTER XIII.

Baklang pass—Uses of nettles—Edible plants—Lepcha war—Do-mani stone—Neongong—Teesta valley—^Pony, saddle, &c.—^Meet Campbell—Vegetation and scenery—Presents—^Visit of Dewan— Characters of Bajah and Dewan—Accounts of Tibet—Lhassa— Siling—Tricks of Dewan—Walk up Teesta—Audience of Bajah —^Lamas—Eajees—Tchebu Lama, his character and position— Effects of interview—Heir-apparent—^Dewan's house—Guitar— Tibet officers—Gigantic trees—Neongong lake—Mainom, ascent of—Vegetation—Camp on snow—View from top—Elinchin, &c. —^Vapours—Sunset effect—Temperature, &c.—Lamas of Neongong—Temples—Beligious festival—^Bamboo, flowering—Becroes pass of Baklang—Numerous temples, villages, &c.—Domestic animals—Descent to Great Bungeet

OONTRNTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

PAOI

Tassiding, yiew of and from—Funereal cypress—Camp at Sunnook —Hot yapoars—Lama*8 house—Temples, decorations, altars, idols, general effect—Chaits—Date of erection—Plundered by Ghorkas—Gross Batong—^Ascend to Pemiongchi—Pemiongchi, view from—Vegetation — Temple, decorations, &c.—Former capital of Sikkim—History of Sikkim—Nightingales—Campbell departs—Tchonpong—Edgeworthia—Cross Bungbee and Batong —Yoksun — Walnuts — View — Funereal cypresses—Doobdl— Gigantic cypresses—Temples—Snowfall—Sikkim, &c.—Toys . 297

CHAPTER XV.

Leave Toksun for Einchinjunga—Ascend Batong valley—Salt-smuggling over Batong—^Plants—Buckeem—Blocks of gneiss— Mon Lepcha—View—Weather—View from Gubroo—Einchinjunga, tops of—Pundim cliff—Nursing—Vegetation of Himalaya —Coup d'ceil of Jongri—^Boute to Yalloong—Arduous route of salt-traders from Tibet—Einchin, ascent of—Lichens—Surfaces sculptured by snow and ice—^Weather at Jongri—Snow—Shades for eyes 318

CHAPTER XVI.

Batong river below Mon Lepcha—Ferns—Vegetation of Toksun, tropical— ArcUiacece, fodder for cattle—^Bice-paper plant—Lake —Old temples—Funereal cypresses—Gigantic chait—Altars— Songboom—Catsuperri—^Worship at Catsuperri lake—Scenery —Willow—Lamas and ecclesiastical establishments of Sikkim— Tengling—Changachelling temples and monks—Portrait of myself on walls—Lingcham Eajee asks for spectacles—^Arrive at Little Bungeet—At Doijiling—^Its deserted and wintry appearance . 335

DHURMA RAJAH S SEAL.

HIMALAYAN JOURNALS.

CHAPTEE I.

Sanderbunds vegetation—CSalcntta Botanic Garden—^Leare for Bordw&n —Bi^ah*s gardens and menagerie—Coal-beds, geology, and plants of —^Lac insect and plant—Kunker—Cowage—Effloresced soda on soil— Glass, mannfiictnre of—Atmospheric raponrs—^Temperature, ke, — Mahowa oil and spirits—Maddaobund—Jains—^Ascent of Faraanath —^Vegetation of that mountain.

I LEFT England on the 11th of November, 1847, and performed the voyage to India under circumstances which have been detailed in the Introduction. On the 12th of January, 1848, the " Moozuffer " was steaming amongst the low swampy islands of the Sunderbunds. These exhibit no tropical luxuriance, and are, in this respect, exceedingly disappointing. A low vegetation covers them; growing in brackish swamps, chiefly made up of a dwarf-palm and small mangroves, with a few scattered trees on the higher bank that runs along the water's edge, consisting of fan and toddy-palms. Every now and then, the paddles of the steamer tossed up the large fruits of Nipa fruticans, a low stemless palm that grows in the tidal waters of the Indian ocean,

TOL. I. B

and bears a large head of nuts. It is a plant of no interest to the common observer, but of much to the geologist, from the nuts of a similar plant abounding in the tertiary formations at the mouth of the Thames, having floated about there in as great profusion as here, till buried deep in the silt and mud that now form the island of Sheppey.*

Higher up, the river Hoogly is entered, and large trees, with villages and cultivation, replace the sandy spits and marshy jungles of the great Gangetic delta. A few miles below Calcutta, the scenery becomes beautiful, beginning with the Botanic Garden, once the residence of Roxburgh and WaUich, and now of Falconer,—classical ground to the naturalist. Opposite are the gardens of Sir Lawrence Peel; imrivalled in India for their beauty and cultivation, and fairly entitled to be called the Chatsworth of Bengal. A little higher up, Calcutta opened out, with the batteries of Fort William in the foreground, thundering forth a salute, and in a few minutes more all other thoughts were absorbed in watching the splendour of the arrangements made for the reception of the Governor-General of India.

During my short stay in Calcutta, I was principally occupied in preparing for an excursion with Mr. Williams of the Geological Survey, who was about to move his camp from the Damooda valley coal-fields, near Burdwan, to Beejaghur on the banks of the Soane, where coal was reported to exist, in the immediate

* Bowerbank *' On the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the Isle of Sheppey," and Lyell*s << Elements of Geology,'' 3rd ed. p. 201.

vicinity of water-carriage, the great desideratum of the Burdwan fields.

My time was spent partly at Government-House, and partly at Sir Lawrence Peel's residence. The {ormet I was kindly invited to consider as my Indian home, an honour which I appreciate the more highly, as the invitation was accompanied with the assurance that I should have entire fireedom to follow my own pursuits; and the advantages which such a position afforded me, were, I need not say, of no ordinary kind.

At the Botanic Gardens I received every assistance from Dr. McLelland, who was very busy, superintending the publication of the botanical papers and drawings of his friend, the late Dr. Griffith, for which native artists were preparing copies on lithographic paper.

I was surprised to find the Botanic Gardens looked upon by many of the Indian public, and even by some of the better informed official men, as rather an extravagant establishment, more ornamental than useful. These persons seemed astonished to learn that its name was renowned throughout Europe, and that during the first twenty years especially of Dr. Wallich's superintendence, it had contributed more useful and ornamental tropical plants to the public and private gardens of the world than any other establishment before or since. I speak from a personal knowledge of the contents of our English gardens, and our colonial ones at the Cape, and in Australia, and from an inspection of the ponderous volumes of distribution lists, to which Dr. Falconer is daily adding. The botanical public of Europe and India is no less indebted than the

b2

horticultural to the liberality of the Hon. East India Company, and to the energy of the several eminent men who have carried their views into execution. The Indian government itself, has already profited largely by this garden, directly and indirectly, and might have done so still more, had its eflforts been better seconded either by the European or native population of the country. Amongst its greatest triumphs may be considered the introduction of the tea-plant from China, a fact I allude to, as many of my English readers may not be aware that the establishment of the tea-trade in the Himalaya and Assam is almost entirely the work of the superintendents of the gardens of Calcutta and Seharunpore.

From no one did I receive more kindness than from Sir James Colvile, President of the Asiatic Society, who not only took care that I should be provided with every comfort, but presented me with a completely equipped palkee, which, for strength and excellence of construction, was everything that a traveller could desire. Often en route did I mentally thank him when I saw other palkees breaking down, and travellers bewailing the loss of those forgotten necessaries, with which his kind attention had furnished me.

I left Calcutta to join Mr. Williams' camp on the 28th of January, driving to Hoogly on the river of that name, and thence following the grand trunk-road westward towards Burdwan. The novelty of palkee-tra-velling at first renders it pleasant: the neatness with which everything is packed, the good-humour of the bearers, their merry pace, and the many more comforts

than could be expected in a conveyance liorsed by men^ the warmth when the sliding doors are shut, and the breeze when they are open, are all fiilly appreciated on first starting; but soon the novelty wears off, and the discomforts are so numerous, that it is pronounced, at best, a barbarous conveyance. The greedy cry and gestures of the bearers, when, on changing, they break a fitful sleep by poking a torch in your face, and vociferating " Bucksheesh, Sahib;'' their discontent at the most liberal largesse, and the sluggishness of the next set who want bribes, put the traveller out of patience with the natives. The dust when the slides are open, and the stifling heat when shut during a shower, are conclusive against tlie vehicle; and on getting out with aching bones and giddy head at my journey's end, I shook oflf the dust, and wished never to see a palkee again.

On the following morning I was passing through the straggling villages close to Burdwan, consisting of native hovels by the road side, with mangos and figs planted near them, and palms waving over their roofs. Crossing the nearly dry bed of the Damooda, I was set down at Mr. M*Intosh*s (the magistrate of the district), and never more thoroughly enjoyed a hearty welcome and a breakfast.

In the evening we visited the Bajah of Burdwan's palace and pleasure-grounds, where I had the first glimpse of oriental gardening: the roads were generally raised, running through rice fields, now dry and hard, and bordered with trees of Jack, Bamboo, " Pride of India," &c. Tanks were the prominent features: chains

• BUBDWAN. Chap. L

of them, full of Indian water-lilies, being fringed with rows of the fan-palm, and occasionally the Indian date. Close to the house was a rather good menagerie, where I saw, amongst other animals, a pair of kangaroos in high health and condition, the female with young in her pouch. Before dark I was again in my palkee, and hurrying onwards, refreshed by the cool and clear night air, so different from the damp and foggy atmosphere I had left at Calcutta. On the following morning I found myself travelling over a flat and apparently rising country, along an excellent road, with groves of bamboos and stunted trees on either hand, few villages or palms, a sterile soil, with stunted grass and but little cultivation; altogether a country as unlike what I had expected to find in India as well might be. All around was a dead flat or table-land, out of which a few conical hills rose in the west, about 1000 feet high, covered with a low forest of dusky green or yellow, from the prevalence of bamboo. The lark was singing merrily at sunrise, and the accessories of a fresh air and dewy grass more reminded me of some moorland in the north of England than of the torrid region^ of the East.

At 10 P.M. I arrived at Mr. Williams* camp, near the western limit of the coal basin of the Damooda valley. His operations being finished, he was prepared to start, having kindly waited a couple of days for my arrival.

Early on the morning of the last day of January, a motley group of natives was busy striking the tents, and loading the bullocks, bullock-carts and elephants;

which then proceeded on the march, occupying in straggling groups nearly three miles of road.

The coal crops out at the surface; hut tlie shafts worked are sunk through thick heds of alluvium. The age of these coal-fields is quite unknown, and I regret to say that my examination of their fossil plants throws no material light on the subject. Upwards of thirty species of these have been procured from them, the majority of which are referred by Dr. McLelland * to the inferior oolite epoch of England: most of these are ferns, some of which are supposed to be the same as occur in the coal-fields of Sind and of Australia. I cannot, however, think that botanical evidence of such a nature is sufficient to warrant a satisfactory reference of these Indian coal-fields to the same epoch as those of England or of Australia: in the first place the outlines of the fronds of ferns and their nervation are frail characters if employed alone for the determination of existing genera, and much more so of fossil fragments: in the second place recent ferns are so widely distributed, that an inspection of the majority afibrds little clue to the region or locality they come from: and in the third place, considering the wide difference in latitude and longitude of Yorkshire, India, and Australia, the natural conclusion is that they could not have supported a similar vegetation at the same epoch. In fact, finding similar fossil plants at places widely different in latitude, and therefore in climate, is, in the present state of our knowledge, rather an argument against than for their having existed cotemporaneously.

* Beports of the Geological Survey of India. Calcutta, 1860.

But, even supposing that specific identity of their contained fossils be considered as fair evidence of the cotemporaneous origin of beds; amongst the many collections of fossil plants that I have examined, there is hardly a specimen, belonging to any epoch, suffici* ently perfect to warrant the assumption that the species to which it belonged can be recognised. The botanical evidences which geologists too often accept as proofs of specific identity, are such as no botanist would attach any importance to in the investigation of existing plants.

A number of women were here employed in making gunpowder, grinding the usual materials on a stone, with the addition of water fipom the Hookah; a custom for which they have an obstinate prejudice. The charcoal here used is made from an Acacia: the Seiks, I believe, employ Jmticia Adhatoda, which is also in use aU over India: at Aden the Arabs prefer the Calotropis^ probably because it is most easily procured. The grain of all these plants is open, whereas in England, closer-grained and more woody trees, especially willows, are preferred.

The jungle I found to consist chiefly of thorny bushes, Jujube of two species, an Acacia and Butea frondosa, the twigs of the latter often covered with lurid red tears of Lac, which is here collected in abundance. As it occurs on the plants and is collected by the natives it is called Stick-lac, but after preparation Shell-lac. In Mirzapore, a species of Celtis yields it, and the Peepul very commonly in various parts of India. The elaboration of this dye, whether by the

same or many species of insect, from plants so \videly different in habit and characters, is a very curious fact; the more so since none of these plants have red, but some have milky and others limpid juices.

After breakfast, Mr. Williams and I started on an elephant, following the camp. The docility of these animals is an old story, but it loses so much in the telling, that their gentleness, obedience, and sagacity seemed as strange to me as if I had never heard or read of these attributes. The swinging motion, under a hot sun, is very oppressive, but compensated for by being so high above the dust. The mahout or driver guides by poking his great toes under either ear, enforcing obedience with an iron goad, with which he hammers the animal's head with quite as much force as would break a cocoa-nut, or drives it through his thick skin down to the quick. Our elephant was an excellent one, when he did not take obstinate fits, and so intelligent as to pick up pieces of stone when desired, and with a jerk of the trunk throw them over his head for the rider to catch, thus saving the trouble of dismounting to geologise!

We met many pilgrims to Juggemath, most of whom were on foot, while a few were in carts or pony gigs of rude construction. The vehicles from the upper country are distinguished by a far superior build, their horses are caparisoned with jingling bells, and tlie wheels and other parts are bound with brass. The kindness of the people towards animals, and in some cases towards their suffering relations, is very remarkable, and may in part have given rise to the prevalent

b3

idea that they are less cruel and stem than the majority of mankind; but that the " mild " Hindoo, however gentle on occasion, is cruel and vindictive to his brother man and to animals, when his indolent temper is roused or liis avarice stimidated, no one can doubt who reads the accounts of Thuggee, Dacoitee, and poisoning, and witnesses the cmelty with which beasts of burthen are treated. A child carrying a bird, kid, or lamb, is not an uncommon sight, and a woman with a dog in her arms is still more frequently seen. Occasionally too, a group will bear an old man to see Juggemath before he dies, or a poor creature witli elephantiasis, who hopes to be allowed to hurry himself to his paradise, in preference to lingering in helpless inactivity, and at last crawling up to the second heaven only. The costumes are as various as the religious castes, and the many countries to which the travellers belong. The most thriving-looking wanderer is the bearer of Ganges' holy water, who drives a profitable trade, his gains increasing as his load lightens, since the further he wanders from the sacred stream, the more he gets for the contents of his jar.

The Ganges being stiU the main channel of cOnmiu-nication between north-west India and Bengal, we passed very little merchandise; such as there was, principally consisted of cotton, which, clumsily packed in ragged bags, dirty, and deteriorating every day, even at this dry season, proved in how bad a state it must arrive at the market during the rains, when the low waggons are dragged through the streams.

Occasionally a string of camels was seen, but, owing

to the damp climate, these are rare, and east of the meridian of Calcutta altogether miknown. The roads here ai'e all mended with a curious stone, called Kunker, which is a nodular concretionary deposit of limestone, abundantly imbedded in the alluvial soil of a great part of India; and often occurring in strata, like flints. It resembles a coarse gravel, each pebble being often as large as a walnut, and tuberculated on the surface: it binds admirably, and forms excellent roads, but pulverises into a most disagreeable impalpable dust.

The vegetation of this part of the country was verj' poor, consisting of a low stimted jungle, and no good-sized trees being visible: even grasses were few, and dried up, except in the beds of the rivulets. Bamboos were however common, and the Cowage plant, now with over-ripe pods, by shaking which, in passing, there often falls such a shower of its irritating microscopic hairs, as to make the skin tingle for an hour.

On the 1st of Februar}% we moved on to Gyra» an insignificant village. The air was cool, and the atmosphere clear; the temperature, at three in the morning, being 65°. As the sun rose, Parasnath appeared against the clear grey sky, in the form of a beautiful broad cone, with a rugged peak, of a deeper grey than the sky. It is a remarkably handsome mountain, sufficiently lofty to be imposing, rising out of an elevated country, the slope of which, upward to the base of the mountain, though imperceptible, is really considerable; and it is surrounded by lesser hill'

of just sufficient elevation to set it off. The atmosphere, too, of these regions is peculiarly favourable for views: it is very dry at this season; but still the hills are clearly defined, without the harsh outlines so characteristic of a moist air. The skies are bright, the sun powerful; and there is an almost imperceptible haze that seems to soften the landscape, and keep every object in true perspective.

Our route led towards the picturesque hills and valleys in front. There was little cultivation, and that little of the most wretched kind; even rice-fields were few and scattered; there was no com, nor lentiles, nor Castor-oil, no Poppy, Cotton, Safflower, nor other crops of the richer soils that flank the Ganges and Hoogly; a very little Sugar-cane, Dhal (a small pea). Mustard, Linseed, and Bape, the three latter cultivated for their oil. Hardly a Palm was to be seen; and it was seldom that the cottages could boast of a Banana, Tamarind, Orange, Cocoa-nut, or Date. The Mahowa {Bassia latifolia) and Mango were the commonest trees. There being no Kimker in the soil here, the roads were mended with angular quartz, much to the elephant's annoyance.

The country around the base of Parasnath is rather pretty, the hills covered with bamboo and brushwood, and as usual, rising rather suddenly from the elevated plains. The jungle affords shelter to a few bears and tigers, jackals in abundance, and occasionally foxes; the birds seen are chiefly pigeons. Insects are very scarce; those of the locust tribe being most prevalent, indicative of a dry climate.

The temperature varied from 65° at night, to 82° at 8 P.M., from which there was no great variation during the whole time we spent at these elevations. The clouds were rare, and always light and high, except a little fleecy spot of vapour condensed close to the summit of Parasnath. Though the nights were clear and starlight, no dew was deposited, owing to the great dryness of the air.

On the 2nd of Fehruary we proceeded to Tofe-Choney, the hills increasing in height to nearly 1000 feet, and the country becoming more picturesque. We passed some tanks covered with ViUarsia, and frequented by flocks of white egrets. The existence of artificial tanks so'near a lofty mountain, from whose sides innumerable water-courses descend, indicates the great natural dryness of the country during one season of the year. The hills and valleys were richer than I expected, though far from luxuriant.

This being the most convenient station whence to ascend Parasnath, we started at 6 a.m. for the village of Maddaobund, at the north base of the mountain, or opposite side from that on which the grand trunk-road runs. After following the latter for a few miles to the west, we took a path through beautifully wooded plains, with scattered trees of the Mahowa, resembling good oaks: the natives distil a kind of arrack from its fleshy flowers, which are also eaten raw. The seeds, too, yield a concrete oil, by expression, which is used for lamps and occasionally for frying.

Some villages at the west base of the mountain occupy a better soil, and are surrounded with rid

cultivation; palnis, mangos, aiid the tamarind, the first and last rare features in tliis part of Bengal, appeared to be common, with fields of rice and broad acres of flax and rape, through the latter of which the blue Indian Broom rape (Orobanclie indica) swarmed. The short route to Maddaobimd, through narrow rocky valleys, was impracticable for the elephant, and we had to make a veiy considerable detour, only reaching that village at 2 p.m. All the hill people we observed were a fine-looking athletic race; they disclaimed the tiger being a neighbom*, which every palkee-bearer along the road declares to carry off the torch-bearers, torch and all. Bears tliey said were scarce, and all other wild animals, but a natural jealousy of Europeans often leads the natives to deny the existence of what they know to be an attraction to the proverbially sporting Englishman.

The site of Maddaobund, elevated 1230 feet, in a clearance of the forest, and the appearance of the snow-white domes and bannerets of its temples through the fine trees by which it is surroimded, are very beautiful; and the situation is so sheltered that the tamarind, peepul, and banyan trees are superb. A fine specimen of the latter stands at the entrance to the village, not a broad-headed tree, as is usual in the prime of its existence, but a mass of trunks irregularly throwing out immense branches in a most picturesque manner; the original trunk is apparently gone, and the principal mass of root-stems is fenced in. This, with two magnificent tamarinds, forms a grand clump. The ascent of the moimtain is immediately from the

MADDAOBUND.

15

village up a pathway worn by the feet of many a pilgrim from the most remote parts of India.

OLD TAMARIND TREES.

Parasnath is a momitain of peculiar sanctity, to which circumstance is to be attributed the flourishing state of Maddaobimd. The name is that of the twenty-third incarnation of Jinna (Sanscrit "Conqueror"), who was bom at Benares, lived one himdred years, and was buried on this mountain, which is the eastern metropolis of Jain worship, as Mount Aboo is the western (where are their libraries and most splendid temples). The origin of the Jain sect is obscure,

though its rise appears to correspond with the wreck of Bo6dhism throughout India in the eleventh century. The Jains form in some sort a transition-sect between Boodhists and Hindoos, differing from the former in acknowledging castes, and from both in their worship of Parasnath's foot, instead of that of Munja-gosha of the Boodhs, or Vishnoo's of the Hindoos* As a sect of Boodhists their religion is considered pure, and free from the obscenities so conspicuous in Hindoo worship; whilst, in fact, perhaps the reverse is the case; but the symbols are fewer, and indeed almost confined to the feet of Parasnath, and the priests jealously conceal their esoteric doctrines.

The temples, though small, are well built, and carefully kept. No persuasion could induce the Brahmins to allow us to proceed beyond the vestibule without taking off our shoes, to which we were not inclined to consent. The bazaar was for so small a village large, and crowded to excess with natives of all castes, colours, and provinces of India, very many from the extreme W. and N. W., Rajpootana, the Madras Presidency, and Central India. Numbers had come in good cars, well attended, and appeared men of wealth and consequence ; while the quantities of conveyances of all sorts standing about, rather reminded me of an election, than of anything I had seen in India.

The natives of the place were a more Negro-looking race than the Bengalees to whom I had previously been accustomed; and the curiosity and astonishment they displayed at seeing (probably many of them for the first time) a party of Englishmen, were sufiiciently

amusing. Our coolies not having come up, and it being two o'clock in the afternoon, I having had no breakfast, and being ignorant of the exclusively Jain population of the village, sent my servant to the bazaar, for some fowls and eggs ; but he was mobbed for asking for these articles, and parched rice, beaten flat, with some coarse sugar, was all he could obtain; together with sweetmeats so odiously flavoured with various herbs, and sullied with such impurities, that we quickly made them over to the elephants.

In the evening a very gaudy poojah was performed. The car, filled with idols, was covered with gilding and silk, and drawn by noble bulls, festooned and garlanded. A procession was formed in front; and it opened into an avenue, up and down which gaily dressed dancing-boys paced or danced, shaking castanets, the attendant worshippers singing in discordant voices, beating tomtoms, cymbals, «fcc. Images (of Boodh apparently) abounded on the car, in front of which a child was placed. The throng of natives was very great and perfectly orderly, indeed, sufficiently apathetic: they were remarkably civil and willing to explain what they imderstood of their own worship.

Having provided doolies, or little bamboo chairs slimg on four men's shoulders, in which I put my papers and boxes, we next morning commenced the ascent; at first through woods of the common trees, with large clumps of bamboo, over slaty rocks of gneiss, much inclined and sloping away from the moimtain. The view from a ridge 600 feet high was superb, of the village, and its white domes half buried

in the forest below, the latter of which continued in sight for many miles to the northward. Descending to a valley some ferns were met with, and a more luxuriant vegetation, especially of the nettie tribe. Wild baimnas formed a beautiful, and to me a novel feature in the woods.

The conical hills of the white ants were very abundant. The structure appears to me not an independent one, but the dAris of clumps of bamboos, or of the trunks of large trees, which these insects have destroyed. As they work up a tree from the ground, they coat the bark with particles of sand glued together, carrying up this artificial sheath or covered way as they ascend. A clump of bamboos is thus speedily killed; and the dead stems fall away, leaving the mass of stumps coated with sand, which the action of the weather soon fashions into a cone of earthy matter.

Ascending again, the path struck through a thick forest of Sal (Vateria robvsta) and other trees, spanned with cables of scandent Bauhinia stems. At about 3000 feet above the sea, the vegetation became more luxuriant, and by a littie stream I collected five species of ferns and some mosses,—^all in a dry state, however. The white ant apparentiy does not enter this cooler region. At 3500 feet the vegetation again changed, the trees all becoming gnarled and scattered; and as the dampness also increased, more mosses and ferns jappeared. We emerged from the forest at the foot of the great ridge of rocky peaks, stretching E. and W. three or four miles. Abundance of a species of

berberry and an Oabeckia marked the change in the vegetation most decidedly, which were frequent over the whole summit, with coarse grasses, and various bushes.

At noon we reached the saddle of the crest (alt. 4230 feet), where was a small temple, one of five or six which occupy various prominences of the ridge. The wind, N. W., was cold, the temp. 56**. The atmosphere was imfortunately hazy, nevertlieless the view was beautiful. To the north were ranges of low wooded hills, and the course of the Barakah and Adji rivers; to the south lay a more level coimtry, with lower ranges, and the Damooda river, its all but waterless bed snowy-white from the exposed granite blocks with which its course is strewn. East and west rose several sharp ridges of the moimtain itself; the western considerably the highest. Immediately below, the mountain flanks appeared clothed with impenetrable forest, here and there interrupted by rocky eminences; while to the north the grand trunk-road crossed the plains, like a white thread, as straight as an arrow, spanning the beds of the mountain torrents with picturesque bridges.

On the south side the vegetation was more luxuriant than on the nortJi, though, from the heat of the sim, the reverse might have been expected. This is owing partly to the curve taken by the ridge being open to the south, and partly to the winds from that quarter being the moist ones. Accordingly, trees which I had left 3000 feet below on the north flank, here ascended to near the summit, such as figs and bananas. A short-stemmed palm was tolerably abundant, and a small

tree {Pterospermvm) on which a species of grass grew epiphytically; forming a curious feature in the landscape.

The situation of the principal temple is very fine, below the saddle in a hollow facing the south, surroimded by jungles of plantain and banyan. It is small, and contains little worthy of notice but the sculptured feet of Parasnath, and some marble Boodh idols; cross-legged figures, with crisp hair and the Brahminical cord. These, a leper covered with ashes in the vestibule, and an officiating priest, were all we saw. Pilgrims were seen on various parts of the moimtain in considerable munbers, passing fi'om one temple to another, and generally leaving a few grams of dry rice at each.

The culminant rocks were very dry, but in the rains may possess many curious plants; a fine Kalanchoe was common, with a berberry, and various other shrubs; a Bolbophyllvm grew on the rocks, with a small Begonia, and some ferns. There were no birds, and very few insects, a beautiful small Pontia being the only butterfly. The striped squirrel was very busy amongst the rocks; and I saw a few mice, and the traces of bears.

At 3 P.M., the temperature was 54^, and the air deliciously cool and pleasant. I tried to reach the western peak (perhaps 300 feet above the saddle), by keeping along the ridge, but was cut off by precipices, and ere I could retrace my steps it was time to descend. This I was glad to do in a doolie, and I was carried to the bottom, with only one short rest, in an hour and

three quarters. The descent was very steep the whole way, partly down steps of sharp rock, where one of the men cut his foot severely. The pathway at the bottom was lined for nearly a quarter of a mile with sick, halt, maimed, lame, and blind beggars, awaiting us. It was truly a fearful sight, especially the lepers, and numerous unhappy victims to elephantiasis.

Though the botany of Parasnath proved interesting, its elevation was not accompanied by such a change from the flora of its base as I had expected. This is no doubt due to its dry climate and sterile soil; characters which it shares with the extensive elevated area of which it forms a part, and upon which I could not detect above 300 species of plants.

CHAPTER II.

Doomrec—^Vegetation of table-land—^Birda—Lieutenant Beadle — Hot springs of Soorujkoond—Plants near them—Cholera-tree—Olibanum —^Palms, form of—Dunwah Pass—Trees, native and planted—Wild peacock—^Poppy fields—Geography and Geology of Behar and Central India—Toddy-palm—^Baroon—Lizard—Aurora Borealis—Cross the Soane—Sand, ripple-marks on—Eymore hills—Botas fort and palace —Nitrate of lime—Change of climate—Lime stalagmites, enclosing leaves—Spiders, &c.—Scenery and natural history of upper Soane valley —^Bhel fruit —Dust-storm —Alligator —Catechu — CocJUosper-mum — Leaf-bellows — Scorpions —Tortoises — Florican — Limestone spheres—Coles—Tiger-hunt—Bobbery.

In the evening we returned to our tamarind tree, and the next morning regained the trunk-road, following it to the dawk bungalow of Doomree. On the way I found the C^esalpinia paniculata, a magnificent climber, festooning the trees with its dark glossy foliage and gorgeous racemes of orange blossoms. Receding from the mountain, the country again became barren; and no palms or large trees of any kind appeared. The spear-grass abounded, and a detestable nuisance it was, its long awns and husked seed working through trowsers and stockings.

Having rested tlie tired elephant, we pushed on in the evening to the next stage, Baghoda, arriving there at 3 A.M., and after a few hours' rest, I walked to the

bungalow of Lieutenant Beadle, the surveyor of roads, sixteen miles further.

At 10 A.M. the sun became uncomfortably hot, the thermometer being 77°. I had lost my hat, and possessed no substitute but it silken nightcap; so I had to tie a handkerchief over my head, to the astonishment of the passers-by. Holding my head down, I had little source of amusement but in examining the footmarks on the road; and these were strangely diversified to an English eye. Those of the elephant, camel, buffalo and bullock, horse, ass, pony, dog, goat, sheep and kid, lizard, wild-cat and pigeon, with men, women, and children's, naked and shod, were all recognisable.

It was noon ere I arrived at Lieutenant Beadle's, at Belcuppee (alt. 1219 feet), glad enough of the hearty welcome I received, beiQg very hot, dusty, and hungry. The country about his bungalow is very pretty, from the number of wooded hills and large trees, especially of banyan and peepul, noble oak-like Mahowas, Mangos, and Figs. These are all scattered, however, and do not form forest, such as in a stimted form clothes the hills. Lisects and birds are numerous, the latter consisting of jays, crows, doves, sparrows, and maina (Pastor); also the Phoenicophaus tristis (" Mahoka" of the natives), with a note like that of the English cuckoo, as heard late in the season.

I remained two days with Lieutenant Beadle, enjoying in his society several excursions to some hot springs, and other places,of interest, in the neighbourhood. These springs (called Soorujkoond) are situated

close to the road, near the mouth of a valley, in a remarkably pretty spot. They are, of course, objects of worship; and a ruined temple stands close behind them, with three very conspicuous trees—a peepul, a banyan, and a white, thick^temmed, leafless Stercidia, whose branches bore dense clusters of greenish foetid flowers. The hot springs are four in number, and rise in as many ruined brick tanks, each about two yards across. Another tank, fed by a cold spring, about twice that size, flows between two of the hot, only two or three paces distant from one of the latter on either hand. AU meet in one stream after a few yards, and are conducted by bricked canals to a pool about eighty yards off.

The water of the cold spring is sweet but not good, and emits gaseous bubbles; it was covered with a green floating Conferva. Of the four hot springs, the most copious is about three feet deep, bubbles constantly, boils eggs, and though brilliantly clear, has an exceedingly nauseous taste.

Conferva abound in the warm stream from the springs, and two species, one ochreous brown, and the other green, occur on the margins of the tanks themselves, and in the hottest water; the brown is the best salamander, and forms a belt in deeper water than the green; both appear in broad luxuriant strata, wherever the temp, is cooled down to 168°, and as low as 90°. Of flowering plants, three showed in an eminent degree a constitution capable of resisting the heat, if not a predilection for it; these were all Cyperacea, having their roots in water of 100°, and where they are

probably exposed to greater heat; all were very luxuriant. From the margins of the four hot springs I gathered sixteen species of flowering plants, and from the cold tank five, which did not grow in the hot. A water-beetle abounded in water at 112°, with quantities of dead shells; at 90® frogs were very lively, with live shells, and various water-beetles.

I left Belcuppee on the 8th of February, following Mr. Williams' camp: the morning was clear and cold, the temperature being only 56°. I crossed the nearly dry broad bed of the Burkutta river, a noble stream during the rains, carrying along huge boulders of granite. Near this I passed the Cholera-tree, a famous peepul, so called from a detachment of infantry having been attacked and decimated at the spot by that fell disease: it was covered with inscriptions and votive tokens in the shape of rags, «fcc. The road continued to ascend to 1360 feet, where I came upon a small forest of the Indian Olibanum (Boswellia thurifera), conspicuous from its pale bark, and spreading curved branches, leafy at their tips ; its general appearance is a good deal like that of the mountain ash. The very fragrant and transparent gum, celebrated throughout the East, was flowing abundantly from the trunks.

Descending to the village of Burshoot, we lost sight of the Olibanum, and came upon a magnificent tope of mango, banyan, and peepul, so far superior to anything hitherto met with, that we were glad to choose such a pleasant halting-place for breakfast. There were a few lofty fan-palms here too, great rarities in this soil and at this elevation: one, about eighty feet high, towered

above some wretched hovels, displaying the curious proportions of this tribe of palms; namely, first, a short cone, tapering to one-third the height of the stem, the trunk then swelling to two-thirds, and again tapering to the crown.

So little was there to observe, that I again amused myself by examining footsteps, the precision of which: in the sandy soil was curious. Looking down from the elephant, I was interested by seeing them all in relief, instead of depressed, the slanting rays of the sun in front producing this kind of mirage.

Chorparun, at the top of the Dunwah pass, is situated on an extended barren flat, 1320 feet above the sea, and from it the descent from the table-land to the level of the Soane valley, a little above that of the Ganges at Patna, is very sudden. The road is carried zigzag down a rugged hill, with a descent of nearly 1000 feet in six miles, of which 600 are exceedingly steep. The pass is well wooded, with abundance of bamboo, Bombax, Cassia, Acacia, and Butea, with Calotropis, the purple Mudar, a very handsome road-side plant, which I had not seen before, but which, with the Argemone Mexicana, was to be a companion for hundreds of miles farther. All the views in the pass are very picturesque, though wanting in good foliage, such as Figs would afford, of which I did not see one tree. The banyan and peepul always appeared to be planted, as did the tamarind and mango.

Dunwah, at the foot of the pass, is 630 feet above the sea, and nearly 1000 below the mean level of the highland we had been traversing. Every thing bears

here a better aspect; the woods at the foot of the hills afforded many plants; the bamboo {B. stricta) is green instead of yellow and white; a little castor-oil is cultivated, and the Indian date (low and stunted) appears about the cottages.

In the woods I heard and saw the wild peacock for the first time. Its voice is not to be distinguished from that of the tame bird in England; a curious instance of the perpetuation of character imder widely different circumstances, and contrasting with the wild jungle-fowl, whose crow by no means rivals tliat of the farmyard cock.

In the evening we left Dunwah for Barah (alt. 480 feet), passing over very barren soil, covered with low jungle, the original woods having apparently been cut for fuel. Our elephant, a timid animal, came on a drove of camels in the dark by the road-side, and in his alarm insisted on doing battle, tearing through the thorny jungle, regardless of the mahout, and still more of me; the uproar raised by the camel-drivers was ridiculous, and the danger to my barometer imminent.

We proceeded on the 11th of February to Sheer-gotty, where Mr. Williams and his camp were awaiting our arrival. Wherever cultivation appeared the crops were tolerably luxuriant, of poppy (which I had not seen before), sugar-cane, wheaif, 'barley, mustard, rape, and flax. At a distance a field of poppies looks like a green lake, studded with white water-lilies. The houses, too, are better, and have tiled roofs; while, in such situations, the road is lined with trees.

A retrospect of the ground passed over is unsatisfactory, as far as botany is concerned, except as showing how potent are the effects of a dry soil and climate during one season of the year upon a vegetation which has no desert types. During the rains probably many more species would be obtained, for of annuals I scarcely found twenty: at that season, however, the jungles of Behar and Birbhoom, though far from tropically luxuriant, are singularly imhealthy.

In a geographical point of view the range of hills between Burdwan and the Soane is interesting, as being the north-east continuation of a chain which crosses the broadest part of the peninsula of India, from the gulf of Cambay to the jimction of the Ganges and Hoogly at Eajmahal. This range runs south of the Soane and Kymore, which it meets I believe at Omerkimtuk ;* further west again, they separate, the southern forming the Satpur range, which divides the valley of the Taptee from that of the Nerbudda. The Parasnath range is, though the most difficult of definition, the longer of the two parallel ranges ; the Vindhya, continued as the Kymore, terminating abruptly, at the Fort of Chunar on the Ganges. The general and geological features of the two, especially along their eastern course, are very different. This range consists of gneiss, tlu'ough which granite hills protrude, the loftiest of which is Parasnath. The northeast Vindhya (called Kymore), on the other hand, consists of nearly horizontal beds of sandstone, overlying inclined beds of limestone. Between the latter

• A lofty mountain said to be 7000—8000 feet high.

and the Parasnath gneiss, come (in order of superposition) beds of quartz, homstone, jaspers, &c. These are thrown up, by greenstone I believe, along the north and north-west boundary of the gneiss range, and form the rocks of Colgong, of Sultangunj, and of Monghyr, on the Ganges, as also various detached hills near Gyah, and along the upper course of die Soane. From these are derived the beautiful agates and cornelians, so famous under the name of Soane pebbles, and they are equally common on the Curruck-pore range, as on the south bank of the Soane, so much so as to have been used in the decoration of tlie walls of the now ruined palaces near Bhagulpore.

In the route I had taken, I had crossed the eastern extremity alone of the range, commencing with a very gradual ascent to the table-land, properly so called. A little beyond the coal fields, this table-land reaches an average height of 1130 feet, which is continued for upwards of 100 miles, to the Dunwah pass. Here the descent is sudden to plains, which, continuous with those of the Ganges, run up the Soane till beyond Botasghur. Except for the occasional ridges mentioned above, and some hills of greenstone, the lower plain is stoneless, its subjacent rocks being covered with a thicker stratum of the same alluvium which is thinly spread over the higher table-land above. This range is of great interest from its being the source of many important rivers, and of all those which water the country between the Soane, Hoogly, and Ganges; as well as from its deflecting the course of the latter river, which washes its base at Bajmahal, and forcing it to

take a sinuous course to the sea. In its climate and botany it differs equally from the Gangetic plains to tlie north, and from the hot, damp, and exuberant forests of Orissa to the south. Nor are its geological features less different, or its concomitant and in part resultant characters of agriculture and native pppulation.

On the 12th of February, we left Sheergotty (alt. 463 feet), crossing some small streams, which flow N. to the Ganges. Between Sheergotty and the Soane, occur many isolated hills of greenstone, better known to the traveller from having been telegraphic stations.

The road-sides being highly cultivated, and the Date-palm becoming more abundant, we encamped in a grove of these trees. All were curiously distorted; the trunks growing zigzag, from the practice of yearly tapping the alternate sides for toddy. The incision is just below the crown, and slopes upwards and inwards: a vessel is hung below the wound, and the juice conducted into it by a little piece of bamboo. This operation spoils the fruit, which, though eaten, is small, and much inferior to the African date.

The following day we marched to Baroon on the alluvial banks of the Soane, crossing a deep stream by a pretty suspension bridge, of which the piers were visible two miles off, so level was the road. The Soane was here three miles wide, its nearly dry bed being a desert of sand, resembling a vast arm of the sea when the tide is out: the banks were very barren, with no trees near, and but very few in the distance. The houses were scarcely visible on the opposite side, behind which the Kymore moimtains rise. The Soane

is a classical river, being now satisfactorily identified with the Eranoboas of the ancients.*

Mr. Theobald (my companion in this and many otlier rambles) pulled a lizard from a hole in the bank. Its throat was mottled with scales of bro^n and yellow. Three ticks had fi^tened on it, each of a size covering three or four scales: the first was yellow, corresponding with the yellow colour of tlie animars belly, where it lodged; the second brown, from tlie Uzard's head; but the third, which was clinging to the parti-coloured scales of the neck, had its body parti-coloured, the hues corresponding with the individual scales covered. The adaptation of the two first specimens in colour to the parts to which they adhered, was sufficiently remarkable; but the third case was certainly most extraordinary.

During the night of the 14th of February, I observed a beautiful display of the Aurora borealis. It commenced at 9 p.m., with about tliirty lancet beams rising in the north-west from a low luminous arch, which crossed the zenith, and converged towards the opposite quarter of the heavens. All moved and flashed slowly, occasionally splitting and forking, fading and brightening; they were clearly defined, though the milky way and zodiacal light could not be discerned, and the stars and planets were very pale. When this display had lasted about an hour, the light

* The etymology of Eranoboas is undoubtedly Hitrrinia Vahu (Sanskrit), the golden-armed. Sona is also the Sanskrit for gold. The stream is celebrated for its agates (Soane pebbles), which are common, but gold is not now obtained from it.

became more diffused, the beams lessened by degrees, anfl a dark belt appeared in the limiinous arch, gradually breaking it up, and appearing to disperse the beams, of which, however, a few faint ones continued to appear occasionally until midnight.

Our passage through the Soane sands was very tedious, though accomplished in excellent style, the elephants pushing forward the heavy waggons of mining tools with their foreheads. The wheels were sometimes buried to the axles in sand, and the draught bullocks were rather in the way than otherwise.

The body of water over which we were ferried, was not above 80 yards wide. In the rains, when the whole space of three miles is one rapid flood, 10 or 12 feet deep, charged with yellow sand, this river must present an imposing spectacle. I walked across the dry portion, observing the sand-waves, all ranged in one direction, perpendicular to that of the prevailing wind, and accurately representing the undulations of the ocean, as seen from a mast-head or high cliff. As the sand was finer or coarser, so did the surface resemble a gentle ripple, or an ocean-swell. The progressive motion of the waves was curious, and caused by the lighter particles being blown over the ridges, and filling up the hollows to leeward. There were a few islets in the sand, oases of mud and clay, in laminae no thicker than paper, and these were at once denizened by various weeds. Some large spots were green with wheat and barley-crops, both suffering from smut.

We encamped close to the western shore, at the village of Dearee (alt. 330 feet): it marks the termi-

nation of the Kymore Hills, along whose S.E. base our course now lay, as we here quitted the grand trunk road for a country rarely visited.

On the 16th we marched south up the river to Tilotho (alt. 395 feet), through a rich and highly cultivated country, covered with indigo, cotton, sugarcane, safflower, castor-oil, poppy, and various grains* Dodders covered even tall trees with a golden web, and. the Capparis acuminata was in full flower along the road side. Tilotho, a beautiful village, was situated in a superb grove of Mango, Banyan, Peepul, Tamarind, and Bassia, The Date or toddy-palm and fan-palm were very abundant and tall: each had a pot hung under the crown. The natives climb their trunks with a hoop or cord round the body and both ancles, and a bottle-gourd or other vessel hanging round the neck to receive the juice from the stock-bottle, in this aerial wine-cellar. . These palms were so lofty that the climbers^ as they paused in their ascent to gaze with wonder at our large, retinue, resembled monkeys rather than men. Both trees yield a toddy, but in this district that from the Date alone ferments, and is distilled; while in other parts of India, the fan-palm is chiefly employed. I walked to the hills, over a level cultivated country interspersed with occasional belts of low wood; in which the pensile nests of the weaver-bird were abundant, but generally hanging out of reach, in prickly Acacias.

The hills here present a straight precipitous wall of sandstone, very like the rocks at the Cape of Good Hope, with occasionally a shallow valley, and a slope

c3

of debris at the base, densely clothed with dry jungle. The cliffs are about 1000 feet high, and the plants similar to those at the foot of Parasnath, but stunted: I climbed to the top, the latter part by steps or ledges cut in the sandstone. The summit was clothed with long grass, trees of Diospyros and Terminalia, and here and there the Boswellia, On the precipitous rocks the curious white-barked Sterculia foetida " flung its arms abroad," leafless, and looking as if blasted by lightning.

On the 17th we marched to Akbarpore, a village overhung by the rocky precipice of Eotasghur. Passing between the river and a detached conical hill of limestone, capped with a flat mass of sandstone, the spur of Botas broke suddenly on the view, and very grand it was, quite realising my anticipations of the position of these eyrie-like hill-forts of India. To the left of the spur winds the valley of the Soane, with low wooded hills on its opposite bank, and a higher range, connected with that of Behar, in the distance. To the right, the hills sweep roimd, forming an immense and beautifully wooded amphitheatre, about foiu* miles deep, bounded by a continuation of the escarpment. At the foot of the crowned spur is the village of Akbarpore, where we encamped in a Mango tope; * it occupies some pretty undulating limestone hills, amongst which several streams flow from the amphitheatre to the Soane.

During our two days' stay here, I had the advantage of the society of Mr. C. E. Davis, who was our guide

* On the 24th of June, 1848, the Soane rose to an unprecedented height, and laid this grove of Mangos three feet under water.

daring tsome rambles in the neighbourhood, and to whose experience, founded on the best habits of obHer-vation, I am indebted for much information. At noon we started to ascend to tlie palace, on the top of the spur. On the way we passed a beautiful well, sixty feet deep, and ^^dth a fine flight of steps to tlie bottom. Now neglected, and overgrown ^dtli flowering weeds and creepers, I found there many of tlie plants I had only previously obtained in a withered state; it was curious to observe tliere some of tlie species of the liill-tops, whose seeds are doubtless scattered abundantly over the sun'oimdiug plains, but only vegetate where they find a coolness and moistiu*e resembling that of the altitude they elsewhere affect. A fine fig-tree growing out of the stone-work spread its leafy gi-een branches over the well mouth, which was about twelve feet square; its roots assumed a singular form, enveloping two sides of the walls witli a beautiful net-work, which at high-water mark (rainy season), abruptly divides into thousands of little bnishes, dipping into the water which tliey fringe. It was a pretty cool place to descend to, from a temperature of 80° above, to 74° at the bottom, where tlie water was 60°; and most refreshing to look, eitlier up the shaft to the green fig-tree shadowing the deep profound, or along the sloping steps tlirough a vista of flowering herbs and climbing plants, to the blue heaven of a burning sky.

The ascent to Rotas is over the dry hills of limestone, covered with a scrubby brushwood, to a crest where are the first rude and ruined defences. The limestone

is succeeded by ilie sandstone cliff put into steps, which led from ledge to ledge and gap to gap, well guarded with walls and an archway of solid masonry. Through this we passed on to the flat summit of the Kymore hills, covered with grass and forest, and intersected by paths in all directions. The ascent is about 1200 feet—a long pull in the blazing sun of February. The turf consists chiefly of spear-grass and Andropogon rmtricatus, the kus-kus, which yields a favourite fragrant oil, used as a medicine in India. A pretty octagonal summer-house, with its roof supported by pillars, occupies one of the highest points of the plateau, and commands a superb view. From this a walk of three miles leads through the woods to the palace. The buildings are very extensive, and though now ruinous, bear evidence of great beauty in the architecture: light galleries, supported by slender columns, long cool arcades, screened squares and terraced walks, are the principal features. The rooms open out upon flat roofs, commanding views of the long endless table-land to the west, and a sheer precipice of 1000 feet on the other side, with the Soane, the amphitheatre of hills, and the village of Akbarpore below.

This and Beejaghur, higher up the Soane, were amongst the most recently reduced forts, and this was further the last of those wrested from Baber in 1542. Some of the rooms are still habitable, but the greater part are ruinous, and covered with climbers, both of wild flowers and of the naturalised garden plants of the adjoining shrubbery; ike Arbor-tristis, mih HibisciiSf

Fas. 1848. JUITAS PALACK. '67

Abutilon, dec, and above all, tlie litth.' yi'llDw-Howt iv«I lAnaria ramosissimaf crawling over every ruined wall, as we see the walls of our old English castles clotlied with its congener L. CymhalarUt.

In the old dark stables I observed the soil to b«* covered with a copious eviuies<*ent elHoresrenee i»f nitrate of lime» like soap-suds scattered iihniit.

I made Botas Palace 14i)n feet abov<> the s<a. so that this table-land is here only iifty f«'et higher than that we had crossed on the gi*and trunk road, before descending at the Dumvah pass. Its mean temperature is below that of the valley, but though so cool, agues prevail after the rains. The extremes of tempeiiiture are less marked tlian iu the valley, which becomes excessively heated, and \vhere hot winds sometimes last for a week, blowing in furious gusts.

The climate of the whole neighbourliood has of late changed materially; and the fall of niin has nuidi diminished, consequent on felling the forests ; even within six years the hail-storms have been far less frequent and violent. The air on the hills is highly electrical, owing, no doubt, to the di-jiiess of tlie atmosphere, and to this tlie frequent recuiTence of hailstorms may be due.

The zoology of these regions is tolerably copious, but little is known of the natural liistory of a gi-eat part of the plateau; a native tiibe, prone to human sacrifices, is talked of. Tigers are common, and beai*s are numerous; they have, besides, the leopard, panther, viverine cat, and civet; and of tlie dog tiibe tlie paiiali, jackal, fox, and wild dog, called Koa. Deer are very

numerous, of six or seven kinds. A small alligator inhabits the hill streams, said to be a very different animal firom either of the Soane species.

On the following day we visited Eajghat, a steep ghat or pass leading up the cliff to Botas Palace, a little higher up the river. We took the elephants to the mouth of the glen, where we dismoimted, and whence we followed a stream abounding in small fish and aquatic insects (Dytisci and Gyrini), through a close jungle, to the foot of the cliffs, where there were indications of coal. The woods were fall of monkeys, but though dense, were very dry, containing no Palm, Arums, Peppers, Orchids, or Ferns. The springs were charged with Ume, of which enormous tuff beds were deposited on the sandstone, full of impressions of the leaves and.stems of the surrounding trees, which, however, I foimd it very diflScult to recognize; and I could not help contrasting this circumstance with the fact that so many geologists, unskilled in botany, see no difficulty in referring equally imperfect remains of extinct vegetables to existing genera. In some parts of their course the streams take up quantities of the efflorescence, which they scatter over the sandstones in a singular manner.

On the 19th of February we marched up the Soane to Tura, passing some low hills of Umestone, between the cliffs of the Kymore and the river. On the shaded river-banks grew abundance of English genera—Cywo-glosstt/nhf Veronica^ PotentUUiy Ranunculvs sceleratvs, JRvmeXy several herbaceous Composited and Labiates; Tama/rix formed a small bush in rocky hillocks in the

bed of the river, and in ^xx^ls were Kcvoral aquatic piiP'tffi ZannicheUia, Chara^ a pretty little VaUiHnvr'ui^

[ Potamogeton. The Bmliminee goose was oomnioii

B, and we usually saw in the nif»niin<; immense I of wild geese overhead, niigniting noilliward. IVom Turn our little army again crossed the Soaiie, 4ba scarped cliffs of the K}'niore approaching close to .the river on the west side. The bed was very sandy, 'Sod about one mile and a half across. The stream was -my xuiZTOw, but deep and rapid, obstructed with beds 'Of coarse agate, jasper, comeHan and chalcedony pebbles. A clumsy boat took us across to the village of Soanepore, a \^Tetched collection of hovels. The crops were thin and poor, and I saw no palms or good toees» Squirrels however abomided, and were busy laying up their stores; descending ii-om the ti-ees they Bconred across a road to a field of tares, mounted the hedge, took an observation, foraged and retimied up die trees with their booty, quickly descended, and repeating the operation of reconnoitring and x)lundering.

Near this the sandy banks of tlie Soane were full of martins' nests, each containing a pair of eggs. The deserted ones were Uterally cranuned full of long-legged spiders {Opilio), which could be raked out rntli a stick, when tliey came poming down the cliff like com from a sack, in quantities quite inconceivable. I did not obsen'e the mai-tin feed on them.

The entomology here resembled tliat of Eui'ope, more than I had exj^ected in a ti'opical countrj', where predaceous beetles, at least Carabidea and Staphy-linideay are generally considered rare. The latter

tribes swarmed under the clods, of many species, but all small, and so singularly active that I could not give the time to collect many. In the banks again, the round egg-like earthy chrysalis of the Death's-head Sphynx, and the many-celled nidus of the leaf-cutter bee, were very common.

A large columnar Euphorbia (E. ligulata) is com-;non all along the Soane, and I observed it to be used .everywhere for fencing. I had not remarked the J5. neriifolia; and the E, tereticaulis had been very rarely seen since leaving Calcutta. The Cactus is nowhere found; it is abundant in many parts of Bengal, but certainly not indigenous.

From this place onwards up the Soane, there was no road of any kind, and we were compelled to be our own engineers. The sameness of the vegetation and the lateness of the season made me regret this the less, for I was disappointed in my anticipations of finding^ luxuriance and novelty in these wilds. Before us the valley narrowed considerably, the forest became denser, the country on the south side was broken with rounded hills, and on the north the noble cliflFs of the Kymore dipped down to the river. The villages were smaller, more scattered and poverty-stricken, with the Mahowa and Mango as the usual trees; the banyan, peepul, and tamarind being rare. The natives are of an aboriginal jimgle race; and are tall, athletic, erect, much less indolent, and more spirited than the listless natives of the plains.

So slow and difficult was our progress through fields and woods, and across deep gorges from the lulls, that

we adTanced but a few miles each day; the elephant's

head too frequently ached too badly to let him posh,

and the cattle would not proceed when the draught was

not equal. What was worse, it was impossible to get

fiiem to puU together up the inclined planes we cut,

except by placing a man at the head of each of the six,

eight, or ten in a team, and simultaneously screwing

round their tails; when one tortured animal sometimes

capsized the vehicle. The small carts got on better,

though it was most nervous to see them rushing down

the steeps, especially those with oiu* fragile instruments^

&c.; and I was not surprised when one of my carts

was hopelessly broken down; advancing on the spokes

instead of the tire of the wheels.

On the 23rd and 24th we continued to follow up the Soane, the country becoming densely wooded, very wild, and picturesque; the woods being fall of monkeys, peacocks, hombiUs, and wild animals. Strychnos pota-tortmi, whose berries are used to purify water, forms a dense foliaged tree, 30 to 60 feet high, some individuals pale yellow, others deep green, though both in apparent health. Feronia elephantum and jiEgle marmelos* were very abundant, with Sterculia, and the dwarf date-pabn. A spur of the Kymore, like that of Eotas, here projects to the bed of the river, and was blazing at night with the beacon-like fires of the natives, lighted to scare the tigers and bears from the spots where they cut wood and bamboo; they afforded a splendid spectacle, the flames in some places leaping zig-zag from hill to hill

* The Bhel finiit, lately introduced into English medical practice, as an astringent of great effect^ in cases of diarrhoea and dysentery.

U SOANB VALLEY, Chap. IL

in front of us, and looking as if a gigantic letter W were written in fire.

The night was bright and clear, with much lightning, which was attracted to the spur, and darted down as it were to mingle its fire with that of the forest; so many flashes appeared to strike on the flames, that it is pro-, bable the heated air attracted them. We were awakened between 3 and 4 a.m., by a violent dust-storm, which threatened to carry away the tents : this was no doubt owing to our position at the mouth of the gully formed by tlie opposite hills. The gusts were so furious that it was impossible to observe the barometer, which I returned to its case on ascertaining that any indications of a rise or fall in the column must have been quite trifling. The night had been oppressively hot, with many insects flying about; amongst which I noticed earwigs, a genus erroneously supposed rarely to take to tlie wing in Britain.

At 8 J A.M. it suddenly fell calm, and we proceeded to Chanchee (alt. 500 feet), many of the native carts breaking down in their passage over the projecting beds of flinty rocks, or as they hurried down the inclined planes, we cut through the precipitous clay banks of the streams. Near Chanchee we passed an alligator, just killed by two men, a foul beast, about nine feet long, of the mugger kind. More absorbing than its natural history was the circumstance of its having swallowed a child, which was plajdng in the water as its mother was washing her utensils in the river. The brute was hardly dead, much distended by the prey, and the mother was standing beside it with her hands clasped in agony,

unable to withdraw her eyes from the cursed reptile, which stiU clung to life with that tenacity for which its tribe are so conspicuous; besides these the two athletes leaned on the bloody bamboo staffs, with which they had all but despatched the animal.

This poor woman earned a scanty mamtenance by making catechu; inhabiting a little cottage, and having no property but two cattle to bring wood from the hills, and a very few household chattels; and how few of these they only know who have seen the meagre ftu:-niture of Danga hovels. Her husband cut the trees in the forest and dragged them to the hut, but at this time he was sick, and her only boy, her future stay, it was, whom the beast had devoured.

This province is famous for the quantity of catechu its dry forests yield. The plant {Acacia) is a little thorny tree, erect, and bearing a rounded head of well remembered prickly branches. Its wood is yellow, with a dark brick-red heart, most profitable in January for yielding the extract.

The Dhak was abundantly in flower here, and a gorgeous sight. In mass the inflorescence resembles sheets of flame, and individually the flowers are eminently beautiful, the bright orange-red petals contrasting brilliantly against the jet-black velvety calyx. The nest of the leaf-cutter bee was in thousands in the cliffs, with Mayflies, caddis-worms, spiders, and many predaceous beetles.

We marched on the 28th to Kota, at the junction of the river of that name with the Soane, over hills of flinty rock, which projected everywhere, to the utter

ruin of the elephant's feet, and then over undulating hills of limestone; on the latter I found trees of Cochlos-permum, whose curious thick branches spread out somewhat awkwardly, each tipped with a cluster of golden yellow flowers, as large as the palm of the hand, and very beautiful: it is a tropical Gum-Cistus in the appearance and texture of the petals, and their frail nature. The bark abounds in a transparent gum, of which the white ants seem fond, for they had killed many trees. Of the leaves a curious sort of rude bellows are made, with which the natives of these hills smelt iron. Scorpions appeared very common here, of a small kind, 1J inch long; several were captured, and one of our party was stimg on the finger; the smart was burning for an hour or two, and then ceased.

At Kota we were nearly opposite the cliffs at Bee-jaghur, where coal is reported to exist; and here we again crossed the Soane, and for the last time. The ford was three miles up the river, and we marched to it through deep sand. The bed of the river is here 600 feet above the sea, and about three-quarters of a mile broad, the rapid stream being 50 or 60 yards wide, and breast deep. The sand is firm and siliceous, with no mica; nodules of coal are said to be washed down thus far firom the coal-beds of Burdee, a good deal higher up, but we saw none.

The cliffs come close to the river on the opposite side, their bases clothed with woods which teemed with birds. The soil is richer, and many individual trees were very fine; one tree of the Hardwickia, about 120 feet high, was as handsome a monarch of the forest as

I ever saw, and it is not often that one sees trees in the tropics, which for a combination of beauty in outline, harmony of colour, and arrangement of branches and foliage, would form so striking an addition to an English park.

There is a large break in the Kymore hills here, beyond the village of Kunch, through which our route lay to Beejaghur, and the Ganges at Mirzapore; the cliffs leaving the river, and trending to the north in a continuous escarpment flanked with low ranges of rounded hills, and terminating in an abrupt spur (Mungeesa Peak) whose summit was covered with a ragged forest. At Kunch we saw four alligators sleeping in the river, looking at a distance like logs of wood: aU were of the short-nosed or mugger kind, dreaded by man and beast; I saw none of the sharp-snouted (or gavial), so common on the Ganges, where ^their long bills, with a garniture of teeth and prominent eyes peeping out of the water, remind one of geological lectures and visions of Ichthyosav/ri. Tortoises were frequent in the river, basking on the rocks, and popping into the water when approached.

On the 1st of March we left the Soane, and struck inland over a rough hilly country, covered with forest, fiilly 1000 feet below the top of the Kymore table-land, which here recedes from the river and surrounds an undulating plain, some ten miles either way, facing the south. The roads, or rather pathways, were very bad, and quite impassable for the carts, without much engineering, cutting through forest, smoothing down the banks of the water-courses to be crossed, and clearing

away the rocks as we best might. We traversed the empty bed of a mountain torrent, with perpendicular banks of alluvium 30 feet high, and thence plimged into a dense forest. Our course was directed towards Mungeesa Peak, between which and a conical hill the path led. Whether on the elephants or on foot, the thorny jujubes, Acacias, &c. were most troublesome, and all our previous scratchings were nothing to this. Peacocks and jungle-fowl were very frequent, the squabbling of the former and the hooting of the monkeys constantly grating on the ear. There were innmnerable pigeons and a few Floricans; a kind of bustard—considered the best eating game-bird in India. From the defile we emerged on an open flat, halting at Sulkun, a scattered village (alt. 684 feet), peopled by a bold-looking race (Coles)* who habitually carry the spear and shield. We had here the pleasure of meeting Mr. Felle, an English gentleman employed in the Revenue department; this being one of the roads along which the natives transport their salt, sugar, &c., from one province to another.

In the afternoon, I examined the conical hill, which, like that near Rotas, is of stratified beds of limestone, capped with sandstone. A stream nms round its base, cutting through the alluvium to the subjacent rock, which is exposed, and contains flattened spheres of limestone. These spheres are from the size of a fist

* The Coles, like the Dangas of the Bajmahal and Behar hills, and the natives of the mountains of the peninsula, form one of the aboriginal tribes of British India, and are widely different people from either the Hindoos or Mussuhnen.

to that of a cliild*8 head, or even much larger; tlioy are excessiyely hard, and neiUier laniinnted nor formed of concentric hiyers. At tlie top of Uie liill tlie Bandstono cap was perpendicular on nil sides, and its dr>' top covered with small trees, especially of Cochlonpermum, A few large fig-trees clung to the edge of Uic rocks, and by forcing their roots into tlie interstices had detached enormous masses, affording good dens for bears and other wild animals. From tlie top, tlie view of rock, river, forest, and plain, was very fine, the eye ranging over a broad flat, girt by precipitous hills;— West, the Kymore or Vindliya range rose in rugged elevations;—South, flowed the Soane, backed by ranges of wooded hills, smoking like volcanos with tlie fires of the natives;—^below, lay the bed of tlie stream we had left at the foot of the hills, cutting its way tlirough the alluviimi, and following a deep gorge to tlie Soane, which was there hidden by tlie rugged heights we had crossed, on which the greater part of oui* camp might be seen still straggling onwards;—east, and close above us, the bold spur of Mungeesa shot up, terminating a continuous stretch of red precipices, clothed with forest along their bases, and over tlieir horizontal tops.

From Sulkun the view of the famed fort and palace of Beejaghur is very singular, planted on the summit of an isolated hill of sandstone, about ten miles off. A large tree by the palace marks its site; for, at this distance, the buildings are themselves undistinguishable.

There are many tigers on these hills; and as one was close by, and had killed several cattle, Mr. Felle

kindly offered us a chance of slajdng him. Bullocks are tethered out, over-night, in the places likely to be visited by the brute ; he kills one of them, and is from the spot tracked to his haunt by natives, who visit the stations early in the morning, and report the whereabouts of his lair. The sportsman then goes to the attack moimted on an elephant, or having a roost fixed in a tree, on the trail of the tiger, when he employs some himdred natives to drive the animal past the lurking-place.

On the present occasion, the locale of the tiger was doubtful; but it was thought tliat by beating over several miles of country, he (or at any rate, some other game) might be driven past a certain spot. Thither, accordingly, natives were sent, who built machans (stages) in the trees, high out of danger's reach; Mr. Theobald and myself occupied one of these perches in a Hardwickia tree, and Mr. FeUe another, close by, both on the slope of a steep hill, surrounded by jungly valleys. We were also well thatched in with leafy boughs to prevent the wary beast jfrom espying the ambush, and had a whole stand of small arms ready for his reception.

When roosted aloft, and duly charged to keep profound silence (which I obeyed to the letter, by falling soimd asleep), the word was passed to the beaters, who surrounded our post on the plain-side, extending some miles in line, and full two or three distant from us. They entered the jungle, beating tom-toms, singing and shouting as they advanced, and converging towai'ds our position. In the noonday

solitude of tliese vast forests, our situation was romantic enough: there was not a breath of wind, an insect or bird stming; and the wihl cries of tlie men, and the hollow soimd of tlie drums, bi-oke u]>on tlie ear from a great distance, gradually swelling and falluig, as the natives ascended tiie heights or crossed the valleys. After about an hour and a half, tlie beaters emerged from the jungle beneatli our retreat; one by one, two by two, but preceded by no single living thing, eiUier mouse, bii'd, deer, or bear, and much less tiger. They received about a jienny a-piece for tiie day's work; a rich guerdon for these poor wretches, wliom necessity sometimes diives to feed on rats and offal.

We were detained three days at Sulkun, from inability to get on with the carts ; and as tlie pass over the Kymore to tiie noi-th (on the way to Mirzapore) Tvas to be still woi'se, I took advantage of Sir. Felle's kind offer of camels and elei)liants to make the best of my way foi'ward, accompanying that gentleman, en route, to his residence at Shaligunj, on the ttible-land.

Botili the climate and natural histoiy of this flat on which Sulkun stands, are similai* to those of the banks of the Soane ; the crops are wretched. At tiiis season the dryness of the atmosphere is excessive: our nails cracked, and skins peeled, whilst all luiicles of wood, tortoiseshell, &c., broke on the slightest blow. The air, too, was always liiglily electrical, and the dew-point wras fi'equentiy 40° below the temperatui'e of tiie air.

The natives are far from honest: they ai*e, moreover, dexterous thieves; of which we had a proof in their robbing one of tiie tents placed between two otliers,

d2

wherein a light was burning. One gentleman in it was awake, and on turning saw five men at his bedside, who escaped with a bag of booty, in the shape of clothes, and a tempting strong brass-boimd box, containing private letters* The clothes they dropped outside, but the box of letters was carried off. There were about a hundred people asleep outside the tents, between whose many fires the rogues must have passed, eluding also the guard, who were, or ought to have been, awake.

CHAPTER III.

Ek-i)Owa Gliai— Sandstones—Sbahgunj—Gum-aral Ac —Mang< i— Fair— Biyubbnnd—Storm—False sanset and Hunrise—Bind hills—Mirza-I)OPe—Manufiutures, impurts, &c.—Climate of—Thuggee—Chunar— Benares— Moaque—^^Observatory — Sar-nath — Gliazt'iNtro — Rise-gaTdfflifl—Manufactory of Attar—Lord Comwallis^ tun))—Uangcs, scenery and natural history <»f—Pelicaujs—Vepi'tntion—Insects— Binapore—Patna—Opium goilowus and manufacture—Alougliyr—Hot Springs of Seetakoond—Rucks of Sultau-guuj—Bhaguli^re—Temples of Mt. Manden—Coles and native tri)>e8—Bhaguli)ore rangers— Horticultural gardens.

On the :3rd of March I bade farewell to ilr. Williams and his kind paity, and rode over a plain to tlie village of Markunda, at the foot of tlie Ghat. There the country becomes veiy rocky and wooded, and a sti'eam is crossed, which rmis over a flat bed of limestone, cracked into the appearance of a tesselated pavement. For many miles there is no pass over tlie Kj^nore range, except this, significantly called "Ek-j^owa Ghat" (one-foot Ghat). It is evidently a fault, or shifting of the rocks, producing so broken a cliflf as to admit of a path winding over the shattered crags. On either side, the precipices are extremely steep, and continued in an unbroken line; and the views across the plain and Soane valley, over which the sun was now setting, were

superb. At the summit we entered on a dead flat plain or table-land, with no hills, except along the brim of the valley we had left, where are some curious broad pyramids, formed of slabs of sandstone arranged in steps. By dark we reached the village of Koump (alt. 1090 feet), beyond the top of the pass.

On the next day I proceeded on a small, fast, and wofully high trotting elephant, to Shahgunj, where I enjoyed Mr. Felle's hospitality for a few days. The country here, though elevated, is, from the nature of the soil and its formation, much more fertile than that I had left. Water is abundant, both in tanks and wells, and rice-fields, broad and productive, cover the ground; while groves of tamarinds and mangos, now loaded with blossoms, occur at every village.

The gum-arabic Acacia is abundant here, though not seen lower, and very rare to the eastward of this meridian, for I saw but little of it in Behar. It is a plant partial to a dry climate, and rather prefers a good * soil. In its distribution it in some degree follows the range of the camel, which is its constant companion over thousands of leagues. In tlie valley of the Ganges I was told that neither the animal nor plant flourish east of the Soane, where I experienced a marked change in the humidity of the atmosphere on my passage down the Ganges. It was a circiunstance I was interested in, having first met with the camel at Teneriffe and the Cape Verd Islands, the westernmost limit of its distribution ; imported thither, however, as it now is into. Australia, where, though there is no Acacia Ardbica^ four hundred other species of the genus are knowui

The mango, which is certainly the fruit of India, (as the pine-apple is of the West Indies,) was now blossoming, and a superb sight. The young leaves are purplish-green, and form a curious contrast to the deep lurid hue of the older foliage; especially when the tree is (which often occurs) dimidiate, one half the green, and the other the red shades of colours; when in full blossom, all forms a mass of yellow, diffusing a fragrance rather too strong and peculiar to be pleasant.

We passed a \illage where a large fair was being held, and singularly familiar its arrangements were to my early associations. The women and children were the principal customers; for the latter whirl-you-go-rounds, toys, and sweetmeats were destined ; to tempt the former, little booths of gay ornaments, patches for the forehead, ear-rings of quaint shapes, bugles and beads. Here, as at home, I remarked that the vendors of these superfluities occupied the approaches to this Vanity-Fair. As, throughout the East, the trades are congregated into particular quarters of the cities, so here the itinerants grouped themselves into little bazaars for each class of commodity. Whilst I was engaged in purchasing a few articles of native workmanship, my elephant made an attack on a sweetmeat stall, demolishing a magnificent erection of barley-sugar, before his proceedings could be put a stop to.

I here visited a small tarn, or more properly the expanded bed of a stream, aii; having aided nature in its formation: it is called Rujubbund (the pleasant spot), and is edged by rocks and cliflFs fringed with the

£6 KTMOBE HILLS. Chap. ni.

usual trees of the neighbourhood; it is a wild and pretty spot, not unlike some bijrch-bordered pool in the mountains of Wales or Scotland, sequestered and picturesque. It was dark before I got back, with heavy clouds and lightning approaching from the south-west. The day had been very hot (8 p.m., 90°), and the evening the same ; but the barometer did not foretell the coming tempest, which broke with fury at 7 p.m., blowing open the doors, and accompanied with vivid lightning and heavy thimder, close by and all roimd, though no rain fell.

In the clear dry mornings of these regions, a curious optical phenomenon may be observed, of a sunrise in the west, and sunset in the east. In either case, bright and well-defined beams rise to the zenith, often crossing to the opposite horizon. It is a beautiful feature in the firmament, and equally visible whether the horizon be cloudy or clear, the white beams being projected indifferently against a dark vapour or the blue serene. The zodiacal light shines from an hour or two after sunset till midnight, with singular brightness, almost equalling the milky way.

On the 7th of March I left Shahgunj for Mirzapore, the road leading over a dead alluvial flat to Amowee, about fifteen miles from the Ganges, which is seen flowing among trees, with the white houses, domes, and temples of Mirzapore scattered around, and high above which the dust-clouds were coursing along the horizon.

Mr. Money, the magistrate of Mirzapore, kindly sent a mounted messenger to meet me here, who had

Tast trouble in getting bearers for my palkee. In it I proceeded the next day to Mirzapore, descending a steep ghat of the Bind hills by an excellent road, to the level plains of tlie Ganges. Unlike tlie Dunwah pass, this is wholly barren. At the foot tlie sun was intensely hot, the roads alternately rocky and dusty, the Tillages thronged with a widely different looking race from those of the hills, and the whole air of the outskirts, on a sultry afternoon, far from agreeable.

Mirzapore is a straggling town, said to contain 100,000 inhabitants. It flanks the river, and is built on an undulating alluvial bank, full of kimker, elevated 860 feet above the sea, and from 50 to 80 above the present level of the river. The ricinity of the Ganges and its green bank, and tlie numbers of fine trees around, render it a pleasing, though not a fine town. It presents the usual Asiatic contrast of squalor and gaudiness; consisting of large squares and broad streets, interspersed with acres of low huts and groves of trees. It is celebrated for its manufactory of carpets, which are admirable in appearance, and, save in durability, equal to the English. Indigo seed from Bundelkund is also a most extensive article of commerce, the best coming from the Doab. For cotton, lac, sugar and saltpetre, it is one of the greatest marts in India. The articles of native manufacture are brass washing and cooking utensils, and deities carved from the sandstone.

There is little native vegetation, the country being covered with cultivation and extensive groves of mango, and occasionally of guava. English vegetables are

d8

abundant and excellent, and the strawberries, which ripen in March, rival the European fruit in size, though hardly in flavour.

During the few days spent at Mirzapore, in the house of my friend C. Hamilton, Esq., I was surprised to find the temperature of the day cooler by nearly 4° than that of the hills above, or of the upper part of the Soane valley; while on the other hand the nights were decidedly warmer. The atmosphere was extremely dry and electrical, the hair constantly crackling when combed. Further west, where the climate becomes still drier, the electricity of the air is even greater; Mr. Griffith mentions in his journal that in filling barometer tubes in Affghanistan, he constantly experienced a shock.

Here I had the pleasm-e of meeting Lieutenant "Ward, one of the suppressors of Thuggee {Thuggee, in Hindostan, signifies a deceiver; fraud, not open force, being employed). This gentleman kindly showed me the approvers or king's evidence of his establishment, belonging to those three classes of human scourges, the Thug, Dakoit, and Poisoner. Of these the first was the Thug, a mild-looking man, who had been bom and bred to the profession: he had committed many murders, saw no harm in them, and felt neither diame nor remorse. His organs of observation and destruc-tiveness were large, and the cerebellum small. He explained to me how the gang waylay the imwary traveller, enter into conversation with him, and have him suddenly seized, when the superior throws his own girdle round the victim's neck and strangles him, press-

ing the knuckles agaiust the sjiiiie. Taking off his o^ii girdle, he passed it round my ami, and showed me the turn as coolly as a sailor once taught me the hangman 8 knot The Thug is of any caste, tuid from any part of India. The profession have i)ai*ticuLir stations, wliicli they generally select for miu'der, tlirowing tlie hody of their victim into a well.

The Dakoit (dakhee, a robber) belongs to a cLiss who rob in gangs, but never commit mmnler—arson and housebreaking also forming part of tlieir profession. These are aU high-class Ilajpoots, originally from Guzerat; who, on being conquered, vowed vengeance on mankind. They speak botli Hindostiinee and tlie otherwise extinct Guzerat language; this is guttmtil in the extreme, and very singidai* in sound. They ai^e a very remarkable and cowardly peo^Je, found tluoughout India, and called by various names; theii* women dress peculiarly, and are utterly devoid of modesty. The man I examined was a short, square, but fiu* from powerful Nepalese, with high aix'hed eyebrows, and no organs of observation.

The Poisoners all belong to one caste, of Pasie, or dealers in toddy: they go singly or in gangs, haunting the travellers' resting-places, where tliey drop half a rupee weight of poimded or whole Datura seeds into his food, producing a twenty-hours' intoxication, during which he is robbed, and left to recover or sink under the stupifying effects of the narcotic. The one whom I saw told me that the Datura seed is gathered without ceremony, and at any time, place, or age of the plant. He was a dirty, ill-conditioned looking fellow, with no

bumps behind his ears, or prominence of eyebrow region, but a remarkable cerebellum.

Though now all but extinct (except in Cuttack), through ten or fifteen years of unceasing vigilance on the part of Government, and incredible activity and acuteness in the officers employed, the Thugs were formerly a wonderfully numerous body, who abstained from their vocation solely in the immediate neighbourhood of their own villages; which, however, were not exempt from the visits of other Thugs; so that, as Major Sleeman says,—" The annually returning tide of murder swept unsparingly over the whole face of India, from the SuUej to the sea-coast, and from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin. One narrow district alone was free, the Concan, beyond the ghats, whither they never penetrated." Candeish and Eohilkund alone harboured no Thugs as residents, but they were nevertheless haimted by the gangs.

Their origin is uncertain, but supposed to be very ancient, soon after the Mahommedan conquest. They now claim a divine original, and are supposed to have supernatural powers, and to be the emissaries of the divinity, like the wolf, the tiger, and the bear. It is only lately that they have swarmed so prodigiously,— seven original gangs having migrated from Delhi to the Gangetic provinces about 200 years ago, from which all the rest have sprung. Many belong to the most amiable, intelligent, and respectable classes of the lower and even middle ranks : they love their profession, regard murder as sport, and are never haunted with dreams, nor troubled with pangs of conscience

during honrs of solitude, or in tlie last moments of life. The victim is an acceptable sacrifice to tlie goddess Davee, who by some classes is supposed to eat the lifeless body, and thus save her votaries tlie necessity of concealing it

They are extremely superstitious, always consulting omens, such as the direction in which a hare or jackal crosses the road; and even far more trivial circumstances will determine the fate of a dozen of people, and perhaps of an immense treasure. All worship the pickaxe, which is symbolical of tlieir profession, and an oath sworn on it binds closer than on the Koran. The consecration of tliis weapon is a most elaborate ceremony, and takes place only under certain trees. The Thugs rise through various grades: the lowest are scouts; the second, sextons; the third are holders of the victim's hands; tlie highest, sti^anglers.

Though all agree in never practising cruelty, or robbing previous to murder,—^never allowing any but infemts to escape (and these are trained to Thuggee), and never leaving a trace of such goods as may be identified,—^there are several variations in then* mode of conducting operations: some tribes spare certain castes, others none; mm-der of woman is against all rules; but the practice crept into certain gangs, and this it is which led to their discountenance by the goddess Davee, and the consequent downfall of the system. Davee, they say, allowed the British to punish them, because a certain gang had murdered the mothers to obtain their daughters to be sold to prostitution.

Major Sleeman has constructed a map demonstrating

the number of " Bails," or regular stations for committing murder, in the kingdom of Oude alone, which is 170 miles long by 100 broad, and in which are 274, which are regarded by the Thug with as much satisfaction and interest as a game preserve is in England: nor are these " bails" less numerous in other parts of India. Of twenty assassins who were examined, one frankly confessed to having been engaged in 931 murders, and the least guilty of the number in 24. Sometimes 150 persons collected into one gang, and their profits have often been immense, the murder of six persons on one occasion yielding 82,000 rupees; upwards of 8000Z.

Of the various facilities for keeping up the system, the most prominent are, the practice amongst the natives of travelling before dawn, of travellers mingling freely together, and taking their meals by the way-side instead of in villages; in the very Bails, in fact, to which they are inveigled by the Thug in the shape of a fellow-traveller; money remittances are also usually made by disguised travellers, whose treasure is exposed at the custom-houses; and, worst of all, the bankers will never own to the losses they sustain, which, as a visitation of God, would, if avenged, lead, they think, to future, and perhaps heavier punishment. Had the Thugs destroyed Englishmen, they would quickly have been put do^vn; but the system being invariably practised on a class of people acknowledging the finger of the Deity in its execution, its glaring enormities were long in rousing the attention of the Indian Government.

A few examples of tlie activity exercised by tlie suppressors may be interesting. Tliey act wholly through the information given by ai)provers, who are simply king's evidences. Of 0(M) 'J'hugs, all except sevenfy were captured in ten yeai-s, thougli separated into six gangs, and their operations continued from 1826 to 1830: the last party was taken in IMii. And again between the years l&M) and 1H.S5, ir)()2 Thugs were seized, of whom 882 were hanged, and 901) transported; so that now it is but seldom these wTetches are ever heard of.

To show the extent of their operations I shall quote an anecdote jfrom Sleeman's Eeports (to which I am indebted for most of tlie above iiifomiiition). He states that he was for thi'ee years in charge of a district on the Nerbudda, and considered himself acquainted with every circumstance that occmTed in tlie neighboiu-hood; yet, during that time, 100 people were murdered and buried within less than a quarter of a mile of his own residence!

Two hundred and fifty boats full of river Thugs, in crews of fifteen, infested tlie Ganges between Benares and Calcutta, during five months of every year, under pretence of conveying pilgrims. Travellers along the banks were tracked, and offered a passage, which if refused in the first boat was probably accepted in some other. At a given signal the crews rushed in, doubled up the decoyed \ictim, broke his back, and threw him into the river, where floating corpses are too numerous to elicit even an exclamation.

At Mirzapore I engaged a boat to cany me down

the river to Bhagulpore, whence I was to proceed to the Sikkim-Himalaya. The sketch at p. 80 will give some idea of this vessel, which, though slow and very shabby, had the advantage of being cooler and more commodious than the handsomer craft. Its appearance was not imlike that of a floating haystack, or thatched cottage : its length was 40 feet, and breadth 15, and it drew a foot and a half of water: the deck, on which a kind of house, neatly jframed of matting, was erected, was but a little above the water's edge. My portion of this floating residence was lined with a kind of reed-work formed of long culms of Saccharum. The crew and captain consisted of six naked Hindoos, one of whom steered by the huge rudder, sitting on a bamboo-stage astern; the others pulled four oars in the very bows opposite my door, or tracked the boat along the river-bank.

In my room (for cabin I cannot call it) stood my palkee, fitted as a bed, with musquito curtains; a chair and table. On one side were placed all my papers and plants, under arrangement to go home; on the other, my provisions, rice, sugar, curry-powder, a preserved ham, and cheese, &c. Around hung telescope, botanical box, dark lantern, barometer, and thermometer, &c., &c. Our position was often ashore^ and, Hindoo-like, on the lee-shore, going bimip, bump, bump, so that I could scarcely write. I considered myself fortunate in having to take this slow conveyance down, it enabling me to write and arrange all day long.

On the afternoon of tlie 15th of March I passed Chnnar.* This is a tabular mass of sandstone, projecting into the river, and forming the eastern teiminatiou of the Kymore range. There is not a rock between this and the Himalaya, and barely a stone all the way down the Ganges, till the granite and gneiss rocks of tlie Behar range are again met with. Tlie cmTent of tlie Ganges is here very sti-ong, and its breadtli much lessened: the river runs between high bunks of alluvium, containing much kunker. At Benares it expands into a broad sti'eam, with a cun-ent which during the rains is said to flow eight miles an horn*, when the waters rise 4:3 feet.

Benares is the Athens of India. The variety of buildings along the bank is incredible. There are temples of every shape, in all stages of completion and dilapidation, and at all angles of inclination; for the banks give way so much that many of tliese edifices are fearfcdly out of the perpendicular.

The filmed mosque, built by Aurungzebe on the site of a Hindoo temple, is remarkable for its two octagonal minarets, 232 feet above the Ganges. The building itself is deficient in beauty or ornament, but the view from it over the town, especially of the European Residents' quarter, is fine; it commands the muddy river with its thousands of boats, its waters peopled with swimmers and bathers, who spiing in from the many temples, water-terraces, and ghats on the city side; while opposite is a great sandy plain. The town below appears a mass of poor, square, flat-roofed houses,

* The first station at which Henry Martyn laboured in India.

through the crowd of which, and of small temj)les, the eye wanders in vain for some attractive feature, or evidence of the wealth, the devotion, the science, or the grandeur of a city celebrated throughout tlie East for all these attributes. Green parrots and pigeons people the air.

The general appearance of an oriental town is always more or less ruinous; and here the eye is fatigued witli bricks and crumbling edifices, and the ear with prayer-bells. The streets are so narrow that it is difficult to ride a horse through them; and the houses are often six stories high, with galleries crossing above from house to house. Enormous spiders' webs hang from the crumbling walls, resembling curtains of coarse muslin, being often some yards across, and not arranged in radii and arcs, but spim like weaver's woofs. Paintings, remarkable only for their hideous proportions and want of perspective, are daubed on the walls in vermilion, ochre, and indigo. The elephant, camel, and porpoise of the Ganges, dog, shepherd, peacock, and horse, are especially frequent, and so is a running pattern of a hand spread open, with a blood-red spot on the palm. A still less elegant but frequent object is the fuel, which is composed of the manure collected on the roads of the city, moulded into flat cakes, and stuck by the women on the walls to dry, retaining the sign-manual of the artist in the impressed form of her outspread hand. The cognizance of the Rajah, two fish chained together, appears over the gates of public buildings.

The hundreds of temples and slmnes throughout the

city are its most reiuarkiible feiitures: sAvreA btills, aiid lingams of all sizes, strewed with flowei-s and grains of lice, meet the eye at every turn ; and the city's boast is the possession of one million idols, wliidi, of one kind and another, I can well believe.

Through the kindness of Mr. Keade (tlie Commissioner), I obtained admission to the Bishishar-Kumardil, the "holiest of holies." It was a small, low, stone building, daubed witli red inside, and swaiming Tidth stone images of Brahminee bulls, and vaiious disgusting emblems. A fat old Bralmiin, naked to the waist, took me in, but allowed no foUowei-s; and what with my ignorance of Ids plu'aseologj-, tlie clang of bells and din of voices, I gained but little uifomiation. I emerged, adorned with a ehaplet of magnolia flowers, and with my hands full of Calotrojns and Nyctanthes blossoms. It was a honid i^lace for noise, smell, and sights. Thence I went to a holy well, rendered sacred because Siva, when stepping fifom the Himalaya to Ceylon, accidentally let a medicine-chest fall into it. The natives frequent it with little basins or baskets of rice, sugar, &c., dropping in a little of each while they mutter prayers.

The observatory at Benares, imd those at Delhi, Matra on the Jumna, and Oujein, were built by Jey-Sing, Rajah of Jayanagar, upwards of 200 years ago; his skill in matliematical science was so well known, that the Emperor Mahommed Shah employed him to reform the calendar.

Of the more important instruments I took sketches; No. 1 is the Naree-wila, or Equatorial dial; No. 2, the

BENABES.

Chap. III.

Semrat-yunta, or Equinoctial dial; No. 3, an Equatorial dial, probably a Kranti-iuit, or Azimuth circle.* Jey-Sing's genius and love of science seem, according

1. EQUATORIAL BXJN-DIAL. (DIAMETEB op face of DIAL, 2 FEET 2 INCHES.)

to Hunter, to have descended to some of his family, who died early in this century, when " Urania fled before the brazen-jfronted Mars, and the best of the

* Hunter, in As. See. Researches, 177 (Calcutta); Sir E. Barker, in Phil. Trans., Ixvii 608 (1777); J. L. Williams, Phil. Trans., Imdii. 45 (1793).

BENARES OBSERVATORY.

69

observatories, that of Oujein, wns tunied into an ai*Kenal and cannon foundn*/*

The observatoiT is still the most intorostinir object

2. EQUINOCTIAL SUN-DIAL. (length of gnomon, 39 FEET ; OF EACH QUADRANT, 9 FEKT.)

in Benares, though it is now dirty and ruinous, and the great stone instiiiments ai^e rapidly crumbling away. The buildbig is square, with a central court and flat

BENAEES.

Chap. III.

roof, round which the astrolabes, &c. are arranged. A half-naked Astronomer-Royal, wdth a large sore on his stomach, took me romid—he was a pitiful object, and

3. BBASS AZIMUTH aRCLE. (DIAMETEBy 2 FEET.)

told me he was very hungry. The observatory is ^nominally supported by the Rajah of Jeypore, who doles out a too scanty pittance to his scientific corps.

In the afternoon I viBiied the Sar-nath, a hin^ihir Boodhist temple, a cylindrical mass of brickwork, faced with stone, tlie scralls on wliicli were very beautiful, and as sharp as if freshly cut: it is sunnounted by a tall dome, and is altogether about seventy or a Imndred feet high. Of the Boodh fi^u-es only one remains, the others having been used by a recent magistrate of Benares in repairing a bridge over tlie Goomtee !

Benares is the Mecca of the Hindoos, and the number of i)ilgrims who visit it is incalculable. Casi (its ancient name, signif}iiig splendid) is alleged to be no part of tliis world, which rests on eternity, whereas Benares is perched on a prong of Siva's trident, and is hence beyond tlie reach of eailliquakes.* Originally built of gold, tlie sins of tlie inhabitiuits were punished by its transmutation into stone, and latterly into mud and thatch : whoever enters it, and especially visits its principal idol (Siva fossiUsed), is secure of heaven.

On the IStli I left Benares for Gliazepore, a pretty town situated on the nortli bank of tlie river, celebmted for its mannfactm*e of rose-water, tlie tomb of Lord Comwallis, and a site of the Company's stud. The Hose garden^ surromid tlie town : tliey are fields, witli low bushes of the plant grown in rows, red witli blossoms in tlie morning, all of which are, however, plucked long before midday. The petals are put into clay stills, wdth twice their weight of water, and the produce exi^osed to tlie fresh air, for a night, in open

* Probably an alluBion to the infrequancy of these phenomena in this meridian; they being common both in Eastern Bengal, and in Western India beyond the Ganges.

vessels. The unskimmed water aflfords the best, and it is frequently twice and even oftener distilled; but the fluid deteriorates by too much distillation. The Attar is skimmed from the exposed pans, and sells at lOZ. the rupee weight, to make which 20,000 flowers are required. It is frequently adulterated with sandalwood oil.

Lord Comwallis' mausoleum is a handsome building, modelled by Flaxman after the Sibyl's Temple. The allegorical designs of Hindoos and sorrowing soldiers with reversed arms, which decorate two sides of the enclosed tomb, though perhaps as good as can be, are under any treatment unclassical and uncouth. The simple laurel and oak-leaf chaplets on the alternating faces are far more suitable and suggestive.

On the 21st March I left Ghazepore, and dropped down the Ganges; the general features of which are soon described. A strong current, four or five miles broad, of muddy water, flows between a precipitous bank of alluvium or sand on one side, and a flat shelving one of sand or more rarely mud, on the other. Sand-banks are frequent in the river, especially where the great affluents debouche; and there generally are formed vast expanses of sand, small " Saharas,'* studded with stalking pillars of sand, raised 70 or 80 feet high by gusts of wind, erect, stately, fgrave-looking columns, all shaft, with neither basement nor capital, the genii of the " Arabian Nights." The river is always dotted with boats of all shapes, mine being perhaps of the most common description, and the great square, Yankee-like steamers, towing their

tccommodation-boats (as tlie passengers* floating hotels are called), being the rarest. Trees arc scarce on tlie banks, except near villages, and tlierc is hardly a palm to be seen above Patna. Ton^iis are unfrequent, such as there are being mere collections of huts, with the invariable ghat and boats at tlie bottom of tlie biuik ; and at a respectful distance from the bazaar, stand tlie neat bungalows of the European residents, witli tlieir smiling gardens, hedgings and fencings, and loitering servants at the door. A rotting chari)oy (or bedstead) on the banks is a common sight,—tlie '' sola reliqua " of some poor Hindoo, who departs this life by tlie side of the stream, to which his body is afterwards committed.

Shoals of small goggled-eyed fish are seen, that spring clear out of the water, and are preyed upon by terns and other birds; a few insects skim the surface, and turtle and porpoises tumble along; all forming a very busy contrast to tlie lazy alligator, sunning his green and scaly back near the shore, witli his ichthyo-saurian snout raised high above the water. Birds are numerous, especially early and late in the day. Along the silent shore the hungry Pariah dog may be seen tearing his meal from some stranded corpse, whilst the adjutant-bird, with his head sunk on his body and one leg tucked up, patiently awaits his turn. At night the beautiful Brahminee geese alight, one by one, and seek total solitude; ever since having disturbed a god in his slumbers, these birds are fated to pass the night in single blessedness. The gulls and terns, again, roost in flocks, as do the wild geese and i>elicans,—^the

latter, not till after making a hearty and very noisy supper. These birds congregate by tlie sides of pools, and violently beat the water witli their wings, so as to scare the fish, which thus become an easy prey; a fact which was, I believe, first indicated by Pallas, during his residence on the banks of the Caspian Sea. Shells are scarce, and consist of a few small bivalves; their comparative absence is probably due to the paucity of limestone in the mountains whence the many feeders flow.

Flies and mosquitos are terrible pests; and so are odious flying-bugs,* which insinuate tliemselves between one's skin and clothes, diffusing a dreadful odour, which is increased by any attempt to touch or remove them. In the evening it was impossible to keep insects out of the boat, or to hinder their putting the lights out; and of these the most intolerable was the above-mentioned flying-bug. Saucy crickets, too, swarm, and spring up at one's face, whilst mosquitos maintain a constant guerilla warfare, trying to the patience no less than to the nerves. Thick webs of the gossamer spider float across the river during the heat of the day, as coarse as fine thread, and being inhaled keep tickling the nose and lips.

On the 18th, the morning commenced with a dust-storm ; the horizon was about 20 yards off, and ashy white with clouds of sand, the trees were scarcely visible, and everything in my boat was covered with a fine coat of impalpable powder, collected from the boundless alluvial plains through which the Ganges

* Large Hemipterous insects, of the genus DerecUryx,

flows. Trees were scarcely (lisccniiblf, iiii«l s-»» dry was the wind that drops uf water vaiiishc*d like iiiii<(i«'.

On tlie 25ih of March I reached Diiiaporc, ii lari^o military station, sufficiently iiisahibrioiis. iiai-tit-ularly for European troops, the bairacks being sn nii>])Iarc'd that the inmates are suffocated: the buildin^^s nm €ast and west instead of north and soutli. and therefore lose all the breeze hi the hottest weatlier. From this place I sent tlie boat down to Patna, and proreeded thither by land to tlie house of Dr. Irvine, an old acquaintance and botanist, fr<»ni whom I received a most kind welcome. On tlie road, Benpil fonns of vegetation, to which I had Ix'en ft»r three months a stranger, reapi)eared; likewise groves of fan and toddy x)alms, wliich are botli very rare higher u^) the river. In the gardens, Papaw, Croton, Jtitwjthdy Suddleia, Cookia, Loquat, Tjitchi, Longan, all kinds of the orange tiibe, and tlie cocoa-nut, some by their presence, and many by tlieir i^rofusion, indicated a decided change of climate, a receding from the deseil north-west of India, and its diy winds, and an api)roacli to the damper regions of tlie many-moutlied Ganges.

My main object at Patna bebig to see tlie opium Godowns (stores), I waited on Dr. Corbett,the Assistant-Agent, who kindly explained eveni;liing to me.

The E. I. Company grant licences for the cidtivation of the poppy, and contract for all tlie produce at certain rates, varjdng witli the quality. The produce is made over to district collectors, who approximately fix tlie worth of the contents of each jar, and forward it to Patna, where rewards are given for tlie best samples,

B 2

and the worst are condemned without payment; but all are turned to some account in the reduction of the drug to a state fit for market.

The poppy flowers in the end of January and beginning of February, and the capsules are sliced in February and March with a little instrument like a saw, made of tliree iron plates with jagged edges, tied together. The cultivation is very carefully conducted, nor are there any apparent means of improving this branch of commerce and revenue. During the N. W. or dry winds, the best opium is procured, the worst during the moist, or E. and N. E., when the drug imbibes moisture, and a watery bad solution of opium collects in cavities of its substance, called Passewa.

At the end of March the opium jars arrive at the stores, and continue accumulating for some weeks. Every jar is labelled and stowed in a proper place, separately tested with extreme accuracy, and valued. When the whole quantity has been received, the contents of all the jars are thrown into great vats, whence the mass is distributed to be made up into balls for the markets. This operation is carried on in a long paved room, where every man is ticketed, and many overseers are stationed to see that the work is properly conducted. Each workman sits on a stool, with a double stage and a tray before him. On the top stage is a tin basin, containing opiiun sufficient for three balls; in the lower another basin, holding water: in the tray stands a brass hemispherical cup, in which the ball is worked. To the man's right hand is another tray, with two compartments, one containing thin pan-

cakes of poppy petals pressed to((«*tIi(T, the other a cnpfnl of sticky opium-water, made fr«>iii refuse «*piuni. The man takes the brass cup, and phires a i^aiirakf at the bottom, smeai-s it widi <>piuiii-wat«*r, and with many plies of the jmncake, makes a <<)Ht for tho (»piuni. Of this he takes about one-third of the nniss hi^fori: him, puts it inside tlie petals, and a<;^hitiniites many other coats over it: tlie balls are tlicn apiin W('i«^lnMl, and reduced or increased to a certain >vi*i^dit. At the end of the day each man bikes his work to a nick witli numbered compartments, and dq)osits it in that which answers to his own number : thence tlu; balls (each in a clay cup) ai*e carried to an enonnous dryinf^-rotini, where they are exposed in tiers, and constantly examined and turned, to i)revent tlieir bein*^ attacked by weevils, which are ver}' i)revalent diu*in<^ the moist winds; HtHe boys creep along the racks all day long for this i)mi)ose. When dry, tlie balls are packed in two layers of six each in chests, with tlie stiUks, drit^d leaves, and capsules of the plant, and sent down to Calcutta. A good workman will i)repare from tliiiiy to fifty balls a day, working for ten hours; and the total produce is 10,000 to 12,000 a day; dm-ing the working season 1,353,000 balls are manufactm*ed for tlie Chinese market alone.

The poppy-petal imncalces, each about a foot radius, are made in the fields by women, by the simple operation of pressing the fi'esh petals together. They are brought in large baskets, and pm'chased at the commencement of the season. The Uquor witli which the pancakes are agglutinated together by the ball-

maker, and worked into the ball, is merely inspissated opium-water, the material for which is derived from the condemned opimn (Passewa), the washing of the utensils, and of the workmen, every one of whom is nightly laved before he leaves the establishment, and the water is inspissated. Thus not a particle of opium is lost.

A powerful smell of opium pervaded these vast buildings, which Dr. Corbett assured me did not affect himself or the assistants.

Even the best East Indian opium is inferior to the Turkish, and, owing to peculiarities of climate, will probably always be so. It never yields more than five per cent, of morphia, whence its inferiority, but is as good in other respects, and even richer in narcotine.

The care and attention devoted to every department of collecting, testing, manipulating, and packing, is quite extraordinary; and the result has been an impulse to the trade, beyond what was anticipated. The natives have been quick at apprehending and supplying the wants of the market, and now there are more demands for licences to grow opium than can be granted. All the opium eaten in India is given out with a permit to licensed dealers, and the drug is so adulterated before it reaches the retailers in the bazaars, that it does not contain one-thirtieth part of the intoxicating power that it did when pure.

Patna is the stronghold of Mahommedanism, and from its central position, its command of the Ganges, and its proximity to Nepal (which country has been aptly compared to a drawn dagger, pointed at the heart

of India), it is an important pluce. For this rciisou there are always a European and several Native Begiments stationed tliere. In the nei^'lihoiirhotid there is little to be seen, and the lii^'hly lultiviited Hut country is unfavourable to native ve^^etatinn.

During the remainder of my voyage down the river, I experienced a succession of east and north-east winds : such are veiy prevalent throughout the month of March, and they rendered the passage in my sluggish boat extremely tedious. In other respects I had but little bad weather to complain of: only one shower of rain occurred, and but few stonns of thunder and lightning. The stream is very strong, and its action on the sand-banks conspicuous. All night I used to hear the falling cliffs precipitated with a didl heavy splash into the water,—a in'etty si)ectacle in the daytime, when the whirling current is seen to cairy a cloud of white dust, like smoke, along its coui-se.

On the 1st of Apiil I arrived at Mongh}T, by fai- tlie prettiest town I had seen on the river, backed by a long range of wooded hills. The banks are steep, and appear even more so, owing to tlie fortifications, which are extensive. A number of large, white, two-storied houses, some very imposing, and i)erched on roimded or conical liills, give a European aspect to tlie place.

Monghyr is celebrated for its iron manufactures, especially of muskets, in which respect it is the Birmingham of Bengal. Generally speaking, these weapons are inferior, though stamped witli tlie first English names. A native workman will, however, if time and sufficient reward be given, turn out a first-rate fowling-piece.

GANGES VALLEY.

Chap. III.

The inhabitants are reported to be sad drunkards, and the abundance of toddy pahns was quite remarkable. In the morning of the following day I went to the hot springs of Seeta-koond (wells of Seeta), a few miles south of the town.

MONOHYB ON THE OANQBS, WITH THE CURBUCKPORE HILLS IN THE DISTANCE.

Unlike the Soorujkoond hot-springs, these rise in a plain, and were once covered by a handsome temple. All the water is collected in a tank, some yards square, with steps leading down to it. It is clear and tasteless (temp. 104°), and so pure as to be exported copiously; whilst at Monghyr itself they manufacture from it soda-water, which presents the anomaly of owing its purity to Seeta's ablutions.

On my passage (1o>\'n tlie river I passed the picturesque rocks of Sultaugiuij ; they are siinilnr to those of Monghyr, but very much Lirger luid loftier. One, a round-headed mass, stands on tlie bank, capped witli a triple-domed Maliommedtui tomb, pahus, and figs. The other, which is far more striking, rises isohited in tlie bed of the river, and is cro^-ned with a Ilhidoo temple, its pyramidal cone surmounted witli a curious pile of weathercocks, and two little banners. The temple is dedicated to Naragur, and inhabited by Fakirs; it is the most holy on tlie Ganges.

At Bhagulpore, where I amved on the 5th, I took up my quarters witli my friend Dr. Grant, till he should arrange my dawk for Sikkini.

The town has been supposed to be tlie much-sought Palibothra, and a dirty stream hai'd by (tlie Chmidum), the Eranoboas; but Mr. Ravenshaw has now brought all existing proofs to bear on Patna and the Soane. It is, like most liilly places in India, S. of tlie Himalaya, the seat of much Jain worsliii); and the temples on Mount Manden, a few miles off, are said to have been 540 in number. At tlie assumed summer-palaces of the kings of Palibothra tlie ground is covered with agates, brought from the neighbouring liills, which were, in a rough state, let into the walls of the buildings.

Again, near the hills, the features of interest are very nimierous. The neighbouring mountains of Curruck-pore, which are a portion of the Rajmahal and Paras-nath range, are peopled by tribes representing the earliest races of India, prior to the invasion of young Kama, prince of Oude, who, according to the legend,

b3

spread Brahminism with his conquests, and won the hand of King Jannuk's daughter, Seeta, by bending her father's bow. These people are called Coles, a middle-sized, strong, very dark, and black-haired race, with thick lips: they have no occupation but collecting iron from the soil, which occurs abimdantly in nodules. They eat flesh, whether that of animals killed by themselves, or of those which have died a natural death; and mix with Hindoos, but not with Mussulmen.

The hill-rangers, or Bhagulpore-rangers, are all natives of the Bajmahal hills, and form a local corps maintained by the Company for the protection of the district. For many years these people were engaged in predatory excursions, which, owing to the nature of the country, were checked with great difficulty. The plan was therefore conceived, by an active magistrate in the district, of embodying a portion into a military force, for the protection of the country from invasions of their own tribes; and this scheme has answered perfectly.

To me the most interesting object in Bhagulpore was the Horticultural Gardens, whose origin and flourishing condition are due to the activity and enterprise of the late Major Napleton, commander of the hill-rangers. The site is good, consisting of fifteen acres, that were, four years ago, an indigo field, but now form a smiling garden. About fifty men are employed; and the nimiber of seeds and vegetables annually distributed is very great. Of trees the most conspicuous are the tamarind, Tecoma jasminoides, Erythrina, Adansonia, Bombax, teak, banyan, peepul, SissoOj Castiarina, Ter-minaliay Melia, Bauhinia. Of introduced species there

are English and Chinese fiat i)eaches (pruned to the centre to let the sun in), Mangos of various sorts, Eugenia JaniboSy various Anonas, Litclii, Loqiiat and liongan, oranges, Sapodilla; apple, pear, hotli succeeding tolerably; various Cabool and Persian varieties of firuit-trees; figs, grapes, guava, apricots, and jujube. The grapes looked extremely well, but tlieir management requires great skill and care. They form a long covered walk, witli a row of plantains on the W. side, to diminish tlie effects of the hot winds, but even with this screen, the fruit on that side is inferior to that on the opposite trellis. Easterly winds, again, being moist, blight the vines and other plants, by favouring the abundant increase of insects, and by causing the leaves to curl and fall off; and against this eyil tliere is no remedy. The white ant sometimes attacks the stems, and is best checked by washing the roots with lime-water, yellow arsenic, or tobacco-water. Nimierous Cerealia, and the varieties of cotton, sugar-cane, «&c., all thrive extremely well; so do many of our English yegetables. Cabbages, peas, and beans are much injured by the caterpillars of a Pontia, like our English "White;" raspberries, currants, and gooseberries will not grow at all.

The manufacture of economic products is not neglected. Excellent coffee is grown; and arrow-root, equal to the best West Indian, is prepared, at Is. 6d. per bottle of twenty-four ounces,—about a fourth of the price of that article in Calcutta.

In most respects the establishment is a model of what such institutions ought to be in India; not only

of real practical value, in affording a good and cheap supply of the best culinary and other vegetables that the climate can produce, but as showing to what departments efforts are best directed. Such gardens diffuse a taste for the most healthful employments, and offer an elegant resource for the many unoccupied hours which the Englishman in India finds upon his hands. They are also schools of gardening; and a simple inspection of what has been done at Bhagulpore is a valuable lesson to any person about to establish a private garden.

CHAPTER IV.

LeaTO Bhignlpore—GoIgong^Himalaya, diitant view of—C(wi, month of —^Diffienlfe DATigation—SaDd-stomii—Can^ola-Ghat—Furnca—Orto-Uhb —^Uahannddee, transport of ijebUes, &&—Betel-iieppiT, cultiva-tion of—Titalya—SUigoree—View of outer Himalaya—Terai—Mcchis —Pnntaharefr— Foot of moantaiiiB—Ascent to Dorjiling—Cioadaii— Leec h es—Anim^U—Korsiong, spring Tegetation of—Pai^hvcm —Arrive at DoijiHng—Doijiling, origin and settlement of—Grant of land from Bigah—^Dr. Campbell appointed superintendent—Dewau, Ute and present—AggressiTe conduct of the latter—Increase of tlie station— Trade—^Titalya &ir—Healthy climate for Europeans and children— InTslids, diseases prejudicial to.

I TOOK as it were a new depailure, on Saturday, April the 8th, my dawk being laid on tliat day from Caragola-Ghat, about thirty miles do^ni tlie river, for the foot of the Himalaya range and Dorjiluig.

Passing the pretty villa-like houses of tlie English residents, the river-banks re-assumed their wonted features : the hills receded from the shore; and steep clay cliffs, twenty to fifty feet high, on one side, opposed long sandy shelves on the other.

At Colgong, conical hills appear, and two remarkable sister-rocks start out of the river, the same in structure with those of Sultangunj. A boisterous current swirls roimd tliem, strong even at this season, and very dangerous in the rains, when the swollen river is

• from twenty-eight to forty feet deeper than now. We

landed opposite the rocks, and proceeded to the

residence of Mr. G. Barnes, prettily situated on one of

the conical elevations characteristic of the district.

The village we passed through had been recently destroyed by fire; and nothing but the clay outer walls and curious-looking partition walls remained, often white-washed and daubed with figures in red of the palm of the hand, elephant, peacock, and tiger,—a sort of rude fresco-painting. We did not arrive till past mid-day, and the boat, with my palkee and servant, not having been able to face the gale, I was detained till the middle of the following day.

The view from Mr. Barnes' house is very fine: it commands the river and its rocks; the Bajmahal hills to the east and south; broad acres of indigo and other crops below; long lines of palm-trees, and groves of mango, banana, tamarind, and other tropical trees, scattered close aroimd and in the distance. In the rainy season, and immediately after, the snowy Himalaya are distinctly seen on the horizon, ftdly 170 miles olF. Nearly opposite, the Cosi river enters the Ganges, bearing (considering its short course) an enormous volume of water, comprising the drainage of the whole Himalaya between the two giant peaks of Kinchinjunga in Sikkim, and Gossain-Than in Nepal. Even at this season, looking from Mr. Barnes' eyrie over the bed of the Ganges, the enormous expanses of sand, the numerous shifting islets, and the long spits of mud indicate the proximity of some very restless and resistless power. During the rains, the scene

must indeed be extraordinan% when tlie Cosi lays many miles of land under water, and pours so vast a quantity of detritus into the bed of tlie Ganges that long islets are heaped ui) and swept away in a few hours; and the latter river becomes all but unna^•igable. Boats are caught in whirlpools formed witliout a moment's warning, and sunk ere tliey have spun round thrice in the eddies; and no part of the inland navigation of India is so dreaded or dangerous, as tlie Ganges at its junction with tlie Cosi.

Bain generally falls in partial showers at this season, and is essential to tlie well-being of the spring crops of indigo. The stormy appearance of tlie sky, though it proved fallacious, was hailed by my hosts as predicting a fall, which was much wanted. The wind however seemed but to aggravate the drought, by the great body of sand it lifted and swept nj} the valleys, obscuring the near horizon, and especially concealing the whole delta of the Cosi.

All night the gale blew on, accompanied with much thunder and lightning, and it was not till noon of the 9th that I descried my palkee-boat toiling down the stream. Then I again embarked, taking tlie lagging boat in tow of my own. Passing the mouths of the Cosi, the gale and currents were so adverse that we had to bring up on the sand, when the quantity which drifted into the boat rendered the delay as disagreeable as it was tedious. The particles penetrated everj'-where, up my nose and down my back, drying my eyelids, and gritting between my teetli. The craft kept bumping on the banks, and being both crazy and

leaky, tfie little comfortless cabin became tlie refuge of scared rats and cockroaches. In the evening I shared a meal with these creatures, on some provisions my kind Mends had put into the boat, but the food was so sandy that I had to bolt my supper!

At night the storm lulled a little, and I proceeded to Caragola-Ghat and took up my dawk, which had been twenty-eight hours expectmg me, and was waiting, in despair of my arrival, for another traveller on the opposite bank, who however could not cross the river.

Having accomplished thirty miles, I halted at 9 a.m. on the following morning at Pumea, a large station, considered very unhealthy during and after the rains. I quitted it at noon for Kishengunj, passing through some pretty lanes, with groves of planted Guava and a rattan palm {Calamvs), the first I had seen. The whole country wore a greener garb than I had seen anywhere south of the Ganges: the climate was evidentiy more humid, and had been gradually becoming so from Mirzapore. I was glad to feel myself within the influence of the long-looked-for Himalaya; and I narrowly watched every change in the character of the vegetation. A fern, growing by the road-side, was the first and most tangible evidence of this; together with the rarity or total absence of Butea^ BosweUia, Catechu^ Grislea, Carissa^ and all the companions of my previous excursion.

Though no hills are nearer than the Himalaya (distant 100 miles), yet from the constant alteration of the river-beds, the road undulates remarkably for this

part of India, and a jungly vegetation ensues, consisting of the above plants, witli the yellow-flowered Cactus replacing the Euphorbias, which were previously much more common.

Thirty-six miles from Puniea brought me to Kishengunj, when I found that no arrangements whatever had been made for my dawk, and I was fEurly stranded. Luckily a tliouglitful friend liad provided me witli letters to tlie scattered residents along' the road, and I proceeded witli one to Mr. Perry, tlie assistant magistrate of the district,—a gentleman well known for his lu'banity, and the many aids he aflfords to travellers on tliis neglected line of road. Owing to this being some festival or holiday, it was impossible to get palkee-bearers; tlie natives were busy catching fish in all the muddy pools around. Some of Mr. Perrj^'s own family also were about to proceed to Dorjiling, so that I had only to take patience, and be tliankful for liaAing to exercise it in such pleasant quarters. The Mahanuddee, a large stream from the hills, flows near tliis place, strewing the surrounding neighbourhood witli sand, and from the frequent alterations in its course, causing endless disputes amongst the landholders. A kind of lark called an Ortolan was abundant: this is not, however, the European delicacy of tliat name, though a migratory bird; the flocks are large, and tlie birds so fat, that they make excellent table game. At tliis time they were rapidly disappearing; to return from the north in September.

I had jiist got into bed at night, when the bearers

arrived; so bidding a hurried adieu to my kind host, I proceeded on my journey.

April 12, —^I awoke at 4 a.m., and found my palkee on the ground, and the bearers coolly smoking their hookahs under a tree (it was raining hard): they had carried me the length of their stage, twelve miles, and there were no others to take me on. I had paid twenty-four pounds for my dawk, from Caragola to the hills, to which I had been obliged to add a handsome douceur; so I lost all patience. After waiting and entreating during several hours, I found the head-man of a neighbouring village, and by a farther disbursement induced six out of the twelve bearers to carrj^ the empty palkee, whilst I should walk to the next stage; or till we should meet some others. They agreed, and cutting the thick and spongy sheaths of the banana, used them for shoulder-pads: they also wrapped them round the palkee-poles, to ease their aching clavicles. Walking along I picked up a few plants, and fourteen miles further on came again to the banks of the Mahanuddee, whose bed was strewn with pebbles and small boulders, brought thus far from the mountains (about thirty miles distant). Here, again, I had to apply to the .head-man of a village, and pay for bearers to take me to Titalya, the next stage (fourteen miles). Some curious long low sheds puzzled me very much, and on examining them they proved to be for the growth of Pawn or Betel-pepper, another indication of the moisture of the climate. These sheds were twenty to fifty yards long, eight or twelve broad, and scarcely five feet high; they were made of bamboo,