Churra, English station of—Khasia people—Garrow
people—Houses—Habits—Dress—Arms—Dialects—Marriages—Food—Funerals—
Superstitions—Flat of Churra—Scenery—Lime and
coal—Mamloo—Cliffs—Cascades—_Chamærops_ palm—Jasper-rocks—Flora of
Churra—Orchids—Rhododendrons—Pine—Climate—Extraordinary rain-fall—Its
effects—Gardens of Lieuts. Raban and Cave—Leave Churra to cross the
mountain range—Coal, shale, and underclay—Kala-panee
river—Lailangkot—_Luculia Pinceana_—Conglomerate Surureem
wood—Boga-panee river—View of Himalaya—Green-stone—Age of
Pine-cones—Moflong plants—_Coix_—Chillong mountain—Extensive view—Road
to Syong—Broad valleys—Geology—Plants—Myrung—Granite blocks—Kollong
rock—Pine-woods—Features of country—Orchids—Iron forges.
Churra Poonji is said to be so called from the number of streams in the
neighbourhood, and poonji, “a village” (Khas.): it was selected for a
European station, partly from the elevation and consequent healthiness
of the spot, and partly from its being on the high road from Silhet to
Gowahatty, on the Burrampooter, the capital of Assam, which is
otherwise only accessible by ascending that river, against both its
current and the perennial east wind. A rapid postal communication is
hereby secured: but the extreme unhealthiness of the northern foot of
the mountains effectually precludes all other intercourse for nine
months in the year.
On the first opening up of the country, the Europeans were brought into
sanguinary collision with the Khasias, who fought bravely with bows and
arrows, displaying a most blood-thirsty and cruel disposition. This is
indeed natural to them; and murders continued very frequent as preludes
to the most trifling robberies, until the extreme penalty of our law
was put in force. Even now, some of the tributary Rajahs are far from
quiet under our rule, and various parts of the country are not safe to
travel in. The Garrows, who occupy the western extremity of this range,
at the bend of the Burrampooter, are still in a savage state. Human
sacrifices and polyandry are said to be frequent amongst them, and
their orgies are detestable. Happily we are hardly ever brought into
collision with them, except by their occasional depredations on the
Assam and Khasia frontier: their country is very unhealthy, and is said
to contain abundance of coal, iron, and lime.
We seldom employed fewer than twelve or fourteen of the natives as
collectors, and when travelling, from thirty to forty as coolies, etc.
They are averse to rising early, and are intolerably filthy in their
persons, though not so in their cottages, which are very poor, with
broad grass roofs reaching nearly to the ground, and usually encircled
by bamboo fences; the latter custom is not common in savage
communities, and perhaps indicates a dread of treachery. The beams are
of hewn wood (they do not use saws), often neatly carved, and the doors
turn on good wooden pivots. They have no windows, and the fire is made
on the floor: the utensils, etc. are placed on hanging shelves and in
baskets.
The Khasia people are of the Indo-Chinese race; they are short, very
stout, and muscular, with enormous calves and knees, rather narrow eyes
and little beard, broad, high cheekbones, flat noses, and open
nostrils. I believe that a few are tattooed. The hair is gathered into
a top-knot, and sometimes shaved off the forehead and temples. A loose
cotton shirt, often striped blue and red, without sleeves and bordered
with long thread fringes, is their principal garment; it is gathered
into a girdle of silver chains by people of rank. A cotton robe is
sometimes added, with a large cotton turban or small skull-cap. The
women wear a long cloth tied in a knot across the breast. During
festivals both men and women load themselves with silk robes, fans,
peacock’s feathers, and gold and silver ornaments of great value,
procured from Assam, many of which are said to be extremely curious,
but I regret to say that I never saw any of them. On these occasions
spirits are drunk, and dancing kept up all night: the dance is
described as a slow ungraceful motion, the women being tightly swathed
in cloths.
All their materials are brought from Assam; the only articles in
constant use, of their own manufacture, being a rude sword or knife
with a wooden handle and a long, narrow, straight blade of iron, and
the baskets with head-straps, like those used by the Lepchas, but much
neater; also a netted bag of pine-apple fibre (said to come from
Silhet) which holds a clasp-knife, comb, flint, steel, and betel-nut
box. They are much addicted to chewing pawn (betel-nut, pepper leaves,
and lime) all day long, and their red saliva looks like blood on the
paths. Besides the sword I have described, they carry bows and arrows,
and rarely a lance, and a bamboo wicker-work shield.
We found the Khasias to be sulky intractable fellows, contrasting
unpleasantly with the Lepchas; wanting in quickness, frankness, and
desire to please, and obtrusively independent in manner; nevertheless
we had a head man who was very much the reverse of this, and whom we
had never any cause to blame. Their language is, I believe,
Indo-Chinese and monosyllabic: it is disagreeably nasal and guttural,
and there are several dialects and accents in contiguous villages. All
inflections are made by prefixing syllables, and when using the Hindoo
language, the future is invariably substituted for the past tense. They
count up to a hundred, and estimate distances by the number of
mouthfuls of pawn they eat on the road.
Education has been attempted by missionaries with partial success, and
the natives are said to have shown themselves apt scholars. Marriage is
a very loose tie amongst them, and hardly any ceremony attends it. We
were informed that the husband does not take his wife home, but enters
her father’s household, and is entertained there. Divorce and an
exchange of wives is common, and attended with no disgrace: thus the
son often forgets his father’s name and person before he grows up, but
becomes strongly attached to his mother. The sister’s son inherits both
property and rank, and the proprietors’ or Rajahs’ offspring are
consequently often reared in poverty and neglect. The usual toy of the
children is the bow and arrow, with which they are seldom expert; they
are said also to spin pegtops like the English, climb a greased pole,
and run round with a beam turning horizontally on an upright, to which
it is attached by a pivot.
The Khasias eat fowls, and all meat, especially pork, potatos and
vegetables, dried and half putrid fish in abundance, but they have an
aversion to milk, which is very remarkable, as a great proportion of
their country is admirably adapted for pasturage. In this respect,
however, they assimilate to the Chinese, and many Indo-Chinese nations
who are indifferent to milk, as are the Sikkim people. The Bengalees,
Hindoos, and Tibetans, on the other hand, consume immense quantities of
milk. They have no sheep, and few goats or cattle, the latter of which
are kept for slaughter; they have, however, plenty of pigs and fowls.
Eggs are most abundant, but used for omens only, and it is a common,
but disgusting occurrence, to see large groups employed for hours in
breaking them upon stones, shouting and quarrelling, surrounded by the
mixture of yellow yolks and their red pawn saliva.
The funeral ceremonies are the only ones of any importance, and are
often conducted with barbaric pomp and expense; and rude stones of
gigantic proportions are erected as monuments, singly or in rows,
circles, or supporting one another, like those of Stonehenge, which
they rival in dimensions and appearance. The body is burned, though
seldom during the rains, from the difficulty of obtaining a fire; it is
therefore preserved in honey (which is abundant and good) till the dry
season: a practice I have read of as prevailing among some tribes in
the Malay peninsula. Spirits are drunk on these occasions; but the hill
Khasia is not addicted to drunkenness, though some of the natives of
the low valleys are very much so. These ascend the rocky faces of the
mountains by ladders, to the Churra markets, and return loaded at
night, apparently all but too drunk to stand; yet they never miss their
footing in places which are most dangerous to persons unaccustomed to
such situations.
[Illustration: The table-land and station of Churra, with the jheels,
course of the Soormah River, and Tipperah Hills in the extreme
distance, looking south.]
The Khasias are superstitious, but have no religion; like the Lepchas,
they believe in a supreme being, and in deities of the grove, cave, and
stream. Altercations are often decided by holding the disputants’ heads
under water, when the longest winded carries his point. Fining is a
common punishment, and death for grave offences. The changes of the
moon are accounted for by the theory that this orb, who is a man,
monthly falls in love with his wife’s mother, who throws ashes in his
face. The sun is female; and Mr. Yule[344] (who is my authority) says
that the Pleiades are called “the Hen-man” (as in Italy “the
chickens”); also that they have names for the twelve months; they do
not divide their time by weeks, but hold a market every four days.
These people are industrious, and good cultivators of rice, millet, and
legumes of many kinds. Potatoes were introduced amongst them about
twenty years ago by Mr. Inglis, and they have increased so rapidly that
the Calcutta market is now supplied by their produce. They keep bees in
rude hives of logs of wood.
[344] I am indebted to Mr. Inglis for most of this information
relating to the Khasias, which I have since found, with much more that
is curious and interesting, in a paper by Lieut. Yule in Bengal Asiat.
Soc. Journal.
The flat table-land on which Churra Poonji is placed, is three miles
long and two broad, dipping abruptly in front and on both sides, and
rising behind towards the main range, of which it is a spur. The
surface of this area is everywhere intersected by shallow, rocky
watercourses, which are the natural drains for the deluge that annually
visits it. The western part is undulated and hilly, the southern rises
in rocky ridges of limestone and coal, and the eastern is very flat and
stony, broken only by low isolated conical mounds.
The scenery varies extremely at different parts of the surface. Towards
the flat portion, where the English reside, the aspect is as bleak and
inhospitable as can be imagined: a thin stratum of marshy or sandy soil
covers a tabular mass of cold red sandstone; and there is not a tree,
and scarcely a shrub to be seen, except occasional clumps of Pandanus.
The low white bungalows are few in number, and very scattered, some of
them being a mile asunder, enclosed with stone walls and shrubs; and a
small white church, disused on account of the damp, stands lonely in
the centre of all.
The views from the margins of this plateau are magnificent: 4000 feet
below are bay-like valleys, carpetted as with green velvet, from which
rise tall palms, tree-ferns with spreading crowns, and rattans shooting
their pointed heads, surrounded with feathery foliage, as with ostrich
plumes, far above the great trees. Beyond are the Jheels, looking like
a broad shallow sea with the tide half out, bounded in the blue
distance by the low-hills of Tipperah. To the right and left are the
scarped red rocks and roaring waterfalls, shooting far over the
cliff’s, and then arching their necks as they expand in feathery foam,
over which rainbows float, forming and dissolving as the wind sways the
curtains of spray from side to side.
To the south of Churra the lime and coal measures rise abruptly in
flat-topped craggy hills, covered with brushwood and small trees.
Similar hills are seen far westward across the intervening valleys in
the Garrow country, rising in a series of steep isolated ranges, 300 to
400 feet above the general level of the country, and always skirting
the south face of the mountains. Considerable caverns penetrate the
limestone, the broken surface of which rock presents many picturesque
and beautiful spots, like the same rocks in England.
[Illustration: Mamloo cascades]
Westward the plateau becomes very hilly, bare, and grassy, with the
streams broad and full, but superficial and rocky, precipitating
themselves in low cascades over tabular masses of sand-stone. At Mamloo
their beds are deeper, and full of brushwood, and a splendid valley and
amphitheatre of red cliffs and cascades, rivalling those of Moosmai (p.
261), bursts suddenly into view. Mamloo is a large village, on the top
of a spur, to the westward: it is buried in a small forest,
particularly rich in plants, and is defended by a stone wall behind:
the only road is tunnelled through the sandstone rock, under the wall;
and the spur on either side dips precipitously, so that the place is
almost impregnable if properly defended. A sanguinary conflict took
place here between the British and the Khasias, which terminated in the
latter being driven over the precipices, beneath which many of them
were shot. The fan-palm, _Chamærops Khasiana_ (“Pakha,” Khas.), grows
on the cliff’s near Mamloo: it may be seen on looking over the edge of
the plateau, its long curved trunk rising out of the naked rocks, but
its site is generally inaccessible;[345] while near it grows the
_Saxifragis ciliaris_ of our English gardens, a common plant in the
north-west Himalaya, but extremely scarce in Sikkim and the Khasia
mountains.
[345] This species is very closely allied to, if not identical with
_P. Martiana_ of Nepal; which ascends to 8000 feet in the western
Himalaya, where it is annually covered with snow: it is not found in
Sikkim, but an allied species occurs in Affghanistan, called _P.
Ritcheana_: the dwarf palm of southern Europe is a fourth species.
The descent of the Mamloo spur is by steps, alternating with pebbly
flats, for 1500 feet, to a saddle which connects the Churra hills with
those of Lisouplang to the westward. The rise is along a very steep
narrow ridge to a broad long grassy hill, 3,500 feet high, whence an
extremely steep descent leads to the valley of the Boga-panee, and the
great mart of Chela, which is at the embouchure of that river. The
transverse valley thus formed by the Mamloo spur, is full of orange
groves, whose brilliant green is particularly conspicuous from above.
At the saddle below Mamloo are some jasper rocks, which are the
sandstone altered by basalt. Fossil shells are recorded to have been
found by Dr. M’Lelland[346] on some of the flats, which he considers to
be raised beaches: but we sought in vain for any evidence of this
theory beyond the pebbles, whose rounding we attributed to the action
of superficial streams.
[346] See a paper on the geology of the Khasia mountains by Dr.
M’Lelland in the “Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal.”
It is extremely difficult to give within the limits of this narrative
any idea of the Khasia flora, which is, in extent and number of fine
plants, the richest in India, and probably in all Asia. We collected
upwards of 2000 flowering plants within ten miles of the station of
Churra, besides 150 ferns, and a profusion of mosses, lichens, and
fungi. This extraordinary exuberance of species is not so much
attributable to the elevation, for the whole Sikkim Himalaya (three
times more elevated) does not contain 500 more flowering plants, and
far fewer ferns, etc.; but to the variety of exposures; namely, 1. the
Jheels, 2. the tropical jungles, both in deep, hot, and wet valleys,
and on drier slopes; 3. the rocks; 4. the bleak table-lands and stony
soils; 5. the moor-like uplands, naked and exposed, where many species
and genera appear at 5000 to 6000 feet, which are not found on the
outer ranges of Sikkim under 10,000.[347] In fact, strange as it may
appear, owing to this last cause, the temperate flora descends fully
4000 feet lower in the latitude of Khasia (25° N.) than in that of
Sikkim (27° N.), though the former is two degrees nearer the equator.
[347] As _Thalictrum, Anemone,_ primrose, cowslip, _Tofieldia,_ Yew,
Pine, Saxifrage, _Delphinium, Pedicularis._
The _Pandanus_ alone forms a conspicuous feature in the immediate
vicinity of Churra; while the small woods about Mamloo, Moosmai, and
the coal-pits, are composed of _Symplocos,_ laurels, brambles, and
jasmines, mixed with small oaks and _Photinia,_ and many tropical
genera of trees and shrubs.
_Orchideæ_ are, perhaps, the largest natural order in the Khasia, where
fully 250 kinds grow, chiefly on trees and rocks, but many are
terrestrial, inhabiting damp woods and grassy slopes. I doubt whether
in any other part of the globe the species of orchids outnumber those
of any other natural order, or form so large a proportion of the flora.
Balsams are next in relative abundance (about twenty-five), both
tropical and temperate kinds, of great beauty and variety in colour,
form, and size of blossom. Palms amount to fourteen, of which the
_Chamærops_ and _Arenga_ are the only genera not found in Sikkim. Of
bamboos there are also fifteen, and of other grasses 150, which is an
immense proportion, considering that the Indian flora (including those
of Ceylon, Kashmir, and all the Himalaya), hardly contains 400.
_Scitamineæ_ also are abundant, and extremely beautiful; we collected
thirty-seven kinds.
No rhododendron grows at Churra, but several species occur a little
further north: there is but one pine (_P. Khasiana_) besides the yew,
(and two _Podocarpi_), and that is only found in the drier interior
regions. Singular to say, it is a species not seen in the Himalaya or
elsewhere, but very nearly allied to _Pinua longifolia,_[348] though
more closely resembling the Scotch fir than that tree does.
[348] Cone-bearing pines with long leaves, like the common Scotch fir,
are found in Asia, and as far south as the Equator (in Borneo) and
also inhabit Arracan, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and South China.
It is a very remarkable fact that no Gymnospermous tree inhabits the
Peninsula of India; not even the genus _Podocarpus,_ which includes
most of the tropical Gymnosperms, and is technically coniferous, and
has glandular woody fibre; though like the yew it bears berries. Two
species of this genus are found in the Khasia, and one advances as far
west as Nepal. The absence of oaks and of the above genera
(_Podocarpus_ and _Pinus_) is one of the most characteristic
differences between the botany of the east and west shores of the Bay
of Bengal.
The natural orders whose rarity is most noticeable, are _Cruciferæ,_
represented by only three kinds, and _Caryophylleæ._ Of _Ranunculaceæ,_
there are six or seven species of _Clematis,_ two of _Anemone,_ one
_Delphinium,_ three of _Thalictrum,_ and two _Ranunculi._ _Compositæ_
and _Leguminosæ_ are far more numerous than in Sikkim.
The climate of Khasia is remarkable for the excessive rain-fall.
Attention was first drawn to this by Mr. Yule, who stated, that in the
month of August, 1841, 264 inches fell, or twenty-two feet; and that
during five successive days, thirty inches fell in every twenty-four
hours! Dr. Thomson and I also recorded thirty inches in one day and
night, and during the seven months of our stay, upwards of 500 inches
fell, so that the total annual fall perhaps greatly exceeded 600
inches, or fifty feet, which has been registered in succeeding years!
From April, 1849, to April, 1850, 502 inches (forty-two feet) fell.
This unparalleled amount is attributable to the abruptness of the
mountains which face the Bay of Bengal, from which they are separated
by 200 miles of Jheels and Sunderbunds.
This fall is very local: at Silhet, not thirty miles further south, it
is under 100 inches; at Gowahatty, north of the Khasia in Assam, it is
about 80; and even on the hills, twenty miles inland from Churra
itself, the fall is reduced to 200. At the Churra station, the
distribution of the rain is very local; my gauges, though registering
the same amount when placed beside a good one in the station; when
removed half a mile, received a widely different quantity, though the
different gauges gave nearly the same mean amount at the end of each
whole month.
The direct effect of this deluge is to raise the little streams about
Churra fourteen feet in as many hours, and to inundate the whole flat;
from which, however, the natural drainage is so complete, as to render
a tract, which in such a climate and latitude should be clothed with
exuberant forest, so sterile, that no tree finds support, and there is
no soil for cultivation of any kind whatsoever, not even of rice.
Owing, however, to the hardness of the horizontally stratified
sandstone, the streams have not cut deep channels, nor have the
cataracts worked far back into the cliffs. The limestone alone seems to
suffer, and the turbid streams from it prove how rapidly it is becoming
denuded. The great mounds of angular gravel on the Churra flat, are
perhaps the remains of an extensive deposit, fifty feet thick,
elsewhere washed away by these rains; and I have remarked traces of the
same over many slopes of the hills around.
The mean temperature of Churra (elev. 4000 feet) is about 66°, or 16°
below that of Calcutta; which, allowing for 2·5° of northing, gives 1°
of temperature to every 290 to 300 feet of ascent. In summer the
thermometer often rises to 88° and 90°; and in the winter, owing to the
intense radiation, hoar-frost is frequent. Such a climate is no less
inimical to the cultivation of plants, than is the wretched soil: of
this we saw marked instances in the gardens of two of the resident
officers, Lieutenants Raban and Cave, to whom we were indebted for the
greatest kindness and hospitality. These gentlemen are indefatigable
horticulturists, and took a zealous interest in our pursuits,
accompanying us in our excursions, enriching our collections in many
ways, and keeping an eye to them and to our plant-driers during our
absence from the station. In their gardens the soil had to be brought
from a considerable distance, and dressed copiously with vegetable
matter. Bamboo clumps were planted for shelter within walls, and native
shrubs, rhododendrons, etc., introduced. Many _Orchideæ_ throve well on
the branches of the stunted trees which they had planted, and some
superb kinds of _Hedychium_ in the ground; but a very few English
garden plants throve in the flower-beds. Even in pots and frames,
geraniums, etc., would rot, from the rarity of sunshine, which is as
prejudicial as the damp and exposure. Still many wild shrubs of great
interest and beauty flourished, and some European ones succeeded with
skill and management; as geraniums, _Salvia, Petunia,_ nasturtium,
chrysanthemum, _Kennedya rubicunda, Maurandya,_ and Fuchsia. The daisy
seed sent from England as double, came up very poor and single. Dahlias
do not thrive, nor double balsams. Now they have erected small but airy
green-houses, and sunlight is the only desideratum.
At the end of June, we started for the northern or Assam face of the
mountains. The road runs between the extensive and populous native
village, or poonji, on the left, and a deep valley on the right, and
commands a beautiful view of more waterfalls. Beyond this it ascends
steeply, and the sandstone on the road itself is curiously divided into
parallelograms, like hollow bricks,[349] enclosing irregularly shaped
nodules, while in other places it looks as if it had been run or fused:
spherical concretions of sand, coloured concentrically by infiltration,
are common in it, which have been regarded as seeds, shells, etc.; it
also contained spheres of iron pyrites. The general appearance of much
of this rock is as if it had been bored by _Teredines_ (ship worms),
but I never detected any trace of fossils. It is often beautifully
ripple-marked, and in some places much honeycombed, and full of shales
and narrow seams of coal, resting on a white under-clay full of
root-fibres, like those of _Stigmaria._
[349] I have seen similar bricks in the sandstones of the
coal-districts of Yorkshire; they are very puzzling, and are probably
due to some very obscure crystalline action analogous to jointing and
cleavage.
At about 5000 feet the country is very open and bare, the ridges being
so uniform and flat-topped, that the broad valleys they divide are
hidden till their precipitous edges are reached; and the eye wanders
far east and west over a desolate level grassy country, unbroken, save
by the curious flat-topped hills I have described as belonging to the
limestone formation, which lie to the south-west. These features
continue for eight miles, when a sudden descent of 600 or 700 feet,
leads into the valley of the Kala-panee (Black water) river, where
there is a very dark and damp bungalow, which proved a very great
accommodation to us.[350]
[350] It may be of use to the future botanist in this country to
mention a small wood on the right of this road, near the village of
Surureem, as an excellent botanical station: the trees are chiefly
_Rhododendron arboreum,_ figs, oaks, laurels, magnolias, and
chestnuts, on whose limbs are a profusion of _Orchideæ,_ and amongst
which a Rattan palm occurs.
Lailang-kot is another village full of iron forges, from a height near
which a splendid view is obtained over the Churra flat. A few old and
very stunted shrubs of laurel and _Symplocos_ grow on its bleak
surface, and these are often sunk from one to three feet in a well in
the horizontally stratified sandstone. I could only account for this by
supposing it to arise from the drip from the trees, and if so, it is a
wonderful instance of the wearing effects of water, and of the great
age which small bushes sometimes attain.
The vegetation is more alpine at Kala-panee (elevation, 5,300 feet);
_Benthamia, Kadsura, Stauntonia, Illicium, Actinidia, Helwingia,
Corylopsis,_ and berberry—all Japan and Chinese, and most of them
Dorjiling genera—appear here, with the English yew, two rhododendrons,
and _Bucklandia._ There are no large trees, but a bright green jungle
of small ones and bushes, many of which are very rare and curious.
_Luculia Pinceana_ makes a gorgeous show here in October.
The sandstone to the east of Kala-panee is capped by some beds, forty
feet thick, of conglomerate worn into cliffs; these are the remains of
a very extensive horizontally stratified formation, now all but
entirely denuded. In the valley itself, the sandstone alternates with
alum shales, which rest on a bed of quartz conglomerate, and the latter
on black greenstone. In the bed of the river, whose waters are
beautifully clear, are hornstone rocks, dipping north-east, and
striking north-west. Beyond the Kalapanee the road ascends about 600
feet, and is well quarried in hard greenstone; and passing through a
narrow gap of conglomerate rock,[351] enters a shallow, wild, and
beautiful valley, through which it runs for several miles. The hills on
either side are of greenstone capped by tabular sandstone, immense
masses of which have been precipitated on the floor of the valley,
producing a singularly wild and picturesque scene. In the gloom of the
evening it is not difficult for a fertile imagination to fancy castles
and cities cresting the heights above.[352]
[351] Formed of rolled masses of greenstone and sandstone, united by a
white and yellow cement.
[352] _Hydrangea_ grows here, with ivy, _Mussœnda, Pyrua,_ willow,
_Viburnum, Parnassia, Anemone, Leycesteria formosa, Neillia, Rubus,
Astilbe,_ rose, _Panax,_ apple, _Bucklandia, Daphne,_ pepper,
_Scindapsus, Pierix,_ holly, _Lilium giganteum_ (“Kalang tatti,”
Khas.), _Camellia, Elæocarpus, Buddleia,_ etc. Large bees’ nests hang
from the rocks.
There is some cultivation here of potatoes, and of _Rhysicosia vestita_
a beautiful purple-flowered leguminous plant, with small tuberous
roots. Beyond this, a high ridge is gained above the valley of the
Boga-panee, the largest river in the Khasia; from this the Bhotan
Himalaya may be seen in clear weather, at the astonishing distance of
from 160 to 200 miles! The vegetation here suddenly assumes a different
aspect, from the quantity of stunted fir-trees clothing the north side
of the valley, which rises very steeply 1000 feet above the river:
quite unaccountably, however, not one grows on the south face. A new
oak also appears abundantly; it has leaves like the English, whose
gnarled habit it also assumes.
The descent is very steep, and carried down a slope of greenstone;[353]
the road then follows a clear affluent of the Boga-panee, and
afterwards winds along the margin of that river, which is a rapid
turbulent stream, very muddy, and hence contrasting remarkably with the
Kala-panee. It derives its mud from the decomposition of granite, which
is washed by the natives for iron, and in which rock it rises to the
eastward. Thick beds of slate crop out by the roadside (strike
north-east and dip north-west), and are continued along the bed of the
river, passing into conglomerates, chert, purple slates, and
crystalline sandstones, with pebbles, and angular masses of schist.
Many of these rocks are much crumpled, others quite flat, and they are
overlaid by soft, variegated gneiss, which is continued alternately
with the slates to the top of the hills on the opposite side.
[353] This greenstone decomposes into a thick bed of red clay; it is
much intersected by fissures or cleavage planes at all angles, whose
surfaces are covered with a shining polished superficial layer; like
the fissures in the cleavage planes of the gneiss granite of
Kinchinjhow, whose adjacent surfaces are coated with a glassy waved
layer of hornblende. This polishing of the surfaces is generally
attributed to their having been in contact and rubbed together, an
explanation which is wholly unsatisfactory to me; no such motion could
take place in cleavage planes which often intersect, and were it to
occur, it would not produce two polished surfaces of an interposed
layer of a softer mineral. It is more probably due to metamorphic
action.
Small trees of hornbeam grow near the river, with _Rhus, Xanthoxylon,
Vaccinium, Gualtheria,_ and _Spiræa,_ while many beautiful ferns,
mosses, and orchids cover the rocks. An elegant iron suspension-bridge
is thrown across the stream, from a rock matted with tufts of little
parasitic _Orchideæ._ Crossing it, we came on many pine-trees; these
had five-years’ old cones on them, as well as those of all succeeding
years; they bear male flowers in autumn, which impregnate the cones
formed the previous year. Thus, the cones formed in the spring of 1850
are fertilised in the following autumn, and do not ripen their seeds
till the second following autumn, that of 1852.
A very steep ascent leads to the bungalow of Moflong, on a broad, bleak
hill-top, near the axis of the range (alt. 6,062 feet). Here there is a
village, and some cultivation, surrounded by hedges of _Erythrina,
Pieris, Viburnum,_ _Pyres, Colquhounia,_ and _Corylopsis,_ amongst
which grew an autumn-flowering lark-spur, with most fœtid flowers.[354]
The rocks are much contorted slates and gneiss (strike north-east and
dip south-east). In a deep gulley to the northward, greenstone appears,
with black basalt and jasper, the latter apparently altered gneiss:
beyond this the rocks strike the opposite way, but are much disturbed.
[354] There is a wood a mile to the west of the bungalow, worth
visiting by the botanist: besides yew, oak, _Sabia_ and _Camellia,_ it
contains _Olea, Euonymus,_ and _Sphærocarya,_ a small tree that bears
a green pear-shaped sweet fruit, with a large stone: it is pleasant,
but leaves a disagreeable taste in the mouth. On the grassy flats an
_Astragalus_ occurs, and _Roscœa purpurea, Tofieldia,_ and various
other fine plants are common.
We passed the end of June here, and experienced the same violent
weather, thunder, lightning, gales, and rain, which prevailed during
every midsummer I spent in India. A great deal of _Coix_ (Job’s tears)
is cultivated about Moflong: it is of a dull greenish purple, and
though planted in drills, and carefully hoed and weeded, is a very
ragged crop. The shell of the cultivated sort is soft, and the kernel
is sweet; whereas the wild _Coix_ is so hard that it cannot be broken
by the teeth. Each plant branches two or three times from the base, and
from seven to nine plants grow in each square yard of soil: the produce
is small, not above thirty or forty fold.
From a hill behind Moflong bungalow, on which are some stone altars, a
most superb view is obtained of the Bhotan Himalaya to the northward,
their snowy peaks stretching in a broken series from north 17° east to
north 35° west; all are below the horizon of the spectator, though from
17,000 to 20,000 feet above his level. The finest view in the Khasia
mountains, and perhaps a more extensive one than has ever before been
described, is that from Chillong hill, the culminant point of the
range, about six miles north-east from Moflong bungalow. This hill,
6,660 feet above the sea, rises from an undulating grassy country,
covered with scattered trees and occasional clumps of wood; the whole
scenery about being park-like, and as little like that of India at so
low an elevation as it is possible to be.
I visited Chillong in October with Lieutenant Cave; starting from
Churra, and reaching the bungalow, two miles from its top, the same
night, with two relays of ponies, which he had kindly provided. We were
unfortunate in not obtaining a brilliant view of the snowy mountains,
their tops being partially clouded; but the _coup d’œil_ was superb.
Northward, beyond the rolling Khasia hills, lay the whole Assam valley,
seventy miles broad, with the Burrampooter winding through it, fifty
miles distant, reduced to a thread. Beyond this, banks of hazy vapour
obscured all but the dark range of the Lower Himalaya, crested by peaks
of frosted silver, at the immense distance of from 100 to 220 miles
from Chillong. All are below the horizon of the observer; yet so false
is perspective, that they seem high in the air. The mountains occupy
sixty degrees of the horizon, and stretch over upwards of 250 miles,
comprising the greatest extent of snow visible from any point with
which I am acquainted.
Westward from Chillong the most distant Garrow hills visible are about
forty miles off; and eastward those of Cachar, which are loftier, are
about seventy miles. To the south the view is limited by the Tipperah
hills, which, where nearest, are 100 miles distant; while to the
south-west lies the sea-like Gangetic delta, whose horizon, lifted by
refraction, must be fully 120. The extent of this view is therefore
upwards of 340 miles in one direction, and the visible horizon of the
observer encircles an area of fully thirty thousand square miles, which
is greater than that of Ireland!
Scarlet-flowered rhododendron bushes cover the north side of
Chillong,[355] whilst the south is grassy and quite bare; and except
some good _Orchideæ_ on the trees, there is little to reward the
botanist. The rocks appeared to be sandstone at the summit, but
micaceous gneiss all around.
[355] These skirt a wood of prickly bamboo, in which occur fig,
laurel, _Aralia, Bœmeria, Smilax, Toddalia,_ wild cinnamon, and three
kinds of oak.
Continuing northward from Moflong, the road, after five miles, dips
into a very broad and shallow flat-floored valley, fully a mile across,
which resembles a lake-bed: it is bounded by low hills, and is called
“Lanten-tannia,” and is bare of aught but long grass and herbs; amongst
these are the large groundsel (_Senecio_), _Dipsacus, Ophelia,_ and
_Campanula._ On its south flank the micaceous slates strike north-east,
and dip north-west, and on the top repose beds, a foot in thickness, of
angular water-worn gravel, indicating an ancient water-level, 400 feet
above the floor of the valley. Other smaller lake-beds, in the lateral
valleys, are equally evident.
A beautiful blue-flowered _Clitoria_ creeps over the path, with the
ground-raspberry of Dorjiling. From the top a sudden descent of 400
feet leads to another broad flat valley, called “Syong” (elevation,
5,725 feet), in which is a good bungalow, surrounded by hedges of
_Prinsepia utilis,_ a common north-west Himalayan plant, only found at
8000 feet in Sikkim. The valley is grassy, but otherwise bare. Beyond
this the road passes over low rocky hills, wooded on their north or
sheltered flanks only, dividing flat-floored valleys: a red sandy
gneiss is the prevalent rock, but boulders of syenite are scattered
about. Extensive moors (elevation, 6000 feet) succeed, covered with
stunted pines, brake, and tufts of harsh grasses.[356]
[356] These are principally _Andropogon_ and _Brachypodium,_ amongst
which grow yellow _Corydalis, Thalictrum, Anemone, Parnassia,
Prunella,_ strawberry, _Eupatorium, Hypericum,_ willow, a _Polygonum_
like _Bistorta, Osmunda regalis_ and another species _Lycopodium
alpinum,_ a _Senecio_ like _Jacobæa,_ thistles, _Gnaphalium,_
Gentians, _Iris, Paris, Sanguisorba_ and _Agrimonia._
Near the Dengship-oong (river), which flows in a narrow valley, is a
low dome of gneiss altered by syenite. The prevalent dip is uniformly
south-east, and the strike north-east; and detached boulders of syenite
become more frequent, resting on a red gneiss, full of black garnets,
till the descent to the valley of Myrung, one of the most beautiful
spots in the Khasia, and a favourite resort, having an excellent
bungalow which commands a superb view of the Himalaya: it is 5,650 feet
above the sea, and is placed on the north flank of a very shallow
marshy valley, two miles broad, and full of rice cultivation, as are
the flat heads of all the little valleys that lead into it. There is a
guard here of light infantry, and a little garden, boasting a gardener
and some tea-plants, so that we had vegetables during our four visits
to the place, on two of which occasions we stayed some days.
From Kala-panee to Myrung, a distance of thirty-two miles, the road
does not vary 500 feet above or below the mean level of 5,700 feet, and
the physical features are the same throughout, of broad flat-floored,
steep-sided valleys, divided by bleak, grassy, tolerably level-topped
bills. Beyond Myrung the Khasia mountains slope to the southward in
rolling loosely-wooded hills, but the spurs do not dip suddenly till
beyond Nunklow, eight miles further north.
On the south side of the Myrung valley is Nungbree wood, a dense
jungle, occupying, like all the other woods, the steep north exposure
of the hill; many good plants grow in it, including some gigantic
_Balanophoræ, Pyrola,_ and _Monotropa._ The bungalow stands on soft,
contorted, decomposing gneiss, which is still the prevalent rock,
striking north-east. On the hills to the east of it, enormous hard
blocks lie fully exposed, and are piled on one another, as if so
disposed by glacial action; and it is difficult to account for them by
denudation, though their surface scales, and similar blocks are
scattered around Myrung exactly similar to the syenite blocks of
Nunklow, and the granite ones of Nonkreem, to be described hereafter,
and which are undoubtedly due to the process of weathering. A great
mass of flesh-coloured crystalline granite rises in the centre of the
valley, to the east of the road: it is fissured in various directions,
and the surface scales concentrically; it is obscurely stratified in
some parts, and appears to be half granite and half gneiss in
mineralogical character.
We twice visited a very remarkable hill, called Kollong, which rises as
a dome of granite 5,400 feet high, ten or twelve miles south-west of
Myrung, and conspicuous from all directions. The path to it turns off
from that to Nunklow, and strikes westerly along the shallow valley of
Monai, in which is a village, and much rice and other cultivation. Near
this there is a large square stockade, formed of tall bamboos placed
close together, very like a New Zealand “Pa;” indeed, the whole country
hereabouts much recalls the grassy clay hills, marshy valleys, and
bushy ridges of the Bay of Islands.
The hills on either side are sometimes dotted with pinewoods, sometimes
conical and bare, with small clumps of pines on the summit only; while
in other places are broad tracts containing nothing but young trees,
resembling plantations, but which, I am assured, are not planted; on
the other hand, however, Mr. Yule states, that the natives do plant
fir-trees, especially near the iron forges, which give employment to
all the people of Monai.
All the streams rise in flat marshy depressions amongst the hills with
which the whole country is covered; and both these features, together
with the flat clay marshes into which the rivers expand, are very
suggestive of tidal action. Rock is hardly anywhere seen, except in the
immediate vicinity of Kollong, where are many scattered boulders of
fine-grained gneiss, of which are made the broad stone slabs, placed as
seats, and the other erections of this singular people. We repeatedly
remarked cones of earth, clay, and pebbles, about twelve feet high,
upon the hills, which appeared to be artificial, but of which the
natives could give no explanation. Wild apple and birch are common
trees, but there is little jungle, except in the hollows, and on the
north slopes of the higher hills. Coarse long grass, with bushes of
Labiate and Composite plants, are the prevalent features.
Kollong rock is a steep dome of red granite,[357] accessible from the
north and east, but almost perpendicular to the southward, where the
slope is 80° for 600 feet. The elevation is 400 feet above the mean
level of the surrounding ridges, and 700 above the bottom of the
valleys. The south or steepest side is encumbered with enormous
detached blocks, while the north is clothed with a dense forest,
containing red tree-rhododendrons and oaks; on its skirts grew a white
bushy rhododendron, which we found nowhere else. The hard granite of
the top was covered with matted mosses, lichens, Lycopodiums, and
ferns, amongst which were many curious and beautiful airplants.[358]
[357] This granite is highly crystalline, and does not scale or flake,
nor is its surface polished.
[358] _Eria, Cœlogyne_ (_Wallichii, maculata,_ and _elata_),
_Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Sunipia_ some of them flowering profusely; and
though freely exposed to the sun and wind, dews and frosts, rain and
droughts, they were all fresh, bright, green and strong, under very
different treatment from that to which they are exposed in the damp,
unhealthy, steamy orchid-houses of our English gardens. A wild onion
was most abundant all over the top of the hill, with _Hymenopogon,
Vaccinium, Ophiopogon, Anisadenia, Commelyna, Didymocarpus, Remusatia,
Hedychium,_ grass and small bamboos, and a good many other plants.
Many of the lichens were of European kinds; but the mosses (except
_Bryum argenteum_) and ferns were different. A small _Staphylinus,_
which swarmed under the sods, was the only insect I remarked.
[Illustration: Kollong rock]
The view from the top is very extensive to the northward, but not
elsewhere: it commands the Assam valley and the Himalaya, and the
billowy range of undulating grassy Khasia mountains. Few houses were
visible, but the curling smoke from the valleys betrayed their
lurking-places, whilst the tinkling sound of the hammers from the
distant forges on all sides was singularly musical and pleasing; they
fell on the ear like “bells upon the wind,” each ring being exquisitely
melodious, and chiming harmoniously with the others. The solitude and
beauty of the scenery, and the emotions excited by the music of chimes,
tended to tranquillise our minds, wearied by the fatigues of travel,
and the excitement of pursuits that required unremitting attention; and
we rested for some time, our imaginations wandering to far-distant
scenes, brought vividly to our minds by these familiar sounds.