View of Himalaya from the Khasia—Great masses of
snow—Chumulari—Donkia—Grasses—Nunklow—Assam valley and
Burrampooter—Tropical forest—Borpanee—Rhododendrons—Wild
elephants—Blocks of Syenite—Return to Churra—Coal—August
temperature—Leave for Chela—Jasper hill—Birds—_Arundina_—Habits of
leaf-insects—Curious village—Houses—Canoes—Boga-panee
river—Jheels—Chattuc—Churra—Leave for Jyntea hills—Trading
parties—Dried
fish—Cherries—Cinnamon—Fraud—Pea-violet—Nonkreem—Sandstone—Pines—
Granite boulders—Iron washing—Forges—Tanks—Siberian _Nymphæa_—Barren
country—Pomrang—_Podostemon_—Patchouli plant—Mooshye—Enormous stone
slabs—Pitcher-plant—Joowye cultivation and
vegetation—_Hydropeltis_—Sulky hostess—Nurtiung—_Hamamelis
chinensis_—Bor-panee river—Sacred grove and gigantic stone
structures—Altars—Pyramids, etc.—Origin of names—_Vanda
cœrulea_—Collections—November vegetation—Geology of
Khasia—Sandstone—Coal—Lime—Gneiss—Greenstone—Tidal action—Strike of
rocks—Comparison with Rajmahal hills and the Himalaya.
The snowy Himalaya was not visible during our first stay at Myrung,
from the 5th to the 10th of July; but on three subsequent occasions,
viz., 27th and 28th of July, 13th to 17th October, and 22nd to 25th
October, we saw these magnificent mountains, and repeatedly took
angular heights and bearings of the principal peaks. The range, as seen
from the Khasia, does not form a continuous line of snowy mountains,
but the loftiest eminences are conspicuously grouped into masses, whose
position is probably between the great rivers which rise far beyond
them and flow through Bhotan. This arrangement indicates that relation
of the rivers to the masses of snow, which I have dwelt upon in the
Appendix; and further tends to prove that the snowy mountains, seen
from the southward, are not on the axis of a mountain chain, and do not
even indicate its position; but that they are lofty meridional spurs
which, projecting southward, catch the moist vapours, become more
deeply snowed, and protect the dry loftier regions behind.
The most conspicuous group of snows seen from the Khasia bears N.N.E.
from Myrung, and consists of three beautiful mountains with
wide-spreading snowy shoulders. These are distant (reckoning from west
to east) respectively 164, 170, and 172 miles from Myrung, and subtend
angles of +0° 4′ 0″, –0° 1′ 30″, and –0° 2′ 28″.[359] From Nunklow (940
feet lower than Myrung) they appear higher, the western peak rising 14°
35′ above the horizon; whilst from Moflong (32 miles further south, and
elevation 6,062 feet) the same is sunk 2° below the horizon. My
computations make this western mountain upwards of 24,000 feet high;
but according to Col. Wilcox’s angles, taken from the Assam valley, it
is only 21,600, the others being respectively 20,720 and 21,475.
Captain Thuillier (the Deputy Surveyor General) agrees with me in
considering that Colonel Wilcox’s altitudes are probably much
under-estimated, as those of other Himalayan peaks to the westward were
by the old surveyors. It is further evident that these mountains have
(as far as can be estimated by angles) fully 6–8000 feet of snow on
them, which would not be the case were the loftiest only 21,600 feet
high.
[359] These angles were taken both at sunrise and sunset, and with an
excellent theodolite, and were repeated after two considerable
intervals. The telescopes were reversed after each observation, and
every precaution used to insure accuracy; nevertheless the mean of one
set of observations of angular height often varied 1 degree from that
of another set. This is probably much due to atmospheric refraction,
whose effect and amount it is impossible to estimate accurately in
such cases. Here the objects are not only viewed through 160 miles of
atmosphere, but through belts from between 6000 to 20,000 feet of
vertical height, varying in humidity and transparency at different
parts of the interval. If we divide this column of atmosphere into
sections parallel to those of latitude, we have first a belt fifteen
miles broad, hanging over the Khasia, 2000 to 4000 feet above the sea;
beyond it, a second belt, seventy miles broad, hangs over the Assam
valley, which is hardly 300 feet above the level of the sea; and
thirdly, the northern part of the column, which reposes on 60 to 100
miles of the Bhotan lower Himalaya: each of these belts has probably a
different refractive power.
It is singular, that to the eastward of this group, no snowy mountains
are seen, and the lower Himalaya also dip suddenly. This depression is
no doubt partly due to perspective; but as there is no such sudden
disappearance of the chain to the westward, where peaks are seen 35° to
the west of north, it is far more probable that the valley of the
Soobansiri river, which rises in Tibet far behind these peaks, is broad
and open; as is that of the Dihong, still farther east, which we have
every reason to believe is the Tibetan Yaru or Burrampooter.
Supposing then the eastern group to indicate the mountain mass
separating the Soobansiri from the Monass river, no other mountains
conspicuous for altitude or dimension rise between N.N.E. and north,
where there is another immense group. This, though within 120 miles of
Myrung, is below its horizon, and scarcely above that of Nunklow (which
is still nearer to it), and cannot therefore attain any great
elevation.
Far to the westward again, is a very lofty peaked mountain bearing
N.N.W., which subtends an angle of –3′ 30″ from Myrung, and +6′ 0″ from
Nunklow. The angles of this seem to indicate its being either
Chumulari, or that great peak which I saw due east from Bbomtso top,
and which I then estimated at ninety miles off and 23,500 feet high.
From the Khasia angles, its latitude and longitude are 28° 6′ and 89°
30′, its elevation 27,000 feet, and its distance from Myrung 200 miles.
I need hardly add that neither the position nor the elevation computed
from such data is worthy of confidence. Further still, to the extreme
west, is an immense low hog-backed mass of snow, with a small peak on
it; this bears north-west, both from Myrung and Nunklow, subtending an
angle of –25′ from the former, and –17′ from the latter station. It is
in all probability Chumulari, 210 miles distant from Nunklow. Donkia,
if seen, would be distant 230 miles from the same spot in the Khasia,
and Kinchinjunga 260; possibly they are visible (by refraction) from
Chillong, though even further from it.
The distance from Myrung to Nunklow is ten miles, along an excellent
road. The descent is at first sudden, beyond which the country is
undulating, interspersed with jungle (of low trees, chiefly oaks) and
marshes, with much rice cultivation. Grasses are exceedingly numerous;
we gathered fifty kinds, besides twenty _Cyperaceæ_: four were
cultivated, namely sugar-cane, rice, _Coix,_ and maize. Most of the
others were not so well suited to pasturage as those of higher
localities. Dwarf Phœnix palm occurs by the roadside at 5000 feet
elevation.
Gneiss (with garnets) highly inclined, was the prevalent rock (striking
north-east), and scattered boulders of syenite became very frequent. In
one place the latter rock is seen bursting through the gneiss, which is
slaty and very crystalline at the junction.
[Illustration: The Bhotan Himalaya, Assam Valley, and Burrampooter
River, from Nunklow, looking north.]
Nunklow is placed at the northern extremity of a broad spur that
over-hangs the valley of the Burrampooter river, thirty miles distant.
The descent from it is very rapid, and beyond it none of the many spurs
thrown out by the Khasia attain more than 1000 feet elevation; hence,
though the range does not present so abrupt a face to the Burrampooter
as it does to the Jheels, Nunklow is considered as on the brink of its
north slope. The elevation of the bungalow is 4,688 feet, and the
climate being hot, it swarms with mosquitos, fleas, and rats. It
commands a superb view to the north, of the Himalayan snows, of the
Burrampooter, and intervening malarious Terai forest; and to the south,
of the undulating Khasia, with Kollong rock bearing south-west. All the
hills between this and Myrung look from Nunklow better wooded than they
do from Myrung, in consequence of the slopes exposed to the south being
bare of forest.
A thousand feet below the bungalow, a tropical forest begins, of figs,
birch, horse-chestnut, oak, nutmeg. _Cedrela, Engelhardtia,
Artocarpeæ,_ and _Elæocarpus,_ in the gullies, and tall pines on the
dry slopes, which are continued down to the very bottom of the valley
in which flows the Bor-panee, a broad and rapid river that descends
from Chillong, and winds round the base of the Nunklow spur. Many of
the pines are eighty feet high, and three or four in diameter, but none
form gigantic trees. The quantity of balsams in the wet ravines is very
great, and tree-ferns of several kinds are common.
The Bor-panee is about forty yards wide, and is spanned by an elegant
iron suspension-bridge, that is clamped to the gneiss rock (strike
north-east, dip north-west) on either bank; beneath is a series of
cascades, none high, but all of great beauty from the broken masses of
rocks and picturesque scenery on either side. We frequently botanised
up and down the river with great success: many curious plants grow on
its stony and rocky banks; and amongst them _Rhododendron formosum_ at
the low elevation of 2000 feet. A most splendid fern, _Dipteris
Wallichii,_ is abundant, with the dwarf Phœnix palm and _Cycas
pectinata._ Wild animals are very abundant here, though extremely rare
on the higher part of the Khasia range; tigers, however, and bears,
ascend to Nunklow. We saw troops of wild dogs (“Kuleam,” Khas.), deer,
and immense quantities of the droppings of the wild elephant; an animal
considered in Assam dangerous to meet, whereas in other parts of India
it is not dreaded till provoked. There is, however, no quadruped that
varies more in its native state than this: the Ceylon kind differs from
the Indian in the larger size and short tusks, and an experienced judge
at Calcutta will tell at once whether the newly caught elephant is from
Assam, Silhet, Cuttack, Nepal, or Chittagong. Some of the differences,
in size, roundness of shoulders and back, quantity of hair, length of
limb, and shape of head, are very marked; and their dispositions are
equally various.
The lowest rocks seen are at a considerable distance down the
Bor-panee; they are friable sandstones that strike uniformly with the
gneiss. From the bridge upwards the rocks are all gneiss, alternating
with chert and quartz. The Nunklow spur is covered with enormous
rounded blocks of syenite, reposing on clay or on one another. These do
not descend the hill, and are the remains of an extensive formation
which we could only find _in situ_ at one spot on the road to Myrung
(see earlier), but which must have been of immense thickness.[360] One
block within ten yards of the bungalow door was fifteen feet long, six
high, and eight broad; it appeared half buried, and was rapidly
decomposing from the action of the rain. Close by, to the westward, in
walking amongst the masses we were reminded of a moraine of most
gigantic sized blocks; one which I measured was forty feet long and
eleven above the ground; its edges were rounded, and its surface flaked
off in pieces a foot broad and a quarter of an inch thick. Trees and
brushwood often conceal the spaces between these fragments, and afford
dens for bears and leopards, into which man cannot follow them.
[360] The tendency of many volcanic rocks to decompose in spheres is
very well known: it is conspicuous in the black basalts north of
Edinburgh, but I do not know any instance equal to this of Nunklow,
for the extent of decomposition and dimensions of the resulting
spheres.
Sitting in the cool evenings on one of these great blocks, and watching
the Himalayan glaciers glowing with the rays of sunset, appearing to
change in form and dimensions with the falling shadows, it was
impossible to refrain from speculating on the possibility of these
great boulders heaped on the Himalayan-ward face of the Khasia range,
having been transported hither by ice at some former period; especially
as the Mont Blanc granite, in crossing the lake of Geneva to the Jura,
must have performed a hardly less wonderful ice journey: but this
hypothesis is clearly untenable; and unparalleled in our experience as
the results appear, if attributed to denudation and weathering alone,
we are yet compelled to refer them to these causes. The further we
travel, and the longer we study, the more positive becomes the
conviction that the part played by these great agents in sculpturing
the surface of our planet, is as yet but half recognised.
We returned on the 7th of August to Churra, where we employed ourselves
during the rest of the month in collecting and studying the plants of
the neighbourhood. We hired a large and good bungalow, in which three
immense coal fires[361] were kept up for drying plants and
papers, and fifteen men were always employed, some in changing, and
some in collecting, from morning till night. The coal was procured
within a mile of our door, and cost about six shillings a month; it was
of the finest quality, and gave great heat and few ashes. Torrents of
rain descended almost daily, twelve inches in as many hours being
frequently registered; and we remarked that it was impossible to judge
of the quantity by estimation, an apparent deluge sometimes proving
much less in amount than much lighter but steadier falls; hence the
greatest fall is probably that in which the drops are moderately large;
very close together, and which pass through a saturated atmosphere. The
temperature of the rain here and elsewhere in India was always a degree
or two below that of the air.
[361] This coal is excellent for many purposes. We found it generally
used by the Assam steamers, and were informed on board that in which
we traversed the Sunderbunds, some months afterwards, that her
furnaces consumed 729 lbs. per hour; whereas the consumption of
English coal was 800 lbs., of Burdwan coal 8401bs., and of Assam 900
lbs.
Though the temperature in August rose to 75°, we never felt a fire
oppressive, owing to the constant damp, and absence of sun. The latter,
when it broke through the clouds, shone powerfully, raising the
thermometer 20° and 30° in as many minutes. On such occasions, hot
blasts of damp wind ascend the valleys, and impinge suddenly against
different houses on the flat, giving rise to extraordinary differences
between the mean daily temperatures of places not half a mile apart.
On the 4th of September we started for the village of Chela, which lies
west from Churra, at the embouchure of the Boga-panee on the Jheels.
The path runs by Mamloo, and down the spur to the Jasper hill (see p.
280): the vegetation all along is very tropical, and pepper, ginger,
maize, and Betel palm, are cultivated around small cottages, which are
only distinguishable in the forest by their yellow thatch of dry
_Calamus_ (Rattan) leaves. From Jasper hill a very steep ridge leads to
another, called Lisouplang, which is hardly so high as Mamloo; the
rocks are the same sandstone, with fragments of coal, and remains of
the limestone formation capping it.
Hot gusts of wind blow up the valleys, alternating with clouds and
mists, and it is curious to watch the effects of the latter in stilling
the voices of insects (Cicadas) and birds. Common crows and vultures
haunt the villages, but these, and all other large birds, are very rare
in the Khasia. A very few hawks are occasionally seen, also sparrows
and kingfishers, and I once heard a cuckoo; pheasants are sometimes
shot, but we never saw any. Kites become numerous after the rains, and
are regarded as a sign of their cessation. More remarkable than the
rarity of birds is the absence of all animals except domestic rats, as
a more suitable country for hares and rabbits could not be found.
Reptiles, and especially Colubridæ, are very common in the Khasia
mountains, and I procured sixteen species and many specimens. The
natives repeatedly assured us that these were all harmless, and Dr.
Gray, who has kindly examined all my snakes, informs me of the
remarkable fact (alluded to in a note in p. 25), that whereas none of
these are poisonous, four out of the eleven species which I found in
Sikkim are so. One of the Khasia blind-worms (a new species) belongs to
a truly American genus (_Ophisaurus_), a fact as important as is that
of the Sikkim skink and _Agama_ being also American forms.
_Arundina,_ a beautiful purple grassy-leaved orchid, was abundantly in
flower on the hill-top, and the great white swallow-tailed moth
(_Saturnia Atlas_) was extremely common, with tropical butterflies and
other insects. The curious leaf-insect (_Mantis_) was very abundant on
the orange trees, on the leaves of which the natives believe it to
feed; nor indeed could we persuade some of our friends that its thin
sharp jaws are unsuited for masticating leaves, and that these and its
prehensile feet indicate its predacious nature: added to which, its
singular resemblance to a leaf is no less a provision against its being
discovered by its enemies, than an aid in deceiving its prey.
We descended rapidly for many miles through beautiful rocky woods, with
villages nestling amongst groves of banana and trellised climbers; and
from the brow of a hill looked down upon a slope covered with
vegetation and huts, which formed the mart of Chela, and below which
the Boga-panee flowed in a deep gorge. The view was a very striking
one: owing to the steepness of the valley below our feet, the roofs
alone of the cottages were visible, from which ascended the sounds and
smells of a dense native population, and to which there appeared to be
no way of descending. The opposite side rose precipitously in lofty
table-topped mountains, and the river was studded with canoes.
The descent was fully 800 feet, on a slope averaging 25° to 35°. The
cottages were placed close together, each within a little bamboo
enclosure, eight to ten yards deep; and no two were on the same level.
Each was built against a perpendicular wall which supported a cutting
in the bank behind; and a similar wall descended in front of it,
forming the back of the compartment in which the cottage next below it
was erected. The houses were often raised on platforms, and some had
balconies in front, which overhung the cottage below. All were mere
hovels of wattle or mud, with very high-pitched roofs: stone tanks
resembling fonts, urns, coffins, and sarcophagi, were placed near the
better houses, and blocks of stone were scattered everywhere.
We descended from hovel to hovel, alternately along the gravelled flat
of each enclosure, and perpendicularly down steps cut in the sandstone
or let into the walls. I counted 800 houses from the river, and there
must be many more: the inhabitants are Bengalees and Khasias, and
perhaps amount to 3000 or 4000; but this is a very vague estimate.
[Illustration: Chela village]
We lodged in a curious house, consisting of one apartment, twenty feet
long, and five high, raised thirty feet upon bamboos: the walls were of
platted bamboo matting, fastened to strong wooden beams, and one side
opened on a balcony that overhung the river. The entrance was an oval
aperture reached by a ladder, and closed by folding-doors that turned
on wooden pivots. The roof was supported by tressels of great
thickness, and like the rest of the woodwork, was morticed, no nails
being used throughout the building. The floor was of split bamboos laid
side by side.
We ascended the Boga-panee in canoes, each formed of a hollowed trunk
fifty feet long and four broad; we could not, however, proceed far, on
account of the rapids. The rocks in its bed are limestone, but a great
bluff cliff of sandy conglomerate (strike east-south-east and dip
south-south-west 70°), several hundred feet high, rises on the east
bank close above the village, above which occurs amygdaloidal basalt.
The pebbles in the river (which was seventy yards broad, and turbid)
were of slate, basalt, sandstone, and syenite: on the opposite bank
were sandstones over-lain by limestone, both dipping to the southward.
Beautiful palms, especially _Caryota urens_ (by far the handsomest in
India), and groves of betel-nut bordered the river, with oranges,
lemons, and citrons; intermixed with feathery bamboos,
horizontally-branched acacias, oaks, with pale red young leaves, and
deep green foliaged figs. Prickly rattans and _Plectocomia_ climbed
amongst these, their enormous plumes of foliage upborne by the matted
branches of the trees, and their arrowy tops shooting high above the
forest.
After staying three days at Chela, we descended the stream in canoes,
shooting over pebbly rapids, and amongst rocks of limestone, water-worn
into fantastic shapes, till we at last found ourselves gliding gently
along the still canals of the Jheels. Many of these rapids are so far
artificial, that they are enclosed by gravel banks, six feet high,
which, by confining the waters, give them depth; but, Chela being
hardly above the level of the sea, their fall is very trifling. We
proceeded across the Jheels[362] to Chattuc, and then north again to
Pundua, and so to Churra.
[362] The common water-plants of the Jheels are _Vallisneria serrata,
Damasonium,_ 2 _Myriophylla,_ 2 _Villarsiæ, Trapa,_ blue, white,
purple and scarlet water-lilies, _Hydrilla, Utricularia, Limnophila,
Azolla, Salvinia, Ceratopteris,_ and floating grasses.
Having pretty well exhausted the botany of Churra, Dr. Thomson and I
started on the 13th of September for the eastern part of the Khasia and
Jyntea mountains. On the Kala-panee road,[363] which we followed, we
passed crowds of market people, laden with dried fish in a half-putrid
state, which scented the air for many yards: they were chiefly carp,
caught and dried at the foot of the hills. Large parties were bringing
down baskets of bird-cherries, cinnamon-bark, iron, pine planks,
fire-wood, and potatoes. Of these, the bird-cherries (like damsons) are
made into an excellent preserve by the English residents, who also make
capital cherry-brandy of them: the trade in cinnamon is of recent
introduction, and is much encouraged by the Inglis family, to whose
exertions these people are so greatly indebted; the cinnamon is the
peeled bark of a small species of _Cinnamomum_ allied to that of
Ceylon, and though inferior in flavour and mucilaginous (like cassia),
finds a ready market at Calcutta. It has been used to adulterate the
Ceylon cinnamon; and an extensive fraud was attempted by some Europeans
at Calcutta, who sent boxes of this, with a top layer of the genuine,
to England. The smell of the cinnamon loads was as fragrant as that of
the fish was offensive.
[363] The Pea-violet (_Crotalaria occulta_) was very common by the
road-side, and smelt deliciously of violets: the English name suggests
the appearance of the flower, for which and for its fragrance it is
well worth cultivation.
The road from Kala-panee bungalow strikes off north-easterly, and
rounds the head of the deep valley to the east of Churra; it then
crosses the head-waters of the Kala-panee river, still a clear stream,
the bed of which is comparatively superficial: the rocks consist of a
little basalt and much sandstone, striking east by north, and dipping
north by west. The Boga-panee is next reached, flowing in a shallow
valley, about 200 feet below the general level of the hills, which are
grassy and treeless. The river[364] is thirty yards across, shallow and
turbid; its bed is granite, and beyond it scattered stunted pines are
met with; a tree which seems to avoid the sandstone. In the evening we
arrived at Nonkreem, a large village in a broad marshy valley, where we
procured accommodation with some difficulty, the people being by no
means civil, and the Rajah, Sing Manuk, holding himself independent of
the British Government.
[364] The fall of this river, between this elevation (which may be
considered that of its source) and Chela, is about 5,500 feet.
Atmospheric denudation and weathering have produced remarkable effects
on the lower part of the Nonkreem valley, which is blocked up by a
pine-crested hill, 200 feet high, entirely formed of round blocks of
granite, heaped up so as to resemble an old moraine; but like the
Nunklow boulders, these are not arranged as if by glacial action. The
granite is micaceous, and usually very soft, decomposing into a coarse
reddish sand, that colours the Boga-panee. To procure the iron-sand,
which is disseminated through it, the natives conduct water over the
beds of granite sand, and as the lighter particles are washed away, the
remainder is removed to troughs, where the separation of the ore is
completed. The smelting is very rudely carried on in charcoal fires,
blown by enormous double-action bellows, worked by two persons, who
stand on the machine, raising the flaps with their hands, and expanding
them with their feet, as shown in the cut at p. 312. There is neither
furnace nor flux used in the reduction. The fire is kindled on one aide
of an upright stone (like the head-stone of a grave), with a small
arched hole close to the ground: near this hole the bellows are
suspended; and a bamboo tube from each of its compartments, meets in a
larger one, by which the draught is directed under the hole in the
stone to the fire. The ore is run into lumps as large as two fists,
with a rugged surface: these lumps are afterwards cleft nearly in two,
to show their purity.
[Illustration: Nonkreem village]
The scenery about Nonkreem village is extremely picturesque, and we
procured many good plants on the rocks, which were covered with the
purple-flowered Orchid, _Cœlogyne Wallichii._ The country is everywhere
intersected with trenches for iron-washing, and some large marshes were
dammed up for the same purpose: in these we found some beautiful
balsams, _Hypericum_ and _Parnassia_; also a diminutive water-lily, the
flower of which is no larger than a half-crown; it proves to be the
_Nymphæa pygmæa_ of China and Siberia—a remarkable fact in the
geographical distribution of plants.
[Illustration: Bellows]
From Nonkreem we proceeded easterly to Pomrang, leaving Chillong hill
on the north, and again crossing the Bega-panee, beyond which the
sandstone appeared (strike north-east and dip north-west 60°); the soil
was poor in the extreme; not an inhabitant or tree was to be seen
throughout the grassy landscape, and hardly a bush, save an occasional
rhododendron, dwarf oak, or _Pieris,_ barely a few inches high.
At Pomrang we took up our quarters in an excellent empty bungalow,
built by Mr. Stainforth (Judge of Silhet), who kindly allowed us the
use of it. Its elevation was 5,143 feet, and it occupied the eastern
extremity of a lofty spur that overhangs the deep fir-clad valley of
the Oongkot, dividing Khasia from Jyntea. The climate of Pomrang is so
much cooler and less rainy than at Churra, that this place is more
eligible for a station; but the soil is quite impracticable, there is
an occasional scarcity of water, the pasture is wholly unsuited for
cattle or sheep, and the distance from the plains is too great.
A beautiful view extends eastwards to the low Jyntea hills, backed by
the blue mountains of Cachar, over the deep valley in front; to the
northward, a few peaks of the Himalaya are seen, and westward is
Chillong. We staid here till the 23rd September, and then proceeded
south-eastward to Mooshye. The path descends into the valley of the
Oongkot, passing the village of Pomrang, and then through woods of
pine, _Gordonia,_ and oak, the latter closely resembling the English,
and infested with galls. The slopes are extensively cultivated with
black awnless unirrigated rice, and poor crops of _Coix,_ protected
from the birds by scarecrows of lines stretched across the fields,
bearing tassels and tufts of fern, shaken by boys. This fern proved to
be a very curious and interesting genus, which is only known to occur
elsewhere at Hong-Kong in China, and has been called _Bowringia,_ after
the eminent Dr. Bowring.
We crossed the river[365] twice, proceeding south-west to Mooshye, a
village placed on an isolated, flat-topped, and very steep-sided hill,
4,863 feet above the sea, and perhaps 3,500 above the Oongkot, which
winds round its base. A very steep path led up slate rocks to the top
(which was of sandstone), where there is a stockaded guard-house, once
occupied by British troops, of which we took possession. A Labiate
plant (_Mesona Wallichiana_) grew on the ascent, whose bruised leaves
smelt as strongly of patchouli, as do those of the plant producing that
perfume, to which it is closely allied. The _Pogostemon Patchouli_ has
been said to occur in these parts of India, but we never met with it,
and doubt the accuracy of the statement. It is a native of the Malay
peninsula, whence the leaves are imported into Bengal, and so to
Europe.
[365] _Podostemom_ grew on the stones at the bottom: it is a
remarkable waterplant, resembling a liver-wort in its mode of growth.
Several species occur at different elevations in the Khasia, and
appear only in autumn, when they often carpet the bottom of the
streams with green. In spring and summer no traces of them are seen;
and it is difficult to conceive what becomes of the seeds in the
interval, and how these, which are well known, and have no apparent
provision for the purpose, attach themselves to the smooth rocks at
the bottom of the torrents. All the kinds flower and ripen their seeds
under water; the stamens and pistil being protected by the closed
flower from the wet. This genus does not inhabit the Sikkim rivers,
probably owing to the great changes of temperature to which these are
subject.
The summit commands a fine view northward of some Himalayan peaks, and
southwards of the broad valley of the Oongkot, which is level, and
bounded by steep and precipitous hills, with flat tops. On the 25th we
left Mooshye for Amwee in Jyntea, which lies to the south-east. We
descended by steps cut in the sandstone, and fording the Oongkot,
climbed the hills on its east side, along the grassy tops of which we
continued, at an elevation of 4000 feet. Marshy flats intersect the
hills, to which wild elephants sometimes ascend, doing much damage to
the rice crops. We crossed a stream by a bridge formed of one gigantic
block of sandstone, 20 feet long, close to the village, which is a
wretched one, and is considered unhealthy: it stands on the high road
from Jynteapore (at the foot of the hills to the southward) to Assam:
the only road that crosses the mountains east of that from Churra to
Nunklow.
[Illustration: Old bridge at Amwee]
Though so much lower, this country, from the barrenness of the soil, is
more thinly inhabited than the Khasia. The pitcher-plant (_Nepenthes_)
grows on stony and grassy hills about Amwee, and crawls along the
ground; its pitchers seldom contain insects in the wild state, nor can
we suggest any special function for the wonderful organ it possesses.
About eight miles south of the village is a stream, crossed by a
bridge, half of which is formed of slabs of stone (of which one is
twenty-one feet long, seven broad, and two feet three and a half inches
thick), supported on piers, and the rest is a well turned arch, such as
I have not seen elsewhere among the hill tribes of India. It is fast
crumbling away, and is covered with tropical plants, and a beautiful
white-flowered orchis[366] grew in the mossy crevices of its stones.
[366] _Diplomeris; Apostasia_ also grew in this gulley, with a small
_Arundina,_ some beautiful species of _Sonerila,_ and _Argostemma._
The neighbourhood was very rich in plants.
From Amwee our route lay north-east across the Jyntea hills to Joowye,
the hill-capital of the district. The path gradually ascended, dipping
into valleys scooped out in the horizontal sandstone down to the
basalt; and boulders of the same rock were scattered about. Fields of
rice occupy the bottoms of these valleys, in which were placed gigantic
images of men, dressed in rags, and armed with bows and arrows, to
scare away the wild elephants! Slate rocks succeed the sandstone
(strike north-east, dip north-west), and with them pines and birch
appear, clothing the deep flanks of the Mintadoong valley, which we
crossed.
The situation of Joowye is extremely beautiful: it occupies the broken
wooded slope of a large open flat valley, dotted with pines; and
consists of an immense number of low thatched cottages, scattered
amongst groves of bamboo, and fields of plantain, tobacco, yams,
sugar-cane, maize, and rice, surrounded by hedges of bamboo,
_Colquhounia,_ and _Erythrina._ Narrow steep lanes lead amongst these,
shaded with oak, birch, _Podocarpus,_ Camellia, and _Araliaceæ_; the
larger trees being covered with orchids, climbing palms, _Pothos,
Scindapsus,_ pepper, and _Gnetum_; while masses of beautiful red and
violet balsams grew under every hedge and rock. The latter was of
sandstone, overlying highly inclined schists, and afforded magnificent
blocks for the natives to rear on end, or make seats of. Some erect
stones on a hill at the entrance are immensely large, and surround a
clump of fine fig and banyan trees.[367]
[367] In some tanks we found _Hydropeltis,_ an American and Australian
plant allied to _Nymphæa._ Mr. Griffith first detected it here, and
afterwards in Bhotan, these being the only known habitats for it in
the Old World. It grows with _Typha, Acorus Calamus_ (sweet flag),
_Vallisneria, Potamogeton, Sparganium,_ and other European
water-plants.
We procured a good house after many delays, for the people were far
from obliging; it was a clean, very long cottage, with low thatched
eaves almost touching the ground, and was surrounded by a high bamboo
paling that enclosed out-houses built on a well-swept floor of beaten
earth. Within, the woodwork was carved in curious patterns, and was
particularly well fitted. The old lady to whom it belonged got tired of
us before two days were over, and first tried to smoke us out by a
large fire of green wood at that end of the cottage which she retained;
and afterwards by inviting guests to a supper, with whom she kept up a
racket all night. Her son, a tall, sulky fellow, came to receive the
usual gratuity on our departure, which we made large to show we bore no
ill-will: he, however, behaved so scornfully, pretending to despise it,
that I had no choice but to pocket it again; a proceeding which was
received with shouts of laughter, at his expense, from a large crowd of
bystanders.
On the 30th of September we proceeded north-east from Joowye to
Nurtiung, crossing the watershed of the Jyntea range, which is
granitic, and scarcely raised above the mean level of the hills; it is
about 4,500 feet elevation. To the north the descent is at first rather
abrupt for 500 feet, to a considerable stream, beyond which is the
village of Nurtiung. The country gradually declines hence to the
north-east, in grassy hills; which to the east become higher and more
wooded: to the west the Khasia are seen, and several Himalayan peaks to
the north.
The ascent to the village from the river is by steps cut in a narrow
cleft of the schist rocks, to a flat, elevated 4,178 feet above the
sea: we here procured a cottage, and found the people remarkably civil.
The general appearance is the same as at Joowye, but there are here
extensive and very unhealthy marshes, whose evil effects we
experienced, in having the misfortune to lose one of our servants by
fever. Except pines, there are few large trees; but the quantity of
species of perennial woody plants contributing to form the jungles is
quite extraordinary: I enumerated 140, of which 60 were trees or large
shrubs above twenty feet high. One of these was the _Hamamelis
chinensis,_ a plant hitherto only known as a native of China. This, the
_Bowringia,_ and the little _Nymphæa,_ are three out of many remarkable
instances of our approach to the eastern Asiatic flora.
From Nurtiung we walked to the Bor-panee river, sixteen or twenty miles
to the north-east (not the river of that name below Nunklow), returning
the same night; a most fatiguing journey in so hot and damp a climate.
The path lay for the greatest part of the way over grassy hills of
mica-schist, with boulders of granite, and afterwards of syenite, like
those of Nunklow. The descent to the river is through noble woods of
spreading oaks,[368] chesnuts, magnolias, and tall pines: the
vegetation is very tropical, and with the exception of there being no
sal, it resembles that of the dry hills of the Sikkim Terai. The
Bor-panee is forty yards broad, and turbid; its bed, which is of
basalt, is 2,454 feet above the sea: it is crossed by a raft pulled to
and fro by canes.
[368] We collected upwards of fifteen kinds of oak and chesnut in
these and the Khasia mountains; many are magnificent trees, with
excellent wood, while others are inferior as timber.
Nurtiung contains a most remarkable collection of those sepulchral and
other monuments, which form so curious a feature in the scenery of
these mountains and in the habits of their savage population. They are
all placed in a fine grove of trees, occupying a hollow; where several
acres are covered with gigantic, generally circular, slabs of stone,
from ten to twenty-five feet broad, supported five feet above the
ground upon other blocks. For the most part they are buried in
brushwood of nettles and shrubs, but in one place there is an open area
of fifty yards encircled by them, each with a gigantic headstone behind
it. Of the latter the tallest was nearly thirty feet high, six broad,
and two feet eight inches in thickness, and must have been sunk at
least five feet, and perhaps much more, in the ground. The flat slabs
were generally of slate or hornstone; but many of them, and all the
larger ones, were of syenitic granite, split by heat and cold water
with great art. They are erected by dint of sheer brute strength, the
lever being the only aid. Large blocks of syenite were scattered
amongst these wonderful erections.
Splendid trees of _Bombax,_ fig and banyan, overshadowed them: the
largest banyan had a trunk five feet in diameter, clear of the
buttresses, and numerous small trees of _Celtic_ grew out of it, and an
immense flowering tuft of _Vanda cærulea_ (the rarest and most
beautiful of Indian orchids) flourished on one of its limbs. A small
plantain with austere woolly scarlet fruit, bearing ripe seeds, was
planted in this sacred grove, where trees of the most tropical genera
grew mixed with the pine, birch, _Myrica,_ and _Viburnum._
The Nurtiung Stonehenge is no doubt in part religious, as the grove
suggests, and also designed for cremation, the bodies being burnt on
the altars. In the Khasia these upright stones are generally raised
simply as memorials of great events, or of men whose ashes are not
necessarily, though frequently, buried or deposited in hollow stone
sarcophagi near them, and sometimes in an urn placed inside a
sarcophagus, or under horizontal slabs.
[Illustration: Stones at Nurtiung]
The usual arrangement is a row of five, seven, or more erect oblong
blocks with round heads (the highest being placed in the middle), on
which are often wooden discs and cones: more rarely pyramids are built.
Broad slabs for seats are also common by the wayside. Mr. Yule, who
first drew attention to these monuments, mentions one thirty-two feet
by fifteen, and two in thickness; and states that the sarcophagi
(which, however, are rare) formed of four slabs, resemble a drawing in
Bell’s Circassia, and descriptions in Irby and Mangles’ Travels in
Syria. He adds that many villages derive their names from these stones,
“mau” signifying “stone:” thus “Mausmai” is “the stone of oath,”
because, as his native informant said, “there was war between Churra
and Mausmai, and when they made peace, they swore to it, and placed a
stone as a witness;” forcibly recalling the stone Jacob set up for a
pillar, and other passages in the old Testament: “Mamloo” is “the stone
of salt,” eating salt from a sword’s point being the Khasia form of
oath: “Mauflong” is “the grassy stone,” etc.[369] Returning from this
grove, we crossed a stream by a single squared block, twenty-eight feet
long, five broad, and two thick, of gray syenitic granite with large
crystals of felspar.
[369] Notes on the Khasia mountains and people; by Lieutenant H. Yule,
Bengal Engineers. Analogous combinations occur in the south of England
and in Brittany, etc., where similar structures are found. Thus _mæn,
man,_ or _men_ is the so-called Druidical name for a stony, whence
_Pen-mæn-mawr,_ for “the hill of the big stone,” _Mæn-hayr,_ for the
standing stones of Brittany, and _Dol-men,_ “the table-stone,” for a
cromlech.
We left Nurtiung on the 4th of October, and walked to Pomrang, a very
long and fatiguing day’s work. The route descends north-west of the
village, and turns due east along bare grassy hills of mica-schist and
slate (strike east and west, and dip north). Near the village of Lernai
oak woods are passed, in which _Vanda cœrulea_ grows in profusion,
waving its panicles of azure flowers in the wind. As this beautiful
orchid is at present attracting great attention, from its high price,
beauty, and difficulty of culture, I shall point out how totally at
variance with its native habits, is the cultivation thought necessary
for it in England.[370] The dry grassy hills which it inhabits are
elevated 3000 to 4000 feet: the trees are small, gnarled, and very
sparingly leafy, so that the Vanda which grows on their limbs is fully
exposed to sun, rain, and wind. There is no moss or lichen on the
branches with the Vanda, whose roots sprawl over the dry rough bark.
The atmosphere is on the whole humid, and extremely so during the
rains; but there is no damp heat, or stagnation of the air, and at the
flowering season the temperature ranges between 60° and 80°, there is
much sunshine, and both air and bark are dry during the day: in July
and August, during the rains, the temperature is a little higher than
above, but in winter it falls much lower, and hoar-frost forms on the
ground. Now this winter’s cold, summer’s heat, and autumn’s drought,
and above all, this constant free exposure to fresh air and the winds
of heaven, are what of all things we avoid exposing our orchids to in
England. It is under these conditions, however, that all the finer
Indian _Orchideæ,_ grow, of which we found _Dendrobium Farmeri,
Dalhousianum, Devonianum,_ etc., with _Vanda cœrulea_; whilst the most
beautiful species of _Cœlogyne, Cymbidium, Bolbophyllum,_ and
_Cypripedium,_ inhabit cool climates at elevations above 4000 feet in
Khasia, and as high as 6000 to 7000 in Sikkim.
[370] We collected seven men’s loads of this superb plant for the
Royal Gardens at Kew; but owing to unavoidable accidents and
difficulties, few specimens reached England alive. A gentleman who
sent his gardener with us to be shown the locality, was more
successful: he sent one man’s load to England on commission, and
though it arrived in a very poor state, it sold for 300_l_, the
individual plants fetching prices varying from 3_l_ to 10_l._ Had all
arrived alive, they would have cleared 1000 pounds. An active
collector, with the facilities I possessed, might easily clear from
2000_l_ to 3000_l_, in one season, by the sale of Khasia orchids.
On the following day we turned out our Vanda to dress the specimens for
travelling, and preserve the flowers for botanical purposes. Of the
latter we had 360 panicles, each composed of from six to twenty-one
broad pale-blue tesselated flowers, three and a half to four inches
across and they formed three piles on the floor of the verandah, each a
yard high: what would we not have given to have been able to transport
a single panicle to a Chiswick fête!
On the 10th of October we sent twenty-four strong mountaineers to
Churra, laden with the collections of the previous month; whilst we
returned to Nonkreem, and crossing the shoulder of Chillong, passed
through the village of Moleem in a north-west direction to the Syong
bungalow. From this we again crossed the range to Nunklow and the
Bor-panee, and returned by Moflong and the Kala-panee to Churra during
the latter part of the month.
In November the vegetation above 4000 feet turns wintry and brown, the
weather becomes chilly, and though the cold is never great, hoar-frost
forms at Churra, and water freezes at Moflong. We prepared to leave as
these signs of winter advanced: we had collected upwards of 2,500
species, and for the last few weeks all our diligence, and that of our
collectors, had failed to be rewarded by a single novelty. We however
procured many species in fruit, and made a collection of upwards of 300
kinds of woods, many of very curious structure. As, however, we
projected a trip to Cachar before quitting the neighbourhood, we
retained our collectors, giving orders for them to meet us at Chattuc,
on our way down the Soormah in December, with their collections, which
amounted to 200 men’s loads, and for the conveyance of which to
Calcutta, Mr. Inglis procured us boats.
Before dismissing the subject of the Khasia mountains, it will be well
to give a slight sketch of their prominent geographical features, in
connection with their geology. The general geological characters of the
chain may be summed up in a few words. The nucleus or axis is of highly
inclined stratified metamorphic rocks, through which the granite has
been protruded, and the basalt and syenite afterwards injected. After
extensive denudations of these, the sandstone, coal, and limestone were
successively deposited. These are altered and displaced along the
southern edge of the range, by black amygdaloidal trap, and have in
their turn been extensively denuded; and it is this last operation that
has sculptured the range, and given the mountains their present aspect;
for the same gneisses, slates, and basalts in other countries, present
rugged peaks, domes, or cones, and there is nothing in their
composition or arrangement here that explains the tabular or rounded
outline they assume, or the uniform level of the spurs into which they
rise, or the curious steep sides and flat floors of the valleys which
drain them.
All these peculiarities of outline are the result of denudation, of the
specific action of which agent we are very ignorant. The remarkable
difference between the steep cliffs on the south face of the range, and
the rounded outline of the hills on the northern slopes, may be
explained on the supposition that when the Khasia was partially
submerged, the Assam valley was a broad bay or gulf; and that while the
Churra cliffs were exposed to the full sweep of the ocean, the Nunklow
shore was washed by a more tranquil sea.
The broad flat marshy heads of all the streams in the central and
northern parts of the chain, and the rounded hills that separate them,
indicate the levelling action of a tidal sea, acting on a low flat
shore;[371] whilst the steep flat- floored valleys of the southern
watershed may be attributed to the scouring action of higher tides on a
boisterous rocky coast. These views are confirmed by an examination of
the east shores of the Bay of Bengal, and particularly by a comparison
of the features of the country about Silhet, now nearly 280 miles
distant from the sea, with those of the Chittagong coast, with which
they are identical.
[371] Since our return to England, we have been much struck with the
similarity in contour of the Essex and Suffolk coasts, and with the
fact that the tidal coast sculpturing of this surface is preserved in
the very centre of High Suffolk, twenty to thirty miles distant from
the sea, in rounded outlines and broad flat marshy valleys.
The geological features of the Khasia are in many respects so similar
to those of the Vindhya, Kymore, Behar, and Rajmahal mountains, that
they have been considered by some observers as an eastern prolongation
of that great chain, from which they are geographically separated by
the delta of the Ganges and Burrampooter. The general contour of the
mountains, and of their sandstone cliffs, is the same, and the
association of this rock with coal and lime is a marked point of
similarity; there is, however, this difference between them, that the
coal-shales of Khasia and limestone of Behar are non-fossiliferous,
while the lime of Khasia and the coal-shales of Behar contain fossils.
The prevalent north-east strike of the gneiss is the same in both,
differing from the Himalaya, where the stratified rocks generally
strike north-west. The nummulites of the limestone are the only known
means we have of forming an approximate estimate of the age of the
Khasia coal, which is the most interesting feature in the geology of
the range: these fossils have been examined by MM. Archiac and Jules
Haines,[372] who have pronounced the species collected by Dr. Thomson
and myself to be the same as those found in the nummulite rocks of
north-west India, Scinde, and Arabia.
[372] “Description des Animaux Fossiles des Indes Orientales;” p. 178.
These species are _Nummulites scabra,_ Lamarck, _N. obtusa,_ Sowerby,
_N. Lucasana,_ Deshayes, and _N. Beaumonti,_ d’Arch. and Haines.