Books: Himalayan Journals (Complete)

J >> J. D. Hooker >> Himalayan Journals (Complete)

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During the night of the 14th of February, I observed a beautiful
display, apparently of the Aurora borealis, an account of which will
be found in the Appendix.

_February_ 15.--Our passage through the Soane sands was very
tedious, though accomplished in excellent style, the elephants
pushing forward the heavy waggons of mining tools with their
foreheads. The wheels were sometimes buried to the axles in sand, and
the draught bullocks were rather in the way than otherwise.

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

We encamped close to the western shore, at the village of Dearee
(alt. 330 feet); it marks the termination of the Kymore Hills, along
whose S.E. bases our course now lay, as we here quitted the grand
trunk road for a rarely visited country.

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

The hills here present a straight precipitous wall of horizontally
stratified sandstone, very like the rocks at the Cape of Good Hope,
with occasionally a shallow valley, and a slope of debris at the
base, densely clothed with dry jungle. The cliffs are about 1000 feet
high, and the plants similar to those at the foot of Paras-nath, but
stunted: I climbed to the top, the latter part by steps or ledges of
sandstone. The summit was clothed with long grass, trees of
_Diospyros_ and _Terminalia,_ and here and there the
_Boswellia._ On the precipitous rocks the curious white-barked
_Sterculia foetida_ "flung its arms abroad," leafless, and
looking as if blasted by lightning.

A hole was sunk here again for the thermometers, and, as usual, with
great labour; the temperatures obtained were--
Air.
9 p.m. 64.5 degrees
5.30 a.m. 58.5 degrees
4 feet 6 inches, under good shade of trees
9 p.m. 77 degrees
11 p.m. 76 degrees
5.30 a.m. 76 degrees

This is a very great rise (of 4 degrees) above any of those
previously obtained, and certainly indicates a much higher mean
temperature of the locality. I can only suppose it due to the
radiation of heat from the long range of sandstone cliff, exposed to
the south, which overlooks the flat whereon we were encamped, and
which, though four or five miles off, forms a very important feature.
The differences of temperature in the shade taken on this and the
other side of the river are 2.75 degrees higher on this side.

On the 17th we marched to Akbarpore (alt. 400. feet), a village
overhung by the rocky precipice of Rotasghur, a spur of the Kymore,
standing abruptly forward.

The range, in proceeding up the Soane valley, gradually approaches
the river, and beds of non-fossiliferous limestone are seen
protruding below the sandstone and occasionally rising into rounded
hills, the paths upon which appear as white as do those through the
chalk districts of England. The overlying beds of sandstone are
nearly horizontal, or with a dip to the N.W.; the subjacent ones of
limestone dip at a greater angle. Passing between the river and a
detached conical hill of limestone, capped with a flat mass of
sandstone, the spur of Rotas broke suddenly on the view, and very
grand it was, quite realising my anticipations of the position of
these eyrie-like hill-forts of India. To the left of the spur winds
the valley of the Soane, with low-wooded hills on its opposite bank,
and a higher range, connected with that of Behar, in the distance.
To the right, the hills sweep round, forming an immense and
beautifully wooded amphitheatre, about four miles deep, bounded with
a continuation of the escarpment. At the foot of the crowned spur is
the village of Akbarpore, where we encamped in a Mango tope;* [On the
24th of June, 1848, the Soane rose to an unprecedented height, and
laid this grove of Mangos three feet under water.] it occupies some
pretty undulating limestone hills, amongst which several streams flow
from the amphitheatre to the Soane.

During our two days' stay here, I had the advantage of the society of
Mr. C. E. Davis, who was our guide during some rambles in the
neighbourhood, and to whose experience, founded on the best habits of
observation, I am indebted for much information. At noon we started
to ascend to the palace, on the top of the spur. On the way we passed
a beautiful well, sixty feet deep, and with a fine flight of steps to
the bottom. Now neglected and overgrown with flowering weeds and
creepers, it afforded me many of the plants I had only previously
obtained in a withered state; it was curious to observe there some of
the species of the hill-tops, whose seeds doubtless are scattered
abundantly over the surrounding plains, and only vegetate where they
find a coolness and moisture resembling that of the altitude they
elsewhere affect. A fine fig-tree growing out of the stone-work
spread its leafy green branches over the well mouth, which was about
twelve feet square; its roots assumed a singular form, enveloping two
sides of the walls with a beautiful net-work, which at _high-water
mark_ (rainy season), abruptly divides into thousands of little
brushes, dipping into the water which they fringe. It was a pretty
cool place to descend to, from a temperature of 80 degrees above, to
74 degrees at the bottom, where the water was 60 degrees; and most
refreshing to look, either up the shaft to the green fig shadowing
the deep profound, or along the sloping steps through a vista of
flowering herbs and climbing plants, to the blue heaven of a
burning sky.

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

This and Beejaghur, higher up the Soane, were amongst the most
recently reduced forts, and this was further the last of those
wrested from Baber in 1542. Some of the rooms are still habitable,
but the greater part are ruinous, and covered with climbers, both of
wild flowers and of the naturalised garden plants of the adjoining
shrubbery; the _Arbor-tristis,_ with _Hibiscus, Abutilon,_
etc., and above all, the little yellow-flowered _Linaria
ramosissima,_ crawling over every ruined wall, as we see the
walls of our old English castles clothed with its congener
_L. Cymbalaria._

In the old dark stables I observed the soil to be covered with a
copious evanescent efflorescence of nitrate of lime, like soap-suds
scattered about.

I made Rotas Palace 1490 feet above the sea, so that this table-land
is here only fifty feet higher than that I had crossed on the grand
trunk road, before descending at the Dunwah pass. Its mean
temperature is of course considerably (4 degrees) below that of the
valley, but though so cool, agues prevail after the rains.
The extremes of temperature are less marked than in the valley, which
becomes excessively heated, and where hot winds sometimes last for a
week, blowing in furious gusts.

The climate of the whole neighbourhood has of late changed
materially; and the fall of rain has much diminished, consequent on
felling the forests; even within six years the hail-storms have been
far less frequent and violent. The air on the hills is highly
electrical, owing, no doubt, to the dryness of the atmosphere, and to
this the frequent recurrence of hail-storms may be due.

The zoology of these regions is tolerably copious, but little is
known of the natural history of a great part of the plateau; a native
tribe, prone to human sacrifices, is talked of. Tigers are common,
and bears are numerous; they have, besides, the leopard, panther,
viverine cat, and civet; and of the dog tribe the pariah, jackal,
fox, and wild dog, called Koa. Deer are very numerous, of six or
seven kinds. A small alligator inhabits the hill streams, said to be
a very different animal from either of the Soane species.

During our descent we examined several instances of ripple-mark
(fossil waves' footsteps) in the sandstone; they resembled the
fluting of the _Sigillaria_ stems, in the coal-measures, and
occurring as they did here, in sandstone, a little above great beds
of limestone, had been taken for such, and as indications of coal.

On the following day we visited Rajghat, a steep ghat or pass leading
up the cliff to Rotas Palace, a little higher up the river. We took
the elephants to the mouth of the glen, where we dismounted, and
whence we followed a stream abounding in small fish and aquatic
insects (_Dytisci_ and _Gyrini_), through a close jungle,
to the foot of the cliffs, where there are indications of coal.
The woods were full of monkeys, and amongst other plants I observed
_Murraya exotica,_ but it was scarce. Though the jungle was so
dense, the woods were very dry, containing no Palm, _Adroideae,_
Peppers, _Orchideae_ or Ferns. Here, at the foot of the red
cliffs, which towered imposingly above, as seen through the tree
tops, are several small seams of coaly matter in the sandstone, with
abundance of pyrites, sulphur, and copious efflorescences of salts of
iron; but no coal. The springs from the cliffs above are charged with
lime, of which enormous tuff beds are deposited on the sandstone,
full of impressions of the leaves and stems of the surrounding trees,
which, however, I found it very difficult to recognize, and could not
help contrasting this circumstance with the fact that geologists,
unskilled in botany, see no difficulty in referring equally imperfect
remains of extinct vegetables to existing genera. In some parts of
their course the streams take up quantities of the efflorescence,
which they scatter over the sandstones in a singular manner.

At Akbarpore I had sunk two thermometers, one 4 feet 6 inches, the
other 5 feet 6 inches; both invariably indicated 76 degrees, the air
varying from 56 degrees to 79.5 degrees. Dew had formed every night
since leaving Dunwah, the grass being here cooled 12 degrees below
the air.

On the 19th of February we marched up the Soane to Tura, passing some
low hills of limestone, between the cliffs of the Kymore and the
river. On the shaded riverbanks grew abundance of English genera--
_Cynoglossum, Veronica, Potentilla, Ranunculus sceleratus, Rumex,_
several herbaceous _Compositae_ and _Labiatae_; _Tamarix_ formed a
small bush in rocky hillocks in the bed of the river, and in pools
were several aquatic plants, _Zannichellia, Chara,_ a pretty little
_Vallisneria,_ and _Potamogeton._ The Brahminee goose was common
here, and we usually saw in the morning immense flocks of wild geese
overhead, migrating northward.

Here I tried again the effect of solar and nocturnal radiation on the
sand, at different depths, not being able to do so on the alluvium.

Noon:
Temperature of air 87 degrees
Surface 110 degrees
1 inch 102 degrees
2 inches 93.5 degrees
4 inches 84 degrees
8 inches 77 degrees (sand wet)
16 inches 76 degrees (sand wet)
Daylight of following morning:
Surface 52 degrees
1 inch 55 degrees
2 inches 58 degrees
4 inches 67 degrees
8 inches 73 degrees (sand wet)
16 inches 74 degrees (sand wet)

From Tura our little army again crossed the Soane, the scarped cliffs
of the Kymore approaching close to the river on the west side.
The bed is very sandy, and about one mile and a half across.

The elephants were employed again, as at Baroon, to push the cart:
one of them had a bump in consequence, as large as a child's head,
just above the trunk, and bleeding much; but the brave beast
disregarded this, when the word of command was given by his driver.

The stream was very narrow, but deep and rapid, obstructed with beds
of coarse agate, jasper, cornelian and chalcedony pebbles. A clumsy
boat took us across to the village of Soanepore, a wretched
collection of hovels. The crops were thin and poor, and I saw no
palms or good trees. Squirrels however abounded, and were busy laying
up their stores; descending from the trees they scoured across a road
to a field of tares, mounted the hedge, took an observation, foraged
and returned up the tree with their booty, quickly descended, and
repeated the operation of reconnoitering and plundering.

The bed of the river is here considerably above that at Dearee, where
the mean of the observations with those of Baroon, made it about 300
feet. The mean of those taken here and on the opposite side, at Tura,
gives about 400 feet, indicating a fall of 100 feet in only 40 miles.

Near this the sandy banks of the Soane were full of martins' nests,
each one containing a pair of eggs. The deserted ones were literally
crammed full of long-legged spiders (_Opilio_), which could be
raked out with a stick, when they came pouring down the cliff like
corn from a sack; the quantities are quite inconceivable. I did not
observe the martin feed on them.

The entomology here resembled that of Europe, more than I had
expected in a tropical country, where predaceous beetles, at least
_Carabideae_ and _Staphylinideae,_ are generally considered
rare. The latter tribes swarmed under the clods, of many species but
all small, and so singularly active that I could not give the time to
collect many. In the banks again, the round egg-like earthy chrysalis
of the _Sphynx Atropos_ (?) and the many-celled nidus of the
leaf-cutter bee, were very common.

A large columnar _Euphorbia_ (_E. ligulata_) is common all along the
Soane, and I observed it to be used everywhere for fencing. I had not
remarked the _E. neriifolia_; and the _E. tereticaulis_ had been very
rarely seen since leaving Calcutta. The _Cactus_ is nowhere found; it
is abundant in many parts of Bengal, but certainly not indigenous.

Illustration --CROSSING THE SOANE, WITH THE KYMORE HILLS IN THE
DISTANCE.

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

_February_ 21.--Started at daylight: but so slow and difficult
was our progress through fields and woods, and across deep gorges
from the hills, that we only advanced five miles in the day; the
elephant's head too was aching too badly to let him push, and the
cattle would not proceed when the draught was not equal. What was
worse, it was impossible to get them to pull together up the inclined
planes we cut, except by placing a man at the head of each of the
six, eight, or ten in a team, and simultaneously screwing round their
tails; when one tortured animal sometimes capsizes the vehicle.
The small carts got on better, though it was most nervous to see them
rushing down the steeps, especially those with our fragile
instruments, etc.

Kosdera, where we halted, is a pretty place, elevated 440 feet, with
a broad stream front the hills flowing past it. These hills are of
limestone, and rounded, resting upon others of hornstone and jasper.
Following up the stream I came to some rapids, where the stream is
crossed by large beds of hornstone and porphyry rocks, excessively
hard, and pitched up at right angles, or with a bold dip to the
north. The number of strata was very great, and only a few inches or
even lines thick: they presented all varieties of jasper, hornstone,
and quartz of numerous colours, with occasional seams of porphyry or
breccia. The racks were elegantly fringed with a fern I had not
hitherto seen, _Polypodium proliferum,_ which is the only
species the Soane valley presents at this season.

Returning over the hills, I found _Hardwickia binata,_ a most
elegant leguminous tree, tall, erect, with an elongated coma, and the
branches pendulous. These trees grew in a shallow bed of alluvium,
enclosing abundance of agate pebbles and kunker, the former derived
from the quartzy strata above noticed.

On the 23rd and 24th we continued to follow up the Soane, first to
Panchadurma (alt. 490 feet), and thence to Pepura (alt. 587 feet),
the country becoming densely wooded, very wild, and picturesque, the
woods being full of monkeys, parrots, peacocks, hornbills, and wild
animals. _Strychnos potatorum,_ whose berries are used to purify
water, forms a dense foliaged tree, 30 to 60 feet high, some
individuals pale yellow, others deep green, both in apparent health.
_Feronia Elephantum_ and _Aegle marmelos_* [The Bhel fruit, lately
introduced into English medical practice, as an astringent of great
effect, in cases of diarrhoea and dysentery.] were very abundant,
with _Sterculia,_ and the dwarf date-palm.

One of my carts was here hopelessly broken down; advancing on the
spokes instead of the tire of the wheels. By the banks of a deep
gully here the rocks are well exposed: they consist of soft clay
shales resting on the limestone, which is nearly horizontal; and this
again, unconformably on the quartz and hornstone rocks, which are
confused, and tilted up at all angles.

A spur of the Kymore, like that of Rotas, here projects to the bed of
the river, and was blazing at night with the beacon-like fires of the
natives, lighted to scare the tigers and bears from the spots where
they cut wood and bamboo; they afforded a splendid spectacle, the
flames in some places leaping zig-zag from hill to hill in front of
us, and looking as if a gigantic letter W were written in fire.

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

At 8.30 a.m. it suddenly fell calm, and we proceeded to Chanchee
(alt. 500 feet), the native carts breaking down in their passage over
the projecting beds of flinty rocks, or as they burned down the
inclined planes we cut through the precipitous clay banks of the
streams. Near Chanchee we passed an alligator, just killed by two
men, a foul beast, about nine feet long, of the mugger kind.
More absorbing than its natural history was the circumstance of its
having swallowed a child, that was playing in the water as its mother
was washing her utensils in the river. The brute was hardly dead,
much distended by the prey, and the mother was standing beside it.
A very touching group was this: the parent with her hands clasped in
agony, unable to withdraw her eyes from the cursed reptile, which
still clung to life with that tenacity for which its tribe are so
conspicuous; beside these the two athletes leaned on the bloody
bamboo staffs, with which they had all but despatched the animal.

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

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

Illustration -- SOANE VALLEY AND KYMORE HILLS COCHLOSPERMUM GOSSYPIUM
AND BUTEA FRONDOSA IN FLOWER.

The _Butea frondosa_ was abundantly in flower here, and a gorgeous
sight. In mass the inflorescence resembles sheets of flame, and
individually the flowers are eminently beautiful, the bright
orange-red petals contrasting brilliantly against the jet-black
velvety calyx. The nest of the _Megachile_ (leaf-cutter bee) was in
thousands in the cliffs, with Mayflies, Caddis-worms, spiders, and
many predaceous beetles. Lamellicorn beetles were very rare, even
_Aphodius,_ and of _Cetoniae_ I did not see one.

We marched on the 28th to Kota, at the junction of the river of that
name with the Soane, over hills of flinty rock, which projected
everywhere, to the utter ruin of the elephants' feet, and then over
undulating hills of limestone; on the latter I found trees of
_Cochlospermum,_ whose curious thick branches spread out
somewhat awkwardly, each tipped with a cluster of golden yellow
flowers, as large as the palm of the hand, and very beautiful: it is
a tropical Gum-Cistus in the appearance and texture of the petals,
and their frail nature. The bark abounds in a transparent gum, of
which the white ants seem fond, for they had killed many trees.
Of the leaves the curious rude leaf-bellows are made, with which the
natives of these hills smelt iron. Scorpions appeared very common
here, of a small kind, 1.5 inch long; several were captured, and one
of our party was stung on the finger; the smart was burning for an
hour or two, and then ceased.