Himalayan Journals, vol 2, J. D. Hooker [small books to read txt] 📗

the rounded hills that separate

them, indicate the levelling action of a tidal sea, acting on a low flat shore;* [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.]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.

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,* ["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.] 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.

CHAPTER XXX.

Boat voyage to Silhet -- River -- Palms -- Teelas -- Botany -- Fish weirs -- Forests of Cachar -- Sandal-wood, etc. -- Porpoises --

Alligators -- Silchar -- Tigers -- Rice crops -- Cookies --

Munniporees -- Hockey -- Varnish -- Dance -- Nagas -- Excursion to

Munnipore frontier -- Elephant bogged -- Bamboos -- Cardiopteris --

Climate, etc., of Cachar -- Mosquitos -- Fall of banks -- Silhet --

Oaks -- Stylidium -- Tree-ferns -- Chattuc -- Megna -- Meteorology -- Palms -- Noacolly -- Salt-smuggling -- Delta of Ganges and Megna -- Westward progress of Megna -- Peat -- Tide -- Waves -- Earthquakes -- Dangerous navigation -- Moonlight scenes -- Mud island --

Chittagong -- Mug tribes -- Views -- Trees -- Churs -- Flagstaff

hill -- Coffee -- Pepper -- Tea, etc. -- Excursions from Chittagong -- Dipterocarpi or Gurjun oil trees -- Earthquake -- Birds -- Papaw -- Bleeding of stems -- Poppy and Sun fields -- Seetakoond --

Bungalow and hill -- Perpetual flame -- Falconeria -- Cycas --

Climate -- Leave for Calcutta -- Hattiah island -- Plants --

Sunderbunds -- Steamer -- Tides -- Nipa fruticans -- Fishing --

Otters -- Crocodiles -- Phoenix paludosa -- Departure from India.

We left Churra on the 17th of November, and taking boats at Pundua, crossed the Jheels to the Soormah, which we ascended to Silhet.

Thence we continued our voyage 120 miles up the river in canoes, to Silchar, the capital of the district of Cachar: the boats were such as I described at Chattuc, and though it was impossible to sit

upright in them, they were paddled with great swiftness. The river at Silhet is 200 yards broad; it is muddy, and flows with a gentle

current of two to three miles an hour, between banks six to twelve

feet high. As we glided up its stream, villages became rarer, and

eminences more frequent in the Jheels. The people are a tall, bold, athletic Mahometan race, who live much on the water, and cultivate

rice, sesamum, and radishes, with betel-pepper in thatched enclosures as in Sikkim: maize and sugar are rarer, bamboos abound, and four

palms (Borassus, Areca, cocoa-nut, and Caryota) are planted, but there are no date-palms.

The Teelas (or hillocks) are the haunts of wild boars, tigers, and

elephants, but not of the rhinoceros; they are 80 to 200 feet high, of horizontally stratified gravel and sand, slates, and clay

conglomerates, with a slag-like honey-combed sandstone; they are

covered with oaks, figs, Heretiera, and bamboos, and besides a

multitude of common Bengal plants, there are some which, though

generally considered mountain or cold country genera, here descend to the level of the sea; such are Kadsura, Rubus, Camellia, and

Sabia; Aerides and Saccolabia are the common orchids, and

rattan-canes and Pandani render the jungles impenetrable.

A very long sedge (Scleria) grows by the water, and is used for

thatching: boatloads of it are collected for the Calcutta market, for which also were destined many immense rafts of bamboo, 100 feet long.

The people fish much, using square and triangular drop-nets stretched upon bamboos, and rude basket-work weirs, that retain the fish as the river falls. Near the villages we saw fragments of pottery three feet below the surface of the ground, shewing that the bank, which is

higher than the surrounding country, increases from the

annual overflow.

About seventy miles up the river, the mountains on the north, which are east of Jyntea, rise 4000 feet high in forest-clad ranges like

those of Sikkim. Swamps extend from the river to their base, and

penetrate their valleys, which are extremely malarious: these forests are frequented by timber-cutters, who fell jarool (_Lagerstroemia

Reginae_), a magnificent tree with red wood, which, though soft, is durable under water, and therefore in universal use for

boat-building. The toon is also cut, with red sandal-wood

(Adenanthera pavonina); also Nageesa,* [There is much dispute

amongst oriental scholars about the word Nageesa; the Bombay

philologists refer it to a species of Garcinia, whilst the pundits on the Calcutta side of India consider it to be Mesua ferrea.

Throughout our travels in India, we were struck with the undue

reliance placed on native names of plants, and information of all

kinds; and the pertinacity with which each linguist adhered to his

own crotchet as to the application of terms to natural objects, and their pronunciation. It is a very prevalent, but erroneous,

impression, that savage and half-civilised people have an accurate

knowledge of objects of natural history, and a uniform nomenclature for them.] Mesua ferrea, which is highly valued for its weight,

strength, and durability: Aquilaria agallocha, the eagle-wood, a

tree yielding uggur oil, is also much sought for its fragrant wood, which is carried to Silhet and Azmerigunj, where it is broken up and distilled. Neither teak, sissoo, sal, nor other Dipterocarpi, are found in these forests.

Porpoises, and both the long and the short-nosed alligator, ascend

the Soormah for 120 miles, being found beyond Silchar, which place we reached on the 22nd, and were most hospitably received by Colonel

Lister, the political agent commanding the Silhet Light Infantry, who was inspecting the Cookie levy, a corps of hill-natives which had

lately been enrolled.

The station is a small one, and stands about forty feet above the

river, which however rises half that height in the rains. Long low

spurs of tertiary rocks stretch from the Tipperah hills for many

miles north, through the swampy Jheels to the river; and there are

also hills on the opposite or north side, but detached from the

Cookie hills, as the lofty blue range twelve miles north of the

Soormah is called. All these mountains swarm with tigers, wild

buffalos, and boars, which also infest the long grass of the Jheels.

The elevation of the house we occupied at Silchar was 116 feet above the sea. The bank it stood on was of clay, with soft rocks of

conglomerate, which often assume the appearance of a brown

sandy slag.

During the first Birmese war, Colonel Lister was sent with a force up to this remote corner of Bengal, when the country was an uninhabited jungle, so full of tigers that not a day passed without one or more of his grass or wood-cutters being carried off. Now, thousands of

acres are cultivated with rice, and during our stay we did not see a tiger. The quantity of land brought into cultivation in this part of Bengal, and indeed throughout the Gangetic delta, has probably been doubled during the last twenty years, and speaks volumes for the

state of the peasant under the Indian Company's sway, as compared

with his former condition. The Silchar rice is of admirable quality, and much is imported to Silhet, the Jheels not producing grain enough for the consumption of the people. Though Silchar grows enough for

ten times its population, there was actually a famine six weeks

before our arrival, the demand from Silhet being so great.

The villages of Cachar are peopled by Mahometans, Munniporees, Nagas, and Cookies; the Cacharies themselves being a poor and peaceful

jungle tribe, confined to the mountains north of the Soormah.

The Munniporees* [The Munnipore valley has never been explored by any naturalist, its mountains are said to be pine-clad, and to rise 8000

feet above the level of the sea. The Rajah is much harassed by the

Birmese, and is a dependant of the British, who are in the very

frequent dilemma of supporting on the throne a sovereign opposed by a strong faction of his countrymen, and who has very dubious claims to his position. During our stay at Silchar, the supposed rightful Rajah was prevailing over the usurper; a battle had been fought on the

hills on the frontier, and two bodies floated past our bungalow,

pierced with arrows.] are emigrants from the kingdom of that name,

which lies beyond the British possessions, and borders on Assam and Birmah. Low ranges of forest-clad mountains at the head of the

Soormah, separate it from Silchar, with which it is coterminous; the two chief towns being seven marches apart. To the south-east of

Silchar are interminable jungles, peopled by the Cookies, a wild

Indo-Chinese tribe, who live in a state of constant warfare, and

possess the whole hill-country from this, southward to beyond

Chittagong. Two years ago they invaded and ravaged Cachar, carrying many of the inhabitants into slavery, and so frightening the people, that land previously worth six rupees a biggah, is now reduced to one and a half. Colonel Lister was sent with a strong party to rescue the captives, and marched for many days through their country without

disturbing man or beast; penetrating deep forests of gigantic trees and tall bamboos, never seeing the sun above, or aught to the right and left, save an occasional clearance and a deserted village.

The incursion, however, had its effects, and the better inclined near the frontier have since come forward, and been enrolled as the

Cookie levy.

The Munnipore emigrants are industrious settlers for a time, but

never remain long in one place: their religion is Hindoo, and they

keep up a considerable trade with their own country, whence they

import a large breed of buffalos, ponies, silks, and cotton cloths

dyed with arnotto (Bixa), and universally used for turbans.

They use bamboo blowing-tubes and arrows for shooting birds, make

excellent shields of rhinoceros hide (imported from Assam), and play at hockey