VALLEY OF THE SOANE. 55 
of a totally different character: this is of gneiss and granite, in much 
inclined beds, with bold mountains, as Paras-Nath, rising 3,000 feet 
above its mean level; while the Kyman or north-east continuation, on 
the other hand, consists of level beds of sandstone, averaging a similar 
mean height, but with no eminences. The ascent to the range I have 
traversed from Burdwan is gradual; over the coal strata which rest 
upon it, a few miles beyond which it attains its average height, which 
is continued for upwards of a hundred miles, to the Dunwah pass, 
iu short, where the descent is sudden to the level of the flat stoneless 
plains of the Ganges. These extend up either bank of the Soane, and 
one must travel eighty miles over them, before reaching the Vindhya. 
There are two culminant points in this range, Paras-Nath and the 
range of Mainpath, about fifty miles west of Paras-Nath. All the 
rivers which rise in this, the great water-shed of this part of India, 
flow either north-west into the Soane, as the Rhern, the Kunher, and 
the Coyle, or a few insignificant streams find their way north into the 
nges. More considerable ones flow east into the Hoogly, as the 
Dammoodah, with its affluents the Adje, the Dalkisore, the Burrackur 
and Cossai; whilst from its south and south-east face the Sabunrika, 
the Brahminy, the north branches of the Mahanuddy which flow into 
the bay of Bengal are derived. 
Hence, though difficult to define from its broken outline, from its 
dual slope to the east, and from the impracticable nature of its 
southern boundary, it is a feature of peculiar interest : from its eleva- 
tion it is the source of all the rivers I have enumerated ; while from its 
position, it is the director of the course of the Soane and of the Ganges 
above Rajmahal. In its climate and botany it differs equally from the 
Gangetic plains to the north, and the hot, damp, and exuberant 
Teak forests to the south. Its geological features are equally marked, 
as are its products, whether natural or of agriculture, and its native 
population. Lastly, it performs the same important part in the country 
bounded by the Hoogly, Ganges, and Soane, that the Khasya hills do 
in Assam and the Bundelkund to the westward. 
Still further west, and centrally in regard to India, this vast 
granitic plateau rises probably yet higher, and meeting the Vindhya at 
Omer-kuntuk, the two form the lofty land where the great rivers of 
Central India have their source: the Soane flowing into the Ganges, 
the Nerbudda and Taptee into the gulf of Cambay, the Cane into the 
