TOPOGRAPHY. 



elevation of 3,850 feet. The tops of these pats " are open 



grassy plains with a few scattered bushes, they are now used 



as pasturage and were once good hunting grounds for 

 Nilgai." 1 



The larger plateaux are usually under cultivation, and 

 in the dry season offer but a monotonous expanse of dried up 

 fields with scarcely any vegetation. From this cultivated 

 country it is a relief to turn to their jungle-covered scarps, 

 albeit most of the forest has now been reduced to a state of 

 scrub. It is in the rngged mountainous tracts, especially of 

 Singbhum, the former Tributary States, and Palamau, where 

 the chief beauty and interest of Cbota Nagpur now lies, and 

 where the manifestations of the destructive hand of man are 

 least apparent. These tracts being also those where there is 

 most forest, coincide to some extent with the areas marked 

 in green on the accompanying map. (The forest in the 

 Native States is however not shown, vide note on p. 1.) 



The districts of Ranchi and Hazaribagh. are typically 

 plateaux with forest on the scarps and on a few isolated 

 hills, but the highest mountain of Chota Nagpur (Parasnath 

 4,479 feet) occurs on the eastern boundary of the latter 

 district, as the culminating point of an east and west broken 

 range of hillcj which lies partly in Manbhum, the eastern 

 portion being known as the Tundi hills. Parasnath is 

 classic ground for the botanist, as its flora was studied by 

 Sir J. D. Hooker in the year 1848. There have recently been 

 proposals of building on this beautiful mountain which,, if 

 carried out, would destroy most of its interesting vegetation. 



The Parasnath range is divided from the higher Hazari- 

 bagh plateau and the broken hilly and jungle -clad country 

 on its southern and eastern face by a tributary of the 

 Damuda. 



1 Plants of Chutia Naerpur, by Lieutenant-Colons! J. J. Wood, p, 2. 

 The writer has unfortunately never had an opportunity of examining 

 these Pats. 



3 o2 



