TOPOGRAPHY. 



pools, divides this from the main mass of Porahat, in which 

 many mountains, snch as the Bicha Bnru, exceed 2,700 ft. 

 The forest boundary is carried over the top of this mountain 

 which lies en the western extension of the Dalma range. 

 Parts of the Songra forest, with an elevation of 1,100 ft. to 

 2,000 ft., is characterized by large valleys which, towards the 

 ghats, fall away in precipitous slopes and waterfalls. The 

 ravines are filled with immense boulders, so that it is 

 necessary to ascend them bare-footed. In the south of the 

 Songra forest the Lokcd Bum range attains 2,800 ft., and 

 with the Seomari and Sunli ranges, protect some wide 

 valleys on their northern slopes. These were jhumed many 

 years ago, but still contain some magnificent old trees, remnants 

 of the former forest. Such jhumed areas are very common 

 in the Singbhum reserved forests near the sites of old villages 

 long since deserted. They are occupied by a new type of 

 forest, referred to in the flora as ' second growth ' in which the 

 species of the original forest only slowly reappear. 1 The 

 pretty custom of the Kols which preserves near the village a 

 bongasama, or sacred grove, is the canse of the preservation 

 of some of the ancient giants of the forest. Some of the 

 hills and upper valleys in Porahat are too exposed to drought 

 to contain good forest, and such names as the jateserang 

 /'signifying a carpet of rock) aptly describes their character. 



Between Porahat on the north and the Kolhan Govern- 

 ment estate on the south runs the Bengal-Nagpur railway 

 in the valleys of the Sanjai (or Khorkai) and the Koil. 

 These rivers ran in opposite directions from a water- 

 shed through which the Goilkera tunnel is bored (elev. 

 1,100 ft.). The Sanjai flows east to the Subarnekha, the 

 Koil, after receiving the North and South Karo and the 

 Koina rivers, westwards to its confluence with the Sank in 

 Gangpnr, where the combined rivers flow south as the 



1 Jhumed areas in the Santa! Parganahs are known, as Karao. Gamble 

 states that on old karaos bamboo frequently comes np in great abun- 

 dance, and seedlings of Fterocarpus and Ougeinia are not uncommon. 



