CLIMATE 



rocks consist chiefly of gneiss alternating with micaceous and 

 hornblendic schists." 1 



The soils in tne Rajmehal hills are rarely of clay, 2 and 

 thus contrast greatly with those of Singbhuin. Cotton soil 

 is very abundant in the valleys, perhaps due to the decom- 

 position of the trap. It is also common in Hazaribagh, e.g., 

 from Chatra to Itkuri, in Palamau from Leslieganj to Bank: 

 and at other places. The species of the cotton soil are largely 

 Butea, Cari88a, Zizyphns and Acacia arabica. Common trees 

 on the basalt are Mohwa, Nyctanthes, EriolaBna, Terminalia 

 tomentosa, Wendlandia exserta and Heteropanax, bat none of 

 these are peculiar to -it. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate is characterized by a dry and comparatively 

 cool season from the middle of October to the middle of 

 February, a dry and very hot season from the middle oi: 

 February to June, and a hot wet season from June or July 

 to September. As might be anticipated from the great 

 differences in elevation between the low plateaux on which, 

 for instance, stands Chaibassa (760 ft.) or Naya Dumka, 

 (489 ft.), and the high plateaux on which, for instance, 

 Ranchi (2,128 ft.) stands, there are considerable local 

 differences in the climate. The high plateaux are compara- 

 tively cool all the year round, and hygienically compare 

 very favourably with most parts of Bengal. The climate of 

 the jungle-clad hill tracts of Singbhum is, on the other hand, 

 described in the Imperial Gazetteer as " so malarious that 

 they cannot be visited with safety before the month of 

 November." There are, again, considerable differences in 

 the hot-weather temperatures between the open cultivated 

 country and the high reserved forests, which is at once 

 appreciable without the aid of instruments. Differences of 



^Geology of the Eajmehal Hills, by V. BalL 



2 Cp., however, Loc cit., p. 68. " Again, on the eastern flank of the 

 hills, there are many outlying deposits of laterite with which white and 

 purplish clays are interbedded." 



15 



