AX EXPLOKATIOX IX THE FAR EAST. 439 



€oal or the rich store of timber which are now ascer- 

 tained to exist. The same reason renders all idea of 

 colonising these wilds, except by the slow process of 

 extending population, a matter which it would not be 

 useful to discuss. Far superior lands in every respect, 

 whether of natural quality or situation, exist in great 

 areas in the Mandla highlands, which must come to be 

 taken up before a plough can furrow the remote regions 

 to the east of Amarkantak. 



On the 1st of June we climbed the steep ascent 

 leading up to Amarkantak from the east, and rested 

 there for two days. I was still very ill and weak, 

 and obliged to travel on an elephant ; and though 

 it was very tempting to linger on this elevated region, 

 where, at this season of excessive heat below, the 

 temperature in a sQiall tent all day was delightful, while 

 at night it was cold enough to enjoy a couple of blankets, 

 the season was getting very late, and banks of clouds 

 collecting on the horizon threatened heavy rain, which 

 might block the way to Jubbulpiir. So we determined 

 to march straight to that station by the direct road to 

 the north of the Narbada. That frightful march still 

 lives in my dreams. For the first ten days we kept to 

 the elevated country south of the river, which we then 

 crossed. The country to the north is an utterly bare 

 sheet of black basalt, without a field or a tree, or, I 

 believe, hardly a blade of grass. Sharp glancing flakes 

 of white quartz alone relieved the inky black of the 

 horrible rocks. The sun was at its very hottest, and 

 heavy thunderous clouds now gathered round the sky, 

 oppressing the air with a sultry stillness far worse than 

 the fiercest hot blast of the earliest summer. Day after 

 day we toiled along in the fierce heat, pitching in a 

 burning plain, without a particle of shade ; and I really 



