272 THE INDIAN TERAI. 



junction with the dry plains. These bare table lands, 

 here called "El Tablazo" by the natives, are gener- 

 ally fairly salubrious. There can be little doubt as to 

 the cause of the malarious nature of the jungles in 

 such localities: they receive the whole of the water 

 descending from the hills, which here often forms 

 swamps and pools, or else lies hid beneath the surface 

 of the detritus carried down during ages by the 

 torrents in the rainy season. As malarial germs are 

 always abundant at the bottoms of ravines, which act 

 as a species of conduit pipe for conveying it to the 

 hills the water is sure to carry an abundant supply 

 of these germs down with it. This is unquestionably 

 the case in the Terai, where many of the streams are 

 actually poisonous. 



The exact way in which malaria is given off from 

 the earth, or is carried from place to place, is as yet 

 only imperfectly understood; but that the germs may 

 be absorbed, or held in suspension, by water, seems 

 certain. Considerable numbers of persons, for instance, 

 have been known to be struck down at once, after 

 drinking water from a stream in the Terai. * Sudden 

 outbreaks of malarial fever among the passengers and 

 crews of vessels some time at sea, are also supposed 

 to be due to contaminated drinking water, brought on 

 board while the ship was in port. Nothing therefore 

 can be further from the truth than the Hindoo 

 superstition, that water cannot be contaminated. 



That being so, we think we are entitled to infer 

 that at certain seasons the water of streams flowing 



* See our section on "The Great Mountain Ranges" and an ac- 

 count of such an occurrence given there. 



