INTRODUCTORY. 3 



and so, by Alahabad and the Gangetic valley, to the City 

 of Palaces. If he takes the southern branch instead, he will 

 be landed at Nagpiir, a city in the very heart of India, and its 

 present terminal station. Between these two branches lies a 

 triangle of country in which is situated the western half of the 

 highlands I speak of. From its western extremity, in the 

 fork of these lines, the mountainous region extends eastwards 

 for a distance of about 450 miles, with an average width of 

 about 80 miles. 



The general level of what may be called the plains of 

 Central India has here, by gradual, and to the traveller 

 scarcely perceptible, steps, reached an altitude of about 1,000 

 feet above the level of the sea ; and he will rise but little 

 higher than this at any point on the lines of railway. So 

 soon, however, as he leaves the railway, and proceeds a few 

 miles towards the interior of the triangle, he will begin to come 

 on ranges of hills, at first generally low, but in 'places attain- 

 ing at once a height of about 1,000 feet from the plain ; and 

 beyond them peaks and plateaux will present themselves evi- 

 dently of much superior elevation. Valleys will everywhere 

 be found penetrating the hills, by following which he may rise 

 gradually to these higher regions ; and soon he will exchange 

 the rich cultivation of the flat land through which the rail- 

 way passes for unreclaimed waste and rugged forest-covered 

 steeps. 



He will now find himself in a region where all is chaos to 

 the unguided traveller ; where hill after hill of the same wild 

 and undefined character are piled together ; where the streams 

 appear to run in all directions at once; and it will not be 

 until he has traversed the whole region, or closely studied a 

 map, that some method will begin to evolve itself, and the 

 geography become plain. He will find that at a height of 



B 2 



