110 



or if we calculate on the non-sandy portion of the soil, we have: 



THE TEZPUR BANK. 



A few miles from the river a sudden rise of eighteen to twenty 

 feet occurs in the land, and one rises on to one of the banks of red 

 soil of the Assam Valley, whose existence is as yet unexplained. 

 Mr, Medlicott, in the paper previously quoted, says of them : 



"Although so little developed, ihese deposits are here the representatives of what 

 has been called the 'older alluvium' so extensively found in the Ganges Valley. It 

 were of great importance that some definite opinion should be formed regarding these 

 recent formations, as at present grave doubt rests upon them, obstructing, if not vitiating 

 our speculations. It i.s still a general opinion that this older alluvium is of marine 

 formation. The more rational views of fluviatile rock formation * * * are to a great extent 

 adopted within the range of the actual river courses, but those associated deposits 

 are still looked upon as of a different order. The fact against their belonging to the actual 

 form of conditions is their higher taised position, apparently quite out of reach of the 

 formative action of ra : n and rivers." 



Whatever the origin and cause of the existence of these banks, 

 there occur several in the Assam Valley, none as striking as that 

 at Tezpur, but all apparently of a similar character. Formed of 

 a red loam, somewhat finer in texture than the average of the valley 

 soils, and hence somewhat hard when in bulk, they seem, in the 

 virgin condition to be largely covered with magnificent forests of 

 which the Nahot ( Mesua ferrea) is perhaps the prevailing tree in 

 many places, These banks seem to be formed of even soil 

 throughout, right down to the level of the patta land round about 

 them. Occasionally they become slightly sandier and somewhat 

 gravelly, but usually there are practically no stones. In the Tezpore 

 bank, there runs a section of whitish compact sand, varying in width 

 from a hundred feet to perhaps a quarter mile, from North West to 

 South East, much inferior for tea culture. The deep red tint of the 

 soil of these banks is usually only taken where the soil has been 

 exposed to the air, and the subsoil taken below the cultivation 

 depth is often merely a brown tint. 



