204 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



elephant reserves of Jorda and Champa, and take 

 your choice of the herds. Buffalo and bison are 

 plentiful in the deep valleys, and deer everywhere. 

 Quite recently a railway man in a fortnight's time 

 bagged two bison, three buffalo, and several fine 

 sambhur in this neighbourhood ; while a young 

 gunner shot a tusker whose ivory sold for more 

 than the cost of the trip several times over. 



Mountains over four thousand feet high make 

 up the bulk of the State, and through this barrier 

 the Brahmini has cut for itself a passage, making 

 deep valleys on either side. Some idea of the 

 depth of these valleys may be formed when it is 

 stated that Bonai town, on the banks of the river, 

 is only five hundred feet above sea-level, while only 

 nine miles off you are on the top of a range four 

 thousand six hundred feet above the sea ; so that 

 it is quite possible to swelter in the heat of the valleys 

 in March during the day, and get back at night to 

 the bracing climate of four thousand feet in the 

 clouds. In its passage through these hills a series 

 of rapids and long reaches of still water occur, and 

 with the hills coming right down to the banks and 

 rising abruptly thence, in places forest clad, in places 

 scarped faces of quartzite rocks, crag over crag in 

 regular steps, the scenery is singularly beautiful and 

 quite equal to that of the Rhine. Even the ruins 

 of ancient chateau and tower, which make the Rhine 

 valley so interesting, are here simulated by the 

 quartzite rocks, which are jointed vertically and 

 horizontally, so that they stand out as great towers 

 and buttressed walls, very like the battlements of 



