454 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HTSTORT SOCIETY, 1892. 



and there on its surface rise isolated hills, such, as Raigarh, close 

 above us, and Guhiri a few miles away. The truth is that we are 

 upon a remnant of such a plain. But wind and water have furrowed 

 it with glens that are really a thousand feet deep, and though we 

 can only see the single one close to our feet, we could not walk a mile 

 without crossing one such, nor ten miles, across the apparent plain, 

 without crossing half-a-dozen. This seemingly continuous plateau 

 is itself exceedingly bare looking. The flat ground on it is the most 

 cultivable, and where there is any soil over the basalt, is under crop 

 in the rains. The woods are pushed down into the glens, or lie in 

 long dark lines along the foot of the cliffs,, where the debris of ages 

 has formed a "talus/' particularly favorable to tree growth. 

 Throughout the North Konkan such a line on the mountain side 

 is a mark for the botanist who seeks the evergreen giants, here at 

 the edge of their province, and the rarer forest fruits and flowers, 

 and here our friend the Hornbill, and the fruit-eating pigeons and 

 doves, delight in shade and safety. 



In the Raigarh region the forests have few other inhabitants for 

 the sportsman. In several weeks of continuous forest work, I never 

 heard the jungle cock or peacock, and only once the spur-fowl, and 

 was, indeed, very glad to supplement the wretched supplies of the 

 hill hamlets with doves and "• Did-ye-do-its." These despised fowls, 

 indeed, make capital soup. The mammalia are equally scarce. The 

 reason seems to be that this region has, ever since Raja Sivaji's time, 

 (nearly two centuries and-a-half ago), contained a population exceed- 

 ing the production of the soil, and himgry accordingly. For long, 

 it was largely fed by plunder, and it still subsists largely on the more 

 honourable pay and pensions of the Bombay Army. But times have 

 pressed hard upon everything eatable that could be trapped or shot, 

 and the forests, which were probably never much to boast of on this 

 thin and scanty soil, were evidently greatly cut into when Raigarh 

 yyas a market for fuel and timber, and for the coarse grains that 

 replaced the trees. They have, of late years, regained some ground 

 and some condition, but it will be long before (if ever) they regain 

 an animal population of any importance. Fishes there are on the 

 Pachad Plateau, some hundreds of Httle creatures crowded together 

 in a spring. I brought away specimens for our Museum from this 



