4 BALL : GEOLOGY OF THE RAJMEHAL HILLS. 



the elevation is not sufficient to cause a material change of temperature, 

 and the approaches traverse valleys which are notoriously unhealthy, 

 except towards the end of the cold weather. 



No considerable jungles of large forest trees exist in the Rajmehal 



hills at present :* but those portions which are not 

 Jungle. 



occupied by the villages or cultivation of the hill 

 people are often covered by a thick jungle of small trees and under- 

 growth. For the most part the trees belong to the same species as those 

 ordinarily met with in the hilly districts of Bengal. In the moist valleys 

 on the northern face, however, the large leaves of the wild plantain give 

 an aspect of a more typically tropical kind than is commonly to be seen 

 elsewhere. 



The plateaus and some few of the isolated hills are inhabited by a 



branch of the Chota Nagpur Oraons called Mul6 

 Inhabitants. y - 



(pronounced Mulay) or Fafiareas. They were 



once a troublesome race of bandits, but are now perfectly subdued and 



amenable to order. The valleys and country surrounding the foot of the 



hills are inhabited chiefly by Sonihals, who have migrated thither from the 



over-crowded districts of the west and south-west. The interests of these 



races, as they encroach upon one another's boundaries, are in direct 



opposition. The Pahareas strenuously resist the attempts of the Sonthals 



to cultivate the outer slopes of their hills. 



The geological surveyj-of these hills was first commenced in 1852. 

 Since that time the area has been visited by differ- 

 ent officers of the Survey, and the more special 

 results of their labours have been published in the papers enumerated on 

 a following page. 



* Most of the large timber which existed twenty years ago was cut down during the 

 construction of the East Indian Railway. 



f i. e., the Geological Survey as at present constituted, Dr. McClelland's report for 

 1848-49 will be found alluded to on a following page. 



( 158 ) 



