20 MALLET, A'IKDHYAN SERIES. 



The gorges which receive the rivers after their descent from the 

 plateaux should also be mentioned in a description 



Gorges. 



of the physical aspect of the country. After a 

 clear drop of two to six hundi'ed feet^ the water plashes into a deep tarn 

 scooped out by its continual falling-, on leaving which it runs through 

 a channel often several miles in length, and obstructed, throughout its 

 course, with huge masses of rock fallen from above. From each side of 

 the stream rise the under-cliffs of the escarpment covered with tangled 

 jungle and debris, and crowned by vertical precipices, which cut off all 

 access to the plateau above, save by one or two narrow paths known only 

 to the wood-cutters and charcoal-burners, by whom only the gorge, is 

 ever visited. 



The general elevation of the Vindhyan area differs considerably in 

 Elevation of the coun- different parts. Thus the eastern portion of the 

 ^^y* Kymore plateau averages perhaps 1,500 feet, but 



sinks at Ghorawul to 900, and at Lalgunj to 500.* The Rewah 

 country is more uniform, the general level being 1,000 to 1,200, and a 

 considerable portion of the Bundair is not much higher. Other parts, 

 however, are little short of 2,000 feet. Throughout the Vindhyan area 

 few points exceed the last-mentioned figures, which express the mean 

 elevation of the highest hiUs like Bijigurh (2,017), Amua, (2,176), 

 and Myhere, (2,039) ; the culminating point is Kalumur, a trappean hill 

 rising from the Bundair table-land 2,544 feet above the sea. 



The mean level of the Gwalior country does not seem to exc6ed 

 1,200 feet; it is about 1,500 at Sipri, but reduced by a general northerly 

 slope to 1,000 at the Chumbul. The trappean area is considerably more 

 elevated ; the highest peaks there rivalling in altitude those of the Vin- 

 dhyan range of hills. With regard to the river valleys in the south, the 



* These figures are from various sources, most of which are quoted in Mr. Schlagint- 

 weit's Hypsometry of India. 



( 20 ) 



