lO* KHASI HILLS. 



clay and gravel, very irregularly disposed, and often highly indurated 



by a ferruginous cement (a). They occur at various distances from the 



base of the hills, between which and these small knolls there is generally 



a flat space, densely covered with jungle, and abounding in swamps, 



thickly clothed with tall reeds and grasses. Behind this swampy tract 



rises the great range of the hills, by a rapidly iriclined slope, closely 



wooded and surmounted by a deep precipitous face, which forms a 



marked feature in the landscape. The crest of this precipice attains 



an elevation of about 3,500 feet, and, above this long and nearly 



horizontal line, the hills rise gradually with undulating and irregular 



slopes to the average height of 5,000 to 5,400 feet, with a few summits 



of still greater elevation, but none much exceeding 6,000 feet. The 



entire slope of the hills up to the base of the precipitous portion is 



thickly clothed with wood, among which a few patches here and there 



have been cleared for cultivation. 



Again, on the Northern side of this range, the country suddenly 



drops at Nungklow to the level of the Boripani 

 Ou North. 



river, or more than 2,000 feet, and then gradually 



dies away into the vailey of the Brahmaputra, by a succession of sharply 



undulating hills and ridges, which stretch from this Boripani river, 



immediately under JNungklow, to near Gowhatty, in Assam. The 



whole of these districts, forming the descent from the comparatively 



flat table-land of the top of the ridge (and which, on the South, extend 



for about six miles, and on the North for about twenty), is densely 



wooded, while the upper and more level parts of the hills are clear, free 



from jungle, and, where the surface is not actual rock, thickly carpeted 



with grass. The same fact is observable in the many deep glens and 



(a) The pretty station of Sylhet is built among these hillocks ; and they are also well 

 seen at and near Chattuc. On the summit of one of these knolls is placed Mr. IngUs's 

 bungalow, and on an adjoining one the monument to the memory of the late George Inglis, 

 Esq., " for many years Judge of Sylhet," which forms a conspicuous landmark for a great 

 distance ai'ound. 



