250 IIIDNAPOEE, OUISSA, &C. 



This extensive area may, in a general way, be viewed as consisting of 



two distinct geographical portions, one a broad ex- 

 Two distinct portions. . 



pansive plain varying in breadth from a few miles 



to nearly sixty, and which borders the sea and river Hooghly ; and the 

 other a limited area of more elevated ground, studded with numerous 

 hills, and which, in all its geographical relations, is connected with tlie 

 hilly country to the -west. 



Almost tlie entire area of the northern districts of our map is includ- 

 ed in the former of these divisions, and with the 

 Alluvial plains. 



exception of small patches of hilly ground to the 



extreme west, the districts of Bancoorah and Midnapore are com- 

 posed of a great widely-spread plain of gently undulating ground, 

 the elevation of which above the mean sea-level is very trifling. This, 

 plain is, near Balasore, broken up by the range of the Nijgliirri hills 

 but again stretches to the West, beyond the limits of our map, along the 

 valleys of the Byturnee and Brahmini rivers. From this, southwards, 

 the more hilly ground gradually approaches the sea-coast until near 

 Ganjam and the Chilka Lake, the hills almost reach the shore. 



The eastern portion of this flat ground is almost a perfect plain, chiefly 

 under cultivation, while more to the west and along the foot of the hills 

 the surface is much more irregular and undulating, and is, for many hun- 

 dreds of square miles, covered here and there with large patches of low 

 scrubby jungle and coppice-wood. 



The great flat, which we have just noticed, consists mainly of the com- 

 bined deltas of the large rivers which here dis- 



Cliiefly deltas of rivers. . ' 



charge into the sea. The Hooghly, the Damooda, 



the Roopnarain, and Kossye, have combined to form the alluvial flats 



of Bancoorah and Midnapore, while the Byturnee, the Brahmini, and 



the Mahanuddee, have produced the flat plains of Orissa. These fluvia- 



tile deposits are still going on, and the peculiar outline of tiie coast 



seems to be entirely due to their advance. 



