1887.] Dr. D. Prain— The hot springs of the Namba Forest. 201 



8. The hot springs of the Namba Forest in the Sibsagar district, 

 Upper Assam. Unpublished Memoranda by the late J. W. Masters, Esq.,* 

 with observations by Surgeon D. Prain, I. M. S., Curator of the Herba- 

 rium, Royal Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. 



When stationed at Kohima in 1886 I often heard both from Euro- 

 peans and natives of the springs in the Namba forest. On my way to 

 Calcutta last January I visited one of these. As the only notice of 

 them hitherto publishedf is meagre and barely correct, further observa- 

 tion seemed called for. I was assured that in place of being of a scalding 

 temperature those who resorted thither bathed in the springs. No 

 European at Kohima knew the exact temperature. 



On my way down I received from an officer J passing up, a better 

 account of the largest spring. The temperature I was told, is that of 

 a comfortable bath, varying little throughout the year ; the water in the 

 rains reaching above the knee, at this time, (January), would probably 

 not reach further than half way up the calf. 



The spring was reached at noon on January 16th. Ifc is eleven 

 miles from Golaghat on the Golaghat-Dimapur road where this crosses 

 the Namba river, from whose right bank it is six paces distant at a 

 point twenty-five paces above the bridge. Thirty paces below the 

 bridge the Dhunsiri river, a considerable stream, receives the Namba 

 from the left. The Dhunsiri even in the cold weather is muddy, the 

 Namba is a clear stream, with a bed of white sand, containing some 

 rather angular quartz pebbles. The banks of both streams are about 

 18 feet high, and are clay with alluvial mud above. 



The depression in which the spring lies, is circular, about 20 feet 

 across and 3 feet deep ; the edges mud, the bottom white sand with 

 pebbles, as in the bed of the adjacent stream 15 feet lower. This depres- 

 sion is in Long. 93° 55' E. and Lat. 26° 24' N., and is 350 feet above 

 the sea.§ Gas bubbles up all over its area, a very strong escape in the 



* Sub- Assistant to the Commissioner of Assam at Golaghat. (Several botanical 

 papers by Mr. Masters may be found in the Journal of the Agri. Hort. Soc. of India, 

 Vols. Ill, V and YI, and a paper on the Meteorology of Assam in the Cal. Jour, of 

 Nat. Hist. Vol. IV. The greater part of Mr. Masters' papers have never been pub- 

 lished, though they contain matter of much interest.) 



f Oldham : Thermal springs of India. Mem. Geol. Survey of India, vol. xix, pt. 

 2, p. 51. 



X Mr. Lynch, Subordinate Telegraph Department. 



§ Assam, 1884. Map issued by office of Surveyor General of India. [Golaghat 

 on the R. bank of the Dhunsiri is marked 349 feet, the country along the banks of 

 the river is fairly level.] 



