1865.] Notes of a tour in the Tributary Mehals. 13 



by Sirgoojah. It is about 50 miles in length from north to south, and 

 30 in greatest breadth from east to west, and may comprise about 

 1000 square miles. It contains upwards of 200 villages, exclusive of 

 the hamlets or detached huts of migratory hill savages ; the population 

 is about 30,000, and the total income of the Rajah from all sources 

 may be estimated at about Rs. 6000. With this moderate income he 

 maintains a very becoming state, and so rules as to be greatly beloved 

 by all his people. 



Jushpore is about equally divided into highlands and lowlands, 

 ' Oopur Ghat' and ' Heth Grhat.' The highlands consist of a mag- 

 nificent plateau, a continuation of the great tableland of Chota-Nag- 

 pore, averaging upwards of 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and 

 fringed by hills, rising in places 1000 feet higher. The lowlands lie 

 in steppes descending towards the south, broken by low ranges of hills 

 isolated bluffs, and masses of granite, sometimes semi-globular in form, 

 and without vegetation, bare and round as an old man's bald pate, 

 and hence the most conspicuous of them is called the ' Boora.' 



The Eeb river has its sources in the Jushpore highlands, and grows 

 so rapidly into a respectable stream, that when it reaches the brink of 

 the plateau, it bounds into the lowlands with a roar that is heard 

 for miles. It is, shortly after, joined by another stream, the Maini, 

 which also rises in the Jushpore heights. There is a story that, years 

 ago, an invisible spirit in a visible light canoe ascended the Eeb, water- 

 fall and all, to its source, and there the boat is still waiting for the 

 spirit's return. I did not see it. 



It is also called the ' Heera' river, as diamonds are found in its bed, 

 and it is probably the source of the diamond stores of the Maha 

 Nuddee, as I understand that none have been found above the con- 

 fluence of the two streams. It is auriferous, and from time immemorial 

 its sands and deposits have been explored by hereditary gold-washers, 

 called " Jhorahs." These gold-washers do not, however, confine their 

 operations to the bed of the river. They find it more profitable to 

 penetrate the soil some distance from its banks, and on both sides you 

 find tracts honey-combed with shafts, sunk by successive generations 

 of gold seekers. 



These shafts are from 10 to 30 feet in depth, and three in 

 diameter. The Jhorahs excavate till they cut through the upper 



