2 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA 



in this elevated region, and pour their waters into the 

 sea on either side of the peninsula — to the north the Son 

 commingling with the Ganges, to the east the Mahanadi, 

 flowing independently to the Bay of Bengal, to the south 

 some of the principal feeders of the Godavari, and to the 

 west the Narbada and the Tapti, taking parallel courses 

 to the Arabian Gulf. If the reader will seek the head- 

 waters of these rivers on the map, he will find the region 

 I am about to describe. To be more precise, it lies on the 

 22nd parallel of north latitude, and between the 76th and 

 82nd of east longitude. It forms the central and culminat- 

 ing section of a ridge of elevated country which stretches 

 across the peninsula, from near Calcutta to near Bombay, 

 and separates Northern India, or Hindostan proper, from 

 •the Deccan, or country of the south. The traveller by 

 the Great Indian Peninsular Eailway from Bombay to 

 Calcutta, after some 275 miles of his journey, will come 

 to a point where the line branches into two. The northern 

 branch leads him on up the Narbada valley, and so, by 

 Alahabad and the Gangetic valley, to the City of Palaces. 

 If he takes the southern branch instead, he will be landed 

 at Nagpur, a city in the very heart of India, and its present 

 terminal station. Between these two branches lies a 

 triangle of country in which is situated the western half 

 of the highlands I speak of. From its western extremity, 

 in the fork of these lines, the mountainous region extends 

 eastwards for a distance of about 450 miles, with an 

 average width of about 80 miles. 



The general level of what may be called the plains of 

 Central India has here, by gradual, and to the traveller 

 scarcely perceptible steps, reached an altitude of about 

 1000 feet above the level of the sea ; and he will rise but 

 little higher than this at any point on the lines of railway. 

 So soon, however, as he leaves the railway, and proceeds 

 a few miles towards the interior of the triangle, he will 

 begin to come on ranges of hills, at first generally low, 

 but in places attaining at once a height of about 1000 feet 

 from the plain; and beyond them peaks and plateaux 

 will present themselves evidently of much superior eleva- 

 tion. Valleys will everywhere be found penetrating the 



