INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 143 



the Ghats, has been investigated by Roxburgh, who, during 

 the earlier part of his Indian career, resided at Samalcotah in 

 the northern Circars, by which name the district is usually 

 referred to in the ' Flora Indica' of that distinguished bo- 

 tanist. Dr. Russel's collections were also chiefly from the 

 same district. The vegetation of the interior of the province 

 is quite unknown, except from a few notices in Major Kittoe's 

 journey to the Sambalpur valley. 



10. Bahae. 



The boundaries of the ancient province of Bahar have no 

 doubt varied at different epochs, and in modern times the 

 name is understood in a great variety of senses, being restricted 

 at one time to a small judicial district, and at other times ex- 

 tended so as to include the whole of the western part of the 

 lower provinces of the Bengal Presidency. Its employment in 

 an arbitrary manner can therefore be productive of no incon- 

 venience, so long as it is accurately defined. We shall there- 

 fore, in our present work, understand under the name of 

 Bahar the whole of the northern slope of the eastern portion 

 of the Vindhia mountains, from the borders of Bandelkhand 

 (or rather Rewah) and Malwah to the Gangetic plain. In 

 this way it is separated from Orissa by the watershed of the 

 chain, and includes the districts of Palamow and Ramgarh, as 

 well as the lower half of the valley of the Son. 



The eastern portion of the Vindhia chain, as we have seen, 

 is a spreading table-land, and the spurs which it sends down 

 to the northward are similar in nature to those which run 

 south, and separate the different valleys of Orissa. There is 

 a great want of authentic information regarding the elevation 

 and even the physical features of these wild and little-known 

 countries. The elevated table-land of Chota Nagpur is said to 

 have an average height of 3000 feet ; and farther west, towards 

 the borders of Sirgujah, the surface is perhaps a little higher. 

 The plain of Hazaribagh has a mean height of about 1800 

 feet ; and twenty or thirty miles further east, that out of 



