344 FLORA INDICA. 



diate vicinity, averaging 86 inches annually at Chittagong ; on 

 the higher ranges in the interior it is probably much more 

 considerable. The low hiUs of Tippera, immediately to the 

 south of the Siirma vaUey, are said to be covered to a great 

 extent with dry bamboo jungle, extending uninterruptedly for 

 miles and being almost uninhabited. The southern slopes 

 may be expected to be more humid, as they are fuUy exposed 

 to the rainy wind. 



The vegetation of Chittagong is very similar to that of SU- 

 het. The higher hills are covered with dense but often dry 

 forest, and the lower ones with brushwood. Oaks (which grow 

 down to the level of the sea), two species of nutmeg, Dillenia 

 pentagyna, Butea, Pongamia, Mesua, Gordonia, Engelhardtia, 

 Henslovia, and several Dipterocarpi, are conspicuous in the 

 forests. Of the latter, Dipterocarpus turbinatus, which yields 

 the weU knovra and valuable Gurjun, or wood oil, is extremely 

 abundant, towering over the other forest-trees. Cycas is com- 

 mon. On the drier hills we have the same shrubs which have 

 already been enumerated as growing in similar situations in 

 SUhet, with Linostoma in very great abundance, Pterosper- 

 mum, Dalhousiea, Bradleia, Melastoma, Liisaa, Tetranthera, 

 Scepa, Calamus fascicularis , JVikstrcemia, Iwora, Adelia, Mo- 

 acurra, Ccesalpinia, Muss<2nda, Guettarda, Gelonium, Jasmi- 

 num, Memecylon, and Congea ; and of small trees, ^gle Mar- 

 melos, Amoora, Gaurea, Figs, and Micromelon. In damp 

 woods are many Calami, two Wallichiae, three Arecde, various 

 Lagerstraemite, Meliacea, many Leguminosae, Terebinthacece, 

 Verbenacea, and Magnoliacece, all growing in great luxuriance, 

 and most of them forming gigantic forest-trees. 



In consequence of the great influx of fresh water which is 

 discharged into the Bay of Bengal by the Megna and Fenny 

 rivers, the eastern part of that sea remains almost fresh for a 

 very considerable distance from the shore. Even at the mouth 

 of the Chittagong river the water is only brackish, and the 

 maritime tropical vegetation of mangroves, and such plants, 

 does not commence till we advance as far south as Ramri 



