384 JReport of the Great Trigonometrical Survey. [No. 4 



much of it passing over flat plains, which are covered with dense 

 forest and jungle, and very difficult to work through. 



On the completion of the Base Line, Captain Branfill was deput- 

 ed to connect it with the principal triangles of the Coast Series 

 and to execute the verificatory triangulation between the sections. 

 Meanwhile, Captain Basevi proceeded, by my instructions, to make a 

 reconnoisance of the neighbouring territories of the Eajah of Jeypore. 

 It is a singular fact that, in the vicinity of the British sta- 

 tions of Vizagapatam and Vizianagram, and within sixty miles of a 

 coast which has been frequented by British traders for upwards of a 

 century, there is an extensive tract of country, subject to a friendly 

 Eajah, of which less is known, than of districts occupied by hostile 

 tribes, along the frontier of our recently acquired Punjab Provinces. 

 A glance at any map of the Madras Presidency reveals a great blank 

 in our geographical knowledge, in the tract of country which lies 

 parallel to the coast, and North-East of the Godavery river. Its 

 deadly reputation appears to have been a bar alike to the explorations 

 of the curious and scientific, and to the visits of sportsmen. No 

 regular survey of it has ever been attempted ; the few places given in 

 the map seem to have been obtained from native information, for 

 they are generally exceedingly erroneous. 



A reconnoisance of this tract was required for our own opera- 

 tions, in the extension of the Bombay Longitudinal Series to Vizaga- 

 patam. As any reliable information regarding lands so little known 

 might be expected to be of much value and general interest, I was 

 much gratified when Captain Basevi volunteered to reconnoitre this 

 terra incognita ; though, at the same time, I could not but feel appre- 

 hensive for his safety in a country so deadly, for his route would have 

 to pass through dense jungle, in which it would be necessary for him 

 to preserve his reckoning by the troublesome process of traversing ; 

 which, under such circumstances, is very laborious, and entails the 

 necessity of performing the greater part of each day's march on foot. 

 The inevitable exposure to be thus undergone is very great, in a 

 tropical climate, and when the district to be traversed is known to be 

 exceedingly feverish and unhealthy, no small amount of courage is 

 needed, to prompt a man to volunteer for such a task. 



Captain Basevi took with him one European Assistant, Mr. 

 O'Neill, and a few natives. He, himself, fortunately escaped with a 



