266 KHASIA MOUNTAINS. Chap. XXVIII. 



slept here in November, * always exposed in the heat of 

 the day to wet and fatigue, and never having even a 

 soupgon of fever, ague, or rheumatism. This immunity 

 does not, however, extend to the very foot of the hills, as 

 it is considered imprudent to sleep at this season in the 

 bungalow of Terry a, only three miles off. 



The elevation of Pundua bungalow is about forty feet 

 above the sea, and that of the waters surrounding it, from 

 ten to thirty, according to the season. In June the mean 

 of the barometer readings at the bungalow was absolutely 

 identical with that of the Calcutta barometer. In Septem- 

 ber it was 0'016 inch lower, and in November 0*066 

 lower. The mean annual temperature throughout the 

 Jheels is less than 2° below that of Calcutta. 



Terrya bungalow lies at the very foot of the first rise of 

 the mountains ; on the way we crossed many small streams 

 upon the elephants, and one large one by canoes : the water 

 in all was coolf and sparkling, running rapidly over boulders 

 and pebbles. Their banks of sandy clay were beautifully 

 fringed with a willow-like laurel, Eliretia bushes, bamboos, 

 palms, Bauhinia, Bombaoo, and Erythrina, over which 

 Calamus palm (rattan) and various flowering plants 

 climbed. The rock at Terrya is a nummulitic limestone, 

 worn into extensive caverns. This formation is said to 

 extend along the southern flank of the Khasia, Garrow, 

 and Jyntea mountains, and to be associated with sandstone 

 and coal : it is extensively quarried in many places, several 



* At the north foot of the Khasia, in the heavily timbered dry Terai stretching 

 for sixty miles to the Burrampooter, it is almost inevitable death for a European 

 to sleep, any time between the end of April and of November. Many have crossed 

 that tract, but not one without taking fever : Mr. H. Inglis was the only survivor 

 of a party of five, and he was ill from the effects for upwards of two years, after 

 having been brought to death's door by the first attack, which came on within 

 three weeks of his arrival at Churra, and by several relapses. 



t Temperature in September 77° to 80° ; and in November 75-7°. 



