Sept. 1850. 



CHELA. BOGA-PANEE. 



307 



We descended from hovel to hovel, alternately along the 

 gravelled flat of each enclosure, and perpendicularly down 

 steps cut in the sandstone or let into the walls. I 

 counted 800 houses from the river, and there must be many 



CHELA VILLAGE. 



more : the inhabitants are Bengalees and Khasias, and 

 perhaps amount to 3000 or 4000; but this is a very 



vague estimate. 



We lodged in a curious house, consisting of one 

 apartment, twenty feet long, and five high, raised thirty 

 feet upon bamboos : the walls were of platted bamboo 

 matting, fastened to strong wooden beams, and one side 

 opened on a balcony that overhung the river. The 

 entrance was an oval aperture reached by a ladder, and 

 closed by folding-doors that turned on wooden pivots. 



x 2 



