348 CHITTAGONG. Chap. XXXI. 



from Chittagong, it contracts, and spurs from the hills on 

 either flank project into the middle : they are 200 to 

 300 feet high, formed of red clay, and covered with 

 brushwood. At Kajee-ke-hath, the most northern point 

 we reached, we were quite amongst these hills, and in an 

 extremely picturesque country, intersected by long winding 

 flat valleys, that join one another : some are full of copse- 

 wood, while others present the most beautiful park-like 

 scenery, and a- third class expand into grassy marshes or 

 lake-beds, with wooded islets rising out of them. The hill- 

 sides are clothed with low jungle, above which tower 

 magnificent Gurjun trees (wood-oil) . The whole contour of 

 this country is that of a low bay, whose coast is raised above 

 the sea, and over which a high tide once swept for ages. 



The elevation of Hazari-ke-hath is not 100 feet above the 

 level of the sea. It is about ten miles west of the mouth 

 of the Fenny, from which it is separated by hills 1,000 feet 

 high ; its river falls into that at Chittagong, thirty miles 

 south. Large myrtaceous trees {Eugenia) are common, and 

 show a tendency to the Malayan flora, which is further 

 demonstrated by the abundance of Gurjun (Dipterocarpus 

 turbinatus) . This is the most superb tree we met with in 

 the Indian forests : we saw several species, but this is the 

 only common one here ; it is conspicuous for its gigantic 

 size, and for the straightness and graceful form of its tall 

 unbranched pale grey trunk, and small symmetrical crown : 

 many individuals were upwards of 200 feet high, and 

 fifteen in girth. Its leaves are broad, glossy, and beautiful; 

 the flowers (then falling) are not conspicuous ; the wood is 

 hard, close-grained, and durable, and a fragrant oil exudes 

 from the trunk, which is extremely valuable as pitch and 

 varnish, &c., besides being a good medicine. The natives 

 procure it by cutting transverse holes in the trunk, pointing 



