30 HILLS OF BEHAR. Chap. II. 



this kind of mirage. Before us rose no more of those 

 wooded hills that had been our companions for the last 120 

 miles, the absence of which was a sign of the nearly 

 approaching termination of the great hilly plateau we had 

 been traversing for that distance. 



Chorparun, at the top of the Dunwah pass, is situated 

 on an extended barren flat, 1320 feet above the sea, and 

 from it the descent from the table-land to the level of the 

 Soane valley, a little above that of the Ganges at Patna, is 

 very sudden. The road is carried zizgag down a rugged hill 

 of gneiss, with a descent of nearly 1000 feet in six miles, 

 of which 600 are exceedingly steep. The pass is well 

 wooded, with abundance of bamboo, Bomb ax, Cassia, 

 Acacia, and Butea, with Calotropis, the purple Mudar, a 

 very handsome road-side plant, which I had not seen 

 before, but which, with the Argemone Mexicana, was to be 

 a companion for hundreds of miles farther. All the views 

 in the pass are very picturesque, though wanting in good 

 foliage, such as Ficus would afford, of which I did not see 

 one tree. Indeed the rarity of the genus (except F. infec- 

 torid) in the native woods of these hills, is very remarkable. 

 The banyan and peepul always appear to be planted, as do 

 the tamarind and mango. 



Dunwah, at the foot of the pass, is 620 feet above the 

 sea, and nearly 1000 below the mean level of the highland 

 I had been traversing. Every thing bears here a better 

 aspect ; the woods at the foot of the hills afforded many 

 plants ; the bamboo (B. stricta) is green instead of yellow 

 and white ; a little castor-oil is cultivated, and the Indian 

 date (low and stunted) appears about the cottages. 



In the woods I heard and saw the wild peacock for the 

 first time. Its voice is not to be distinguished from that 

 of the tame bird in England, a curious instance of the per- 



