60 KYMORE HILLS. Chap. III. 



formed of slabs of sandstone arranged in steps. By dark 

 we reached the village of Roump (alt. 1090 feet), beyond 

 the top of the pass. 



On the next day I proceeded on a small, fast, and 

 wofully high-trotting elephant, to Shahguirj, where I 

 enjoyed Mr. Felle's hospitality for a few days. The 

 country here, though elevated, is, from the nature of 

 the soil and formation, much more fertile than what I had 

 left. Water is abundant, both in tanks and wells, and 

 rice-fields, broad and productive, cover the ground; 

 while groves of tamarinds and mangos, now loaded with 

 blossoms, occur at every village. 



It is very singular that the elevation of this table-land 

 (1100 feet at Shahgunj) should coincide with that of the 

 granite range of Upper Bengal, where crossed by the grand 

 trunk road, though they have no feature but the presence 

 of alluvium in common. Scarce a hillock varies the surface 

 here, and the agricultural produce of the two is widely 

 different. Here the flat ledges of sandstone retain the 

 moisture, and give rise to none of those impetuous torrents 

 which sweep it off the inclined beds of gneiss, or splintered 

 quartz. Nor is there here any of the effloresced salts so 

 forbidding to vegetation where they occur. Wherever 

 the alluvium is deep on these hills, neither Catechu, 

 Olibanum, Batea, Terminally Diospyros, dwarf-palm, or 

 any of those plants are to be met with, which abound 

 wherever the rock is superficial, and irrespectively of its 

 mineral characters. 



The gum-arabic Acacia is abundant here, though not 

 seen below, and very rare to the eastward of this meridian, 

 for I saw but little of it in Behar. It is a plant partial 

 to a dry climate, and rather prefers a good soil. In its 

 distribution it in some degree follows the range of the 



