April, 1848. PURNEA. 97 



refuge of scared rats and cockroaches. In the evening I 

 shared a meal with these creatures, on some provisions my 

 kind friends had put into the boat, but the food was so 

 sandy that I had to bolt my supper ! 



At night the storm lulled a little, and I proceeded to 

 Caragola Ghat and took up my dawk, which had been 

 twenty-eight hours expecting me, and was waiting, in 

 despair of my arrival, for another traveller on the opposite 

 bank, who however could not cross the river. 



Having accomplished thirty miles, I halted at 9 a.m. on 

 the following morning at Purnea, quitting it at noon for 

 Kishengunj. The whole country wore a greener garb than 

 I had seen anywhere south of the Ganges : the climate was 

 evidently more humid, and had been gradually becoming 

 so from Mirzapore. The first decided change was a few 

 miles below the Soane mouth, at Dinapore and Patna ; and 

 the few hygrometrical observations I took at Bhagulpore 

 confirmed the increase of moisture. The proximity to the 

 sea and great Delta of the Ganges sufficiently accounts for 

 this ; as does the approach to the hills for the still greater 

 dampness and brighter verdure of Purnea. I was glad 

 to feel myself within the influence of the long-lookecl-for 

 Himalaya ; and I narrowly watched every change in the 

 character of the vegetation. A fern, growing by the road- 

 side, was the first and most tangible evidence of this ; 

 together with the rarity or total absence of Butea, Boswcllia, 

 Catechu, Grislea, Carissa, and all the companions of my 

 former excursion. 



Purnea is a large station, and considered very unhealthy 

 during and after the rains. Prom it the road passed 

 through some pretty lanes, with groves of planted Guava 

 and a rattan palm {Calamus), the first I had seen. Though 

 no hills are nearer than the Himalaya, from the constant 



