384 TERAI. Chap. XVIT. 



but never copiously: by 10 a.m. the temperature has 

 risen to 75°, and the faint easterly morning breezes die 

 away ; the haze thickens, and covers the sky with a 

 white veil, the thermometer rising to 82° at noon, and the 

 west wind succeeding in parching tornados and furious 

 gusts, increasing with the temperature, which attains its 

 maximum in the afternoon, and falling again with its 

 decline at sunset. The evenings are calm ; but the earth is 

 so heated, that the thermometer stands at 10 p.m. at 66°, 

 and the minimum at night is not below 55° : great drought 

 accompanies the heat at this season, but not to such a 

 degree as in North-west India, or other parts of this 

 meridian further removed from the hills. In the month of 

 March, and during the prevalence of west winds, the 

 mean temperature was 79°, and the dew-point 22° lower, 

 indicating great drought. The temperature at Calcutta 

 was 7° warmer, and the atmosphere very much damper. 



On the second clay we arrived at Jeelpigoree, a large 

 straggling village near the banks of the Teesta, a good way 

 south of the forest : here we were detained for several days, 

 waiting for elephants with which to proceed northwards. 

 The natives are Cooches, a Mogul (Mongolian) race, who 

 inhabit the open country of this district, replacing the 

 Mechis of the Terai forest. They are a fine athletic people, 

 not very dark, and formed the once-powerful house of 

 Cooch Behar. Latterly the upper classes have adopted 

 the religion of the Brahmins, and have had caste con- 

 ferred upon them ; while the lower orders have turned 

 Mahomed ans : these, chiefly agriculturists, are a timid, 

 oppressed class, who everywhere fled before us, and were 

 with difficulty prevailed upon even to direct us along our 

 road. A rude police is established by the British Govern- 

 ment all over the country, and to it the traveller applies 



