704 The Hodesum (improperly called KolehanJ , [No. 103. 



and never takes to grass. Of monkeys there are only the two common 

 species, the Lungoor and Makor or Bunder {Sara and Gye of the 

 Koles) ; the former live among rocks, the latter in dense thickets. 

 Wild hogs are very numerous in some parts, but so wary as to be 

 seldom killed. The rhinoceros is not known. 



Birds of all kinds are scarce and wild, especially those fit for food, 

 on account of the keenness with which the Koles pursue, trap, hawk, 

 and shoot them. The double-spurred partridge is found among rocks, 

 but is one of the most difficult birds to shoot, as it seldom takes wing, but 

 creeps into caves and fissures. The deep moist woods afford immense 

 varieties to the ornithologist, an enumeration of which would be useless. 



Being a dry and stony country, the Kolehan is peculiarly prolific 

 in snakes of all varieties ; the covra is not so common as another 

 species, the Siarbinjaoi the Oorias, and Pago jar r as of the Hos (Cop- 

 hias Russelii), which is supposed to be equally deadly, and far more 

 vindictive ; it is a subgenus of rattle-snake (without the rattle). A 

 large and beautiful snake, coloured with black and yellow rings, the 

 Sakom bing (Pseudoboa fasciata) is met with in ploughed fields; 

 a long thin green whip-snake, infests the rank grass jungles at the 

 bottoms of hills ; the hartoo, a slender, agile species, coloured like a 

 ribbon with yellow, and coppery purple, infests trees. All these are 

 venomous. The Python or Ujgur, {Toonil bing) is found in every 

 jungle; it attains to dimensions which I have heard described, but 

 which would sound too marvellous to be recorded without better 

 proofs. Throughout Singbhoom, Chota Nagpoor, and the surrounding 

 countries, a belief is current of a monstrous species of snake, the 

 " Garra bing" infesting rivers swollen by torrents, which destroys both 

 men and cattle, should they venture in. I mention it, as the opinion is 

 so general, but it is probable that the sudden and mysterious deaths 

 which occur in these mountain torrents, are occasioned by what sea- 

 men call the " under tow" and '' back water," caused by the violent 

 passage of water over rocks and deep holes. The body of a person 

 thus carried away is never seen again, at least in the neighbourhood, 

 and this total disappearance naturally strengthens the idea of his 

 having been swallowed up by some huge animal. 



An entomologist would find an exhaustless field of research and 

 discovery in the jungles of this country. The decayed saul trees are 



