1339.] Lieut. Kittoes Journey through the Forests of Orissa. 373 



chief) restore his cattle and the value of his merchandize, which had 

 been plundered from him near Gussungurh in 1835. 



I made particular inquiries touching the practice of human sacrifice 

 since we had rescued all their Merriahs ;* I was assured that there had 

 been no " Merria pooja" this year, but I have reason to doubt the 

 truth of the assertion. 



On my way out of Boad I remarked several old temples on which, 

 as I have been since informed, are inscriptions ; had I known of this at 

 the time, I should certainly have stopped and transcribed them. 



My bearers having informed me that there was a bye-path across 

 country, by which eight or ten miles would be saved, I preferred 

 going by it to following the course of the river via Sohnpur to Sum- 

 bulpur along the right bank ; therefore upon reaching a large village 

 called Sugliah, I crossed over, and resting for a couple of hours 

 travelled on till 7 a. m. and encamped in a miserable mango tope by a 

 village called Mirlipulli, the Zemindar of which would neither come 

 to me nor afford supplies, till at last the Dangurs got hold of him and 

 brought him to me, begging I would keep him in durance until his 

 Paiks should have brought what little was required. I had been 

 obliged to leave my escort to follow after me, so that I was nearly 

 helpless, I however followed the advice of the Dangurs and kept the 

 fellow by me till every thing was forthcoming, and subsequently 

 paid for. 



This part of the Sohnpur territory appears tolerably fertile, the 

 country is undulating and rocky, but the water is very near the sur- 

 face; there are numerous small wells about the villages, the water 

 of which is drained by the Dhankuli, or tilt-pole. The soil has a 

 very curious appearance from the great quantities of snow-white quartz 

 and talcite ; I picked up some fine specimens of talc by the mouth 

 of a well ; the people told me that it is to be found in very large 

 pieces at some depth below the surface. 



I experienced another hot day. Having to travel over some bad 

 ground, I resumed my march at an early hour, and reached a large 

 village at 10 p. m. I rested several hours, and then went on to 

 Keuntapulli, a short distance before reaching which, I had to cross a 

 tolerably steep ghat over the chain of low hills, which commencing 

 near Sumbulpur, run for many miles nearly due north and south, 

 parallel to the river, and no great distance from it. 



I encamped as usual under some fine tamarind trees by the river 

 side. Having reached my ground at an early hour, I had plenty 

 of time to look about me. The river for upwards of a mile is ex- 



* Children intended for sacrifice. 



