1839.] Lieut. Kittoe's Journey through the Forests of Orissa. 377 



There are no antiquities at this place save a few fragments from 

 the ruins of a Budhist temple, some thirty or forty miles up the river, 

 which were brought some years ago for building purposes. I was told 

 that there was an inscription on a rock in the middle of the river about 

 a mile above the town ; I went one morning to examine it, and found 

 merely a few brief sentences and the name of a Byragi who had died 

 there some few years ago. The spot is held sacred on account of the 

 evil deity supposed to preside over the river, which is evidently very 

 deep, being confined in a long narrow basin formed by the gneiss rocks 

 which stretch across it in all directions. Some years back the Mar- 

 hattas in attempting to carry away a heavy brass gun on a raft, it 

 sank and every soul perished ; the credulous inhabitants believe that 

 the demon appeared on this occasion, and dragged them all into a 

 fathomless abyss which is said to exist there. 



During my stay at Sumbulpiir I endeavoured to collect as much 

 information regarding the country lying between it and Mednipur as 

 I could ; this was no easy matter, for the accounts I received were so 

 contradictory that I determined at all hazards to explore the country, 

 following the direction of Mednipur as nearly as possible and keeping 

 south of the old road. Every argument and persuasion were made by 

 the Raja and his ministers to dissuade me ; all kinds of dangers and 

 difficulties were pictured to me, which failed in their intent, for I could 

 plainly see that there was some object in view. Amongst the persons 

 who exerted themselves most to deceive and dissuade me was an indi- 

 vidual whom Major W (the Governor General's Agent for 



the South-western frontier) had sent with a view to his assisting my 

 unfortunate predecessor, which he was capable of doing from his know- 

 ledge of the country ; his anxiety was perhaps attributable more to a 

 desire to prevent my hearing of the tricks he had been playing in the 

 Baumurra district when awaiting his arrival, than to any other cause. 



During my stay here I had searched for a good spot for erecting a 

 bridge over the Mahanuddi, (if such a great work were ever under- 

 taken) which I found very near the present ford and ferry ; the river 

 is there 4,500 feet broad in the rains, and there are huge masses of 

 rock at convenient intervals right across, which would afford excellent 

 foundations for either wooden frames or masonry to support a wire or 

 an iron suspension bridge ; I found the highest flood water mark to be 

 about 47 feet above the level of the shallow stream flowing during dry 

 seasons in the centre of the bed. 



Before taking my final departure from Sumbulpur, I made an 

 outline sketch of the hills, which are distant at their nearest point four- 

 teen miles, extending from Baumunsassun, about north-west, till they 



