498 Note on the Navigation of the river Nurbudda. [No. 151. 



but there, from the description of the person sent with the boat, a fall 

 of a considerable height is met with, sufficient to stop the progress of 

 any boat; every inducement was held out to the boatmen to proceed 

 further, but they flatly refused, and would not even permit their 

 empty boat to advance without being insured the value of it." 



" From enquiries made of the boatmen at Hindea, it seems that no 

 boat has ever been known to pass this place, and it is considered by 

 them an impossibility." 



Captain J. Abbott, late Assistant in Nimar, whilst in charge of 



3d. Capt. Abbott, ttiat district, " lost no opportunity of collecting, and 

 noting down, all the information procurable from persons who had 

 visited the principal obstacles." His own actual knowledge was li- 

 mited to the boundaries of his district. From what this officer states 

 in his observations upon the obstacles impeding the navigation of the 

 river, submitted in March of the present year, it appears that from 

 enquiries he had made, the river is navigable, (except in the driest 

 season, when it is spread over too wide a surface,) from Hossungabad 

 to within 20 miles of the Dhadree falls. That at Dhadree it is preci- 

 pitated over a ledge of rocks forty feet in height, and for about 20 

 above this, navigation is impeded by rocks and rapids. The rest of 

 this portion, i. e. from Dhadree to Mundleysir, is navigable the greater 

 part of the year to vessels of light burden ; but during the very dry 

 months, from the middle of March to the middle of June, the water 

 at the rapids is too shallow to float the larger river craft. 



Regarding the second portion ; viz. from Mundleysir to Tulluckwara, 

 lid Portion. we h ave fuller and more satisfactory information. 



As early as 1820, Major General Sir J. Malcolm had contemplated 



1st. Lieut. Mathias' opening a river communication with Baroche, and 

 journey in 1820. w ithi this object several officers were deputed by 

 him to survey the course of the stream. The following extract from 

 a Journal of a Voyage made down from Mundleysir by Lieutenant V. 

 Mathias, of the b'th Regiment N. I. gives us our first information res- 

 pecting this portion of the river: — 



" Left Mundleysir on the morning of the 26th March 1820, in an 

 open boat called a punt, made out of a single tree, about 12 feet in 

 length, 20 inches in breadth, and drawing 18 inches water, with my- 

 self, two boatmen, and a small quantity of baggage. 



