1108 Report on a Passage made on the Nurbudda River. [Nov. 



clear, and free of obstructions. Captain Anderson calls it 25 miles, 

 but I think this is a misprint for 15. The river, when I reached the 

 Him Phal, had risen about 18 feet above hot weather height.* I had 

 often before been at the place, and was therefore enabled to estimate 

 the height with tolerable accuracy. Like Captain Anderson, I experi- 

 enced very little difficulty in descending this rapid, for it is nothing 

 more, — but it is the Boorkherry rapid, one mile below, that offers the 

 chief obstruction. This Captain Anderson mistakes for the Hirn 

 Phal, whereas the first place goes under that name. The Boorkherry 

 rapid I succeeded in getting my boats down with some difficulty, by 

 the southern channel, but a road, I am inclined to think, would be the 

 best mode of overcoming this obstacle ; as when the river is low the 

 length of the rapid would increase the difficulty considerably. The 

 immense height to which the river rises in the monsoon, sometimes 

 70 feet above hot weather height, would be a serious objection to a 

 lock or locks ; but on this point I am not competent to speak. 



4th. About two miles lower down (or even less) is another place 

 called the Gunnee Ghat, the features of which are precisely similar to 

 the Boorkherry rapid. Here, however, the fall being inconsiderable, 

 it would be necessary only to clear away the detached fragments of 

 rocks in the bed of the channel, to render it perfectly passible. From 

 hence to Beytala, 20 miles, a Bheelala village on the north bank, 4 

 miles below the Hutnee river, the river is clear and deep, and the 

 voyage offered no difficulty. 



5th. The hills on either side from Dhurmrai, above the Hirn 

 Phal, to Beytala, rise to a good height, and are covered with jungle. 

 Inhabitants are very scanty. Dhurmrai is inhabitated by a few Bheels, 

 under Kaloo Sing Bheelala. On the north bank, 10 miles lower down, 

 is the large Bheel hamlet of Dussana, the people of which were former- 

 ly notorious for their predatory habits, but they are now peaceable 

 enough ; 6 or 7 miles beyond this, about one mile inland, from the 

 mouth of the Hutnee, is Kukrana, a Bheelala village, in the Rajpoor 

 district ; and two miles lower down, on the south bank, is Bhudul, a 



* The boats were let down by ropes attached to the stern by a channel in the middle 

 of the belt of rocks, the said channel being- a rocky slope in which the water was some 

 2 feet deep. In the fair weather when the river is low, boats go by the backwater 

 channel. 



