558 Notes upon a Tour through the Rdjmahal Hills. [No. 7. 



The foregoing Introductory Remarks were written as explanatory of 

 the following Journal. 



Journal of a Tour through a portion of the Districts of Moorsheda- 

 bad, Birbhum and the Rdjmahal Hills, in the District of Bha- 

 galpur. 



December \2th> 1850.— Left the military Station Berhampur 

 situate on the left bank of the Bhagarutti ; direction south west eight 

 miles to Gow-kurn. Cross the Bhagarutti a little above the Station in 

 ferry-boats. The banks of the river present numerous strata of a grey 

 alluvial soil alternating with strata of white sand ; on the right or 

 western bank saw a stratum of paludina, a fragment of yellow sand- 

 stone and old pottery, five feet below the surface of the country. The 

 sand of the river is freely mixed with silvery and black mica, and 

 tourmaline, but no pebbles ; planorbis plentiful on the banks. 



The road for six miles is over a deep alluvial soil, lying very low, 

 very damp, and. abounding in marshes ; the number of birds seen in 

 this low tract where there is an abundance of insect-life and fish, is 

 very great; consisting of fishing eagles, crows, ravens, paddy-birds, 

 mohoka, golden oriole, snipe, mina, koel, larks, king-fishers of 

 several kinds, amadavats, crested bulbuls, jacanas, sparrow-hawks, 

 peewit, plover, king-crow, hoopoe, brahminee kite, storks, kites, 

 snippets, Pharoah's chickens, whistling teal, grey and black partridge, 

 terns, finch, Pondicherry vulture, brown vulture, swallow, pagla, 

 wagtail, bee-eater, woodpecker, blue pigeon, kokleet, doves, jay, 

 heron, cormorants and numerous wild fowls. 



At the sixth mile or at the village of Nowgong the country rises 

 suddenly and is undulating, the alluvial soil ceases ; kunkur (nodular 

 limestone) and pisiform iron ore become common ; the colour of the 

 soil changes as well as the feeling, if not the temperature of the air, 

 which is more dry and bracing than at Berhampur, nor is the change 

 of soil less remarkable, as yesterday I thrust a walking stick eighteen 

 inches into the Berhampur alluvial soil, which same stick made no 

 impression to-day upon the hard dry soil of Nowgong. Looking east, 

 the low alluvial tract in which Berhampur is situated appears about 

 one hundred feet below Nowgong ; it is to this low marshy country 

 which extends from Rajmahal to Nuddya, a distance of one hundred 



