1851.] Notes upon a Tour through the Rajmahal Hills. 559 



and twelve miles, that tradition assigns the former bed of the Ganges 

 before the formation of the Podda or the present Ganges below Raj- 

 mahal ; and before the existence of the present Bhagarutti. This low- 

 land is at present drained by the Jeeoonthee Nullah which falls into 

 the Bhagarutti a little below Berhampur. 



The principal crops of the alluvial soil are rice and mulberry ; the 

 latter is cultivated for the use of the worms which produce the Ber- 

 hampur and Cossimbazar silk. 



Principal crop of the higher land is rice ; principal trees, Pipul, 

 Burgut, Babul and Nim ; bamboos are also common. 



A square tank at Gowkurn presents a goodly supply of elegant 

 water-plants, scarlet and white lotus, water-creepers, and numerous 

 handsome water-flowers whose names I am unacquainted with ; large 

 ampullaria are common in the tank. 



December 14th. — Direction west, eight miles to Jamukandi, at the 

 second mile cross the Dwarka, a shallow muddy stream flowing easterly 

 from the Rajmahal Hills, stream barely perceptible ; one of the 

 numerous branches of the More river which is one of the drainers of 

 Birbhum and southern pergunahs of Bhagalpur, joins the Dwarka 

 at the ferry, its bed was dry and sandy, the sand composed of grey 

 and white quartz and an abundance of schorl from the gneiss and 

 granite formation of Birbhum, and also iron ore. The Dwarka is 

 sandless with steep banks of a rich loam, at the foot of which lying 

 scattered about were numerous dead specimens of the pearl-bearing 

 unio and palludina. 



The pearl-bearing unios are collected from the Jheels and marshes 

 in great numbers, a small proportion only bear pearls, which are of a 

 very good colour and size ; a large pair sell for 250 Rupees. The shells 

 are burnt for lime. 



After crossing the Dwarka the country is highly cultivated and 

 beautfully wooded ; the crops rice, sugar-cane, linseed, mulberry and 

 small patches of wheat. At the several villages the chunderkees or 

 large circular bamboo frames or stands covered with thousands of 

 yellow silk cocoons were drying in the sun. 



Jamukandi is a large town on the banks of the branch of the 

 More river that falls into the Dwarka and stands on the common 

 boundary of Moorshedabad and Birbhum, the town boasts of a very 



