1851.] Notes upon a tour through the Raj ma ha I Hills. 581 



name of the tree I am unacquainted with ; one which was of great 

 beauty had a tall straight stem sixty or seventy feet in height, sur- 

 mounted by an umbrella-shaped arrangement of branches, which pro- 

 jected from the main stem at right angles, half way up the main stem 

 was a similar arrangement of branches ; from all the smaller branches 

 and twigs an infinite number of their delicate green pods a foot in 

 length, but not thicker than a quill, hung in festoons, forming an ele- 

 gant fringe to the lower outline of the foliage. All parts of the tree 

 yield large quantities of a thin white milk, which falls in large drops 

 in quick succession when any pod, leaf or twig is broken. The leaves 

 grow round the branches in circlets of eight leaves, from amongst 

 which spring four delicate stems which in their turn are again sur- 

 mounted by eight leaves ; the leaves are three or four inches in length, 

 narrow and pointed, smooth and very milky ; the native or Sonthal 

 name for the tree is Chutmi, and the milk is used in hydrocele ; — none 

 of my up-country servants recognized the tree. I have, since writing 

 the above seen two stunted specimens of the same tree growing near 

 Sooree ; they were also called Chutmi by the villagers. 



From Telakee ascended the Mori hill, supposed to be the highest 

 hill in the whole of the Rajmahal range. The range at the base is 

 very densely wooded, the soil covered with kunkur. After an ascent 

 of two hours reached Busko, situate in a fine forest of large trees prin- 

 cipally asun, kurm, mango, tamarind and dhow, above which is 

 situate the village of Mori. 



In a small torrent I saw basaltic columns measuring fifteen feet in 

 circumference being hexagons of two feet six inches each face. 



Mori is a large and well populated hill village ; several lowlanders 

 were bargaining and bartering with the hill-men, for grain grown on 

 the summit of this range. 



The summit of Mori which is about two thousand feet above the 

 sea, is covered with a fine forest principally of kurm, (Nauclea) some 

 of which have attained an enormous size, one in particular is well 

 known all over the country, and has been of great use to me during 

 the progress of the survey of the hills as it stands, a prominent land- 

 mark visible from most parts of the northern hills. From this tree 

 there is an extensive view of the greater part of the hills as well as a 

 great portion of the plains of Bhagalpur. 



