1S51.] Notes upon a tour through the Rdjtnahal Hills. 585 



alarmed at the Sonthals advent and wholesale clearance of the jungle, 

 had disputed the boundary which I have settled by cutting a road 

 through the jungle from pillar to pillar a distance of three and a half 

 miles. The crops of Arahur dal and gram growing in the virgin soil 

 are most luxuriant. 



From the small basaltic hill Baltok, there is a fine view of the river 

 Ganges, the Colgong granite hills, Peer Pointee and the country to 

 the north of the Ganges. 



A few years ago, the jungle at the foot of Baltok, was the resort 

 of wild elephants which have been exterminated by the hill-men. 

 Their mode of destroying these animals was by placing in their track 

 Indian corn that had been poisoned with the Dakrah root ; the Col- 

 lector of Bhaugulpoor rewarding their success with fifty rupees for 

 each elephant poisoned. The last elephant destroyed in these parts 

 is supposed to have perished about twenty years ago. 



3\st January, 1850. — During the operation of directing the cutting 

 of the jungle along the boundary, I was amused to see a Sonthal 

 pounce upon a large nest of the mata or large biting red ants, that 

 had been brought to the ground by the felling of a large tree, he beat 

 the leafy nest violently in his hands until he had killed the whole 

 hive, and then cooly commenced eating them, offering a pinch to his 

 friends standing by. He said in reply to my question that they were 

 acid, but very good ; to the former opinion I agree, as upon tasting 

 them I found the taste nearly as sharp as dilute sulphuric acid, having 

 the same unpleasant effect upon the teeth, but to the latter part of the 

 sentence I entirely disagree. 



These ants, the dread of travellers in the jungles on account of their 

 pugnaciousness and painful bite, build their nests amongst the leaves 

 of the mango trees, which they agglutinate with a species of web into 

 round hollow balls ; the ants are of a pale orange color, half an inch 

 in length with black eyes and are exceedingly numerous, carnivorous 

 and troublesome. 



In a house where I once resided on the banks of the Ganges, I was 

 much troubled with an extensive nest of hornets that had taken up 

 their abode in the thatch immediately over the entrance door : I was 

 recommended by the natives to try the effects of the mata ; a nest was 

 accordingly brought and put into the thatch near the nest ; as each 



4 F 



