590 Notes upon a tour through the RAjmahal Hills. [No. 7. 



lages on the hills, so that the hill-men have every reason to fear the 

 encroachments of their neighbours the Sonthals. 



At the Sonthal clearing of Nargunjo now a twelvemonth old, it was 

 distressing to see the enormous waste of valuable timber ; fine large 

 trees of many feet diameter were prostrate in every direction, hundreds 

 of other still larger trees stood erect, but withered, being too large 

 for the small Sonthal axe to cut entirely through they had been merely 

 girdled, which operation consists of cutting a deep notch of four inches 

 or more in width and depth completely round the tree ; in a few 

 months, every leaf falls off and at the end of the year all the smaller 

 branches disappear, next the bark peels off in huge flakes, leaving the 

 main stem standing like a ship's mast and which weathers the storms 

 for many years. 



In one field of mustard near Nargunjo, I saw upwards of fifty-five 

 timber trees standing in this naked condition offering a melancholy 

 and curious contrast to the neighbouring green and luxuriant forest, with 

 which the field was entirely enclosed. 



In a few years not a tree will be left in these now timber-crowded 

 valleys, almost the whole of the large Sal forests have already perished 

 under the operation of girdling for the production of the resin known 

 as Dammer or Dhoona. 



The hills being entirely closed in to the north and as there is no 

 possibility of getting this valuable timber over the hills to the Ganges, 

 which is only a few miles from the forests, averaging from four to 

 twelve miles, the whole of the felled trees will, and are permitted to, 

 rot on the ground. 



Amongst the hill-men, who accompanied me this morning I noticed 

 the following diseases ; blindness from white film ; varicose veins in 

 the calf of the leg ; secondary syphilis, and goitre : fever and ague is 

 also common amongst the inhabitants during the months of September 

 and October. 



At the foot of the hills, I passed through a great quantity of a 

 hoplike looking bush called by the Sonthals Chapoor. I am unac- 

 quainted with its botanical name, or with the names of many to me, 

 unknown plants, and trees, daily met with in these hills. 



Rocks passed over to-day were laterite overlying compact basalt. 



At Banji, in addition to the Churruk poojah pole which graces, or 



