1855.] Notes on Northern Cachar. 583 



most part mountainous, and covered with dense forest and bamboo 

 jungle, intersected by numerous streams which find their rise in 

 the Burrail and lower ranges, and flow towards the plains to the 

 north. 



The population, consisting in all of about 30,000 souls, is, com- 

 posed of no less than six different tribes, all having distinct lan- 

 guages, manners and customs. They are thinly scattered through- 

 out the country in small village communities, the greater part 

 being located towards the south, close to the high range ; vast 

 belts of forest in the north and the whole line of frontier to the 

 east, being left unoccupied : the first on account of the intricacy 

 and impracticability of the country, and the second from the dread 

 of the ravages of the Kutcha and Angami Naga tribes. 



North Cachar is most easily approached from the southern side, 

 that is from Cachar Proper. There are no less than three distinct 

 routes from Silchar to Apaloo, the sndder station of the district. 



The shortest of these is that via Oodharbund, a village in the 

 plains, about ten miles north of Cachar. On leaving this village, the 

 road proceeds for some way up the bed of the Madoora river, and 

 then, after surmounting the lower ranges of hills lying at the foot 

 of the Burrail, boldly runs up the face of those mountains them- 

 selves, nor does it seek, by zigzaging or circumvention, any means of 

 alleviating the toughness of the "pull" which in some places is tre- 

 mendous. 



Nothing can be less interesting than a journey by this route. 

 The moment the traveller has left Oodharbund, he finds himself 

 walking between two high walls of jungle, which it is impossible 

 for the eye to pierce. This jungle in the lower ranges is com- 

 posed of a small species of bamboo, the stalks growing exceedingly 

 close to one another : higher up, the first striking change is that of a 

 larger bamboo, which takes the place of the smaller kind, and grows in 

 clumps instead of singly. Interspersed with these are gigantic bam- 

 boos growing to the height of sixty or seventy feet, and measuring 

 eight or ten inches in diameter at their base. AVhen half way up 

 the Burrail range, bamboos of all kinds give place to a timber forest, 

 where huge trees of various sorts abound. Here, indeed, some 

 scenes of great beauty present themselves. The rich and varie- 



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