1855.] Notes On Northern Cachar. 589 



above the general level of the country which, again, may be about 

 1500 feet above the level of the sea, many of the peaks of the 

 Burrail may rise, however, to 5000 feet above the sea or even more. 



On clear days the snowy ranges of the Bhootan mountains, on 

 the northern side of the Burhamputer, are distinctly visible, but at 

 too great a distance to produce any marked effect, being generally 

 much obscured by the low clouds which hang above the horizon. 



The climate of North Cachar, is on the whole very agreeable, 

 the temperature of those places in it which are at all raised, being, 

 on an average, at least 8° Fahrenheit below that of the plains of 

 Cachar, the maximum temperature, during the hottest months, 

 never exceeding 85°, and the minimum during the same time 72°. 

 The chief objection to the district as a residence, is the constant 

 violent wind that blows upon it from the south, through the gorges 

 of the Burrail range. This wind would appear to come directly 

 from the plains of Cachar, and yet Cachar is far from being a windy 

 district, and, with the exception of a few storms, at the end of 

 the cold weather, enjoys almost a perpetual calm. 



When I first visited these hills, the season being that in which 

 the jungle (cleared for the purposes of cultivation) is burned, 

 huge fires were prevalent throughout the country. The magnitude 

 and fierceness of these fires are beyond anything I ever saw or 

 heard of — not even the fire of London, or the blazing Prairies 

 of America can be compared with them. "Whole mountains are 

 in flames, tongues of flame fifty or sixty feet in height leaping 

 up all around them. I thought, possibly, these great confla- 

 grations, by rarifying the air in their immediate neighbourhood to 

 a considerable extent, might cause a rush of wind to supply the 

 place of the atmosphere thus exhausted. But the violent winds 

 continued for months after the cleared jungle was all burned down, 

 and I was forced to give up my theory. 



I begin to think that this constant wind must be an upper 

 current of sea-breeze from the Bay of Bengal, which passes over the 

 low hills of Tipperah, and the plains of Cachar, until it is broken 

 by the high Burrail range, when it precipitates itself down the 

 gorges and valleys of those mountains into the country beyond. 

 But I have no argument to offer in support of this theory. 



