590 Notes on Northern Cachar. [No. 7. 



My observations of the climate have hitherto applied only to 

 Apaloo, and those parts of the hills considerably above the general 

 level of the country, though not on the greatest heights. Here 

 the climate is healthy and with the exception of the wind, pleasant. 

 It is far otherwise, however, in the valleys and dells between the 

 hills, and generally in the whole tract to the north, including Too- 

 laram's country. There the rankness of the vegetation and the 

 malaria emitted from decaying vegetable matter, spreads disease and 

 death, even among those who from long residence have become 

 accustomed to such localities. A European or native of the plains 

 has little chance of escaping w r ith his life, should he be detained for 

 any time in the low grounds. 



Toolaram's country must, I fancy, be the most insalubrious place 

 in the whole world. Independently of the effects of the malaria, 

 all epidemics, such as cholera and small-pox are prevalent, and it is 

 not astonishing, therefore, that we find a population of 6200 per- 

 sons only, occupying such an extensive tract, although the paucity 

 of people has been ascribed to the misgovernment of the late rulers. 



North Cachar is not, apparently, visited with such floods of 

 rain as the Cossiah hills, although of course a greater quantity 

 must fall among mountains than on the plains. Yet I think there 

 can be but a slight difference between the fall in the plains of 

 Cachar, and that at Apaloo. Clouds hang pretty constantly on the 

 peaks of the hills, and a considerable amount of rain may fall on 

 the higher levels, but the torrents carry it all off, and no effect is 

 produced by the fall on the lower ground. 



Dense fogs and mists are very frequent, and the climate is every 

 where a damp one. Books, furniture, dresses, &c. stand no chance 

 with it, although it has been found to agree pretty well with both 

 Europeans and natives of the plains ; the latter, however, suffer 

 greatly on first coming up, being subject to fevers, and a mild 

 form of dysentery ; this may, however, be induced more by a change 

 in diet, the hill rice differing considerably from that of the plains, 

 than by any baneful effect of the climate. 



There are very few remarkable places in North Cachar, nothing 

 interesting concerning the history of the country being known, all 

 that is known being confined within the last half century. 



