596 Notes on Northern Cacliar. [No. 7. 



Oacharies from the silk of the eria-worm ; but the manufacture 

 is not general among the tribes. 



Edible fruits of different kinds are found in the jungles, but none 

 are cultivated ; among them is the mango which grows to the size 

 of a turkey's egg, possesses a fine flavour, and is free from the 

 grubs, which make such attacks on that fruit in the plains. The 

 peach also grows in a wild state, but never reaches maturity ; and 

 wild plantains are common, but the inhabitants prefer eating the 

 flower and the pith of the trunk to the mature fruit. 



The Natural History of North Cachar is most diversified, and I 

 am confident that the researches of any scientific zoologist would be 

 attended with some important discoveries. I shall merely, with- 

 out attention to classification, name some of the animals which are 

 known to exist in the country. 



I have seen the hoolook, or black ape, and their cry resounds 

 through the forests ; there is another ape of a white colour, and 

 two or three kinds of monkeys. I have also met with the " gher- 

 minda billi," a sort of sloth. 



The elephant, rhinoceros, and wild buffalo are common in the 

 jungles and jheels to the north. The methin, or wild cow, is also 

 indigenous and frequents the hilly jungles in the district, as do the 

 sambre, spotted-deer, hog-deer, ravine-deer, and barking-deer. The 

 antelope even is sometimes seen. Wild hogs and porcupines are 

 common. Tigers, bears, leopards, and jungle-cats prevail through- 

 out the whole country, and it is considered unsafe to go out at 

 night by reason of them. The hyaena, wolf, jackal, fox, and wild 

 dog, are to be met with in different localities — the jackal is, how- 

 ever, seldom seen in the hills. Civets and many kinds of ferrets 

 and weasles abound. Flying squirrels and squirrels of several sorts 

 inhabit the forests ; of the latter I have seen four distinct kinds, 

 black, gray, brown and green. Bamboo or lion-rats, moles, musk- 

 rats, common rats and mice, are pestilently numerous, especially the 

 three latter. 



Alligators frequent the rivers, where they are large enough, to 

 the north, and fish of numerous kinds, from those 80 or lOOibs. in 

 weight down to the smallest minnow, are caught in all the rivers. 

 The rohoo and mabaseer, are the only kinds that I can distin- 



