1865.] Notes of a tour in the Tributary Mehals, 13 
by Sirgoojah. It is about 50 miles in length from north to south, and 
30 in greatest breadth from east to west, and may comprise about 
1000 square miles. It contains upwards of 200 villages, exclusive of 
the hamlets or detached huts of migratory hill savages; the population 
is about 30,000, and the total income of the Rajah from all sources 
may be estimated at about Rs. 6000. With this moderate income he 
maintains a very becoming state, and so rules as to be greatly beloved 
by all his people. 
Jushpore is about equally divided into highlands and lowlands, 
‘Oopur Ghat’ and ‘Heth Ghat.’ The highlands consist of a mag- 
nificent plateau, a continuation of the great tableland of Chota-Nag- 
pore, averaging upwards of 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and 
fringed by hills, rising in places 1000 feet higher. The lowlands lie 
in steppes descending towards the south, broken by low ranges of hills 
isolated bluffs, and masses of granite, sometimes semi-globular in form, 
and without vegetation, bare and round as an old man’s bald pate, 
and hence the most conspicuous of them is called the ‘ Boora,’ 
The Heb river has its sources in the Jushpore highlands, and grows 
so rapidly into a respectable stream, that when it reaches the brink of 
the plateau, it bounds into the lowlands with a roar that is heard 
for miles. It is, shortly after, joined by another stream, the Maini, 
which also rises in the Jushpore heights. There is a story that, years 
ago, an invisible spirit in a visible light canoe ascended the Keb, water- 
fall and all, to its source, and there the boat is still waiting for the 
spirit’s return. I did not see it. 
- It is also called the ‘ Heera’ river, as diamonds are found in its bed, 
and it is probably the source of the diamond stores of the Maha 
Nuddee, as I understand that none have been found above the con- 
fluence of the two streams. It is auriferous, and from time immemorial 
its sands and deposits have been explored by hereditary gold-washers, 
called ‘‘ Jhorahs.” These gold-washers do not, however, confine their 
operations to the bed of the river. They find it more profitable to 
penetrate the soil some distance from its banks, and on both sides you 
find tracts honey-combed with shafts, sunk by successive generations 
of gold seekers. 
These shafts are from 10 to 30 feet in depth, and three in 
diameter. The Jhorahs excavate till they cut through the upper 
