1 869.] Notes on the Flora of Manbh urn . 113 



library, it is necessary to undergo so much trouble and expenditure 

 of time, as is involved in a trip to Seebpiir. 



The district of Manbhum forms portions of three of Dr. Hooker's 

 provinces, Behar, Bengal and Orissa, the larger portion being included 

 in Orissa. As I expect to have further opportunity of examining that 

 province throughout, I shall for the present confine myself to a 

 description of the more salient features of the flora ; reserving the 

 detailed list of plants to some future time. The physical characters of 

 the district of Manbhum may be most clearly comprehended by divi- 

 ding it up into a series of six zones as follows : 



1st. A zone in which metamorphic rocks alone prevail, and of 

 which the general altitude is probably about 4 to 500 feet, and which 

 is studded with small hills rising 3 to 400 feet higher. 



2nd. The Damuda valley in which the two coal fields of Ranigunj 

 and Jherria are situated. This zone includes the hills of Pachete 

 and Beharinath, formed of the youngest sedimentary rocks and rising 

 to the heights, respectively, of 1,600 and 1,480 feet. 



3rd. A zone similar to the first, in which metamorphic rocks only 

 occur, and which is studded with many hills of which Susinia (1400'), 

 Rugonathpur and Sindurpur are the principal. It includes the 

 valleys of the Selye, Dulkissur and Cossye rivers. 



4th. A zone upwards of two-thirds of which are in no respect 

 different from the preceding one, but of which the remaining portion, 

 the western, is occupied by the Bhaghmuri plateau, one of the most 

 important spurs running from the highlands of Chota-Nagpur. It is 

 formed of granitic gneiss which weathers into huge and magnificent 

 monoliths. The general level of the plateau is probably about 1,500 

 feet above the sea, that of the plain at the base being 720 feet. 



bth. A zone similar to No. 3, in which a few unimportant hills 

 occur. The rocks belong to two formations the metamorphic, or gneiss 

 series, and the sub-metamorphic, or slate and quartzite series. 



6th. Finally Manbhum is separated from Dhalbhum and Singhbhuni 

 on the south by a series of ranges of hills formed of the harder rocks 

 belonging to the sub-metamorphic series : quartzites, tough schists, 

 slates, and trap. Between these ranges which rise to various heights 

 from 1,000 to 3,000 feet, are deep valleys in which the vegetation, 



15 



