TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS. 71 



important two-inch survey of the revenue-paying portion of the 

 plains of Khanclesh. While surveying in the Tapti valley, 

 Mr. Graham, Assistant Surveyor, witnessed some extraordinary 

 examples of " sorcery " among the Bhils, such as walking through 

 and treading on live coals barefoot without sustaining the slightest 

 apparent injury.* Mr. Horst was assured it was a common practice, 

 and frequently adopted by village puncliayets as an ordeal in trials for 

 theft and murder. The work was continued during the two following 

 seasons, the plane-tabling including part of the Western Satpuras and 

 the valley of the Tapti. Great obstacles were encountered by the 

 surveyors, partly from the high and rugged character of the hills, 

 but chiefly from the difficulty in getting supplies and the general 

 inhospitable nature of the country. The only water available for 

 drinking was of the most unwholesome description, to which may 

 be attributed the constant attacks of fever to which the assistants who 

 surveyed the worst parts were subjected. The culminating portion 

 of the Satpura range " Astamha," 4,346 feet above sea-level, came 

 into the season's work. About 900 square miles on the two inch 

 scale were surveyed between the town of Dhulia and the Tapti 

 river, this tract consisting mainly of undulating revenue-paying 

 districts. An attempt was made, on the whole successfully, to 

 incorporate the village boundaries from the Bombay Revenue 

 Survey maps. Captain W. J. Heaviside, who took charge of the 

 party in 1879-80, furnishes some picturesque descriptions of the trap 

 formation of the Doccan, which in Khandesh assumes the form of 

 grand black precipices surmounted by massive basaltic columns 

 rising to three or four thousand feet above sea-level. Two con- 

 spicuous basaltic hills, known as Mangya Tangya, on a spur of the 

 Sahyadri hills, are of remarkable appearance, resembling monoliths 

 rising from pyramidical bases, in which numerous steps have been 

 cut. Some Buddhist temples, hewn out of the solid rock, are also to 

 be seen here. The following season saw the detail survey carried 

 forward in the south-western portion of the area allotted to the 

 party, where it abuts on Berar and the Nizam's dominions. The 

 inhabitants of this part mostly speak Mahrati, and are rather addicted 

 to drink and theatricals, which latter entertainment affords a means 

 of support to a class of strolling actors. 



The Khandesh and Bombay Native States Survey was finally 

 brought to a conclusion by Major T. T. Carter in 1882-83. It had 



* See page 47 of Topographical Survey Report for 1876-77. 



