74 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS. 



in the .Appendix to the Report of the Surveyor-General for 1884-85, 

 page xsx. 



Central Provinces, Sfc. — Turning now to the operations which had 

 been progressing in the east of the Peninsula, we find that the season 

 1876-77 was signalised by the completion of the Central Provinces 

 and Vizagapatam Agency Survey, embracing altogether 72,144 

 square miles. The difficulty and unhealthiness of work in this 

 region had been almost proverbial from its commencement, and its 

 successful termination was a matter of genuine congratulation ; 

 the previous operations were mainly associated with the name of 

 Colonel Saxton, who is frequently mentioned in the "Memoir": 

 to Captain Holdich belonged the credit of completing the work, 

 though this was not done without much cost and suffering to all 

 the members, of the party, some of whom were so prostrated 

 by jungle fever that they were with difficulty removed from the 

 field on the conclusion of the work. The characteristic features of 

 the country where the concluding operations lay were extensive 

 plateaux of from 1,800 to 2,000 feet above sea-level, surmounted by 

 masses of flat-topped hills. These high lands are a continuation 

 of the great plateau system of Central India, which decreasing in 

 elevation by a succession of steppes finally breaks to the west 

 into the low-lying plains forming the basin of the Godavari. The 

 geological structure of this part of the country is mixed, being 

 composed of trap and varieties of sandstone and slate ; the first 

 occurs in the higher flat masses, while the two latter predominate 

 in the lower hills, and are distinctly separate one from another, a 

 circumstance producing bold, rugged, and ever-changing scenery, 

 but always the same endless monotony of forest from the plains 

 to the highest peaks. The Pertabpur taluk on the right bank of 

 the Kotri abounds in tigers, arid sometimes whole villages are 

 deserted through their depredations. 



Another survey also brought to a conclusion in the same season 

 was that of No. 4 party. X.E. Division, Central Provinces Survey, 

 which had originally been organized by Colonel De Pree in 1856, 

 and during the 22 years of its existence had triangulated and 

 mapped on the one-inch scale a tract of country extending from the 

 Bay of Bengal at Balasor to a point nine miles east of Jabalpur. 

 This tract extends over nine degrees of longitude, and on an 

 average two degrees of latitude, and its area amounts to nearly 

 25,000 square miles. The difficulties overcome here were of no 



