176 ON OR1SSA PROPER 



possess fewer attractions for the sportsman. The mention of the wild ani- 

 mals will more properly come under the description of the hill portion of 

 the district. 



The third region to be described is that of the hills which bound the 

 Mogulbandi to the westward from the Chilka Lake to the Subanrekha. A 

 few groups extend into the plains, as at Derpen, Alemgir, Khurdah, 

 Limbai, &c. and in the latitude of about 21° 20' N. the hills take a direc- 

 tion considerably to the eastward for some mil es, then turning north they 

 compress the B.lasore Chucklah of the Mogulbandi within very narrow 

 limits. The distance between the high land and the sea is no where more 

 than from sixty to seventy miles. At Balasore a group of fine rocky hills 

 project boldly forth, to within sixteen or eighteen miles of the shores of 

 the bay, which were known to the old navigators as the Nelligreen (Nilgi- 

 ri)_mountains, and between Gaujam and the Lake a low ridge appears ac- 

 tually to run out into the sea, though in reality separated from its waters 

 by a wide sandy beach. The whole of this region, reaching west as far as 

 Sonepur, Gondwana and its dependencies, in breadth probably nearly a 

 hundred miles, and from SinhbMm adjoining Midnapore, north, to Gum- 

 ser in Ganjam south, a distance of certainly not less than two hundred 

 miles, is parcelled out amongst sixteen Khetri or Khandait Zemindars, 

 who have been recognized by the British Government as tributary Rajas. 

 Along the feet of the hills extends a chain of twelve more Khundaitis held 

 by a similar class, some of whom pay a light tribute, but are subject to the 

 British laws and regulations, whilst others have been assessed at the 

 ordinary rate. Their estates or feudal jurisdictions are entered in the 

 revenue accounts, under the Mogul designation of Killah* or castle. The 

 greater killahs within the hills, are subdivided again into a vast number 

 of dependant Gerhs or estates, which are held by hereditary officers, called, 



* The origiaal meaning of Killa was a fort or strong place on a hill or mountain, though in latter 

 limes it has, become applied to all kinds of places of defence. The class of estates here referred to 

 always comprized some strong hold, difficult of access, and more or less fortified. The term properly- 

 designating the principal residence of the chief, gradually became applied to his whole country in 

 the revenue accounts. 



