184 OX OPtlSSA PROPER 



of the Strychnos liux vomica. The bird has a most singular appearance, 

 particularly when flying, with its long neck stretched out horizontally, and' 

 the huge protuberance rising from the upper mandible of the bill distinctly 

 visible from a great distance. This protuberance or horn, in the Khurda spe* 

 cies, measures often seven inches from base to peak, and about two and a 

 half in height from the upper mandible. The flesh is much prized by the 



natives, who consider it a sovereign remedy for the rheumatic pains called 

 Sal, and is often kept prepared in a particular way, with spices, for four or 

 five years. The loud screaming and chattering noise which announce always 

 the presence of the Indian horn bill, well entitle it to its place in the JLin- 

 ncean order Piece. 



The province of Cnttack is watered by innumerable streams, which swell 

 into rivers of magnitude during the rains, but few of them have any current 

 throughout the year. I shall mention only the principal rivers, as it would 

 be tedious and endless to attempt an enumeration of the almost countless 

 ramifications, which strike off from the larger channels about the centre of 

 the Mogulbandi, and assumes new and independent appellations. The chief 

 stream in name, importance, length of course, and the associations connect- 

 ed with it by popular superstition, is the Mahanadi, which is said to rise near 

 Bastar, and after passing Sembelpur and Sonepur, (at which latter place it 

 receives the waters of the Tel Nadi) it enters the Mogulbandi division at the 

 station of Cuttack, where it throws off its principal arm the Cajori inclining 

 to the southward, and another on the north-east face of the town called the 

 Berupa. Afterwards pursuing an easterly course verging to south, it sends 

 off to the northward another large river called the Chittertola, and numerous 

 smaller arms, until at Paradip, it divides into two or three considerable 

 branches, and empties itself by two principal mouths into the sea a little 

 south of False point, having completed a course of more than 500 miles. The 

 breadth of this river at Sembelpur, 180 miles "distant from Cuttack, is nearly a 

 mile during the rains, and opposite to the town of Cuttack its bed measures 

 full two miles across. After this, the main channel narrows very considera- 

 bly. It deposits universally a coarse sand (intermixed with numerous frag-; 



