PRIVATE JOURNALS 



OF 



Wm. GRIFFITH, F.L.S. 



CHAPTER I. 



When proceeding with the Assam Deputation for the 

 Examination of the Tea Plant. 



September, 1835. — We arrived at Pubna on the 9th of September, 

 and left it on the following morning, pursuing the course of the 

 Pubna " Karee," which is exceedingly tortuous and of about an 

 average width of 100 yards. On the evening of the 10th, we halted 

 in the same river near its termination. This morning we reached 

 the " Beera," into which the Pubna Karee enters, and which at the 

 mouth presents a vast expanse of water. Among the jheels which 

 occur on every side, we noticed in abundance the Tamarix dioica. 

 About noon we entered a narrow river, and in the evening a 

 very narrow creek in which in two places we experienced a great 

 difficulty in getting the boats along. We noticed Alpinia allughas, 

 Nymphaa pubescens, Oxystelma esculentum, Apluda aristata, in abun- 

 dance. Up to this period the two most conspicuous grasses continue 

 to be Saccharum spontaneum, and Andropogon muricatus. 



Sunday, \Zth. — Arrived at Shiraz-gunge, about half-past 8 a.m., 

 from which place the people say Jumalpore is a three days' journey. 

 The country through which we proceeded after leaving Shiraz-gunge 

 is nothing but a net- work of rivers, several of vast size, and low is- 

 lands, occupied almost exclusively by Saccharum spontaneum, and in 

 some places abounding in Typha elephantina, in fruit. We halted at a 

 small village in the evening, where we procured Centrostachys aqua- 

 tica. 



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