52 



UPPER ASSAM. 



bund road. After diverging from this road we passed through some 

 low jungle, which is always characterised by Calamus Zalaccoideus ; 

 and then after traversing for a short time some rather higher ground, 

 came on the tea. This patch is never under water ; there is no pe- 

 culiarity of vegetation connected with it. It runs about N. and S. for 

 perhaps 150 yards by 40 to 50 in breadth. The Gam had cleared the 

 jungle of^dl, except the larger trees and the low herbaceous under- 

 wood, so that a coup d'ceil was at once obtained, and gave suffi- 

 cient evidence of the abundance of the plants, many of which were 

 of considerable size, and all bore evidence of having been mutilated. 

 They were for the most part loaded with flowers, and are the finest 

 I have seen in the Singfo country. Young buds were very 

 common, nor can I reconcile this with the statement made by the 

 Gam, that no young leaves will be obtainable for four months. From 

 the clearing, the plants are exposed to moderate sun ; it is perhaps 

 to this that the great abundance of flowers is to be attributed. 

 The soil, now quite dry at the surface, is of a cinereous grey ; about 

 a foot below it is brown, which passes, as you proceed, into deeper 

 yellow ; about four feet deep, it passes into sand. No ravines exist, 

 and mounds only do about a few of the larger trees. The soil as 

 usual is light, friable, easily reduced to powder, and has a very slight 

 tendency to stiffness. 



Dec. 1 3th. — Left for the Muttack : our course lay through 

 dense jungle, principally of bamboo, and along the paths of wild 

 elephants ; these beasts are here very common. We halted after a 

 march of seven hours on a small bank of the Deboro ; the only plant 

 of interest was my Cyananthus in flower. 



Dec. 14th. — Continued through similar jungle along the Deboro; 

 bamboo more frequent. About 2 p.m. we left the undulating hillocks, 

 and the jungle became more open. At 4, we reached Muttack, but 

 had still to traverse a considerable distance before we halted at Kolea 

 Panee. We crossed the Deboro en route; no particular plant was 

 met with. I shot two large serpents, Pythons ; one 8, and the other 

 10 feet long. The Kolea Panee is of some width, but is fordable. 



Dec. \5th. — After marching for about seven hours, halted at a 

 small village. The country passed over was, like most of this part of 

 Muttack, open, consisting of a rather high plain covered with grasses, 

 T. sperata, Saccharum, and Erianthus, with here and there very 

 swampy ravines ; the soil is almost entirely sandy, light at the sur- 

 face ; the yellow tint increasing with the depth, which is considerable. 



