198 



JOUKNKY FROM ASSAM 



The bamboo continues common, as well .as Pandanus, Pterocarpus 

 marsupium, Bombax, Diospyros ebenum, which are the most com- 

 mon trees. Villages are very numerous, but as usual, entirely con- 

 cealed from view by jungle. 



December %\st. — Up to this morning we remained at Dum Dummia, 

 and had the Booteas alone been consulted, we should have remained 

 there till to-morrow. It is a very uninteresting place, the country 

 consisting of one extensive plain, diversified only by trees wherever 

 there are villages. There is a good deal of cultivation, chiefly how- 

 ever, of rice ; some sugarcane is visible, but it is of inferior quality, 

 and evidently not sufficiently watered. Sursoo is considerably culti- 

 vated. The river Noa Nuddee is about seventy yards wide, with a 

 stream of three miles an hour ; it is full of sand-banks and of quick- 

 sands, and is crossed with great difficulty on elephants ; by men it is 

 easily fordable. The only shooting about the place is Floriken, which 

 are very abundant, ten or twelve being seen in one day. 



We left for Hazareegoung, a Bootea- Assam village to the north. 

 We passed through a similar open country not much cultivated, but 

 overrun with grassy vegetation. The path was of the ordinary 

 description, and not kept at all cleared : crossed a small stream twice, 

 with a pebbly bed and sub- rapids, a sure indication of approaching 

 the hills. These, in their lower portion, have a very barren appear- 

 ance, but this may arise from the cultivated patches : land-slips are 

 of very frequent occurrence. 



The grasses of the enormous plains, so prevalent every where in 

 this direction, are Kagaia, Megala, Vollookher, Saccharum sponta- 

 neum, this is soft grass, and affords an excellent cover for game, 

 Cymbopogon hirsutum, which is more common than the C. arundi- 

 naceum, Erianthus, Airoides, Rottboellia exaltata, Arundo, (?) Ana- 

 therum muricatum, Apluda, Trizania cilearis, is common in the old 

 rice khets. 



Among these occur a tall Knoxia, Plectranthus sudyensis, and P. 

 uncinatus. 



I observed Vareca, Grislea, about Dum Dummia. Elytrophorus 

 is common in rice khets. 



Towards Hazareegoung we came on a high plain, covered princi- 

 pally with S. spontaneum. Among this occurred Lactuioides, Prem- 

 na herbacea, Grewia, with here and there Pterygodium. I observe 

 here Bootea bamboo baskets made water-proof by caoutchouc ; 

 this is a practice much adopted by the Booteas : and the trees are 



