PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 



7 



Enumerating the tributaries thnt fall directly into the Son, they are 

 , „ . the Kewai, Tipaji, Kunak, Murna Johilla, Maha- 



Tnbutaries of Son. 



nam, and the Rer. These two latter rivers, how- 

 ever, join the Sou outside our ground, and consequently they appear on 

 tbe map as independent streams. Tbe Son is the essential river of the 

 Rewah State, and it drains the whole of the Gondwana basin with the 

 exception of the part in the Korea zemindari. 



There, the Hestho and the Gej constitute an independent drainage 



system, as they are affluents of the greater Maha- 

 Kivers of Korea. . 



nadi which empties itself into the Bay of Bengal. 



The watershed of the two systems is coincident with the territorial 



boundary between the Rewah State and Korea, but that the uplands of 



the latter State should be apportioned to a drainage basin other than 



that of the Son seems an invasion of the latter's rights. A glance at 



the map certainly produces the impression that the Hestho has been 



needlessly intruded into the confines of the Son basin, as both to the 



east and to the west of it the neighbouring streams are tributary to the 



Son. The waters of the Hestho and its tributaries wend their way 



southward, in direct contrast to those of the Sou and its feeders, which 



flow northward. 



In many places the scenery is exquisitely charming, the hilly nature 

 of the country that the streams run through lending itself especially to 

 the indefinite multiplication of varied prospects. In the Johilla, that 

 takes its rise near the sacred source of the Narbada, and flows to the 

 lower level of the Gondwana basin, there are reaches as romantic as its 

 own mythological story, 1 where it coyly steals in view, struggling slowly 

 as it wends its way through overshadowing jamun and fringing 

 tamarisks, and then gathering strength in some narrow gorge, it dashes, 

 flecked with foam and to the music of its onward song, a candidate 

 for our admiration. There are several falls in its course, but their 



1 The Johilla, the hand-maiden of Narbada, is said to have appropriated her mistress's 

 jewels, at the time when arrangements were being entered into for the marriage of Nar- 

 bada and Son, and presenting herself, decked with her borrowed charms, to the latter's 

 view, so won npou him that he preferred the maid to the mistress. In wounded pride, 

 Narbada turned her back upon them, and sought a home in the far west. 



( 1« ) 



