284 Description of the country between [No. 1G, new series. 



mere matter of making a road, there is upwards of 800 feet more 

 of Ghaut by the Madugole, while for those journeying backwards 

 and forwards there is in ascent and descent combined a difference 

 of 1,600 feet, for it must be remembered that, particularly to beasts 

 of burden, a steep descent is perhaps even more trying than an 

 ascent. 



Road over Madu- 3. The Madugole Ghaut has a steep as- 

 gole Ghaut more ex- * . , rt M , 



pensive in formation cent of 2 ' 970 feet m 12 miles ' or a slo P e of 1 

 and in maintenance, in 22 J nearly, while the Bijya Ghaut on the 



Parvatipore route though much steeper is very much shorter, and 

 has a much smaller elevation, there being a rise of 1,228 feet in 

 a distance of 4 miles, or a slope of a little less than 1 in 16. I 

 should however mention that the latter Ghaut is considered to 

 commence nearly 2 miles nearer Parvatipore than I have put it 

 down, and if this be considered, the Bijya Ghaut will be 5-8 miles 

 long with an elevation of 1,451 feet, which gives a slope of 1 in 21. 

 The length and elevation of a Ghaut are important considerations 

 in regard as whether they can be traversed during a day. This 

 the Madugole Ghaut could not be by loaded animals, at least not 

 without great difficulty, and, not to speak of the danger from tigers 

 and wild animals, which infest these Ghauts, the feverish charac- 

 ter of the atmosphere, that at night surrounds them, renders a 

 night encampment on them in the highest degree objectionable. 



A route then with a Ghaut easily crossed in one day is very 

 much to be preferred to one that cannot. I may mention that our 

 party proceeding with as much expedition as possible were 6 hours 

 in ascending the Madugole Ghaut. This latter is too, almost 

 throughout, rocky, or covered with loose stones, the latter even 

 more objectionable than rock, while on the Bijya Ghaut compara- 

 tively little of the road is rocky and scarcely any part of it is 

 covered with loose stones. The latter then would be less 

 expensive to make and maintain, than the former, and it possesses 

 one great advantage that the other has not viz. water is plentiful 

 throughout from the bottom to the top. 



Distance of Jey- 4. The nearest Seaport to Jeypore by the 



pore from the necrest Madugole route is Vizagapatam and that by 

 Seaport, the same by ° ° r J 



both routes. Parvatipore, Calingapatam, and these dis- 



