402 



Report on the Goomsur, Duspullah 



[April 



A remarkable depression, resolvable into four secondary valleys of 

 easy inclination, crosses the dividing crest at Gattigooda ; and tra- 

 versing with a direction between N. by W. and N. N. "VV. the spinaj 

 ridge of the ghauts, connects the main valleys of Goomsur and Boad. 



The first and second valleys of this chain form the opposite slopes 

 of the ridge of partition. The latter of these declining to the bed of 

 the Borlungia at Boropall, the third acclivity rises from its opposite 

 bank to Adnygarra, ten miles within the ravine which penetrates the 

 main ridge. The remaining portion of this great mountain chasm is 

 drained by two rivulets, whose waters are barely parted, and which 

 flow by Poorna, Cuttack and Teen-Combo to the Mahanuddee. 



The sides of the great plateau are sustained both by counterforts, and 

 by lines of inferior ridges, which are at times concentrically disposed* 



The characteristic form of the single hills of Goomsur is conical^ 

 or pyramidal, the angles of the pyramid being prolonged so as to pro- 

 duce the cruciform aspect, eminently distinctive of the detached sum- 

 mits of the tracts below the ghauts. 



The continuous ridges are wedge-shaped, now hog-backed, now hav- 

 ing slightly flattened summits, and supported by buttresses which ge- 

 nerally spring from half their height, transecting the opposite valleys. 



The chief valleys of this region are wide and open, bearing broadly 

 based cones of detrition, and drained by deeply channelled streams. 



The mountain sides, with a large proportion of their summits, their 

 lateral ramificationsj and dependent ridges, are clothed in a dense 

 unbroken forest which encircles like a zone from 15 to 25 miles in 

 breadth the bases of the chain. 



Within this expanse, chiefly covered by saul forest (the Ckloroxyloit 

 Diipddah), occur open or lightly-wooded tracts of considerable extent 

 and remarkable beauty, and well cultivated along the courses of the 

 larger streams. These great sylvan glades are finely embellishecl 

 with mango trees of great size, solitary and in groves, with the 

 tamarind, the bamboo, the bur, and the peepul tree, — and the 

 banian on a gigantic scale. The sorringi or googlut, from 

 which exudes the resin so largely used in worship, the phesi which 

 affords the well known wood-oil, the gombari a valuable timber- 

 tree, whose bark is employed in tanning, the mahdi or Palma maxima, 

 and the broad leaved doottia abound in the marshy woodlands. The 

 splendid pulas, the Gloriosa superba, with Mimosas , Euphorbias, CaS' 

 sias, and a vast variety of GraminecB, every where enrich the coppices 

 which fringe the forest. Lilies and reeds cover the pools ; and dim- 



