1.883.] 



and Boad Zemmdaries, 



411 



feathered on their exposed brows ; a fourth is placed where they break 

 over the summit of the pass. 



Where a slight change in the level of the ground denotes the scarce- 

 ly defined southern limit of the valley, rises a hill of light and grace-* 

 ful outline, its base darkly wooded, its summit plumed with spiry saul 

 trees, dividing like a half transparent screen, the nearer scene from a 

 more extended expanse of woodland and cornfields, mixed with sha- 

 dowy hamlets, and successive ranges of tinted summits, which stretch 

 in long prospective beyond, 



The central and western divisions of the portion of the plateau com- 

 prised in the plan, are occupied by the immediate valleys of the Salki,, 

 and of its tributary, which, fed from Bulscoopa and Borogootza, escapes 

 over the ghauts at Dommosinghi, Rivulets of brief course, fall over the 

 eastern verge of the tablet from Calingia, Moondagaum, and the north-^ 

 ern and southern angles of Borogootza. 



The hills in its southern tracts are clothed in verdure ; now bare, 

 now lightly and irregularly wooded. The valleys,--a series of broad 

 basins transected by hill spurs, are clear and open, bearing manga 

 and tamarind, and palm-trees, disposed singly and in clumps, while 

 stunted saul wood fill the ravines and deeper recesses of the hills. 



The ridges of the northern portion of the plateau, with their nar- 

 TOW vales, are covered with dense and continuous saul forest. The 

 hill spurs, and detached summits, are never bare, and the broad val- 

 leys have a more woodland character. 



Over the whole of this section of the plateau, with the exception 

 of the bare hill summits, and a few stony tracts on its southern verge, 

 spreads a deep stratum of rich mould, either cultivated or capable of 

 cultivation. 



The cultivated land falls under three divisions ; 1st, the irrigated por- 

 tion ; 2d, the dry land of the valleys ; and 3d, the land of the hill slopes. 



Irrigation is effected exclusively by the interception of the torrents 

 and perennial springs along the bases of the hill ranges, to be diffused 

 over terraced expanses, extended as far as the nature of the soil, the 

 volume of water, and the arrangement of levels permit. 



Every rivulet, thus terraced to its fountain head, is generally 

 bordered for miles of its course, by flights of corn-bearing steppes labo- 

 riously fashioned in its banks, and often ranged at the height of from 

 50 to 80 feet above its channel. 



In the upper portions of many valleys, the whole drainage is ab^ 

 sorbed by the broad rice fiats, the naturfJ water-courses being foy a, 

 space obliterated. 



