TRACTS OF COUNTRY ON THE KISTNAH, 129 



when the same Nullah could have been dammed under far 

 more favorable circumstances, though not capable of storing 

 so large a supply of water, close to their doors. 



About Ragaman Pentah the hills are high anol precipi- 

 tous, covered with long grass and dwarfish trees, intermix- 

 ed with which are here and there found a good timber tree 

 called Rupa, or Vaypa Maram. 



This tree, which occurs more frequently in the north and 

 west, as lar as the Kistnah, is, I believe, well known in 

 Madras. The Vaypa Maram at Madras, and to the south- 

 ward, is the Margosa tree, called in Bengal the Neem. The 

 bark is made into excellent rope by the Lumbadi people,— not 

 so strong a rope as cotton, they tell me, but capable of wear 

 and tear for a year. From the same fibre a good gunny is 

 made. I have forwarded samples of both, with wood, leaves, 



and pods of the tree to the officer in charge, of the Central 

 Museum. 



From Ragaman Pentah we proceeded to Nataca Pentah, 

 about four hours journey: we had to ascend a high hill 

 about a mile, or a mile and a half from Ragaman Pentah. 



The country is exceedingly rugged — and one has to pick 

 one's way among fragments of sand-stone, the whole surface 

 of the country being covered with the same. The jungle is 

 composed chiefly of dwarfish trees of no value. 



When I passed over this tract, the grass had been burnt? 

 the trees were leafless, and the whole scene as sterile and 

 inhospitable as any in the extreme north of Europe during 

 the Arctic winter, from the effects of an extreme tempera- 

 ture. From Nataca Pentah to Allotta is about four hours 

 j ourney. 



The country for the most part was similar in feature to 

 that already described, only, if possible, more stony. 



