1837.J 



the Asmm Tea Plant. 



429 



dry; while the very reverse obtains in the middle of its course, and 

 from thence to its confluence with the Bramaputra. 



During the few excursions we made into the interior, I found other 

 transformations of the original surface of the country, veferrible to 

 artificial, rather than to natural causes : such for instance as extensive 

 embankments, raised as fortifications in remote times, when the re- 

 sources and population of the country must have been in a far differ- 

 ent state from what they are in at present. But the remains, m 

 Upper Assam, of such works as are here alluded to, have an interest 

 of another description in this enquiry, distinct from what they would 

 afford to the antiquary. 



When we find those artificial embankments, or tumuli, extending 

 for miles through the most deserted tracts of Assam, raised often to 

 the height of 20 or 30 feet above the plain, and overgrown with an- 

 cient forest trees ; as large as those amidst which the colonies of wild 

 tea plants are found, the question is at once suggested — " May not 

 these colonies of wild plants, have been cultivated gardens, into which 

 the plant was introduced artificially ?" A doubt would be thus cast at 

 once upon the indigenous nature of the tea plant, and though it may 

 have since propagated and grown spontaneously for ages, yet the 

 chances against its successful cultivation for commercial purposes 

 would perhaps in consequence be increased. 



Farther arguments might be adduced in support of this view, by re- 

 ferring to the antiquities of Assam ; which are both extensive and de- 

 cisive as to the former existence of such a state of society in regard to 

 refinement, as would lead us to conclude that the luxuries of neigh- 

 bouring countries (and the tea plant among the rest), were probably 

 artificially introduced,* 



* At Teespore, near Bishenath, on an eminence by the river side, the surface to the 

 extent of an acre is covered with architraves, cornices, pilasters, columns. and all the es- 

 sential parts of a splendid building, carved in granite. The ornaments present a mixture 

 of Saracenic and Roman styles. The stones do not agree in their nature with any of the 

 rocks in the vicinity ; and from the way in which they are strewed, as well as from the 

 freshness of their angles, would never appear to have been used. Temples of Hindoos 

 are numerous, and about Gowahatti, some of them are very extensive and more elegant 

 than I had previously seen in any part of India. Those that excel most in every respect 

 are the most ancient, and are built of granite. Many of the insulated hills in Lower As- 

 sam have their masses sculptured in situ representing gigantic figures in bas-relief ; and 

 as such monuments are referred to Buddhists of early date, they prove, that the masses 

 on which they have been marked, have undergone no general change in very recent 

 times, although they do present some signs of the disturbing influence of earthquakes, 

 which are said to be here frequent and severe. 



