480 
HIGH ROADS AND RAIL ROADS. 
rivW, or from N. L. Si)® to 3lo They abound 
in part of the range to the westward of the 
Jumna river and belong to the genera Masto- 
don, Elephant, Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Hog« 
Anthracotherium, Horse, Ox, Deer, Antelope, 
Canis, Felis,Garial, Crocodile, Emys, Trionyx , 
besides fish and shells. Among the fossils 
there were some considered to be new genera, 
and one which Capt. Cautley and Dr. Falconer 
have called Sevatherium. The monkey of a 
large species has been found fossil in the Se- 
walik Hills, 
THE HIGH ROAD BETWEEN BOMBAY 
AND CALCUTTA. 
The feasibility of this plan has been long since 
shown, and when the British Government in In- 
dia begins to look to its own interests and those 
of the people, no doubt such a road will be open- 
ed. The Friend of India makes the following 
observations on the subject. 
The advanlages to he derived from layino open 
this cnuniiy hy means of a great liiali nay, and a 
free coinninuication will] tile nioie civili/ed dis- 
tricts east and west, are such as to give a siionj* 
cast of benevolence to tlie project. The uact of 
land tliiongh which this route would pass, mea- 
suring about 4U0 miles square, is at present one 
of the wildest wliich can he conceived. The greater 
part of it is overgrown with thick forests attd jrrrt- 
gles, the abode of wild beasts, while the patches 
of cultivation which occasionally intervene, are 
occupied hy men little elevated above the brute. 
Yet the country is eniiiienil> endowed by nature 
with advantages, it abounds in hills, ricli in ore, 
and in valleys capable of tite highest cultivation . 
It requires only the progress of civilization to fill 
the region with smiling villages and iltiivirtg 
towns The productions of ilie.se extensive conn- 
tries are very imperiecily known. It is ceiiain 
however that they abound generally with firte tliir- 
hers 1 he lac and trrssar silk insects afford tlieir 
products pleniifrtily ihronghout. The hills gerte- 
rally, and the eastern ones in pat ticrrlar, are rich 
in iron ores. 'I he Palamow district possesses ex- 
tensive fields of coal, The soil in Sirgoojah, it is 
stated hy Hamilton, “is siiigiilarly rich, and so 
tvell supplied with moistute that even the tops of 
the Iiilis are marshy ” The valleys yield vastquarr- 
tities of Tickoor (circuma anguslifolia) from which 
the Natives prepare a farinaceous powder scatcrly 
to be distinguished from the arrow root of the vvest 
Indies. Tlie district of Sumbhulpore prodrrces 
ahundaiice of rice, cottoir, and irott, and also dia- 
monds and gold dust- The high lairte land of 
Mynput, which is considered saluhr ions, is situa- 
ted in this district. The uplands generally of these 
countries are represented ti> be well adaiited for 
dry grains and pasturage, while the valleys yield 
the most abundant crops of rice. I heie being no 
outlet however from these provinces hy rivers or 
roads, no produce is raised beyond what the irtha- 
bitaiits themselves reqrtire, attd ibiis no means are 
afforded them of bettering tireit condition, by bar- 
tering their own produciiorrs for those or tireir 
neighhonrs. Like every other tract itt a state of na- 
ture it is partially unhealthy ; hut after cleat iiig the 
first ranges of the Hutabhooti aitd Singhhoorn 
hills, the country exiaiids inio extensive grass 
plains, and reaches an altitude of between two 
and three thousand feet, wliich secures it a mode- 
lats temperature in the hot weather, and ihe ad- 
vantage of bracing cold in the winter By car- 
rying a high way thtongh this country, the first 
step would be lak^i to Ittiiig this wild waste Inbv 
cultivation attd to impart the blessings of civilizaiion 
to its ittde inhahitanrs. 
In a commercial point of view, Ihe construction 
of such a road olfets tlte most advaitiageous pros- 
pects. Singular and even iitcredilde as it may 
appear, it is unless true that, at tneseitt the only 
roirte for nieichattdi/.e fromNagpore and its vicinity 
to Calcuita. is by Jrthhnipore, Rewalt, attd Vlitza- 
pore. riip direct distance between Nagpore and 
Calcinfa is 500 utiles, the route now iravetsed hy 
merchandize exceeds InOO ; and of this mute, that 
portion of which liesbeiweeti Nagpore and jnhhul. 
pore can scttrcely be called a road . It is certainly 
no stitall inconvenience m trade, that tire valua- 
ble productions of Berar, ate iliiis obliged to de- 
scribe a circuit of a thousand miles before iliey 
reach the port of Calcutta- But were a toad ottce 
onetted, as we have lieett proiiosittg, the produce 
of that king lorn would he imported direcily into 
Calcutta, at only half the outlay of time and titottey 
wltich is at presetrt indispertsaltle, wltilellte greatest 
facilities woitld he alFotdid for pouring British 
mattriiaciutes into the provinces in the centre of 
India. 
Itt a military and political poirrt of view, the ad- 
varrtage of a high road ttrmugh tlie certtre of Ittdia, i 
from Bombay to Calcrrtta, are loo obvious to treed 
recupitirlatiori, and it may he sntlicietrt therefore | 
to cite the opittioti of iliat eminerrt statesman Sir , 
John Vlulcolm, who, in Iris evidence liefore rite | 
House of Cttmttiotts, says, “1 Itave ihtts eiidea- i 
voured to shew that the consirnciion of a direct | 
Highway from Calcnila to Nagpore would he pro- 
dttciive of great attd permanent advanlages in a 
poliiical, commercial, and ntililary point of view, — 
what the advantages fiotn the land revenue ofsucli 
a country ntight (itove when improved and settled, 
I shall not venture to calculate ” 
The same paper has the following sensible 
remarks on a. 
BOUIE BETWEEN BAJMAHL AND CaL- 
cur f A. 
By one of the late arrivals we learn that the rail 
road between Utica and Schenectady in America 
has just been completed at au expense of about 
£ 310,000. Ihe disiaiice heiweeii the two places 
is ah'iut seventy-seven miles; so tliat the outlay 
has lieeii at the rate of about 40,000 Rupees a mile. 
Ihe modeiaiioii of this expense, compared with 
heavy charges incurred iti Kiigland, in the con- 
st! iiciion ot similiar works, naturally leads the 
mind to cotitemrilate the possiltility at no distant 
period of giving this country the inesiitnahle be- 
nefit of rail roads; and as a fust expel imetii, of con- 
necliiig the Wesleiii Provinces with the Port of 
Calcutta hy such a contiivance. We apprehend 
that all the iron employed in the Oliio road was 
iinpotted fioin England, iind at a rate of freight 
not iiiiich utiove that which olttains between Liver- 
pool and t alculta. The nature of the ground on 
tlie American line of road, must also itave been 
similar to that of the plains of India, to account 
for so small an outlay ; as it is welt known that 
tlie greatest portion ot the expense of these enter- 
pnzesin England arises fioni the hilly natiiie of 
the locality over which the mad passes, and the 
charge foi constructing viaducts. It may theie- 
fore, We think, lie assumed, tliat th' outlay oiia 
road across tlie plains of Bengal, would not greatly 
exceed that which has been incut red on the present 
occasion in America, If this supposition aptiroach 
the tiuih, the exueiice of a rail toad irom Rajmalil 
to Calcutta, Ihe distance in a straight line being one 
liiindied and sixty miles, would tie about sixty- 
foui lakhs of Rupees, which is not more than four- 
teen lakhs above the charge yjhich the canal be- 
tween Bajmahl and Culna, so long contemplated, 
yvns estimated to cost. Wlienever, ihert-foie, the 
runds of the State ate sntflcienily strong to autho- 
lize the adoption of means for facilitating ibiscoin- 
