mile across and all sand, but the stream does not
occupy one-third of this space; the current is much
divided, and opaque green, from the glacial origin of
most of its head-streams. The west hank was covered
with a small Sal forest, mixed with Acacia Catechu,
and brushwood, growing in a poor vegetable loam, over
very dry sand.
The opposite (or Bhotan) bank is much lower, and
always flooded during the rains, which is not the case
on the western side, where the water rises to ten feet
below the top of the bank, or from seven to ten feet
above its height in the dry season, and when it fills its
whole bed. This information we had from a police
Jemandar, who has resided many years on this unhealthy
spot, and annually suffers from fever. The Sal
forest has been encroached upon from the south, for
many miles, within the memory of man, by clearing in
patches, and by indiscriminate felling.
About ten miles north of Rangamally, we came to an
extensive flat, occupying a recess in the high west
bank, the site of the old capital (Bai-kant-pore) of the
Jeelpigoree Rajah. Hemmed in as it is on three sides
by a dense forest, and on all by many miles of malarious
Terai, it appears sufficiently secure from ordinary
enemies, during a great part of the year.
About eight miles on, we left the river-bed, and
struck westerly through a dense forest, to a swampy
clearance occupied by the village of Rummai, which
appeared thoroughly malarious ; and we pitched our
tent on a narrow low ridge, above the level of the
In the evening we rode into the forest (which was
dry and very unproductive), and thence along the river-
banks, through Acacia Catechu, belted by Sissoo, which
often fringes the stream, always occupying the lowest
flats. The foliage at this season is brilliantly green;
and as the evening advanced, a yellow convolvulus
burst into flower like magic, adorning the bushes over
which it climbed.
On the following morning we left for the exit of the
Teesta, proceeding northwards, sometimes through a
dense forest of Sal timber, sometimes dipping into
marshy depressions, or riding through grassy savannahs,
breast-high. The coolness of the atmosphere
was delicious, and the beauty of the jungle seemed to
increase the further we penetrated into these primeval
forests.
Eight miles from Rummai we came on a small river
from the mountains, with a Cooch village close by,
inhabited during the dry season by timber-cutters from
Jeelpigoree.
We here mounted the elephants, and proceeded several
miles through the prairie, till we again struck upon the
high Sal forest-bank: it formed one of many terraces
which stretch along the foot of the hills, from Punka-
baree to the Teesta, but of which none are said to
occur for eight miles eastwards along the Bhotan
Dooars: if true, this is probably due in part to the
alteration of the course of the Teesta, which is
gradually working to the westward, and cutting away
these lofty banks.
The Sal bank formed a very fine object: it was quite