Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/785

Rh crosses over the frontier of the province, and passes into Bengal. In its course it receives on the left side the Buri Dihing, a river having its rise at the south-eastern angle of the province ; and lower down, on the opposite side, it parts with a considerable offset termed the Burf Lohit, which, however, reunites with the Brahmaputra GO miles below the point of divergence, bearing with it the addi tional waters of the Subansiri, flowing from Thibet. A second offset, under the name of the Kalang River, rejoins the parent stream a short distance above the town of Gauhatf. The remaining rivers are too numerous to be particularised. Of these, not less than 61 are distinguished by well-known names, of which 3-4 flow from the northern, L 4r from the southern mountains, and the remainder from sources beyond the confines of Assam. The streams of the south are not rapid, and have no considerable current until May or June. Among the islands formed by the intersection and confluence of the rivers is Majuli, or the Great Island, as it is called by way of pre-eminence. This island extends 55 miles in length by about 10 in breadth, and is formed by the Brahmaputra on the south east, and the Buri Lohit river on the north-west. A Per sian writer, Muhammad Kazim, in describing Assam at the close of the 1 7th century, makes some observations on its general appearance. He thus speaks of Majuli two centuries ago:—

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Describing the country south of the Brahmaputra, the same native author observes:—

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And in respect to the other great division of the province he remarks:—

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This description, written two centuries ago, would apply at the present day. In the upper part of the valley, towards the gorge where the Brahmaputra enters, the country is varied and picturesque, walled in on the north and east by the Himalayas, and thickly wooded from the base to the snow- line. On either bank of the Brahmaputra a long narrow strip of plain rises almost imperceptibly to the foot of the hills. Gigantic reeds and grasses occupy the low lands near the banks of the great river; expanses of fertile rice-land come next; a little higher up, dotted with villages encircled by groves of bamboos and fruit trees of great size and beauty, the dark forests succeed, covering the interior table-land and mountains. The country in the vicinity of the large rivers is flat, and impenetrable from dense tangled jungle, with the exception of some very low-lying tracts which are either permanent marshes or are covered Avith water during the rains. Jungle will not grow on these depressions, and they are covered either with water, reeds, high grasses, or rice cultivation. On or near such open spaces are collected all the villages. As the traveller proceeds farther down the valley, the country gradually opens out into wide plains. In the western district of Kamrup the country forms one great expanse, with a few elevated tracts here and there, varying from 200 to 800 feet in height.

.—The soil is exceedingly rich and well adapted to all kinds of agricultural purposes, and for the most part is composed of a rich black loam reposing on a gray sandy clay, though occasionally it exhibits a light yellow clayey texture. The land may be divided into three great classes. The first division is composed of hills, the largest group within the valley being that of the Mikir Mountains, which stand out upon the plain. An other set of hills project into the valley at Gauhatf. But these latter are rather prolongations of spurs from the Khasid chain than isolated groups belonging to the plains. The other hills are all isolated, and of small extent. The second division of the lands is the well-raised part of the valley whose level lies above the ordinary inundations of the Brahmaputra. The channels of some of the hill streams, however, are of so little depth that the highest lands in their neighbourhood are liable to sudden floods. On the north bank of the great river, lands of this sort run down the whole length of the valley, except where they are interrupted by the beds of the hill streams. The breadth of these plains is in some places very trifling, whilst in others they comprise a tract of many miles, according to the number and the height of the rocks or hills that protect them from the aberrations of the river. The allu vial deposits of the Brahmaputra and of its tributary streams may be considered as the third general division of lands in Assam. These lands are very extensive, and present every degree of fertility and elevation, from the vast chars of pure sand, subject to annual inundations, to the firm islands, so raised by drift-sand and the accumu lated remains of rank vegetable matter, as no longer to be liable to flood. The rapidity with which wastes composed entirely of sand newly washed forward by the current during floods become converted into rich pasture, is astonishing. As the freshets begin to lessen and retire into the deeper channels, the currents form natural em bankments on their edges, preventing the return of a small portion of water which is thus left stagnant oil the sands, and exposed to the action of the sun s rays. It slowly evaporates, leaving a thin crust of animal and vegetable matter. This is soon impregnated with the seeds of the Saccharum spontaneum and other grasses that have been partly brought by the winds and partly deposited by the water. Such places are frequented by numerous flocks of aquatic birds, which resort thither in search of fish and mollusca. As vegetation begins to appear, herds of wild 