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 BILASPUR.

445

Provinces, lying between 21° 22' and 23° 6' n. lat.,and between 80° 48' and 83° 10' E. long. Bounded on the north by the Native State of Rewa, on the east by the Garhjat States of Chutia Nagpur and the chiefships of Sambalpur District on the south by Raipur and on the west by the Districts of Mandla and Balaghat. Population (1881)



The administrative head-quarters 1,017,327 ; area, 7798 square miles. of the District are at Bilaspur, which is also the principal town.

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The District resembles a vast amphitheatre, opening Physical Aspects on the south upon the plains of Raipur, but on every other side surrounded by tiers of hills. These irregular chains, though known in each locality by a special name, form in truth a part of the great Vindhyan sandstone range, which extends from east to west across the whole peninsula of India. In Bilaspur, the hills on the northern side constitute the most important series. They run along the whole length of the plain, here thrusting forth an arm or throwing up an isolated peak, or advancing boldly into the level country, there receding into deep hollows and recesses, usually covered with luxuriant vegetation. From the solitary cliff of Dahla, 2600 feet high, standing out in the plain about 15 miles east of Bilaspur, the features of the country can be best descried. On the one side, a great expanse of plain stretches away as far as the eye can reach ; on the other, rise irregular ranges of hills, which throw a dark shadow on the green surface below. From this height, the spectator can easily discern the villages which dot the landscape, the numerous tanks sparkling in the sun, and the mango, p'lpal, and tamarind groves which break the monotony of the generally .

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shadeless plain.

Examined more

into a series of undulations;

closely, the vast plateau breaks

sometimes a long

stretch or

up

sandy or stony

fields, and again abrupter by many a fissure or ravine. But the grander scenery of Bilaspur must be sought in the hilly country occupied by tracts of Government waste, and by fifteen chiefships, in two of which, Sakti and Kawarda, the chiefs have been acknowledged as feudatories. In these highlands, the scanty villages convey no impression of permanence, but are mere solitary breaks in a vast mountain wilderness. In Matin and Uprora lies perhaps the wildest country in Chhati'sgarh. Here it is that the shattered forest trees, the broken and crushed bamboo clumps, the hollows and footprints in a hundred marshes and watercourses, indicate the presence of wild elephants. Sometimes, when the rice crop is ripening, a herd will wander from a neighbouring chiefship, and in a single night destroy the toil of months ; but in Matin and Uprora, elephants are never absent, and may be seen on the wooded slopes of the Hasdu river, in the shady deptlrs of the forest, near some waterfall or deep still pool in the bed of the mountain

upland, then an expanse of low-lying rice

alternations, deeply cleft

torrent.