The bed of the river is here considerably above that at Dearee, where the mean of the observations with those of Baroon, made it about 300 feet. The mean of those taken here and on the opposite side, at Tura, gives about 400 feet, indicating a fall of 100 feet in only 40 miles.
Near this the sandy banks of the Soane were full of martins’ nests, each one containing a pair of eggs. The deserted ones were literally crammed full of long-legged spiders (_Opilio_), which could be raked out with a stick, when they came pouring down the cliff like corn from a sack; the quantities are quite inconceivable. I did not observe the martin feed on them.
The entomology here resembled that of Europe, more than I had expected in a tropical country, where predaceous beetles, at least _Carabideæ_ and _Staphylinideæ,_ are generally considered rare. The latter tribes swarmed under the clods, of many species but all small, and so singularly active that I could not give the time to collect many. In the banks again, the round egg-like earthy chrysalis of the _Sphynx Atropos_ (?) and the many-celled nidus of the leaf-cutter bee, were very common.
A large columnar _Euphorbia_ (_E. ligulata_) is common all along the Soane, and I observed it to be used everywhere for fencing. I had not remarked the _E. neriifolia_; and the _E. tereticaulis_ had been very rarely seen since leaving Calcutta. The _Cactus_ is nowhere found; it is abundant in many parts of Bengal, but certainly not indigenous.
[Illustration: Crossing the Soane, with the Kymore Hills in the distance]
From this place onwards up the Soane, there was no road of any kind, and we were compelled to be our own road engineers. The sameness of the vegetation and lateness of the season made me regret this the less, for I was disappointed in my anticipations of finding luxuriance and novelty in these wilds. Before us the valley narrowed considerably, the forest became denser, the country on the south side was broken with rounded hills, and on the north the noble cliffs of the Kymore dipped down to the river. The villages were smaller, more scattered and poverty-stricken, with the Mahowa and Mango as the usual trees; the banyan, peepul, and tamarind being rare. The native, are of an aboriginal jungle race; and are tall, athletic, erect, much less indolent and more spirited than the listless natives of the plains.