18
and a portion of Nursingpore, that my enquiries were chiefly prosecuted. The
area of the districts over which the epidemic spread contains upwards of 10,000
square miles, and the different sub-divisions vary greatly in point of physical
configuration, geological formation, soil, and water-supply.
59. In Kuttunghee, the sub-mon tan e sub-division of the Seonee district, the
geological formation is wholly metamorphic. The appearance of the country is
described by Captain Thompson in his Survey report as " a bright looking
country, almost all of it divided into irrigation compartments, with an almost park-
like appearance ; and there is a general appearance of luxuriance of growth not
only in the forests, which are in parts very extensive, but in every patch of jungle,
which is very remarkable after the stunted growth of the trap. There is every-
where evidence of a thriving population. The village sites are generally situated
on rising ground, embosomed in trees, with one or more fine tanks about them ;
and the houses are large and well built, properly raised, and carefully fenced in
with tall bamboo fences, having a small garden plot with a well behind or inside
the fence. Altogether there is an air of comfort and plenty, combined with care
and system, which indicate thriving people very much higher in the scale of
civilisation than in the north of the district."
The soil in the "sub-division" is a clay soil, containing a large admixture of
sand, the proportion of which varies greatly in different parts. The cultivation is
chiefly rice. The water for domestic purposes is drawn from wells, of which there
are several in almost every village, water being abundant at a moderate depth
below the surface. The beds of the streams are sandy, and in the hot weather
the water is absorbed in the sand. It will be observed that the proportionate
mortality from cholera in this tract of country was small, compared with the
other sub-division.
60. The Hoozoor Tehsoelee of the Seonee district lies above the ghats,
and has an elevation varying from 1,700 to 2,000 feet above the sea ; the hills to
the south are metamorphic, but nortward the trap formation prevails, while
latérite occurs in several localities. Though crossed by a wide belt of jungle it
comprises several tracts of open country. It contains the Seonee or summit
plateau level, and is almost bare of trees and covered with a rich blacksoil ; the
valley of the Hirun river, a deep but level valley with a sandy soil ; the valley
of the Agar river, an undulating blacksoil country, producing rich crops of grain,
but almost treeless.
61. Northward from Seonee the trap formation extends over a wide
extent of country, including the Lucknadown Tehseel of the Seonee district ; a
large portion of Mundlah district : and the circles of Burgee, Burrailla and
Koondum of the Jubbulpore district.
62. Immediately around Jubbulpore a great variety of rock, trap,
sandstone, granite, and metamorphic approach each other ; and the soil consists
for the most part of deep sand.
63. Stretching west and northwards from the town of Jubbulpore is a
wide tract of alluvial soil lying between the Nerbudda and the Hirun, and com-
prising the circles (Table IV) of Jubbulpore, Shaipoora, Patun, Kuttungee
and Sehora. To the north of Sehora the metamorphic formation again prevails.
In the hilly country of the Koombhee pergunnah the soil is sandy and poor ; while
north and north-west of Sleemanabad the metamorphic rock is overlaid by
latérite, which also encroaches upon the sandstone of Bilheree, Moorwarra, and
Bijiragogurh.