Bounding the above mentioned plain on the north, is a region of nearly the same width. It consists of small hills, rising, however, gradually towards the north, and watered by many small rivers, which spring from the southern faces of the first lofty mountains, to which these hills gradually unite. The channels of these rivers or torrents, even when they have no communication with the high mountains, are filled with fragments of granite and shistose mica; but the hills themselves are in general composed of clay, intermixed with various proportions of sand, mica, and gravel. This mixture contains many masses of rock, and is disposed in strata, that are either horizontal, or dip towards the north with an angle less than 25 degrees. In many places, these heterogeneous materials have been indurated into stone of considerable hardness. But besides those, I observed many rocks in these hills, especially in deep vallies, where they were disposed in vertical strata, running easterly and westerly, and consisting of limestone, hornstone, and aggregates, usually called primitive. These parts abound in incrustations, formed by the deposition of calcareous matter; but I have not been able to hear of the exuviæ of marine animals, except such as are washed down by the Gandaki, and are loose in its channel. The calcareous matter has either formed itself in crusts, covering the surface of rocks, or has assumed the form of the mosses, lichens, and other such plants, that it has covered. On the bank of the Kosi, near Varaha Chhatra, is found a singular black ferruginous earth, of which the elephant is said to eat greedily, when indisposed; and the natives use it, rubbed with a little water, to supply the place of ink. The lower part of these hills, and some of the adjacent plains, are the grand seat of the Sal {67a} forests, among which are many trees of the species of _Dalbergia_, called _Sisau_, {67b} and of the _Cedrella_, which at Calcutta, is called _Tungd_, (_toon_ of the English,) but which in the forests adjacent to Puraniya, is called _Chilli kath_. Higher up, the hills are covered with a vast variety of trees, nearly resembling those of _Goyalpara_, of which I intend hereafter to give an account; but in the hills of the North, there are many pines (_Pinus longifolia_,) which the mountain Hindus call _Salla_, {67c} and an abundance of the _Mimosa_ (_Khaira_,) of which catechu is made. A great many people are employed in preparing this drug. A few of them belong to the company’s territory, but by far the greater part are the subjects of Gorkha. Each man pays a duty to the Raja, of from three to five rupees, and during the fair season makes from eight to ten _mans_ of the Calcutta weight, which is nearly 82 lbs. The merchants, who advance money for subsistence, usually give the workman four rupees a man, that is, from 32 to 40 rupees for six months work; but from this the tax must be deducted. The greater part is sent to Patna and Banaras.