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2 my baggage, while a fifth canoe, containing rice, &c., for the boatmen, 10 in number, accom-
3 panied me. I am thus particular in detailing the boats in which I travelled, as I consider
4 that where ladon canoes could pass, there is no impediment to rafting logs.
5 10 After loaving Bonai the river was very good indeed for rafting purposes as far as
6 where it enters the tributary mehal Bamara.
7 11. After entering this tributary mehal I found it easy sailing nearly as far as Barakot ;
8 about two miles above this I found rapids, but over which
9 we passed without difficulty of any kind. At this place
10 I halted for the night.
11 12. After leaving Barakot the next day this same rapid continued for a couple of miles;
12 I then left the main stream and came along under the right bank of the river in nice smooth
13 water, intersected at intervals by a few rapids and falls, but easily passed over. Two feet
14 more water, and I should never have discovered their existence until opposite Patephura, where
15 T again got into the main stream, and here I was advised to take my baggage out of the canoe
16 so as to avoid any chance of having it turned into the water. I took it out and it was carried
17 30 to 40 yards over a rock just above the level of the water. The boatmen then inspected the
18 ‘rapid,’ or here more properly “ fall.” Two of them stationed themselves at the head of it
19 up totheir waists in the water and two below, one on each side ; three men then took two of the
20 canoes lashed together, brought their end on to the stream, and let them go. As the fore part
21 came within reach of the first two men, they seized them on either side to steady them. The
22 force of the water carrying the boats on, they were caught by the two at the foot of the fall,
23 and the next moment the canoes were in smooth water. The length of the fall was not 30 feet;
24 the next two were taken in the same way, but the single canoe, containing the food, was not
25 ea and passed over without accident in the same way. These rapids continued as far as
26 Coinsur.
27 13. After leaving this there was no trouble until arriving opposite to Parnipasse, where
28 my things were sent by land a quartor of a mile. I however went in the canoes lashed
29 together, and the single one with her load, and passed over the rapid with easc. I reloaded
30 and went on to a place called Jailbanga.
31 14. At this point I found what I considered to be a real obstacle to further rafting,
32 but this can be overcome, as I shall now endeavour to show.
33 15. This rapid and fall is steep, and the water very turbulent; here for the only time
34 it was necessary to divide the boats that had been lashed together and to unload the
35 single canoe.
36 16, The first difficulty is a sharp fall far too abrupt to allow of boats or rafts passing
37 over it without being dashed to pieves, and at the bottom a sharp turn to the right hand in
38 troubled water, then a piece of smooth water, and then a al fall indeed, but not so
39 impracticable as the first. The distance from the head of the first fall to the end of the second
40 is a short half mile over the first fall; it was impossible for any boat I have ever seen to have
41 passed in safety, and the boats were passed over just at the edge, the men keeping close into
42 the land side. At the bottom of this the boatmen got into their boats, and I went with them
43 in one, and we passed over the lower fall; but 1 was very glad to find myself in the smooth
44 water below, for I fully expected to have been upset, and in such strong water I should have
45 not have easily got out.
46 17. There are in my opinion two methods by which this obstacle might be overcome,—
47 one by blasting, the other by taking the logs by land.
48 18. Regarding the first of these modes, I am, I regret to say, not being an engineer,
49 unable to offer a very decided opinion ; but that several blasts would have to be made, it is
50 easy to see, and I am not in favor of attempting it.
51 19. With reference to landing the logs there would be about a mile and a half to take
52 the timber by land; but as the country is level, there would be no difficulty ; it would require
53 but little road-making. The only difficulty is a nullah, which would require a rough wooden
54 bridge, as the banks are in most places very steep and sharp, but there is uo want of timber
55 for this purpose within a few feet of the bank.
56 20. After leaving the boat at the foot of the falls 1 walked back to the point (about a
57 mile) at which 1 had got out first, and went along a foot-path through low scrub jungle
58 maidan and rice fields, over which there would be no difficulty in passing timber on two-
59 whoeled carts, requiring only a few days’ labor to clear away the light jungle—the rioo fields
60 might be avoided.
61 21, Another thing is that I am of opinion it might be difficult, when commencing
62 operations, to induce the boatmen to go so far from their homes as Cuttack, and that it
63 would be necessary to employ two sets, so that the formation of a depdt about Jailbanga
64 would not be unadvisable even if ciroumstances did not compel us to form one.
65 Bamara
66 k