The Highlands of Central India (Notes on Their Forests And Wild Tribes, Natural History And Sports)

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People commonly talk of the 'hills' and the 'plains' of India, meaning by the former the great Himalayan range, and by the latter all the rest of the country. Much of this has really been owing to the unexplored and undescribed condition of such regions, but something also to the overwhelming prominence of the great northern range, which rivets the attention of teachers of geography and their pupils, and also, from the exigencies of the art of cartography, renders it almost impossible to delineate on ordinary maps of India the features of inferior ranges.

In the very centre of India there exists a considerable region to which the term Highlands, which the author has adopted for the title, is strictly applicable; and in which are numerous peaks and ranges, for which the term "mountain" would, in any other country, be used. Several of the great rivers of India have their first sources in this elevated region, and pour their waters into the sea on either side of the peninsula to the north the Són commingling with the Ganges, to the east the Mahanadi, flowing independently to the Bay of Bengal, to the south some of the principal feeders of the Godávari, and to the west the Narbada and the Tápti, taking parallel courses to the Arabian Gulf. It forms the central and culminating section of a ridge of elevated country which stretches across the peninsula, from near Calcutta to near Bombay, and separates Northern India, or Hindostan proper, from the Deccan, or country of the south.

The traveller by the new Great Indian Peninsular Railway from Bombay to Calcutta, after some 275 miles of his journey, will come to a point where the line branches into two. The northern branch leads him up the Narbadá valley, and so, by Alahabad and the Gangetic valley, to the City of Palaces. If he takes the southern branch instead, he will be landed at Nágpúr, a city in the very heart of India, and its present terminal station. Between these two branches lies a triangle of country in which is situated the western half of the highlands the author speaks of. From its western extremity, in the fork of these lines, the mountainous region extends eastwards for a distance of about 450 miles, with an average width of about 80 miles.

Physical description of the Central Highlands-The Sátpúra Range- Early history of Gondwáná-The Rájpúts and their bards-Mixed races-Immigration of Hindus-The conquest by Akber-Fate of the aborigines-Overthrow of the Gond Kings-Arrival of the Maráthás-The hill-tribes plunder the low country-The Pindáris- British conquest of the country-Improved administration-Recent ignorance of the interior of the hills-Constitution of the Central Provinces-Energy of the new administration-Establishment of the Forest Department-Exploration of the hill tracts-Their area and character-Settlement operations-Interesting nature of the country- Its aboriginal population-The Gonds-Kolarian races-The Kóls- The Korkus-The Bygás-The Bheels-Singular facts in distribution of organic products-Timber trees-Relation to geological formations- The fauna-Wild buffalo-Twelve-tined deer-Jungle-fowl-Hog- deer-Partridges-Intrusion of Eastern forms-Early destruction of the forests-The Sál-The Teak-Its usefulness-Ruin of the Teak forests.