4.6c Lailang-kot

4.6c

Lailang-kot

We continue our digression and wander into Lailangkot, another village full of iron forges, from a height near which a splendid view could be obtained over the Churra flat.
A few old and very stunted shrubs of laurel grew on its bleak surface, and these were often sunk from one to three feet in a well in the horizontally stratified sandstone.

From Kala-panee to Myrung, a distance of 32 miles, the road did not vary 500 feet above or below the mean level of 5,700 feet, and the physical features were the same throughout, of broad flat-floored, steep-sided valleys, divided by bleak, grassy, tolerably level-topped hills[80].

Hooker’s eye for all things botanical, detected small cultivation here of potatoes, and a beautiful purple-flowered leguminous plant, with small tuberous roots. Beyond this, a high ridge was gained above the valley of the Boga-panee river (white water), the largest river in the Khasia, from here the Bhutan Himalaya could be seen in clear weather, at the astonishing distance of some 160-200 miles.

The vegetation here suddenly assumed a different aspect, from the quantity of stunted fir-trees clothing the north side of the valley, which rose very steeply 1,000 feet above the river. Quite unaccountably, not one grew on the south face. Hooker also noted a new oak which appeared abundantly, it had leaves like the English oak, whose gnarled habit it also assumed. The descent was very steep, and carried down a slope of greenstone. The road then followed a clear affluent of the Boga-panee, and afterwards wound along the margin of that river, which was a rapid turbulent stream, very muddy, and contrasting remarkably with the Kala-panee.

Small trees of hornbeam grew near the river, while many beautiful ferns, mosses, and orchids covered the rocks. An elegant iron suspension-bridge was thrown across the stream, from a rock matted with tufts of little parasitic orchids. Crossing it, one came across many pine-trees.

In 1865, on the road towards Assam, the traveller traversed the beautiful forest-clad hill of Cherra punji, rounded the head of the great Temshung valley, and after a steep ascent came to a stretch of bare open country about 5,000 feet in elevation[81]. Several miles further on, travellers crossed the steep and narrow ravine of the Kala-Panee river, and entered a beautiful valley where the over-hanging masses of rock on either side presented a very wild and picturesque appearance. Beyond this one reached the great valley, 1,000 feet deep, in which the Boga-panee river pursued its course to the plains, and a very steep ascent from it brought one to a halting place, Moflong, 18 miles from Cherra.

The firs altogether disappeared, on reaching the Boga Panee[82]. The perpendicular walls, which bound it one either side, consisted of a soft and crumbly slate which was rapidly decomposed by the effect of the weather. After crossing the Boga Panee and reaching the summit of the elevated plateau which separated it from the Kala Panee, the traveller looks down on the dark masses of rock, over which the Kala Panee river rushes, to its confluence with the former.

Around 1850-51, Thomas Oldham noted that ascending from a chasm to the height of about 600 feet, the road entered a shallow, wild, and beautiful valley, through which it ran for several miles[83]. The hills on either side were of greenstone capped by tabular sandstone, immense masses of which had been precipitated on the floor of the valley, producing a singularly wild and picturesque scene. The descent was very steep, and the road then followed a clear affluent of the Boga-panee, and afterwards winded along the margin of that river, which was a rapid turbulent stream, very muddy, contrasting remarkably with the Kala-panee. It derived its mud from the decomposition of granite which was washed by the Khasis for iron.

An elegant iron suspension bridge was thrown across this stream, but in June 1851 a very heavy flood occurred which carried it all away, leaving scarcely a vestige behind[84]. Another suspension bridge replaced the iron one. Like many others seen in the hills, and erected by Khasia ingenuity, this was composed of long rattans stretched between two trees, at a height of about 45 feet above the low water mark. The footway consisted of a bundle of small canes lashed together, and connected with two larger rattans forming hand-rails, but these were so low and so far apart that it was difficult to grasp both together. The length of this bridge was about 70 feet between the points of suspension.

From Mooflong the road descended by zig zags to the Kala Panee, which some intrepid British travellers bridged like the Oomean[85]. They collected disused telegraph wires, twisted them into a cable of 5 strands, stretched 2 across the river, and on them built up the bridge. The former bridges were only cane ones and had to be renewed every year.