we reached a path, which is
tolerably good. Our course lay about N.E.; we crossed over some low
hills, and after marching for about an hour and a quarter, came upon the
Koond Chasm, or great defile; of which, however, from the thickness of
the jungle, we had no view. We then descended a very steep, but not very
high hill, and came upon the Koond; of which nothing is at first seen but
large masses of rock strewed in every direction. We were accompanied by
a number of Jingsha Gam's people, and in the evening we were visited by
Tapan Gam himself, with a train of followers. This man assumes the
sovereignty of the Koond. We encamped immediately under the Faqueer's
Rock, which is known to the Mishmees by the name "Taihloo Maplampoo." The
south bank is wooded to its brink, but not very densely: it is
excessively steep, and in many places almost perpendicular. The strata
composing it is partly limestone, lying at an angle of 45 degrees, and in
many places at a greater one. The scenery is picturesque and bold: on
either side of the river are hills rising abruptly to the height of a few
hundred feet, but the hills are continued longer on the north side. From
the Rock the river seems to run W.N.W. for a quarter of a mile, and then
bends to the S.W. The breadth of the bed is a good hundred yards, but
the stream at this season is confined to the fifty yards near the south
bank, the remainder being occupied by rocks in situ, or boulders and
sand: the edge of the N. bank is occupied by stunted _Saccharum_. The
appearance of the water is characteristic, of a greyish green tinge,
giving the impression of great depth. It is only here and there that it
is white with foam, its general course being rather gentle. It is in
various places encroached upon more or less by the rocks forming its bed,
some of which are quite perpendicular. A little to the west of the
Faqueer's Rock there is an immense mass of rock in the bed of the river,
between which and the south bank there is now very little water and no
current. The rocks are generally naked; here and there they are
partially clothed with Gramineae, and a Cyperaceous-looking plant,
something like an Eriophorum. The river, a short distance beyond the Deo-
panee, takes a bend to the north; at the point where it bends there is a
considerable rapid.

[Bramakhoond and Faqueer's Rock: p26.jpg]

The Faqueer's Rock itself is a loose mass of rugged outline, about 50
feet high: access