THE INDIAN PENINSULA 155

streams is both natural and appropriate. Amarkantak,
where the Narbada rises, is one of the most sacred spots
in India, and in spite of its remoteness and its exceeding
difficulty of approach, is visited every year by thousands
of devout Hindus.”
The northern or hill districts of the Central Provinces,
culminating in the Satpuras, are in general physical conformation
 and appearance the same as the southern hill
districts of Central India culminating in the Vindhyas ;
the former making the southern half, and the latter the
northern half of the Narbada basin, .Wild, picturesque
jungle-covered hills, closely massed and drained by small
but clear and rushing hill streams ; inhabited by a wild
and picturesque race of aboriginal people, unvisited by
Europeans, and unknown to all but a few officials—
these are the distinguishing features of the whole district.
Farther south the Central Provinces (which are often
confused with the Central India native states, with which
they have no administrative affinity) open out into more
extensive flats and tablelands, with a red gravel soil and
outcrops of laterite, supporting a growth of forest and
grass which is everywhere abundant and occasionally
dense, but which often assumes a park-like appearance,
with scattered groups of trees, and stretches of grassy
sward. There is no wide extent of alluvial soil here,
though the black cotton soil pervades the lower levels
bordering the main streams. The districts around Jabalpur
 and Nagpur are all much of this nature; but as
we move farther south, we rapidly pass into the junglecovered
 area which stretches, with very little break in the
endless monotony of ill-grown trees, indifferent grass,
stunted bamboos, and all varieties of scorched and illnurtured
 vegetation, right across Eastern India from the
Godavari to the Eastern Ghats, This is the region which
may justly be called “darkest India.” Into its recesses
travellers never penetrate, and even its rivers are comparatively
 unknown.
Before touching those river systems which take their
rise in the Western Ghats and flow across India to the