Here I tried again the effect of solar and nocturnal radiation on the sand, at different depths, not being able to do so on the alluvium.
| Noon, Temperature of air, 87° | Daylight of following morning | |
| Surface | 110° | 52° |
| 1 inch | 102° | 55° |
| 2 inches | 93·5° | 58° |
| 4 inches | 84° | 67° |
| 8 inches | 77° sand wet | 73° wet |
| 12 inches | 76° sand wet | 74° |
From Tura our little army again crossed the Soane, the scarped cliffs of the Kymore approaching close to the river on the west side. The bed is very sandy, and about one mile and a half across.
The elephants were employed again, as at Baroon, to push the cart: one of them had a bump in consequence, as large as a child’s head, just above the trunk, and bleeding much; but the brave beast disregarded this, when the word of command was given by his driver.
The stream was very narrow, but deep and rapid, obstructed with beds of coarse agate, jasper, cornelian and chalcedony pebbles. A clumsy boat took us across to the village of Soanepore, a wretched collection of hovels. The crops were thin and poor, and I saw no palms or good trees. Squirrels however abounded, and were busy laying up their stores; descending from the trees they scoured across a road to a field of tares, mounted the hedge, took an observation, foraged and returned up the tree with their booty, quickly descended, and repeated the operation of reconnoitering and plundering.
The bed of the river is here considerably above that at Dearee, where the mean of the observations with those of Baroon, made it about 300 feet. The mean of those taken here and on the opposite side, at Tura, gives about 400 feet, indicating a fall of 100 feet in only 40 miles.
Near this the sandy banks of the Soane were full of martins’ nests, each one containing a pair of eggs. The deserted ones were literally crammed full of long-legged spiders (Opilio), which could be raked out with a stick, when they came pouring down the cliff like corn from a sack; the quantities are quite inconceivable. I did not observe the martin feed on them.
The entomology here resembled that of Europe, more than I had expected in a tropical country, where predaceous beetles, at least Carabideæ and Staphylinideæ, are generally considered rare. The latter tribes swarmed under the clods, of many species but all small, and so singularly active that I could not give the time to collect many. In the banks again, the round egg-like earthy chrysalis of the Sphynx Atropos (?) and the many-celled nidus of the leaf-cutter bee, were very common.
A large columnar Euphorbia (E. ligulata) is common all along the Soane, and I observed it to be used everywhere for fencing. I had not remarked the E. neriifolia; and the E. tereticaulis had been very rarely seen since leaving Calcutta. The Cactus is nowhere found; it is abundant in many parts of Bengal, but certainly not indigenous.