field diary 1832 deciphering problems

[JanSeifert]

5.1

»
we [rose?] over the spur of the [NAME]
range on the left and found on the
brow beyond & on little vales to the
right patches of neat cultivation or
rather preparations for culture
                    on
in the [entering] season – Further^ we
«

[JanSeifert]

5.2

»
which was the course of the Lalang
          interval
and at [a very?] short^ of a few yards
only, the waters began to descend
a valley to the right of the hill run-
ning to the North – this was the
source of the Barak – a few steps
only [there?] in this spot divide
feeders of the Ganges & Irrawaddy
– the mighty streams of [story?]-
«

[JanSeifert]

6.1

»
& [very?] little ingenuity, to my own
knowledge, would suffice to make
a navigable stream from this point
to Asam – it’s possible that the Barak
«

[JanSeifert]

6.2

»
beauty valley – with magnificent
broad retiring hills on either side,
presenting every possible variety
of greenery, & most delightful to
behold, the valley was nearly entirely
under cultivation – rice grounds
[mounting?] up the little vales
by steps to the [sources?] of all the
«

[JanSeifert]

7.1

»
hills, and beyond, & up to the highest
ridges in some places, were cultivated
spots in all diections, some on almost
perpendicular surfaces – with fine green
[??] I presume of cotton or an oil plant.
Two large villages crowned the ridge on
«

[JanSeifert]

7.2

»
prepared for cultivation – by burning
the [??]  & reducing the surface
to a very fine well reduced soil –
led down to the river bank, literally
over beds of violets & strawberries.
«

[JanSeifert]

7.3

»
of oak trees. On the [??] above to the
right are  a few lofty firs – the first
I have yet met. We have opened
[??] up a dell among [??] mountains
blocked in front by a ridge which
from its appearance must be higher
than any we have yet encountered.
That ridge is beyond our geography &
we have now passed the limit of [??] discovery
«

[arthurk]

Looking at this again, I suggest:

...The rest
have since been
born of Asam parents,
who were since dead,
they were carried >

It makes reasonable sense if 'since' on the 4th line up is crossed through, and 'were' and 'they' are read not as crossed through, but the result of a blotchy pen. It still doesn't sound quite right to a modern ear, but the idioms of 1832 were almost certainly a bit different.

[arthurk]

today I have been quite productive, so a number of questions arose:

4.1
»
up its bed. The pebbles &
boulders are most entirely sandstone ['most' probably meaning 'almost', as in modern American usage, but not UK]
the base of the hills is probably of
clay slate but I had no opportunity
of seeing the naked rock.
   & unfrequent
Except slight^ marks of crystallized [looks like 'unfrequent']
quartz veins adhering to the pebbles
I have seen no symptomes as yet
of an approach to a lower forma-
tion than these two rocks.
«

4.2

»
Our encampment is at the entrance ['entrance' looks OK to me]
of a valley of broken & rather stony
ground about 5 miles long and
«

4.3

»
hill to the right. Behind us
is an extensive table land elevated
about 100 ft above this valley.
Our camp is truly Babylonish in languages
our people bellowing at each other
in 10 or 12 different languages.
«