With an area
of 1,200 sq. miles, the district
is shaped like an irregular triangle,
the southern region, the base,
comprises the Terrai, a marshy
low-lying area at an average height
of 100 m above sea level; the
apex is formed by the Phalut ridge
where Nepal meets India. The eastern
frontier lies along the rivers
Tista and Rangeet, beyond is Rishi-La
and Bhutan. The lower regions
of the labyrithine hilly forest-clad
ridges, have been cleared for
the cultivation of the world famous
Darjeeling tea. Started in the
area of only 14,000 acres in 1872,
it had risen to 7,87,000 acres
by 1956. The town itself laid
out by Lord Napier of Royal Engineers,
is at an altitude of 2,134 m (lies
between 26° 31' and 27°
13' North Latitude and between
87° 59' and 88° 53' East
Longitude); moving up the hills
one is greeted by smiling tea
gardens, changing to firs, pines
and fast moving torrents, while
around 4,000 types of flowering
plants and 300 varieties of ferns,
including the rare tree fern.
Beyond the town itself, modern
elegant and sophistacated, lies
nature in the raw in hills, valleys
and forest, unbroken and untamed.
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