Jungle

Jungle, a term now fully adopted into the English language from Bengal (Sanskrit jangala, 'desert'), and employed to designate those thickets of trees, shrubs, and reeds which abound in many parts of India, and particularly in the unhealthy tract called Terai or Tarayani, along the southern base of the Himalaya, and in the Sundarbans (q.v.) at the mouth of the Ganges. The jungles are often impassable, from the thick growth of underwood, tall grasses, and climbing plants. The soil is generally swampy, and fever and other diseases abound. Tigers and other beasts of prey, elephants, boars, deer, and other quadrupeds may be found in great numbers in these thickets, with gigantic snakes, and multitudes of monkeys. The jungle flora and fauna are very peculiar, and the moisture and heat carry a tropical vegetation beyond its usual limits northward to the lower valleys of the Himalaya. See INDIA, BENGAL.