AMDOHKHA, Nongtalang (Krem)
25.210900,92.081400
Description
An unknown number of unspecified cave entrances (up to a metre wide and 0.4 m high) face unidentified directions and include a »lower entrance« (Boyes, P W 2000.02.21 Mss: Krem Amdokha 21/2/00; BOYES 2000 s.a.: 4, 7), which somehow gives access to relatively »small inter-linked cave passages formed in washed out bedding plaines [note 1] with a stream flowing out« but also yielded an estimated 20 m of »length« (Boyes 2000.02.21 Mss: Krem Amdokha 21/2/00) at an unidentified »verticel range« (note 2). ETYMOLOGY: The cave name "Krem Amdohkha" translates as »Cave [of the[ Fish Stream« where the standard Khasi "ka um" and Amwi Khasi "ka am" designates »a juice, a water« and hence »a stream« while "dokha“ (Boyes 2000.02.21 Mss) makes no sense but "ka dohkha" is the Khasi word for »a fish« (note 3), the limbless cold-blooded vertebrate animal with gills and fins and living wholly in water. SITUATION: In an unidentified setting somewhere on a stream, which has been recorded as »Amdokha« (Boyes 2000.02.21 Mss) but actually is the Amdohkha, and in an unspecified location that lies, according to a disputable GPS reading (note 4), at a linear distance of 1.95 km approximately east-north-east (077°) from the Nongtalang Inspection Bungalow (note 5). APPROACH: Peter W. Boyes (2000.02.21 Mss) commands to »descend stone steps at east of Nongtalang village, follow a descending footpath [in an unidentified direction] for 1 km. Then follow a faint track left [in an unidentified direction] into forest to locate small stream. Continue up stream until lower entrance is found.«
NOTE 1: The »bedding plaines« (sic!) created by Peter W. Boyes, F.R.G.S. (2000.02.21 Mss: Krem Amdokha) testify an attempt to apply the term "bed" (stratum). It may have slipped from the attention of our royal geographical fellow that a bedding plane a) separates two rock layers (beds, strata) of differing characteristics (MONROE, W H 1970 / 1972: 3)b) is an imaginary flat surface through or joining material objectsc) and it is absurd to "wash out" an imaginary surface.The trick is, that not the bedding plane itself but the beds (layers, strata) on one or the other side of a bedding plane are substantial and prone to mass wasting processes and events. NOTE 2: The »verticel [sic!] range« created by Peter W. Boyes, F.R.G.S. (2000.02.21 Mss: Krem Amdokha) probably results from attempting to apply the term vertical range: A set of three distances, preferably in the metric system, giving the maximum extension of a cave measured at right angles to a horizontal plane from the lowest point in the highest cave entrance on the one-hand side to the highest point in a cave and on the other to the lowest point, e.g. ±99 m (+32.7 m, -65.9 m). NOTE 3: "ka dohkha" (Khasi; noun), binomial: ”ka dohkha dohpnat” (SINGH, N 1906: 71), generally abbreviated to ”ka 'kha” (GURDON, P R T 1906: 202) »the fish« (SINGH, N 1906: 71; SINGH, N 1920: 181; BLAH, E 2007: 104; OLDHAM, T 1854 / 1984 appendix C: LXI). »Fish.-- The word "ka" or "kha" runs through the following languages: Mon, Stieng, Bahnar, Annam, Khmu, Lemet, Palaung, Wa; and if we cut off the first syllable of the Khasi word for fish, dohkha, we find '"kha", which is the same word as in the languages above mentioned, with an aspirate added. The Khasi "doh" merely means flesh, and the word "dohkha" is very frequently abbreviated, cf. 'kha saw, 'kha iong« (GURDON, P R T 1906: 202). NOTE 4: The GPS waypoint »092°05.071' East 25°12.616' North« (unspecified precision error, obsolete geodetic datum »India / Bngldsh« = Everest 1830, anonymous recorder, undated February 2000, GPS Garmin 12), which has been recorded for the cave entrance to Krem Amdohkha (Nongtalang), indicates a spot near (unknowable reliability) 25°12'39.1”N: 92°04'53.0”E (WGS84) or, if you prefer, near 25°12.652'N: 92°04.883'E (WGS84). NOTE 5: The Nongtalang Inspection Bungalow has been GPS positioned near (unidentified precision error) 25°12'24.7”N: 92°03'49.4”E (WGS84 modified from the originally recorded Everest 1830 geodetic datum, Boyes 2000.07.21 Mss) and is indicated near (±500 m) 25°12'25”N: 92°04'15”E: 615 m asl (WGS84 modified from 25°12'25”N: 92°04'25”E: 2115 feet, Everest 1830) on the Survey of India Half-Inch series sheet 83-C/SW (edition 1922).
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 2000.02.21: U Min Lyngdoh, the Nongtalang village headman, guided Lindsay B. Diengdoh, Peter W. Boyes, Lizzie [Elizabeth] Elvidge, Brian Johnson, G. Smith, J. Whitely and Paul Wilkinson to cave entrances of what was recorded as »Krem Amdokha« (Boyes, P W 2000.02.21 Mss: Krem Amdokha).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.6 | AMLARIANG (Krem) | ||
| 0.6 | NONGTALANG, 3rd (Elvidge 2000.02.18) (Cave near) | ||
| 0.7 | AMRABIANG (Krem) | ||
| 0.7 | AMKPAI (Krem) | ||
| 0.7 | AMTREN (Krem) | ||
| 0.8 | AMTREN 2 (Krem) | ||
| 0.9 | THANGSHUNAI (Krem) | ||
| 1.0 | NONGTALANG, 2nd (Boyes 2000.02.19) (Cave near) | ||
| 1.1 | AMKHLOO, Nongtalang (Krem) |