The Lieutenant Governor.—At the head of the whole administration is the Lieutenant Governor, who holds office for five years. He has a strong Secretariat to help in the dispatch of business. The experiment of governing the Panjab by a Board was speedily given up, and for sixty years it has enjoyed the advantage of one man government, the Lieutenant Governor controlling all subordinate authorities and being himself only controlled by the Governor General in Council. The independence of the Courts in the exercise of judicial functions is of course safeguarded.

Official hierarchy.—The following is a list of the official hierarchy in the different branches of the administration:

A. Lieutenant Governor. B. Five Judges of Chief Court (j). C. Two Financial Commissioners (r). D. Five Commissioners, (e) and (r). E. Sixteen Divisional and Sessions Judges (j). F. Deputy Commissioners, (e), (r) and (crim). G. District Judges (civ). H. Subordinate Judges (civ). J. Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners, (e), (j) and (r). K. Tahsildars (e), (r) and (crim). L. Munsifs (civ). M. Naib-Tahsildars, (e) (r) and (j).

The letters in brackets indicate the classes of functions which the official concerned usually exercises. Translated into a diagram we have the following:

Lieutenant Governor

Judicial Executive Revenue

Chief Court Financial Commissioners

Divisional and Sessions Judges Commissioners

Civil Criminal

District Judges Deputy Commissioners

Asst. and Extra Asst. Commissioners Subordinate Judges Tahsildars Munsifs Naib-Tahsildars

Tahsildars and Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners.—Thus the chain of executive authority runs down to the tahsildar's assistant or naib through the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner, the tahsildar being directly responsible to the latter. The Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners are the Deputy Commissioner's Assistants at headquarters, and as such are invested with powers in all branches. The tahsildar, a very important functionary, is in charge of a tahsil. He is linked on to the village estates by a double chain, one official consisting of the kanungos and the patwaris or village accountants whom they supervise, the other non-official consisting of the village headmen and the zaildars, each of whom is the intermediary between the revenue and police staffs and the villages.

Subdivisional Officers.—In some heavy districts one or more tahsils are formed into a subdivision and put in charge of a resident Assistant or Extra Assistant Commissioner, exercising such independent authority as the Deputy Commissioner thinks fit to entrust to him.

The Deputy Commissioner and his Assistants.—As the officer responsible for the maintenance of order the Deputy Commissioner is District Magistrate and has large powers both for the prevention and punishment of crime. The District Superintendent is his Assistant in police matters. The Civil Surgeon is also under his control, and he has an Indian District Inspector of Schools to assist him in educational business. The Deputy Commissioner is subject to the control of the Divisional Commissioner.

Financial Commissioners.—In all matters connected with land, excise, and income tax administration the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner are subject to the control of the Financial Commissioners, who are also the final appellate authority in revenue cases. As chief district revenue officer the Deputy Commissioner's proper title is "Collector," a term which indicates his responsibility for the realization of all Government revenues. In districts which are canal irrigated the amount is in some cases very large.

Settlement Officers, etc.—With the periodical revisions of the land revenue assessment the Deputy Commissioner has no direct concern. That very responsible duty is done by a special staff of Settlement Officers, selected chiefly from among the Assistant Commissioners and working under the Commissioners and Financial Commissioners. The Director of Land Records, the Registrar of Co-operative Credit Societies, and in some branches of his work the Director of Agriculture and Industries, are controlled by the Financial Commissioners.

The Chief Court.—It must be admitted that Panjabis are very litigious and that in some tracts they are extremely vindictive and reckless of human life. The volume of litigation is swollen by the fact that the country is one of small-holders subject as regards inheritance and other matters to an uncodified customary law, which may vary from tribe to tribe and tract to tract. A suit is to the Panjabi a rubber, the last game of which he will play in Lahore, if the law permits. It is not therefore extraordinary that the Chief Court constituted in 1865 with two judges has now five, and that even this number has in the past proved insufficient. In the same way the cadre of divisional and sessions judges had in 1909 to be raised from 12 to 16.

Administration of N. W. F. Province.—In the N. W. F. Province no Commissioner is interposed between the district officers and the Chief Commissioner, under whom the Revenue Commissioner and the Judicial Commissioner occupy pretty much the position of the Financial Commissioners and the Chief Court in the Panjab.

Departments.—The principal departments are the Railway, Post Office, Telegraphs, and Accounts, under the Government of India, and Irrigation, Roads and Buildings, Forests, Police, Medical, and Education, under the Lieutenant Governor. In matters affecting the rural population, as a great part of the business of the Forest Department must do, the Conservator of Forests is subject to the control of the Financial Commissioners, whose relations with the Irrigation Department are also very intimate.

Legislative Council.—From 1897 to 1909 the Panjab had a local Legislative Council of nine nominated members, which passed a number of useful Acts. Under 9 Edward VII, cap. 4, an enlarged council with increased powers has been constituted. It consists of 24 members of whom eight are elected, one by the University, one by the Chamber of Commerce, three by groups of Municipal and cantonment committees, and three by groups of district boards. The other sixteen members are nominated by the Lieutenant Governor, and at least six of them must be persons not in Government service. The right of interpellation has been given, and also some share in shaping the financial arrangements embodied in the annual budget.



CHAPTER XXIII

ADMINISTRATION—LOCAL

Municipalities.—It is matter for reflection that, while the effect of British administration has been to weaken self-government in villages, half a century of effort has failed to make it a living thing in towns and districts. The machinery exists, but outside a few towns the result is poor. The attempt was made on too large a scale, municipal institutions being bestowed on places which were no more than villages with a bazar. This has been partially corrected of late years. A new official entity, the "notified area," has been invented to suit the requirements of such places. While there were in 1904 139 municipalities and 48 notified areas, in 1911-12 the figures were 107 and 104 respectively. Even in the latter year 32 of the municipalities had incomes not exceeding L1000 (Rs. 15,000). The total income of the 104 towns was Rs. 71,41,000 (L476,000), of which Rs. 44,90,000 (L300,000) were derived from taxation. Nearly 90 p.c. of the taxation was drawn from octroi, a hardy plant which has survived much economic criticism. The expenditure was Rs. 69,09,000 (L461,000), of which Rs. 40,32,000 (L269,000) fall under the head of "Public Health and Convenience." The incidence of taxation was Rs. 2.6 or a little over three shillings a head.

District Boards.—The district boards can at present in practice only be treated as consultative bodies, and well handled can in that capacity play a useful role. Their income is mainly derived from the local rate, a surcharge of one-twelfth on the land revenue. In 1911-12 the income was Rs. 53,74,000 (L358,000) and the expenditure Rs. 54,44,500 (L363,000). The local rate contributed 51 p.c. and contributions from Government 23 p.c. of the former figure. Public works took up 41 and Education about 20 p.c. of the expenditure.

Elections.—Some of the seats in most of the municipalities and boards are filled by election when any one can be induced to vote. Public spirit is lacking and, as a rule, except when party or sectarian spirit is rampant, the franchise is regarded with indifference.



CHAPTER XXIV

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

Financial Relations with Government of India.—Local governments exercise their financial powers in strict subordination to the Government of India, which alone can borrow, and which requires the submission for its sanction of the annual provincial budgets. To ensure a reasonable amount of decentralization the Supreme Government has made financial contracts with the provinces under which they receive definite shares of the receipts, and are responsible for definite shares of the expenditure, under particular heads. The existing contract dates only from 1911-12 (see Table V).

Income and Expenditure.—Excluding income from railways, post offices, telegraphs, salt, and sales of excise opium, which are wholly imperial, the revenue of the Panjab in 1911-12 was L5,057,000 (Rs. 758,56,000), of which the provincial share was L2,662,200 (Rs. 399,33,000), to which have to be added L251,800 (Rs. 37,77,000) on account of assignments made by the Government of India to the province. This brought up the total to L2,914,000 (Rs. 437,10,000). The expenditure was L2,691,933 (Rs. 403,79,000). This does not include L983,000 spent from loan funds on irrigation works, chiefly the great Triple Project. The large expenditure on railways is imperial. Of the gross income more than three-fourths is derived from the land (Land Revenue, 46 p.c., Irrigation, chiefly canal water rates, 29 p.c., and Forests, 1-3/4 p.c.). The balance consists of Excise 8-1/2 p.c., Stamps, 7 p.c., Income Tax over 2 p.c., and other heads 5-3/4 p.c.

Land Revenue.—Certain items are included under the Land Revenue head which are no part of the assessment of the land. The real land revenue of the Panjab is about L2,000,000 and falls roughly at the rate of eighteen pence per cultivated acre (Table II). It is not a land tax, but an extremely moderate quit rent. In India the ruler has always taken a share of the produce of the land from the persons in whom he recognised a permanent right to occupy it or arrange for its tillage. The title of the Raja to his share and the right of the occupier to hold the land he tilled and pass it on to his children both formed part of the customary law of the country. Under Indian rule the Raja's share was often collected in kind, and the proportion of the crop taken left the tiller of the soil little or nothing beyond what was needed for the bare support of himself and his family. What the British Government did was to commute the share in kind into a cash demand and gradually to limit its amount to a reasonable figure. The need of moderation was not learned without painful experience, but the Panjab was fortunate in this that, except as regards the Delhi territory, the lesson had been learned and a reasonable system evolved in the United Provinces before the officers it sent to the Panjab began the regular assessments of the districts of the new province. A land revenue settlement is usually made for a term of 20 or 30 years. Since 1860 the limit of the government demand has been fixed at one-half of the rental, but this figure is very rarely approached in practice. Between a quarter and a third would be nearer the mark. A large part of the land is tilled by the owners, and the rent of the whole has to be calculated from the data for the part, often not more than a third or two-fifths of the whole, cultivated by tenants at will. The calculation is complicated by the fact that kind rents consisting of a share of the crop are in most places commoner than cash rents and are increasing in favour. The determination of the cash value of the rent where the crop is shared is a very difficult task. There is a large margin for error, but there can be no doubt that the net result has almost always been undervaluation. It is probable that the share of the produce of the fields which the land revenue absorbs rarely exceeds one-seventh and is more often one-tenth or less. A clear proof of the general moderation of Panjab assessments is furnished by the fact that in the three years ending 1910-11 the recorded prices in sales amounted to more than Rs. 125 per rupee of land revenue of the land sold, which may be taken as implying a belief on the part of purchasers that the landlord's rent is not double, but five or six times the land revenue assessment, for a man would hardly pay Rs. 125 unless he expected to get at least six or seven rupees annual profit.

Fluctuating Assessments.—The old native plan of taking a share of the crop, though it offered great opportunity for dishonesty on both sides, had at least the merit of roughly adjusting the demand to the character of the seasons. It was slowly realized that there were parts of the province where the harvests were so precarious that even a very moderate fixed cash assessment was unsuitable. Various systems of fluctuating cash assessment have therefore been introduced, and one-fourth of the total demand is now of this character, the proportion having been greatly increased by the adoption of the fluctuating principle in the new canal colonies.

Suspensions and Remissions.—Where fixity is retained the strain in bad seasons is lessened by a free use of suspensions, and, if the amounts of which the collection has been deferred accumulate owing to a succession of bad seasons, resort is had to remission.

Irrigation Income and Expenditure.—In a normal year in the Panjab over one-fourth of the total crops is matured by the help of Government Canals, and this proportion will soon be largely increased. In 1911-12 the income from canals amounted to L1,474,000, and the working expenses to L984,000, leaving a surplus of L490,000. Nearly the whole of the income is derived from water rates, which represent the price paid by the cultivator for irrigation provided by State expenditure. The rates vary for different crops and on different canals. The average incidence may be roughly put at Rs. 4 or a little over five shillings per acre. In calculating the profit on canals allowance is made for land revenue dependent on irrigation, amounting to nearly L400,000.



CHAPTER XXV

PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI

Districts and Divisions.—The Panjab now consists of 28 districts grouped in five divisions. In descriptions of districts and states boundaries, railways, and roads, which appear on the face of the inset maps, are omitted. Details regarding cultivation and crops will be found in Tables II, III and IV, and information as to places of note in Chapter XXX. The revenue figures of Panjab districts in this chapter relate to the year 1911-12.

Delhi Enclave.—On the transfer of the capital of India to Delhi part of the area of the old district of that name comprising 337 estates was removed from the jurisdiction of the Panjab Government and brought under the immediate authority of the Government of India (Act No. XIII of 1912). The remainder of the district was divided between Rohtak and Gurgaon, and the headquarters of the Delhi division were transferred to Ambala.

The area of the new province is only 528 square miles, and the population including that of the City is estimated at 396,997. The cultivated area is 340 square miles, more than half of which is cultivated by the owners themselves. The principal agricultural tribe is the Hindu Jats, who are hard-working and thrifty peasant farmers. The land revenue is Rs. 4,00,203 (L26,680). The above figures only relate to the part of the enclave formerly included in the Panjab[8]. The head of the administration has the title of Chief Commissioner.



[Sidenote: Area, 14,832 sq. m. Cultd area, 10,650 sq. m. Pop. 3,704,608; 68 p.c. H.[9] Land Rev. Rs. 66,99,136 = L446,609.]

The Ambala division—includes four of the five districts of the South-Eastern Plains, the submontane district of Ambala, and the hill district of Simla. It is with the exception of Lahore the smallest division, but it ranks first in cultivated area and third in population. It is twice the size of Wales and has twice its population. The Commissioner is in political charge of the hill state of Sirmur and of five petty states in the plains.



[Sidenote: Area, 5213 sq. m. Cultd area, 4201 sq.m. Pop. 804,809; 67 p.c. H. Land Rev. Rs. 9,76,749 = L67,117.]

Hissar District.—Hissar is the south-western district of the division and has a long common boundary with Bikaner. It is divided into five tahsils, Hissar, Hansi, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, and Sirsa. There are four natural divisions, Nali, Bagar, Rohi, and Hariana. The overflow of the Ghagar, which runs through the north of the district, has transformed the lands on either bank into hard intractable clay, which yields nothing to the husbandman without copious floods. This is the Nali. The Bagar is a region of rolling sand stretching along the Bikaner border from Sirsa to Bhiwani. In Sirsa to the east of the Bagar is a plain of very light reddish loam known as the Rohi, partly watered by the Sirhind Canal. South of the Ghagar the loam in the east of the district is firmer, and well adapted to irrigation, which much of it obtains from branches of the Western Jamna Canal. This tract is known as Hariana, and has given its name to a famous breed of cattle. The Government cattle farm at Hissar covers an area of 65 square miles. North of the Fatehabad tahsil and surrounded by villages belonging to the Phulkian States is an island of British territory called Budhlada. It belongs to the Jangal Des, and has the characteristic drought-resisting sandy loam and sand of that tract. Much of Budhlada is watered by the Sirhind Canal. Of the total area of the district only about 9 p.c. is irrigated. The water level is so far from the surface that well irrigation is usually impossible, and the source of irrigation is canals.

Hissar suffered severely from the disorders which followed on the collapse of the Moghal Empire and its ruin was consummated by the terrible famine of 1783. The starving people died or fled and for years the country lay desolate. It passed into the hands of the British 20 years later, but for another 20 years our hold on this outlying territory was loose and ineffective. In 1857 the troops at Hansi, Hissar, and Sirsa rose and killed all the Europeans who fell into their hands. The Muhammadan tribes followed their example, and for a time British authority ceased to exist. The district was part of the Delhi territory transferred to the Panjab in 1858.

The rainfall is scanty, averaging 15 inches, and extremely capricious. No other district suffers so much from famine as Hissar. The crops are extraordinarily insecure, with a large surplus in a good season and practically nothing when the rains fail badly. They consist mainly of the cheap pulses and millets. With such fluctuating harvests it is impossible to collect the revenues with any regularity, and large sums have to be suspended in bad seasons.

Such industries as exist are mostly in Hansi and Bhiwani, where there are mills for ginning and pressing cotton. Cotton cloths tastefully embroidered with silk, known as phulkaris, are a well-known local product.



[Sidenote: Area, 2248 sq. m. Cultd area, 1815 sq. m. Pop. 714,834. Land Rev. Rs. 16,66,364 = L111,091.]

Rohtak—became a British possession in 1803, but it was not till after the Mutiny that it was brought wholly under direct British administration. The old district consisted of the three tahsils of Rohtak, Gohana, and Jhajar, but on the breaking up of the Delhi district the Sonepat tahsil was added.

Rohtak is practically a purely agricultural tract with large villages, but no towns of any importance. By far the most important agricultural tribe is the Hindu Jats. They are strong-bodied sturdy farmers, who keep fine oxen and splendid buffaloes, and live in large and well organized village communities. 37 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by canal and well irrigation, the former being by far the more important. The district consists mainly of a plain of good loam soil. There have been great canal extensions in this plain, which under irrigation is very fertile, yielding excellent wheat, cotton, and cane. There is a rich belt of well irrigation in the Jamna valley, and in the south of the district there are parts where wells can be profitably worked. Belts of uneven sandy land are found especially in the west and south. The dry cultivation is most precarious, for the rainfall is extremely variable. In the old district it averages 20 inches. But averages in a tract like Rohtak mean very little. The chief crops are the two millets and gram.

[Sidenote: Area, 2264 sq.m. Cultd Area, 1701 sq. m. Pop. 729,167. Land Rev. Rs. 15,98,333 = L106,556.]

Gurgaon contains six tahsils, Rewari, Gurgaon, Nuh, Firozpur, Palwal, and Ballabgarh. The southern part of the district projects into Rajputana, and in its physical and racial characteristics really belongs to that region.

Rewari is the only town of any importance. It has a large trade with Rajputana. Apart from this the interests of the district are agricultural. In Gurgaon the Jamna valley is for the most part narrow and very poor. The plain above it in the Palwal tahsil has a fertile loam soil and is irrigated by the Agra Canal. The Hindu Jats of this part of the district are good cultivators. The rest of Gurgaon consists mostly of sand and sandy loam and low bare hills. In Rewari the skill and industry of the Hindu Ahirs have produced wonderful results considering that many of the wells are salt and much of the land very sandy. The lazy and thriftless Meos of the southern part of the district are a great contrast to the Ahirs. They are Muhammadans.

About a quarter of the area is protected by irrigation from wells, the Agra Canal, and embankments or "bands," which catch and hold up the hill drainages. Owing to the depth and saltness of many of the wells the cultivation dependent on them is far from secure, and the "band" irrigation is most precarious. The large dry area is subject to extensive and complete crop failures. The average rainfall over a series of years is 24 inches, but its irregularities from year to year are extreme. The district is a poor one, and for its resources bears the heaviest assessment in the Panjab. It requires the most careful revenue management. There are brine wells at Sultanpur, but the demand for the salt extracted is now very small.



[Sidenote: Area, 3153 sq. m. Cultd area, 1744 sq. m. Pop. 799,787; 70 p.c. H. Land Rev. Rs. 12,92,620 =L86,175.]

Karnal is midway in size between Rohtak and Hissar. One-third of the cultivation is now protected by irrigation, two-fifths of the irrigation being from wells and three-fifths from the Western Jamna Canal. There are four tahsils, Thanesar, Karnal, Kaithal, and Panipat. The peasantry consists mostly of hardworking Hindu Jats, but there are also many Hindu and Muhammadan Rajput villages. The chief towns are Panipat, Karnal, and Kaithal.



The district falls broadly into two divisions, the boundary between them being the southern limit of the floods of the Sarusti in years of heavy rainfall. The marked features of the northern division is the effect which the floods of torrents of intermittent flow, the Sarusti, Markanda, Umla, and Ghagar have on agriculture. Some tracts are included like the Andarwar and the outlying villages of the Powadh[10] in Kaithal which are fortunately unaffected by inundation, and have good well irrigation. The country between the Umla and Markanda in Thanesar gets rich silt deposits and is generally fertile. The Kaithal Naili is the tract affected by the overflow of the Sarusti, Umla, and Ghagar. It is a wretched fever-stricken region where a short lived race of weakly people reap precarious harvests. The southern division is on the whole a much better country. It includes the whole of Karnal and Panipat, the south of Kaithal, and a small tract in the extreme east of the Thanesar tahsil. North of Karnal the Jamna valley or Khadir is unhealthy and has in many parts a poor soil. South of Karnal it is much better in every respect. Above the Khadir is the Bangar, a plain of good loam. North of Karnal its cultivation is protected by wells and the people are in fair circumstances. South of that town it is watered by the Western Jamna Canal. Another slight rise brings one to the Nardak of the Karnal and Kaithal tahsils. Till the excavation of the Sirsa branch of the Western Jamna Canal and of the Nardak Distributary much of the Nardak was covered with dhak jangal, and the cultivation was of the most precarious nature, for in this part of the district the rainfall is both scanty and capricious, and well cultivation is only possible in the north. The introduction of canal irrigation has effected an enormous change. Wheat and gram are the great crops.

Historically Karnal is one of the most interesting districts. The Nardak is the scene of the great struggle celebrated in the Mahabharata. The district contains the holy city of Thanesar, once the capital of a great Hindu kingdom. It has found climate a more potent instrument of ruin than the sword of Mahmud of Ghazni, who sacked it in 1014. It still on the occasion of Eclipse fairs attracts enormous crowds of pilgrims. Pihowa is another very sacred place. Naraina, a few miles to the north-west of Karnal, was the scene of two famous fights[11], and three times, in 1526, 1556, and 1761, the fate of India was decided at Panipat.

[Sidenote: Area, 1851 sq. m. Cultd area, 1174 sq. m. Pop. 689,970. Land Rev. Rs. 11,47,688 = L76,513]

Ambala is a submontane district of very irregular shape. It includes two small hill tracts, Morni and Kasauli. There is little irrigation, for in most parts the rainfall is ample. Wheat is the chief crop. The population has been declining in the past 20 years.



The only town of importance is Ambala. Jagadhri is a busy little place now connected through private enterprise by a light railway with the N. W. Railway. The district consists of two parts almost severed from one another physically and wholly different as regards people, language, and agricultural prosperity. The Rupar subdivision in the north-west beyond the Ghagar has a fertile soil, and, except in the Nali, as the tract flooded by the Ghagar is called, a vigorous Jat peasantry, whose native tongue is Panjabi. The three south-eastern tahsils, Ambala, Naraingarh, and Jagadhri, are weaker in every respect. The loam is often quite good, but interspersed with it are tracts of stubborn clay largely put under precarious rice crops. The Jats are not nearly so good as those of Rupar, and Rajputs, who are mostly Musulmans, own a large number of estates.

[Sidenote: Area, 101 sq. m. Cultd area, 15 sq. m. Pop. in Feb. 1911, 39,320. Land Rev. Rs. 17,484 = L1166.]

Simla consists of three little tracts in the hills known as Bharauli, Kotkhai, and Kotgarh, and of patches of territory forming the cantonments of Dagshai, Subathu, Solon, and Jutogh, the site of the Lawrence Military School at Sanawar, and the great hill station of Simla. Bharauli lies south-west of Simla in the direction of Kasauli. Kotkhai is in the valley of the Giri, a tributary of the Jamna. Kotgarh is on the Sutlej and borders on the Bashahr State. The Deputy Commissioner of Simla is also Superintendent or Political Officer of 28 hill states.

[Sidenote: Area, 19,934 sq. m. Cultd area, 7762 sq. m. Pop. 3,967,724. Land Rev. Rs. 61,64,172 = L410,945.]

Jalandhar Division.—More than half the area of the Jalandhar division is contributed by the huge district of Kangra, which stretches from the Plains to the lofty snowy ranges on the borders of Tibet. The other districts are Hoshyarpur in the submontane zone, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, which belong to the Central Plains, and Ferozepore, which is part of the South-Eastern Panjab. Sikhs are more numerous than in any other division, but are outnumbered by both Hindus and Muhammadans. The Commissioner has political charge of the hill states of Mandi and Suket and of Kapurthala in the Plains.

[Sidenote: Area, 9878 sq. m. Cultd area, 918 sq. m. Pop. 770,386; 94 p.c. H. Land Rev. Rs. 9,26,661 = L61,777.]

Kangra is the largest district in the Panjab. It includes three tracts of very different character:

(a) Spiti and Lahul, area exceeding 4400 square miles, forming part of Tibet;

(b) Kulu and Saraj;

(c) Kangra proper, area 2939 square miles.



Lahul, Spiti, Kulu, and Saraj form a subdivision in charge of an Assistant Commissioner. The people of Kangra are Hindus. Islam never penetrated into these hills as a religion, though the Rajput Rajas of Kangra became loyal subjects of the Moghal Emperors. In its last days Ranjit Singh called in as an ally against the Gurkhas remained as a hated ruler. The country was ceded to the British Government in 1846. The Rajas were chagrined that we did not restore to them their royal authority, but only awarded them the status of jagirdars. An outbreak, which was easily suppressed, occurred in 1848. Since then Kangra has enjoyed 65 years of peace. A Gurkha regiment is stationed at the district headquarters at Dharmsala. The cultivation ranges from the rich maize and rice fields of Kulu and Kangra to the poor buckwheat and kulath on mountain slopes. Rice is irrigated by means of kuhls, ingeniously constructed channels to lead the water of the torrents on to the fields.

Spiti and Lahul.—Spiti, or rather Piti, is a country of great rugged mountains, whose bare red and yellow rocks rise into crests of everlasting snow showing clear under a cloudless blue sky. There is no rain, but in winter the snowfall is heavy. The highest of the mountains exceeds 23,000 feet. Piti is drained by the river of the same name, which after passing through Bashahr falls I into the Sutlej at an elevation of 11,000 feet. Of the few villages several stand at a height of from 13,000 to 14,000 feet. The route to Piti from Kulu passes over the Hamtu Pass (14,200 feet) and the great Shigri glacier. The people are Buddhists. They are governed by their hereditary ruler or Nono assisted by five elders, the Assistant Commissioner exercising a general supervision. Indian laws do not apply to the sparse population of this remote canton, which has a special regulation of its own. Lahul lies to the west of Piti, from which it is separated by a lofty range. It is entered from Kulu by the Rotang Pass (13,000 feet) and the road from it to Ladakh passes over the Baralacha (16,350 feet). The whole country is under snow from December to April, but there is very little rain. The two streams, the Chandra and Bhaga, which unite to form the Chenab, flow through Lahul and the few villages are situated at a height of 10,000 feet in their elevated valleys. The people are Buddhists. In summer the population is increased by "Gaddi" shepherds from Kangra, who drive lean flocks in the beginning of June over the Rotang and take them back from the Alpine pastures in the middle of September fat and well liking.



Kulu and Saraj.—The Kulu Valley, set in a mountain frame and with the Bias, here a highland stream, running through the heart of it, is one of the fairest parts of the Panjab Himalaya. Manali, at the top of the Valley on the road to the Rotang, is a very beautiful spot. Kulu is connected with Kangra through Mandi by the Babbu and Dulchi passes. The latter is generally open the whole year round. The headquarters are at Sultanpur, but the Assistant Commissioner lives at Nagar. In Kulu the cultivation is often valuable and the people are well off. The climate is good and excellent apples and pears are grown by European settlers. Inner and outer Saraj are connected by the Jalaori Pass on the watershed of the Sutlej and Bias. Saraj is a much rougher and poorer country than Kulu. There are good deodar forests in the Kulu subdivision. In 1911 the population of Kulu, Saraj, Lahul, and Piti, numbered 124,803. The Kulu people are a simple folk in whose primitive religion local godlings of brass each with his little strip of territory take the place of the Brahmanic gods. It is a quaint sight to see their ministers carrying them on litters to the fair at Sultanpur, where they all pay their respects to a little silver god known as Raghunathji, who is in a way their suzerain.



Kangra proper is bounded on the north by the lofty wall of the Dhaula Dhar and separated from Kulu by the mountains of Bara Bangahal. It consists of the five tahsils of Kangra, Palampur, Nurpur, Dera, and Hamirpur. The first two occupy the rich and beautiful Kangra Valley. They are separated from the other three tahsils by a medley of low hills with a general trend from N.W. to S.E. They are drained by the Bias, and are much more broken and poorer than the Kangra Valley. The tea industry, once important, is now dead so far as carried on by English planters. The low hills have extensive chir pine forests. They have to be managed mainly in the interests of the local population, and are so burdened with rights that conservation is a very difficult problem. In 1911 the population of the five tahsils amounted to 645,583. The most important tribes are Brahmans, Rajputs, and hardworking Girths. The hill Brahman is usually a farmer pure and simple.



[Sidenote: Area, 2247 sq. m. Cultd area, 1128 sq. m. Pop. 918,569; 54 p.c. H. Land Rev. Rs. 14,22,527 = L494,835.]

Hoshyarpur became a British possession in 1846 after the first Sikh War. It is a typically submontane district. A line of low bare hills known as the Solasinghi Range divides it from Kangra. Further west the Katar dhar, a part of the Siwaliks, runs through the heart of the district. Between these two ranges lies the fertile Jaswan Dun corresponding to the Una tahsil. The other three tahsils, Garhshankar, Hoshyarpur, and Dasuya, are to the west of the Katar dhar. Una is drained by the Soan, a tributary of the Sutlej. The western tahsils have a light loam soil of great fertility, except where it has been overlaid by sand from the numerous chos or torrents which issue from the Siwaliks. The denudation of that range was allowed to go on for an inordinate time with disastrous results to the plains below. At last the Panjab Land Preservation (Chos) Act II of 1890 gave the Government power to deal with the evil, but it will take many years to remedy the mischief wrought by past inaction. The rainfall averages about 32 inches and the crops are secure. The population has fallen off by 93,000 in 20 years, a striking instance of the ravages of plague. The chief tribes are Jats, Rajputs, and Gujars.

[Sidenote: Area, 1431 sq. m. Cultd area, 1069 sq. m. Pop. 801,920; 45 p.c. M. 33 p.c. H. 22 p.c. S. Land Rev. Rs. 14,77,661 = L98,511.]

Jalandhar District.—Modern though the town of Jalandhar looks it was the capital of a large Hindu kingdom, which included also Hoshyarpur, Mandi, Suket, and Chamba, and in the ninth century was a rival of Kashmir (page 160). The present district is with the exception of Simla the smallest, and for its size the richest, in the province. It contains four tahsils, Nawashahr, Phillaur, Jalandhar, and Nakodar. About 45 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by 28,000 wells. Behind the long river frontage on the Sutlej is the Bet, divided by a high bank from the more fertile uplands. The soil of the latter is generally an excellent loam, but there is a good deal of sand in the west of the district. The rainfall averages about 26 inches and the climate is healthy. The well cultivation is the best in the Panjab. Between 1901 and 1911 the population declined by 13 p.c. Jats and Arains, both excellent cultivators, are the predominant tribes. British rule dates from 1846.



[Sidenote: Area, 1452 sq. m. Cultd area, 1143 sq. m. Pop. 517,192; 40 p.c. S. 35 p.c. M 25 p.c. H. Land Rev. Rs. 11,57,399 = L77,160.]

Ludhiana on the opposite bank of the Sutlej is also a very small district. It consists of a river Bet and Uplands with generally speaking a good loam soil. But there are very sandy outlying estates in the Jangal Des surrounded by Patiala and Jind villages. There are three tahsils, Samrala, Ludhiana, and Jagraon. Of the cultivated area 26 p.c. is irrigated, from wells (19) and from the Sirhind Canal (7). Wheat and gram are the principal crops. Between 1901 and 1911 the population fell from 673,097 to 517,192, the chief cause of decline being plague.

Sturdy hard-working Jats are the backbone of the peasantry. They furnish many recruits to the Army. Ludhiana is a thriving town and an important station on the N.W. Railway. Our connection with Ludhiana began in 1809, and the district assumed practically its present shape in 1846 after the first Sikh War.



[Sidenote: Area, 4286 sq. m. Cultd area, 3504 sq. m. Pop. 959,657; 44 p.c. M. 29 p.c. H. 27 p.c. S. Land Rev. Rs. 11,79,924 = L78,661.]

Ferozepore is a very large district. The Faridkot State nearly cuts it in two. The northern division includes the tahsils of Ferozepore, Zira, and Moga, the last with an outlying tract known as Mahraj, which forms an island surrounded by the territory of several native states. The southern division contains the tahsils of Muktsar and Fazilka. Our connection with Ferozepore began in 1809, and, when the widow of the last Sikh chief of Ferozepore died in 1835, we assumed direct responsibility for the administration of a considerable part of the district. Two of the great battles of the first Sikh War, Mudki and Ferozeshah or more properly Pherushahr, were fought within its borders. Mamdot with an area of about 400 square miles ceased to be independent in 1855, but the descendant of the last ruler still holds it in jagir. Fazilka was added in 1864 when the Sirsa district was broken up. Of the cultivated area 47-1/2 p.c. is irrigated by the Sirhind Canal, the Grey Inundation Canals, and wells. For the most part the district is divided into three tracts, the riverain, Hithar or Bet, with a poor clay soil and a weak population, the Utar, representing river deposits of an older date when the Sutlej ran far west of its present bed, and the Rohi, an upland plain of good sandy loam, now largely irrigated by the Sirhind Canal. The Grey Canals furnish a far less satisfactory source of irrigation to villages in the Bet and Utar. In different parts of this huge district the rainfall varies from 10 to 22 inches. The chief crops are gram and wheat. The Jats are the chief tribe. In the Uplands they are a fine sturdy race, but unfortunately they are addicted to strong drink, and violent crime is rife. Ferozepore has a large cantonment and arsenal and a big trade in grain. It is an important railway junction.



[Sidenote: Area, 12,387 sq. m. Cultd area, 7924 sq. m. Pop 4,656,629; 57 p.c. M. 24 p.c. H. 16 p.c. S. Land Rev. Rs. 70,53,856 = L470,257.]

Lahore Division.—Lahore is the smallest division, but the first in population. Its political importance is great as the home of the Sikhs of the Manjha, and because the capital of the province and the sacred city of the Khalsa are both within its limits. It contains the five districts of Gurdaspur, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Lahore, and Amritsar. The Commissioner is in political charge of the Chamba State.

[Sidenote: Area, 1809 sq. m. Cultd area, 1281 sq. m. Pop. 836,771; 49 p.c. M. 34 p.c. H. 14-1/2 p.c. S. Land Rev. Rs. 17,68,412 = L117,894.]

Gurdaspur is a submontane district with a good rainfall and a large amount of irrigation. The crops are secure except in part of the Shakargarh tahsil. 27 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated, 16 by wells and 11 by the Upper Bari Doab Canal. Irrigation is only allowed from the Canal for the Autumn harvest. The chief crop is wheat and the area under cane is unusually large. Of late years plague has been very fatal and the population fell from 940,334 in 1901 to 836,771 in 1911. Jats, Rajputs, Arains, Gujars, and Brahmans, are the chief agricultural tribes, the first being by far the most important element. There are four tahsils, Batala, Gurdaspur, and Pathankot in the Bari Doab, and Shakargarh to the west of the Ravi. Batala is one of the most fertile and prosperous tracts in the Panjab and Gurdaspur is also thriving. Pathankot is damp, fever stricken, and unprosperous. It lies mostly in the plains but contains a considerable area in the low hills and higher up two enclaves, Bakloh and Dalhousie, surrounded by Chamba villages. Shakargarh is much more healthy, and is better off than Pathankot. There is good duck and snipe shooting to be got in some parts of the district, as the drainage from the hills collects in swamps and jhils.



Area, 1991 sq. m. Cultd area, 1427 sq. m. Pop. 979,553; 62 p.c. M. 25 p.c. H. 8 p.c. S. Land Rev. Rs. 14,79,390 = L98,626.

Sialkot is another secure and fully cultivated submontane district. It lies wholly in the Rechna Doab and includes a small well-watered hilly tract, Bajwat, on the borders of Jammu. The Ravi divides Sialkot from Amritsar an the Chenab separates it from Gujrat. The Degh and some smaller torrents run through the district. In the south there is much hard sour clay, part hitherto unculturable. But irrigation from the Upper Chenab Canal will give a new value to it. There are five tahsils, Zafarwal, Sialkot, Daska, Pasrur, and Raya. The chief crop is wheat which is largely grown on the wells, numbering 22,000. The pressure of the population on the soil was considerable, but since 1891 the total has fallen from 1,119,847 to 979,553 as the result of plague and emigration to the new canal colonies. Christianity has obtained a considerable number of converts in Sialkot. The Jats form the backbone of the peasantry. Rajputs and Arains are also important tribes, but together they are not half as numerous as the Jats.



[Sidenote: Area, 4802 sq. m. Cultd area, 2166 sq. m. Pop. 923,419. Land Rev. Rs. 15,43,440 = L102,896.]

Gujranwala is a very large district in the Rechna Doab, with five tahsils, Wazirabad, Gujranwala, Sharakpur, Hafizabad, and Khangah Dogran. The rainfall varies from 20 inches on the Sialkot border to ten or eleven in the extreme south-west corner of the district. Gujranwala is naturally divided into three tracts: the Riverain of the Ravi and Chenab, the Bangar or well tract, and the Bar once very partially cultivated, but now commanded by the Lower and Upper Chenab Canals. Enormous development has taken place in the Hafizabad and Khangah Dogran tahsils in the 20 years since the Lower Chenab Canal was opened. Of late years the rest of the district has suffered from plague and emigration, and has not prospered. But a great change will be effected by irrigation from the Upper Chenab Canal, which is just beginning. In the east of the district much sour clay will become culturable land, and the Bar will be transformed as in the two tahsils watered by the older canal. Of the cultivated area 73-1/2 p.c. is irrigated, 36-1/2 from wells and 37 from canals. The chief crops are wheat and gram. There is, as is usual in the Western Panjab, a great preponderance of Spring crops. The Jats are far and away the strongest element in the population.

[Sidenote: Area, 1601 sq. m. Cultd area, 1184 sq. m. Pop. 880,728; 46 p.c. M. 29 p.c. S. 24 p.c. H. Land Rev. Rs. 12,70,799 = L84,720.]

Amritsar is a small district lying in the Bari Doab between Gurdaspur and Lahore. 62 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated, half from 12,000 wells and half from the Upper Bari Doab Canal. Unfortunately much waterlogging exists, due to excessive use of canal water and defective drainage. Measures are now being taken to deal with this great evil, which has made the town of Amritsar and other parts of the district liable to serious outbreaks of fever. There are two small riverain tracts on the Bias and Ravi and a poor piece of country in Ajnala flooded by the Sakki. The main part of the district is a monotonous plain of fertile loam. The two western tahsils, Amritsar and Tarn Taran, are prosperous, Ajnala is depressed. The rainfall is moderate averaging 21 or 22 inches, and the large amount of irrigation makes the harvests secure. The chief crops are wheat and gram.



The Sikh Jats of the Manjha to the south of the Grand Trunk Road form by far the most important element in the population. Between 1901 and 1911 there was a falling off from 1,023,828 to 880,728. Besides its religious importance the town of Amritsar is a great trade centre.



[Sidenote: Area, 2824 sq. m. Cultd area, 1866 sq. m. Pop. 1,036,158. Land Rev. Rs. 991,815 = L66,121.]

Lahore lies in the Bari Doab to the south-west of Amritsar. It is a much larger district, though, like Amritsar, it has only three tahsils, Lahore, Kasur, and Chunian. 76 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated, 23 from wells and 53 from canals. There has been an enormous extension of irrigation from the Upper Bari Doab Canal in the past 30 years. Accordingly, though the rainfall is somewhat scanty, the crops are generally secure. The principal are wheat and gram. The district consists of the Riverain on the Bias and Ravi, the latter extending to both sides of the river, and the plain of the Manjha, largely held by strong and energetic Sikh Jats. In the Ravi valley industrious Arains predominate. Railway communications are excellent. Trade activity is not confined to the city of Lahore. Kasur, Chunian, and Raiwind are important local centres.

[Sidenote: Area, 21,361 sq. m. Cultd area, 8099 sq.m. Pop. 3,353,052; 87 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 50,43,587 = L336,239.]

The Rawalpindi Division occupies the N.W. of the Panjab. It is in area the second largest division, but in population the smallest. Five-sixths of the people profess the faith of Islam. It includes six districts, Gujrat, Jhelam, Rawalpindi, Attock, Mianwali, and Shahpur. This is the division from which the Panjab Musalmans, who form so valuable an element in our army, are drawn.



[Sidenote: Area, 2357 sq. m. Cultd area, 1369 sq. m. Pop. 784,011. Land Rev. Ra. 887,220 = L59,148.]

Gujrat lies in the Jech Doab. The two northern tahsils, Gujrat and Kharian, have many of the features of a submontane tract. In the former the Pabbi, a small range of low bare hills, runs parallel to the Jhelam, and the outliers of the Himalaya in Kashmir are not far from the northern border of the district. The uplands of these two tahsils slope pretty rapidly from N.E. to S.W., and contain much light soil. They are traversed by sandy torrents, dry in winter, but sometimes very destructive in the rains. Phalia on the other hand is a typical plain's tahsil. It has on the Chenab a wide riverain, which also separates the uplands of the Gujrat tahsil from that river. The Jhelam valley is much narrower. Above the present Chenab alluvial tract there is in Phalia a well tract known as the Hithar whose soil consists of older river deposits, and at a higher level a Bar, which will now receive irrigation from the Upper Jhelam Canal and become a rich agricultural tract. 26 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated from wells. Jats and Gujars are the great agricultural tribes, the former predominating. The climate is mild and the rainfall sufficient. The chief crops are wheat and bajra.

[Sidenote: Area, 2813 sq. m. Cultd area, 1162 sq. m. Pop. 511,575; 88 p.c. M. Land Rev. Ra. 752,758 = L50,183.]

The Jhelam district lies to the north of the river of the same name. The district is divided into three tahsils, Jhelam, Chakwal, Pind Dadan Khan. The river frontage is long, extending for about 80 miles, and the river valley is about eight miles wide. The district contains part of the Salt Range, from the eastern end of which the Nili and Tilla spurs strike northwards, enclosing very broken ravine country called the Khuddar. The Pabbi tract, embracing the Chakwal tahsil and the north of the Jhelam tahsil, is much less broken, though it too is scored by deep ravines and traversed by torrents, mostly flowing north-west into the Sohan river. Two large torrents, the Kaha and the Bunhar, drain into the Jhelam. There are some fertile valleys enclosed in the bare hills of the Salt Range. The average rainfall is about 20 inches and the climate is good. It is hot in summer, but the cold weather is long, and sometimes for short periods severe. There is little irrigation and the harvests are by no means secure. The chief crops are wheat and bajra. The country breeds fine horses, fine cattle, and fine men. Numerically Jats, Rajputs, and Awans are the principal tribes, but the Janjuas and Gakkhars, though fewer in number, are an interesting element in the population, having great traditions behind them. Awans, Janjuas, and Gakkhars supply valuable recruits to the army. Most of the villages are far from any railway.



[Sidenote: Area, 2010 sq. m. Cultd area, 937 sq. m. Pop. 547,827; 83 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 674,650 = L44,977.]



Rawalpindi is the smallest district in the division. Along the whole eastern border the Jhelam, which runs in a deep gorge, divides it from Kashmir. There are four tahsils, Murree, Kahuta, Rawalpindi, and Gujar Khan. The first is a small wedge of mountainous country between Kashmir and Hazara. The hills are continued southwards at a lower level in the Kahuta tahsil parallel with the Jhelam. The greater part of the district consists of a high plateau of good light loam, in parts much eaten into by ravines. Where, as often happens, it is not flat the fields have to be carefully banked up. The plateau is drained by the Sohan and the Kanshi. The latter starting in the south of Kahuta runs through the south-east of the Gujar Khan tahsil, and for some miles forms the boundary of the Rawalpindi and Jhelam districts. The district is very fully cultivated except in the hills. In the plains the rainfall is sufficient and the soil very cool and clean, except in the extreme west, where it is sometimes gritty, and, while requiring more, gets less, rain. The chief crops are wheat, the Kharif pulses and bajra. The climate is good. The cold weather is long, and, except in January and February, when the winds from the snows are very trying, it is pleasant. In the plains the chief tribes are Rajputs and Awans. Gakkhars are of some importance in Kahuta. In the Murree the leading tribes are the Dhunds and the Sattis, the latter a fine race, keen on military service.



Rawalpindi is the largest cantonment in Northern India. From it the favourite hill station of Murree is easily reached, and soon after leaving Murree the traveller crosses the Jhelam by the Kohala bridge and enters the territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir.

[Sidenote: Area, 4025 sq. m. Cultd area, 1678 sq. m. Pop. 519,273; 91 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 672,851 =L44,857.]



Attock district.—Though Attock is twice the size of Rawalpindi it has a smaller population. Nature has decreed that it should be sparsely peopled. The district stretches from the Salt Range on the south to the Hazara border on the north. It contains itself the fine Kalachitta range in the north, the small and barren Khairi Murat range in the centre, and a line of bare hills running parallel with the Indus in the west. That river forms the western boundary for 120 miles, dividing Attock from Peshawar and Kohat. It receives in the Attock district two tributaries, the Haro and the Soan. There are four tahsils, Attock, Fatehjang, Pindigheb, and Talagang. The northern tahsil of Attock is most favoured by nature. It contains the Chach plain, part of which has a rich soil and valuable well irrigation, also on the Hazara border a small group of estates watered by cuts from the Haro. The south of the tahsil is partly sandy and partly has a dry gritty or stony soil. Here the crops are very insecure. The rest of the district is a plateau. The northern part consists of the tahsils of Fatehjang and Pindigheb drained by the Soan and its tributary the Sil. The southern is occupied by tahsil Talagang, a rough plateau with deep ravines and torrents draining northwards into the Soan. In the valleys of the Sil and Soan some good crops are raised. The soil of the plateau is very shallow, and the rainfall being scanty the harvest is often dried up. The chief crops are wheat and bajra. Awans form the bulk of the agricultural population.

[Sidenote: Area, 5395 sq. m. Cultd area, 1020 sq. m. Pop. 341,377; 88 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 359,836 = L23,989.]

Mianwali is one of the largest districts, but has the smallest population of any except Simla. The Indus has a course of about 180 miles in Mianwali. In the north it forms the boundary between the Mianwali tahsil and the small Isakhel tahsil on the right bank. In the south it divides the huge Bhakkar tahsil, which is bigger than an average district, from the Dera Ismail Khan district of the N.W.F. Province. It is joined from the west by the Kurram, which has a short course in the south of the Isakhel tahsil. The Salt Range extends into the district, throwing off from its western extremity a spur which runs north to the Indus opposite Kalabagh. Four tracts may be distinguished, two large and two small. North and east of the Salt Range is the Khuddar or ravine country, a little bit of the Awankari or Awan's land, which occupies a large space in Attock. West of the Indus in the north the wild and desolate Bhangi-Khel glen with its very scanty and scattered cultivation runs north to the Kohat Hills. The rest of the district consists of the wide and flat valley of the Indus and the Thal or Uplands. In the north the latter includes an area of strong thirsty loam, but south of the railway it is a huge expanse of sand rising frequently into hillocks and ridges with some fertile bottoms of better soil. Except in the north the Thal people used to make their living almost entirely as shepherds and camel owners. There were scattered little plots of better soil where wells were sunk, and the laborious and careful cultivation was and is Dutch in its neatness. Some millets were grown in the autumn and the sandhills yielded melons. The people have now learned that it is worth while to gamble with a spring crop of gram, and this has led to an enormous extension of the cultivated area. But even now in Mianwali this is a comparatively small fraction of the total area. There is a small amount of irrigation from wells and in the neighbourhood of Isakhel from canal cuts from the Kurram. Owing to the extreme scantiness of the rainfall the riverain depends almost entirely on the Indus floods, to assist the spread of which a number of embankments are maintained. Everywhere in Mianwali the areas both of crops sown and of crops that ripen fluctuate enormously, and much of the revenue has accordingly been put on a fluctuating basis. The chief crops are wheat, bajra, and gram. Jats[12] are in a great majority Cis-Indus, but Pathans are important in Isakhel.



[Sidenote: Area, 4791 sq. m. Cultd area, 1933 sq. m. Pop. 648,989. Land Rev. Rs. 16,96,272 = L113,085.]

Shahpur is also a very large district with the three tahsils of Bhera, Shahpur, and Sargodha in the Jech Doab, and on the west of the Jhelam the huge Khushab tahsil, which in size exceeds the other three put together. The principal tribes are Jats Cis-Jhelam, Awans in the Salt Range, and Jats and Tiwanas in Khushab. The Tiwana Maliks have large estates on both sides of the river and much local influence. East of the Jhelam the colonization of the Bar after the opening of the Lower Jhelam Canal has led to a great increase of population and a vast extension of the cultivated area, 71 p.c. of which is irrigated. The part of the district in the Jech Doab consists of the river valleys of the Chenab and Jhelam, the Utar, and the Bar. The Chenab riverain is poor, the Jhelam very fertile with good well irrigation. In the north of the district the Utar, a tract of older alluvium, lies between the present valley of the Jhelam and the Bar. It has hitherto been largely irrigated by public and private inundation canals, but this form of irrigation may be superseded by the excavation of a new distributary from the Lower Jhelam Canal. Till the opening of that canal the Bar was a vast grazing area with a little cultivation on scattered wells and in natural hollows. North of the Kirana Hill the soil is excellent and the country is now a sheet of cultivation. In the south of the Bar much of the land is too poor to be worth tillage. The Khushab tahsil consists of the Jhelam riverain, the Salt Range with some fertile valleys hidden amid barren hills, the Mohar below the hills with a thirsty soil dependent on extremely precarious torrent floods, and the Thal, similar to that described on page 260. The rainfall of the district is scanty averaging eleven or twelve inches. The chief crops are wheat, bajra and jowar, chari and cotton.



[Sidenote: Area, 28,652 sq. m. Cultd area, 9160 sq. m. Pop. 3,772,728; 78 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 81,48,103 = L542,872.]

The Multan division consists of the six districts of the S.W. Panjab, Montgomery, Lyallpur, Jhang, Multan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan. Muhammadans are in an overwhelming majority. Wheat and cotton are the chief crops.

[Sidenote: Area, 4649 sq. m. Cultd area, 1080 sq. m. Pop. 535,299; 75 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 434,563 = L28,971.]

The Montgomery district takes its name from Sir Robert Montgomery (page 192). It lies in the Bari Doab between the Sutlej and the Ravi. It consists of the two Ravi tahsils of Gugera and Montgomery, and the two Sutlej tahsils of Dipalpur and Pakpattan. The trans-Ravi area of the Montgomery district was transferred to Lyallpur in April, 1913. It is included in the figures for area and population given in the margin.

The backbone of the district is a high and dry tract known as the Ganji or Bald Bar. The advent of the Lower Bari Doab Canal will entirely change the character of this desert. Its south-eastern boundary is a high bank marking the course of the old bed of the Bias. Below this is the wide Sutlej valley. The part beyond the influence of river floods depends largely on the Khanwah and Sohag Para inundation Canals. The Ravi valley to the north-west of the Bar is naturally fertile and has good well irrigation. But it has suffered much by the failure of the Ravi floods.



The peasantry belongs largely to various tribes described vaguely as Jats. The most important are Kathias, Wattus, and Kharrals. The last gave trouble in 1857 and were severely punished. The Dipalpur Kambohs are much more hard-working than these semi-pastoral Jats. There is already a small canal colony on the Sohag Para Canals and arrangements for the colonization of the Ganji Bar are now in progress.

[Sidenote: Area, 3156 sq. m. Cultd area, 2224 sq. m. Pop. 857,711; 61 p.c. M. 18 p.c. H. 17 p.c. S. 4 p.c. Ch.[13] Land Rev. Rs. 37,55,139 = L237,009.]

The Lyallpur district occupies most of the Sandal Bar, which a quarter of a century ago was a desert producing scrub jungle and, if rains were favourable, excellent grass. It was the home of a few nomad graziers. The area of the district, which was formed in 1904 and added to from time to time, has been taken out of the Crown Waste of the Jhang and Montgomery districts on its colonization after the opening of the Lower Chenab Canal. Some old villages near the present borders of these two districts have been included. The colonization of the Sandal Bar has been noticed on pages 139-140. The figures for area and population given in the margin are for the district as it was before the addition of the trans-Ravi area of Montgomery.



Lyallpur is divided into the four tahsils of Lyallpur, Jaranwala, Samundri, and Toba Tek Singh. It consists almost entirely of a flat plain of fertile loam with fringes of poor land on the eastern, western, and southern edges. The cultivated area is practically all canal irrigated. The rainfall of 10 inches does not encourage dry cultivation. The chief crops are wheat, the oil seed called toria, cotton, and gram. The area of the first much exceeds that of the other three put together. There is an enormous export of wheat and oil seeds to Karachi.



[Sidenote: Area, 3363 sq. m. Cultd area, 1214 sq. m. Pop. 515,526; 82 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 11,67,965 = L77,864.]

Jhang now consists of a wedge of country lying between Lyallpur on the east and Shahpur, Mianwali, and Muzaffargarh on the west. It contains the valleys of the Chenab and Jhelam rivers, which unite to the south-west of the district headquarters and flow as a single stream to the southern boundary. The valley of the Jhelam is pretty and fertile, that of the Chenab exactly the reverse. In the west of the district part of the Thal is included in the boundary. The high land between the river valleys is much of it poor. Irrigation from the Lower Jhelam Canal is now available. There is a fringe of high land on the east of the Chenab valley, partly commanded by the Lower Chenab Canal. Jhang is divided into the three large tahsils of Jhang, Chiniot, and Shorkot. The rainfall is about ten inches and the summer long and very hot. The chief crops are wheat, jowar, and chari. The Sials are few in number, but are the tribe that stands highest in rank as representing the former rulers.



[Sidenote: Area, 6107 sq. m. Cultd area, 1756 sq. m. Pop. 814,871; 82 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 13,74,472 = L91,631.]

Multan occupies the south of the Bari Doab. The Ravi flows from east to west across the north of the district and falls into the Chenab within its boundary. The Sutlej meets the combined stream of the Jhelam, Chenab, and Ravi at the south-west corner of the district.

A part of the Kabirwala tahsil lies beyond the Ravi. The other four tahsils are Multan, Shujabad, Lodhran, and Mailsi. In a very hot district with an average rainfall of six inches cultivation must depend on irrigation or river floods. The present sources of irrigation are inundation canals from the Chenab and Sutlej supplemented by well irrigation, and the Sidhnai Canal from the Ravi. The district consists of the river valleys, older alluvial tracts slightly higher than these valleys, but which can be reached by inundation canals[14], and the high central Bar, which is a continuation of the Ganji Bar in Montgomery. Part of this will be served by the new Lower Bari Doab Canal. The population consists mainly of miscellaneous tribes grouped together under the name of Jats, the ethnological significance of which in the Western Panjab is very slight. They are Muhammadans. The district is well served by railways.

[Sidenote: Area, 6052 sq. m. Cultd area, 1163 sq. m. Pop. 569,461; 87 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 873,491 = L58,233.]

Muzaffargarh is with the exception of Kangra the biggest Panjab district. It forms a large triangle with its apex in the south at the junction of the Indus and Panjnad. On the west the Indus forms the boundary for 180 miles. On the east Muzaffargarh has a river boundary with Bahawalpur and Multan, but, where it marches with Jhang, is separated from it by the area which that district possesses in the Sind Sagar Doab. There are four tahsils, Leia, Sinanwan, Muzaffargarh, and Alipur, the first being equal in area to a moderately sized district. The greater part of Leia and Sinanwan is occupied by the Thal. The southern tongue of the Thal extends into the Muzaffargarh tahsil. The rest of that district is a heavily inundated or irrigated tract, the part above flood level being easily reached by inundation canals. Dry cultivation is impossible with a yearly rainfall of about six inches. The chief crop is wheat. In the south of the district the people live in frail grass huts, and when the floods are out transfer themselves and their scanty belongings to wooden platforms.



[Sidenote: Area, 5325 sq. m. Cultd area, 1723 sq. m. Pop. 499,860; 88 p.c. M. Land Rev. Rs. 542,473 = L36,165.]

Dera Ghazi Khan district.—When the N. W. Frontier Province was separated from the Panjab, the older province retained all the trans-Indus country in which Biluches were the predominant tribe. The Panjab therefore kept Dera Ghazi Khan. It has a river frontage on the Indus about 230 miles in length and on the west is bounded by the Suliman Range, part of which is included within the district. The Deputy Commissioner of Dera Ghazi Khan and the Commissioner of Multan spend part of the hot weather at Fort Munro. The wide Indus valley is known as the Sindh. The tract between it and the Hills is the Pachadh. It is seamed by hill torrents, three of which, the Vehoa, the Sangarh, and the Kaha, have a thread of water even in the cold season. The heat in summer is extreme, and the luh, a moving current of hot air, claims its human victims from time to time. The cultivation in the Sindh depends on the river floods and inundation canals, helped by wells. In the Pachadh dams are built to divert the water of the torrents into embanked fields. The cultivated area is recorded as 1723 square miles, but this is enormously in excess of the cropped areas, for a very large part of the embanked area is often unsown. The encroachments of the Indus have enforced the transfer of the district headquarters from Dera Ghazi Khan to a new town at Choratta. Biluches are the dominant tribe both in numbers and political importance. They with few exceptions belong to one or other of the eight organized clans or tumans, Kasranis, Sori Lunds, Khosas, Lagharis, Tibbi Lunds, Gurchanis, Drishaks, and Mazaris. The most important clans are Mazaris, Lagharis, and Gurchanis. Care has been taken to uphold the authority of the chiefs. The Deputy Commissioner is political officer for such of the independent Biluch tribes across the administrative frontier as are not included in the Biluchistan Agency. Regular troops have all been removed from the district. The peace of the borderland is maintained by a tribal militia under the command of a British officer.



FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 8: Some estates lying to the east of the Jamna and belonging to the United Provinces have recently been added to the enclave.]

[Footnote 9: H. = Hindu, M. = Muhammadan, S. = Sikh.]

[Footnote 10: Not shown in map.]

[Footnote 11: See page 169.]

[Footnote 12: This leading tribe in the Panjab is known as Jat in the Hindi-speaking Eastern districts and as Jat elsewhere.]

[Footnote 13: Ch.=Christian.]

[Footnote 14: There is a project for improving the water-supply of inundation canals in the west of the district by building a weir across the Chenab below its junction with the Jhelam.]



CHAPTER XXVI

THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES

1. The Phulkian States

[Sidenote: Area, 7599 sq. m. Pop. 1,928,724. Rev. Rs. 118,00,000 = L786,666.]

Phulkian States.—The three Phulkian States of Patiala, Jind, and Nabha form a political agency under the Panjab Government. They occupy, with Bahawalpur and Hissar, the bulk of that great wedge of light loam and sand which Rajputana, physically considered, pushes northwards almost to the Sutlej. In the Phulkian States this consists of two tracts, the Powadh and the Jangal Des. The former, which occupies the north and north-east of their territory, possesses a light fertile loam soil and a very moderate natural water level, so that well irrigation is easy. The Jangal Des is a great tract of sandy loam and sand in the south-west. Water lies too deep for the profitable working of wells, but the harvests are far less insecure than one would suppose looking to the scantiness of the rainfall. The soil is wonderfully cool and drought-resisting. The dry cultivation consists of millets in the Autumn, and of gram and mixed crops of wheat or barley and gram in the Spring, harvest. The three states have rather more than a one-third share in the Sirhind Canal, their shares inter se being Patiala 83.6, Nabha 8.8, and Jind 7.6. Portions of the Powadh and Jangal Des are irrigated. In the case of the Powadh there has been in some places over irrigation considering how near the surface the water table is. The Nirwana tahsil in Patiala and the part of Jind which lies between Karnal and Rohtak is a bit of the Bangar tract of the south-eastern Panjab, with a strong loam soil and a naturally deep water level. The former receives irrigation from the Sirsa, and the latter from the Hansi, branch of the Western Jamna Canal. The outlying tracts to the south of Rohtak and Gurgaon, acquired after the Mutiny, are part of the dry sandy Rajputana desert, in which the Kharif is the chief harvest, and the millets and gram the principal crops. In addition Patiala has an area of 294 square miles of territory immediately below and in the Simla Hills. The territory of the Phulkian States is scattered and intermixed, and they have islands in British districts and vice versa, a natural result of their historic origin and development.



Phul was the sixth in descent from Baryam, a Sidhu Jat, to whom Babar gave the Chaudhrayat of the wild territory to the south-west of Delhi, making him in effect a Lord of the Marches.

Tree showing relationship of the three Houses.

Phul - -+ Tiloka Rama + Gurditta Sukhchen Raja Ala Singh of Patiala Suratya Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind Raja Hamir Singh of Nabha

The century and more which elapsed between the grant and Phul's death in 1652 were filled with continual fighting with the Bhattis. Phul's second son Rama obtained from the Governor of Sirhind the Chaudhrayat of the Jangal Des. When Ahmad Shah defeated the Sikhs near Barnala in 1762, Rama's son, Ala Singh, was one of his prisoners. He was a chief of such importance that his conqueror gave him the title of Raja and the right to coin money. But Ala Singh found it prudent to join next year in the capture of Sirhind. From the division of territory which followed the separate existence of the Phulkian States begins. The manner in which they came in 1809 under British protection has already been related. The Raja of Patiala was our ally in the Gurkha War in 1814, and received the Pinjaur tahsil. The active loyalty displayed in 1857 was suitably rewarded by accessions of territory. The right of adoption was conferred, and special arrangements made to prevent lapse, if nevertheless the line in any state failed.

[Sidenote: Area, 5412 sq. m. Cultd area, 4515 sq. m. Pop. 1,407,659; 40 p.c. H. 38 p.c. S. 22 p.c. M. Rev. Rs. 82,00,000 =L546,666.]

Patiala occupies five-sevenths of the Phulkian inheritance The predominant agricultural tribe is the Jats, over three-fourths of whom are Sikhs. The cultivated area is four-fifths of the total area. Over one-fourth of the former is irrigated, 27 p.c. from wells, and the rest from the two canals. In an area extending with breaks from Simla to the Rajputana desert the variations of agriculture are of course extreme. The state is excellently served by railways.

Nizamats.—There are five nizamats or districts, Pinjaur, Amargarh, Karmgarh, Anahadgarh, and Mohindargarh. Their united area is equivalent to that of two ordinary British districts. The Pinjaur nizamat with headquarters at Rajpura covers only 825 square miles. Of its four tahsils Pinjaur contains the submontane and hill tract, part of the latter being quite close to Simla. The other three tahsils Rajpura, Bannur, and Ghanaur are in the Powadh. The Amargarh nizamat with an area of 855 square miles comprises the three tahsils of Fatehgarh, Sahibgarh, and Amargarh. The first two are rich and fertile well tracts. Amargarh is in the Jangal Des to the south-west of Sahibgarh. It receives irrigation from the Kotla branch of the Sirhind Canal. The Karmgarh nizamat with an area of 1835 square miles contains the four tahsils of Patiala, Bhawanigarh, Sunam, and Nirwana. The headquarters are at Bhawanigarh. The first three are partly in the Powadh, and partly in the Jangal Des. Nirwana is in the Bangar. There is much irrigation from the Sirhind and Western Jamna Canals. The Anahadgarh nizamat lies wholly in the Jangal Des. It has an area of 1836 square miles, and is divided into three tahsils, Anahadgarh, Bhikhi, and Govindgarh. The headquarters are at Barnala or Anahadgarh. The Mohindarpur nizamat lies far away to the south on the borders of Jaipur and Alwar (see map on page 226). Its area is only 576 miles and it has two tahsils, Mohindargarh or Kanaud and Narnaul. Kanaud is the headquarters.

The history down to 1763 has already been related. Raja Ala Singh died in 1765 and was succeeded by his grandson Amar Singh (1765-1781), who was occupied in continual warfare with his brother and his neighbours, as became a Sikh chieftain of those days. His son, Sahib Singh (1781-1813), came under British protection in 1809. Karm Singh (1813-1845), his successor, was our ally in the Gurkha War. Maharaja Narindar Singh, K.C.S.I. (1845-1862), was a wise and brave man, who gave manful and most important help in 1857. His son, Maharaja Mohindar Singh (1862-1876), succeeded at the age of ten and died 14 years later. His eldest son, Maharaja Rajindar Singh (1876-1900), was only four when he succeeded and died at the age of 28. Another long minority, that of the present Maharaja Bhupindar Singh, only came to an end a few years ago. In the last fifty years Patiala has in consequence of three minorities been governed, and as a rule successfully governed, for long periods by Councils of Regency. The State in 1879 sent a contingent of 1100 men to the Afghan War. It maintains an Imperial Service Force consisting of two fine regiments of infantry and one of cavalry. Maharaja Rajindar Singh went with one of these regiments to the Tirah Expedition.

[Sidenote: Area, 1259 sq. m. Cultd area, 1172 sq. m. Pop. 248,887; 78 p.c. H. and J.[15] 14 p.c. M. 8 p.c. S. Rev. Rs. 19,00,000 = L126,666.]

Jind.—A third of the population of Jind consists of Hindu and Sikh Jats. There are two nizamats, Sangrur and Jind, the latter divided into the tahsils of Jind and Dadri (map on page 226). The Sangrur villages are interspersed among those of the other Phulkian States, and form a part of the Jangal Des. Jind is in the Bangar, and Dadri, separated from Jind by the Rohtak district, is partly in Hariana and partly in the sandy Rajputana desert. The rainfall varies from 17 inches at Sangrur to ten inches at Dadri. Sangrur is irrigated by the Sirhind, and Jind by the Western Jamna, Canal. Dadri is a dry sandy tract, in which the Autumn millets are the chief crop. The revenue in 1911-12 was 19 lakhs (L126,700). For imperial service Jind keeps up a fine battalion of infantry 600 strong. The real founder of the state was Gajpat Singh, who was a chief of great vigour. He conquered Jind and in 1774 deprived his relative, the chief of Nabha, of Sangrur. He died in 1789. His successor, Raja Bhag Singh, was a good ally of the British Government. He died after a long and successful career in 1819. His son, Fateh Singh, only survived him by three years. Sangat Singh succeeded to troublous times and died childless in 1834. His second cousin, Raja Sarup Singh, was only allowed to inherit the territory acquired by Gajpat Singh, from whom he derived his claim. But the gallant and valuable services rendered by Raja Sarup Singh in 1857 enabled him to enlarge his State by the grant of the Dadri territory and of thirteen villages near Sangrur. He died in 1864. His son Raghubir Singh (1864-1887) was a vigorous and successful ruler. He gave loyal help in the Kuka outbreak and in the Second Afghan War. His grandson, the present Maharaja Ranbir Singh, K.C.S.I., was only eight when he succeeded, and Jind was managed by a Council of Regency for a number of years. Full powers were given to the chief in 1899.



[Sidenote: Area, 928 sq. m. Cultd area, 806 sq. m. Pop. 248,887; 51 p.c. H. and J. 31 p.c. S. 18 p.c. M. Rev. Rs. 17,00,000 = L113,300.]

Nabha consists of twelve patches of territory in the north scattered among the possessions of Patiala, Jind, and Faridkot, and two other patches in the extreme south on the border of Gurgaon. The northern section of the state is divided into the eastern nizamat of Amloh in the Powadh and the western nizamat of Phul in the Jangal Des. Both now receive irrigation from the Sirhind Canal. The Bawal nizamat is part of the arid Rajputana desert. Jats, who are mostly Sikhs, constitute 30 p.c. of the population.

The State is well served by railways, Nabha itself being on the Rajpura-Bhatinda line. The Maharaja maintains a battalion of infantry for imperial service. Hamir Singh, one of the chiefs who joined in the capture of Sirhind, may be considered the first Raja. He died in 1783 and was succeeded by his young son, Jaswant Singh. When he grew to manhood Jaswant Singh proved a very capable chief and succeeded in aggrandising his State, which he ruled for 57 years. His son, Deoindar Singh (1840—47), was deposed, as he was considered to have failed to support the British Government when the Khalsa army crossed the Sutlej in 1845. A fourth of the Nabha territory was confiscated. Bharpur Singh, who became chief in 1857, did excellent service at that critical time, and the Bawal nizamat was his reward. He was succeeded by his brother, Bhagwan Singh, in 1863. With Bhagwan Singh the line died out in 1871, but under the provisions of the sanad granted after the Mutiny a successor was selected from among the Badrukhan chiefs in the person of the late Maharaja Sir Hira Singh. No choice could have been more happy. Hira Singh for 40 years ruled his State on old fashioned lines with much success. Those who had the privilege of his friendship will not soon forget the alert figure wasted latterly by disease, the gallant bearing, or the obstinate will of a Sikh chieftain of a type now departed. His son, Maharaja Ripudaman Singh, succeeded in 1911.



2. Other Sikh States

[Sidenote: Area, 630 sq. m. Cultd area, 424 sq. m. Pop. 268,163. Rev. Rs. 14,00,000 = L93,333, exclusive of Rs. 13,00,000 = L86,666 derived from the Oudh estates.]

Kapurthala.—The main part consists of a strip of territory mostly in the valley of the Bias, and interposed between that river and Jalandhar. This is divided into the four tahsils of Bholath, Dhilwan, Kapurthala, and Sultanpur. There is a small island of territory in Hoshyarpur, and a much larger one, the Phagwara tahsil, projecting southwards from the border of that district into Jalandhar. Two-thirds of the area is cultivated and the proportion of high-class crops is large. The chief agricultural tribes are the Muhammadan Arains and the Jats, most of whom are Sikhs.

The real founder of the Kapurthala house was Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, who in 1763, when Sirhind fell, was the leading Sikh chief in the Panjab. He captured Kapurthala in 1771 and made it his headquarters, and died in 1783. A distant relative, Bagh Singh, succeeded. His successor, Fateh Singh, was a sworn brother of Ranjit Singh, with whom he exchanged turbans. But an alliance between the weak and the strong is not free from fears, and in 1826 Fateh Singh, who had large possessions south of the Sutlej, fled thither and asked the protection of the British Government. He returned however to Kapurthala in 1827, and the Maharaja never pushed matters with Fateh Singh to extremities. The latter died in 1836. His successor, Nihal Singh, was a timid man, and his failure to support the British in 1845 led to the loss of his Cis-Sutlej estates. In 1849 he took the English side and was given the title of Raja. Randhir Singh succeeded in 1852. His conspicuous services in the Mutiny were rewarded with the grant of estates in Oudh. The present Maharaja, Sir Jagatjit Singh Bahadur, G.C.S.I., is a grandson of Randhir Singh. He was a young child when he succeeded in 1877. The State maintains a battalion of infantry for imperial service.



[Sidenote: Area, 642 sq. m. Pop. 130,925. Rev. Rs. 11,50,000 = L76,666.]



Faridkot is a small wedge of territory which almost divides the Ferozepore district in two. The population is composed of Sikhs 42-1/2, Hindus and Jains 29, and Musalmans 28-1/2 p.c. Sikh Jats are the strongest tribe. The country is flat. In the west it is very sandy, but in the east the soil is firmer and is irrigated in part by the Sirhind Canal. The Chief, like the Phulkians, is a Sidhu Barar Jat, and, though not a descendant of Phul, unites his line with the Phulkians further back. The present Raja, Brijindar Singh, is 17 years of age, and the State is managed by a Council of Regency.

[Sidenote: Area, 168 sq.m. Pop. 55,915. Rev. Rs. 221,000 = L14,733.]

Kalsia consists of a number of patches of territory in Ambala and an enclave in Ferozepore known as Chirak. The founder of the State was one of the Jats from the Panjab, who swept over Ambala after the capture of Sirhind in 1763, and carved out petty principalities, of which Kalsia is the only survivor (page 180). The capital is Chachrauli, eight or nine miles north-west of Jagadhri. The present Chief, Sardar Ravi Sher Singh, is a minor.

3. The Muhammadan States

[Sidenote: Area, 15,917 sq. m. Cultd area, 1853 sq. m. Pop. 780,641; 84 p.c. M. Rev. Rs. 35,00,000 = L233,333.]

Bahawalpur is by far the largest of the Panjab States. But the greater part of it is at present desert, and the population, except in the river tract, is very sparse. Bahawalpur stretches from Ferozepore on the north to the Sindh border. It has a river frontage exceeding 300 miles on the Sutlej, Panjnad, and Indus. The cultivated area in 1903-4 was 1451 square miles, and of this 83 p.c. was irrigated and 10 p.c. flooded. The rainfall is only five inches and the climate is very hot. South and east of the rivers is a tract of low land known as the "Sindh," which widens out to the south. It is partly flooded and partly irrigated by inundation canals with the help of wells. Palm groves are a conspicuous feature in the Sindh. Behind it is a great stretch of strong loam or "pat," narrow in the south, but widening out in the north. It is bounded on the south-east by a wide depression known as the Hakra, probably at one time the bed of the Sutlej. At present little cultivation is possible in the pat, but there is some hope that a canal taking out on the right bank of the Sutlej in Ferozepore may bring the water of that river back to it. South of the Hakra is a huge tract of sand and sand dunes, known as the Rohi or Cholistan, which is part of the Rajputana desert. There are three nizamats, Minchinabad in the north, Bahawalpur in the middle, and Khanpur in the south. The capital, Bahawalpur, is close to the bridge at Adamwahan by which the N.W. Railway crosses the Sutlej. The ruling family belongs to the Abbasi Daudpotra clan, and came originally from Sindh. Sadik Muhammad Khan, who received the title of Nawab from Nadir Shah, when he invaded the Derajat in 1739, may be considered the real founder of the State. The Nawab Muhummad Bahawal Khan III, threatened with invasion by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, made a treaty with the British Government in 1833. He was our faithful ally in the first Afghan War, and gave valuable help against Diwan Mulraj in 1848. The next three reigns extending from 1852 to 1866 were brief and troubled. Nawab Sadik Muhummad Khan IV, who succeeded in 1866, was a young child, and for the next thirteen years the State was managed by Captain Minchin and Captain L. H. Grey as Superintendents. The young Nawab was installed in 1879, and henceforth ruled with the help of a Council. In the Afghan War of 1879-1880 Bahawalpur did very useful service. The Nawab died in 1899. A short minority followed during which Colonel L. H. Grey again became Superintendent. The young Nawab, Muhammad Bahawal Khan V, had but a brief reign. He was succeeded by the present Chief, Nawab Sadik Muhummad Khan V, a child of eight or nine years. The State is managed by a Council aided by the advice of the political Agent. From 1903 to 1913, the Agent for the Phulkian States was in charge, but a separate Agent has recently been appointed for Bahawalpur and Faridkot. An efficient camel corps is maintained for imperial service.



[Sidenote: Area, 167 sq. m. Pop. 71,144. Rev. Rs. 900,000 = L60,000.]

Malerkotla consists of a strip of territory to the south of the Ludhiana district. The capital is connected with Ludhiana by railway. The Nawab keeps up a company of Sappers and Miners for imperial service. He is an Afghan, and his ancestor held a position of trust under the Moghal Empire, and became independent on its decline. The independence of his successor was menaced by Maharaja Ranjit Singh when Malerkotla came under British protection in 1809.

Pataudi, Dujana, and Loharu.—The three little Muhammadan States of Loharu, Dujana, and Pataudi are relics of the policy which in the opening years of the nineteenth century sought rigorously to limit our responsibilities to the west of the Jamna. Together they have an area of 275 square miles, a population of 59,987 persons, and a revenue of Rs. 269,500 (L18,000). The Chief of Loharu, Nawab Amir ud din Ahmad Khan, K.C.I.E., is a man of distinction.

4. Hindu Hill States

[Sidenote: Area, 1200 sq. m. pop. 181,110. Rev. Rs. 500,000 = L33,333.]

Mandi is a tract of mountains and valleys drained by the Bias. With Suket, with which for many generations it formed one kingdom, it is a wedge thrust up from the Sutlej between Kangra and Kulu. Three-fifths of the area is made up of forests and grazing lands. The deodar and blue pine forests on the Kulu border are valuable. At Guma and Drang an impure salt, fit for cattle, is extracted from shallow cuttings. A considerable part of the revenue is derived from the price and duty. The chiefs are Chandarbansi Rajputs. The direct line came to an end in 1912 with the death of Bhawani Sen, but to prevent lapse the British Government has chosen as successor a distant relative, Jogindar Singh, who is still a child.



[Sidenote: Area, 420 sq. m. Pop. 54,928. Rev. Rs. 200,000 = L13,333.]

Suket lies between Mandi and the Sutlej. Its Raja, Ugar Sen, like his distant relative, the Raja of Mandi, came under British protection in 1846. His great-grandson, Raja Bhim Sen, is the present chief.

[Sidenote: Area, 1198 sq. m. Pop. 138,520. Rev. Rs. 600,000 = L40,000.]



Sirmur (Nahan) lies to the north of the Ambala district, and occupies the greater part of the catchment area of the Giri, a tributary of the Jamna. It is for the most part a mountain tract, the Chor to the north of the Giri rising to a height of 11,982 feet. The capital, Nahan (3207 feet), near the southern border is in the Siwalik range. In the south-east of the State is the rich valley known as the Kiarda Dun, reclaimed and colonized by Raja Shamsher Parkash. There are valuable deodar and sal forests. A good road connects Nahan with Barara on the N.W. Railway. In 1815 the British Government having driven out the Gurkhas put Fateh Parkash on the throne of his ancestors. His troops fought on the English side in the first Sikh War. His successors, Raja Sir Shamsher Parkash, G.C.S.I. (1856-98), and Raja Sir Surindar Bikram Parkash, K.C.S.I. (1898-1911), managed their State with conspicuous success. The present Raja, Amar Parkash, is 25 years of age. In the second Afghan War in 1880, Sirmur sent a contingent to the frontier, and the Sappers and Miners, which it keeps up for imperial service, accompanied the Tirah Expedition of 1897.

[Sidenote: Area, 3216 sq. m. Pop. 135,989. Rev. 4 lakhs = L26,700.]

Chamba lies to the N. of Kangra from which it is divided by the Dhauladhar (map, p. 284). The southern and northern parts of the State are occupied respectively by the basins of the Ravi and the Chandrabhaga or Chenab. Chamba is a region of lofty mountains with some fertile valleys in the south and west. Only about one-nineteenth of the area is cultivated. The snowy range of the Mid-Himalaya separates the Ravi valley from that of the Chandrabhaga, and the great Zanskar chain with its outliers occupies the territory beyond the Chenab, where the rainfall is extremely small and Tibetan conditions prevail. The State contains fine forests and excellent sport is to be got in its mountains. There are five wazarats or districts, Brahmaur or Barmaur, Chamba, Bhattoyat, Chaura, and Pangi.

The authentic history of this Surajbansi Rajput principality goes back to the seventh century. It came into the British sphere in 1846. During part of the reign of Raja Sham Singh (1873-1904), the present Raja, Sir Bhure Singh, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., administered the State as Wazir, filling a difficult position with loyalty and honour. He is a Rajput gentleman of the best type. The Raja owns the land of the State, but the people have a permanent tenant right in cultivated land.



Simla Hill States.—The Deputy Commissioner of Simla is political officer with the title of Superintendent of nineteen, or, including the tributaries of Bashahr, Keonthal, and Jubbal, of 28 states with a total area of 6355 square miles, a population of 410,453, and revenues amounting to a little over ten lakhs (L66,000). The States vary in size from the patch of four square miles ruled by the Thakur of Bija to the 388r square miles included in Bashahr. Only four other States have areas exceeding 125 square miles, namely, Bilaspur (448), Keonthal (359), Jubbal (320), and Hindur or Nalagarh (256). Excluding feudatories the revenues vary from Rs. 900 (or a little over L1 a week) in Mangal to Rs. 190,000 (L12,666) in Bilaspur. The chiefs are all Rajputs, who came under our protection at the close of the Gurkha War.

The watershed of the Sutlej and Jamna runs through the tract. The range which forms the watershed of the Sutlej and the Jamna starts from the Shinka Pass on the south border of Bashahr and passes over Hattu and Simla. In Bashahr it divides the catchment areas of the Rupin and Pabar rivers, tributaries of the Tons and therefore of the Jamna, from those of the Baspa and the Nogli, which are affluents of the Sutlej. West of Bashahr the chief tributary of the Jamna is the Giri and of the Sutlej the Gambhar, which rises near Kasauli. In the east Bashahr has a large area north of the Sutlej drained by its tributary the Spiti and smaller streams. In the centre the Sutlej is the northern boundary of the Simla Hill States. In the west Bilaspur extends across that river. The east of Bashahr is entirely in the Sutlej basin.

[Sidenote: Area, 448 sq. m. Pop. 93,107. Rev. Rs. 190,000 = L12,666.]

Bilaspur.—This is true also of Bilaspur or Kahlur (map, p. 284), which has territory on both banks of the river. The capital, Bilaspur, is on the left bank only 1455 feet above sea level. The present Raja Bije Chand, C.S.I., succeeded in 1889.

[Sidenote: Area, 3881 sq. m. Pop. 93,203. Rev. Rs. 95,000 = L6233.]

Bashahr.—The chain which forms the watershed of the Sutlej and Jamna rises from about 12,000 feet at Hattu in the west to nearly 20,000 feet on the Tibet border. Two peaks in the chain exceed 20,000 feet. Further north Raldang to the east of Chini is 21,250 feet high, and in the north-east on the Tibet border there are two giants about 1000 feet higher. Generally speaking the Sutlej runs in a deep gorge but at Chini and Sarahan the valley widens out. The main valley of the Pabar is not so narrow as that of the Sutlej, while the side valleys descend in easy slopes to the river beds. The Baspa has a course of 35 miles. In the last ten miles it falls 2000 feet and is hemmed in by steep mountains. Above this gorge the Baspa valley is four or five miles wide and consists of a succession of plateaux rising one above the other from the river's banks. Bashahr is divided into two parts, Bashahr proper and Kunawar. The latter occupies the Sutlej valley in the north-east of the State. It covers an area of about 1730 square miles and is very sparsely peopled. In the north of Kunawar the predominant racial type is Mongoloid and the religion is Buddhism. The capital of Bashahr, Rampur, on the left bank of the Sutlej is at an elevation of 3300 feet. The Gurkhas never succeeded in conquering Kunawar. They occupied Bashahr, but in 1815 the British Government restored the authority of the Raja. The present chief, Shamsher Singh, is an old man, who succeeded as long ago as 1850. He is incapable of managing the State and an English officer is at present in charge.