Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/321

 LUC 313 average number of hamlets is two and a half to a village. The single isolated houses are not many, and what there are, are the abodes of faqirs and religious enthusiasts, who have abandoned the toils and pleasures of the world. Grores and trees. It has been said the groves amount to 40,230 acres, or five per cent of the whole area of the district. But this very inadequately represents the trees. It shows the mango orchards that are grown on uncultivated ground; but it does not show the fruit trees, the orange, pomegranate, guava, and custard apples that grow round Lucknow, and the numerous towns scattered through the district : nor does it show the avenues and single trees, the tamarind, bargad, or banyan (ficus indica), semal or cotton tree (bombax heptaphyllum), gúlar (ficus glomerata), the bel cegle marmelos, the bakáin or willow, ním (melia azidirachta), and palm tree that are spread through the country. Noticea- ble among them is the single mango tree of fine growth and comely shape. It is the survivor of some old grove, which the owner, through straightened circumstances, has reluctantly cut down. He called it Jåk or Sakhiya, from Sakhi, the witness of the place where the old grove stood. The etymology of Ják is uncertain. These mango groves are not planted or reared without considerable trouble and outlay. For the first two or three years of their growth they are made over to the village mali (gardner), who, for his trouble, has the cultivation and crops of the ground so long as he tepds it. But it is only round the towns that a selection of grafts and fruit is thought of. Malihabad is noted for the fineness of its mangoes and its ber (zyziphus jujuba), grown in orchards called beriána. There are no forests in Lucknow. Area of townships.—The average area of the townships is some- thing under a square mile each, but it varies from 929 acres in Bijnaur to 483 acres in Mahona. It does not seem to depend on the density of the population or extent of cultivation, and its true cause must be sought for in the varying histories of the owners of the soil, and the original conquest and colonization of the country. Origin of villages.—Some of the villages are very old and date from pre-historic times; but some are modern, in so far that their histories can be definitely traced. The native imagination delights in finding derivations more curious than trustworthy for names, and it would be unsafe to build much history on their accounts of the foundation of some of their villages; but from very ancient times the founder seems gene- rally to have given his name to the village. Natural objects are not varied or striking enough to have given much help, though they are readily seized when present—as a tree, or an unusual feature in the soil, or a natural produce. Instances are Khajúrgáon, the village of the date trees; Ber-Karaundi, of the ber and karaunda "bushes”; Pán-Bári, the village of the pán gardens; Tikaria or Tekri, the village with the hillock; Kánkrabad, the kankar village. But it is characteristic of all villages built since the time of the second Rajput colonization and Musal- man invasion, dating from perhaps the end of the 12th century, that they should terminate in púr or nagar or khera, or in the Musalman