Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/341

 LUC 333 Communications. The country has been well opened out by communi- cations. There are imperial and local roads, and a line of railway com, pleted. The imperial roads are three, branching out south, east, and north to Cawnpore, to Fyzabad, and to Sitapur, metalled and bridged throughout, and comprising, exclusive of the roads in the Lucknow city and cantonments, a length of some 500 miles. The principal local roads are seven ; they are unmetalled, and connect all the principal pargana towns of this and neighbouring districts with Lucknow and with each other. They are from Lucknow, (1) to Kursi, (2) to Dewa, (3) to Sultanpur, the sadr town of a neighbouring district, passing through Goshainganj and Amethi in this, (4) to Rae Bareli, the sadr town of another district, passing through Mohanlalganj, (5) to Mohán, which, crossing the Sai there by a fine old native-built bridge, passes on to Rasúlabad, in the Unao district, (6) to Malibabad, which runs on to Sandíla, a large town in Hardoi. These roads connect the capital with the pargana towns, and the latter are joined by others running (i) from Mahona through Kursi to Dewa, whence is passes on to the district of Bara Banki, (2) from Goshainganj through Mo- hanlalganj to meet the imperial Cawnpore road at Janábganj near Bani bridge, and (3) by a road from Bani bridge through Mohán to Aurás,.. which is there crossed (4) by a road which, passing over the Sai by a sub- stantial bridge, runs through the upper end of the Moháu Aurás pargana and joins the Malihabad and Sandíla road at Rahimabad. There is another road of some seven miles long leading from Lucknow to Bijnaur. The whole system thus comprising a length of not less than two hundred and thirty miles. They are well bridged throughout, and though heavy dur- ing the rains, are well suited for the traffic of the heavy broad-wheeled carts of the country and the soft-footed bullocks that pull them. Further roads are in contemplation, and are actually in the course of construction, for the connection of the various bazars in every pargana, but as they are strictly local they will find a more fitting place in the statistics of the par- gana to which they belong. River communication.-River communication is not much used. The river Gumti flows south-east through part of the district for a length of ninety-five miles of its course. But its course is tortuous, and passage slow, and it is not much used, except for the conveyance of wood and straw, which is carried down in barges, freighted sometimes with so much as forty or fifty tons. On the whole it may be said to bar rather than further communication, but Government ferry boats are attached to various ghats, over which, by the payment of a small sum of one, two, and six pice for a man, pack bullock, and cart respectively, travellers and traders can be carried. Railways.-The line of railway is comprised in the Oudh and Rohil- khand Railway system. It branches out in three directions, east, south- west, and north-east. The former passes through the thickly populated pargana of Lucknow to Bara Banki, and sending a branch to Bahramghat on the Glogra, passes on through Fyzabad towards Benares. The next con- nects Lucknow with Cawnpore, a line of forty-eight miles, and of which some sixteen miles run through this district. The last communicates 43