Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/418

 410 MAH . Hindu, Of this population 9.7 per cent, is Musalman. 90'3 649 - Agricultural. 45.2 Non-agricultural. The proportion of agriculturists is low, seeing that there is still left a great deal of culturable land, and of a very fair quality, awaiting the plough. Of the total area of 52,979 acres-- 56-21 is cultivated, 24.62 ie colturable, and 19'17 is unculturable. Nearly all the unculturable land is to be found at the south end of the pargana, which is crossed by large barren plains. The country is fertile and well cultivated, but along the banks of the Gumti, and stretching for a considerable distance inland, it is undulating and varied, crossed one while by sandy tracts, and intersected at another by marshes, that are fed from springs which rise from the higher lands. Nevertheless, the low land produces abundant thatching grass which is car- ried down the river to Lucknow in large boats, and towards the north of the tract the land becomes tarái and level, and though subject to inunda- tions, and sometimes overmoist with water, only a few feet from the surface may be eropped with fine wheat. In the centre of the pargana is a large tract of jungle which only awaits the cultivator. But probably it will be broken up'ere long, and would have been before, but that it belongs mostly to taluqdars who can afford to wait, and whose object is to see the new revenue fixed before they take it in hand. The chief crops flourish-poppy and vegetables--round the homesteads, and sugar, wheat, and pulses to the furthest corners of the townships. Mud wells can be dug freely, and water can be met at twenty-five feet froin the surface, while the wells hold eleven feet of water. Irrigation extends to forty-eight per cent a more than ordinary average, but of this eighty-one per cent., is due to jhíls and ponds. On the whole, it is one of the best parganas in the district. And the average holdings of the cultivators are very fair, and larger than in most of the Cis-Gumti parganas. Rent ranges from Rs. 5 to Rs. 5-8, but Kurmis- of whom, however, there are not very many--pay Rs. 7-7 and Kachhis Rs. 9-14. The revenue assessed by the summary settlement was Rs. 104,490. The revised demand is Rs. 1,35,486. The rates fall at Rs. 2-8 on cultiva- ted, Re. 1-13 on cultivated and culturable, and Re. 1-6 throughout. The largest towns arc- Mahona, with a population of 3,894 Itarnja 2,254 Add Maricon 3,124 It has only six other villages, with a population of between 1,000 and 2,000 They are-Usirna, Banoga, Bhauli, Kath wára, and Nabi-kot-Nandna. Government schools have been established in the three large towns abovementioned, and in Usirna, Amaniganj, Kathwara, Pahárnagar, Bakh- shi-ka-taláb, Banoga, and Nabi-kot-Nandra. The district post-office has been placed at Itaunja, and outside the village, facing the road, is the police station, where a chief constable and fifteen others of subordinate grade are posted. At Bakhshi-ka-táláb is an outpost, where a staff of six policemen ►PE I . It ed DO