Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/180

 172 RAE Change of territory. But the administrative arrangement has only been arrived at after several steps. There were at first four tahsils—Bihár, Dal- mau, Bareli, and Haidargarh. These were reduced to three-Bibár, Bareli, and Haidargarh. Then the Bihár tahsil containing seven parganas–Daun- dia Khera, Ġhátampur, Bhagwantnagar, Bihár, Panhan, Pátan, and Magrá- yar—was transferred to the Unao district; Haidargarh at the extreme north was placed in Bara Banki; while Simrauta, Mohanganj, Inhauna, Rokha Jáis have been transferred to Rae Bareli from Sultanpur; Salon and Par. shádepur from Partabgarh, The area, population, and administrative divisions of the district are given in Chapter III. Those of the old district were as follows:-Area 1,350 square miles, number of villages 1,482, population 782,874. Rae Bareli has been more changed by the re-distribution of 1869 than any other district. In fact, it received so to speak a fresh tahsil to the south- east: its parganas were transferred to Unao and Bara Banki, and it was compensated by additions from Partabgarh and Sultanpur to the east. Still the map of the old district remains incorporated, and forms the chief portion of the new. The former is thus described by the settlement officer. It must be remembered that the north-east extremity towards the Gumti, the shank of the shoulder of mutton afterwards mentioned, has been cut off and transferred to Bara Banki. Superficial configuration.—The district of Rae Bareli may be said to resemble in shape a shoulder of mutton, with the shark broken and bent backwards. The shank forms the tahsil of Haidargarh; the remainder formg the three tahsils, which last year from motives of economy were doubled up into two. The river Ganges forms the south-west boundary of the district. On the north-east, at the extremity of the Haidargarh tahsil, the Gumti is the boundary. Between them the Sai runs through the very centre of the district, and between the Sai and the Ganges, the Loni nála coming out of the Unao district, and running generally parallel to the course of the rivers, falls into the Ganges near Dalmau. About midway between the rivers is a kind of elevated hollow in which there is a string of jhíls which on the map follow the course of the rivers, and are a striking feature of the country. From these jhíls lateral nálas lead into the rivers, and carry off the superfluous water, This conformation is to be found between the Gumti and the Sai, the Sai and the Loni, and the Sai and the Ganges, after the confluence of the Loni with the Ganges, while it also is to be found in a limited degree between the Loni and the Ganges. But the high bank of the Ganges and the Loni approach so near to each other at the western extremity of the district, that the space left for the jhíls is very small, and they become almost nothing. The effect of this is to make the country topographically lie in belts or zones. Beginning with the Ganges, we have the villages on the high bank of the river much broken and sandy, with the water a good distance from the surface, These villages are generally among the poorest in the