Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/183

 RAE 175 district from Unao and after traversing the Khíron, and a portion of the Bareli parganas, it falls into the Sai river, a few miles west of Rae Bareli. It is apparently to the discharge of water from this stream that the heavy floods in the river Sai about and below Bareli are attributable, Múng Tál.-Is a shallow lake occupying the greater portion of a village in pargana Simrauta about 1,500 acres in extent, to which it gives its name. Its margin only is usually cultivated, but when its contents are not exhausted by irrigation (for which purpose it is extensively used by the villages in its proximity), it bears a crop of summer rice. The piscary is valuable. It is famous also for its wild fowl; and this was the consi- deration, perhaps, which induced Nasír-ud-dín Haidar to build a house upon its banks, but scandal, with its busy tongue, asserts that some fair Rosamond was the game of which he came in quest. The village long since, ceased to be a royal residence, and nothing but the ruins of Nasir- ud-din's house now exist to show that it formerly enjoyed that honour. The Naiya.—The Naiya is also a water-course dry during the hot wea- ther. It enters this from the Lucknow district, and Hows in three channels during the rains; two streams running into the Sultanpur district, and one finding its way into the river Sai near village Undobar. The Sur.-A water-course dry during the hot weather, named the Sur, brings the surplus waters of a tank in the Unao district into the river Sai at a village named Bardár during the rains. Drainage and irrigation ---Besides the above there are a great number of marshes and water-courses, which are all dry during the hot weather, and which all contribute towards causing floods during heavy rainy seasons. It is more than probable that by utilizing the natural advantages pre- sented by these escapes and reservoirs, agreeably to some sensible and com- prehensive system of drainage, heavy floods might be avoided throughout the district at a small expense, and that in deficient rainy seasons the water now wasted might be economically stored. As it is, the people never have one-tenth of the water they could utilize in the dry weather, and in occasional rainy seasons like the one just past (1871 A.D.) they are homeless and houseless wanderers owing to heavy floods. Here and there occasion- ally a dam is to be seen across some very small stream, and once or twice since annexatiou a dam has been made across the river Sai by private enterprise, but any combined or general efforts in this direction cannot be expected from the people. The following notes on the natural products of the district are taken from Major Ouseley's settlement report Indigenous products of the district.—Tun(Cedrela toona), * a magnificent tree, with beautiful foliage, and a rather fine-grained wood, which takes a very good polish, The furniture made of it is much esteemed. The flowers are used for dyeing a yellow colour which the natives say is fast.
 * The botanical antes have been taken from Shakespear's Hindustani dictionary.