Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/577

 RURAL LIFE OF OHOTANAGPUR 559 patriotic gentlemen; but begun at Hazaribagh. Illiteracy is almost universal. report shows that in Bihar and 1,000 cn read the movement has Orissa and write; the proportion not yet The latest census 28 out of o literate is lower in Chotanagpur. There are primary schools maintained by district boards and Christian missions, but these are few in comparison with the numbers o! In some villages, the primary school the population works only for the season for is dissolved; the fields. a few months in the year. When agricultural work comes, the school the teacher and the students go to to directly on the difficulty of locomotion. It may be laid down as a general rule that next education the backwardness of a race depends The absence of railways throughout the greater part o! the division movement extremely. difficult. There makes internal are many roads maintained by district boards; but within the villages, good metalled roads are practically rare. Carts are frequently seen. of cart known locally as sgr It is a very simple contrivance. One special kind deserves mention. Three solid pieces of wood are bolted together with two short spoke- less wheels. The wheels are made of wood, each having three feature of a roads. parts joined together. The special stgt,' is that it is proof against bad The sagerrs can cross lands however undulated or rough they may be.' They marshy places or has got one stg,z open fields. to fetch fuel A sager is also used for carrying can pass through Almost every family from the jungles. passengers. One khat/a or chtflooi (bed) is placed upside down on it, and the upper part my be covered; then the stgtr becomes a convenient vehicle. The inventor of this simple mechanism deserves congratulation..