Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/405

1837.] tivation, if the round stones scattered over its surface were only removed. The village of Lonud, on the east bank of the Nira, and only a few miles distant, is surrounded by many fine fields well supplied with the means of irrigation and producing abundance of vegetables. The great defect in the agriculture of this part of the country is the want of inclosures, which might be made at little expense, the prickly euphorbium and nerium-leaved being found close at hand for this purpose. Such inclosures, both here and in other parts of the Dekkan, would be a great improvement, since they would defend the vegetation against the strong north-east wind which blows nearly one half the year, and, from its drying influence, robs the soil of its natural moisture and deprives the plants of benefit from the dew.

Beyond Lonud, we enter the Salpa pass, and come to the valley of Satara. Here the soil is much richer than that previously met with, being black and alluvial. It rests on a very deep substratum of grey earth denominated chunkar, from its containing chuna, a calcarious carbonate.

A more plentiful supply of rain in this district had favoured the crops, and the appearance of the country, from its verdure, was pleasing to the eye. The hills, which were green to the tops and covered with brushwood, offered an agreeable contrast to the bleak and barren parts of the country just passed over.

The situation of the village of Deour, in this valley, is romantic and beautiful. It is built on the south-east bank of a deep nulla, which forms a branch of the Wasna river, of which the banks are high and earthy and the bed gravelly. The wild oleander grows in abundance close to the water edge; and, at the village, a variety of fine trees rise in majestic grandeur and afford a desirable shade from the noon- day heat of a tropical sun. The houses here are also better built than those usually met with in this part of the Dekkan, and are neatly roofed with fiat tiles. The general direction of the streams flowing through this valley is south; those previously met with being north.

From Deour to Pusasaoli is two stages, and the road leads through the Nahwi Ghat. The hills near the Ghat became broken, and the country beyond Pusasaoli is flat, only one or two solitary hills being visible for some distance.

Pusasaoli, which is a large town, contains a good bazaar, and supports a manufactory of black kumlies for the Satara market.

The different kinds of soil known here are a dark brown one called "tambra," and a gravelly earth denominated "sherwui" or "karrak,"