Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 1).djvu/249

] large villages, but no towns of any importance. By far the most important agricultural tribe is the Hindu Jats. They are strong-bodied sturdy farmers, who keep fine oxen and splendid buffaloes, and live in large and well organized village communities. 37 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by canal and well irrigation, the former being by far the more important. The district consists mainly of a plain of good loam soil. There have been great canal extensions in this plain, which under irrigation is very fertile, yielding excellent wheat, cotton, and cane. There is a rich belt of well irrigation in the Jamna valley, and in the south of the district there are parts where wells can be profitably worked. Belts of uneven sandy land are found especially in the west and south. The dry cultivation is most precarious, for the rainfall is extremely variable. In the old district it averages 20 inches. But averages in a tract like Rohtak mean very little. The chief crops are the two millets and gram.

Gurgaon contains six tahsils, Rewari, Gurgaon, Nuh, Firozpur, Palwal, and Ballabgarh. The southern part of the district projects into Raiputana, and in its physical and racial characteristics really belongs to that region. Rewari is the only town of any importance. It has a large trade with Rajputana. Apart from this the interests of the district are agricultural. In Gurgaon the Jamna valley is for the most part narrow and very poor. The plain above it in the Palwal tahsil has a fertile loam soil and is irrigated by the Agra Canal. The Hindu Jats of this part of the district are good cultivators. The rest of Gurgaon consists mostly of sand and sandy loam and low bare hills. In Rewari the skill and industry of the Hindu Ahirs have produced wonderful results considering that many of the wells are salt and much of the land very sandy. The lazy and thriftless Meos of