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 BANDA.

46

Allahabad Division, and

bounded on the north-east on the west by the river Ken, the District of Hami'rpur, and the Native State of Gaurihar on the south and south-east by the Native States of Panna, Charkhari, and Rewd ; and on the east by Allahabad District Its southern boundary is intersected by outlying portions of the surrounding Native States. The administrative head-quarters are at the town of Banda, which is also the largest town in the District District of the

and north by the

river

Jumna (Jamuna)

is





—

The District of Banda consists of a finely varied downwards from the Vindhyan range on the southeast to the valley of the Jumna and the Ken on the north and west The southern or highest portion is composed of the gneiss hills which Physical Aspects

.

country, sloping

form the northward escarpment of the great Central Indian table-land. These hills are well wooded, and abound in massive boulders, gigantic scars, and deep ravines; their highest points being about 1300 feet above the sea. Their sides are scored by the excavated beds of large mountain torrents, which in the rainy months form the affluents of the

Jumna, and

May

in the dry season gradually diminish, until

their channels are mostly

ever, the

empty.

The Ken and

most important amongst them, are never quite

north of this hilly region

lies

diminishing in size and numbers as

of the Jumna.

To

dry.

a tract of undulating plains, at

sprinkled with granite boulders, similar to those on the ally

by the month of

the Bagain, how-

first

hills,

we descend towards

the

thickly

but graduthe valley

Isolated pTamidal heights, rising like rocky islands from

the general level, are found in the portion of this region nearest to the

Vindhyan range, and are often crowned by the ruined fortresses of the Chandel or Bundela chieftains. The plain itself, the most fertile portion of the District, is widest at its western extremity, near the town of Banda, and narrows like a wedge as it runs eastward, till it finally The Jumna valley rises disappears at the base of the Vindhyan hills. by a

series of terraces,

above.

broken with ravines, to the

level of the table-land

A portion of the low-lying plain is marshy, and

there are patches

of scrub jungle in the neighbourhood of the Jumna.

The

soil

of the

low ground is chiefly the black variety, known as mar, which has a singular power of retaining moisture, and is very fertile. As the tributary rivers are confined within wide and deep-cut channels, they are not but the Jumna inundates and fertilizes its liable to overflow their banks own immediate valley. The whole District is moderately well wooded.

The

forests

negotiations

in the south-east of the District were, after a few years’

with the

proprietors,

constituted

a Forest division in

They comprise an area of 74,743 acres, of which 53,535 acres have been acquired as Government property, while 21,208 acres are managed under an agreement by which Government gets 55 percent, of 1881.

the profits, and the old proprietors 45 per cent.

Iron

is

found along