Bi7-ds of Luc know. 471 



Mr. George Reid. Sliortly before his death he gave me 

 permission to make whatever use I liked of his writings. I 

 have taken full advantage of this privilege^ and numbers 

 of Mr. Reid^s uotes will be found incorporated in the 

 following pages. 



Following the general custom, I have prefaced my paper 

 with a map of the "old" Lucknow Civil Division (Plate XII.). 

 The present Division is very much larger, but I have retained 

 the old boundaries, because both the late Mr. Reid and 

 I have done the greater part of our collecting within its 

 confines. 



The historical associations connected with Lucknow are 

 so great that it seems almost superfluous to explain its 

 position, yet, in order that my remarks may be as complete 

 as possible, I may state that it is situated between 26° 6' 

 and 27° 19' North latitude, and between 80° 6' and 81° 80' 

 East longitude, with an average height of a little more than 400 

 feet above sea-level. " The entire length of its south-western 

 frontier is washed by the waters of the sacred Ganges ; its 

 north-eastern by the waters of the Gogra, beyond which lie 

 the districts of Gonda and Bahraich ; on the north and north- 

 west it is bounded respectively by the districts of Sitapur 

 and Hardoi; while its eastern limits impinge upon the districts 

 of Fyzabad and Sultanpur.'^ 



The three districts which make up the "old'" Division, 

 and to which alone, with few exceptions, reference is made 

 in these pages, are those of Lucknow proper, Unao, and 

 Barabanki, covering a total area of some 4480 square miles, 

 with a population of roughly 600 to the square mile. The 

 rural population consists principally of Hindus, with a 

 sprinkling of Mahouieduns and Thakurs. The JNIuhomedans 

 are chiefly congregated in the larger tow ns. In consequence 

 of the dense population the fauna is limited and somewhat 

 artificially distributed. At the time that Reid wrote, the 

 cultivated area was 2520 square miles, the remaining 1960 

 being taken up by usar plains, dhak-jungle, jheels, groves, and 

 village sites. In the last twenty years, however, much land 

 has been reclaimed and laid under cultivation — excellent, no 



