476 j\Ir. W. Jesse on the 



the Goomti, which flows in a well-defined winding channel 

 almost equidistant between them, and is navigable for fairly 

 large country boats. The only other sti'eara of any preten- 

 sions is the Sail. There are a few so-called rivers, but none 

 of them are more than monsoon-filled nullahs, which are dry 

 during the hot weather. During the rains, however, some of 

 them assume considerable proportions. "^The Kalyani, for 

 instance, in the rain of 1872, was 269 feet broad, where it is 

 crossed by the railway in the Barabanki district, and 33 feet 

 deep, with a velocity ol 5*74 miles per hour, and a discharge 

 of 51,540 cubic feet per second.""^ But during the dry weather, 

 with the exception of the four first named, all the so-called 

 rivers are but sun-baked ravines with here and there a 

 stagnant pool. 



The cost of irrigating by the waters of these rivers, except 

 the Goomti, is, or is supposed to be, prohibitive, and, in the 

 case of the Ganges, sanctity prevents its being put to all the 

 uses it might. The cultivator gets the bulk of his water from 

 wells, jheels, and tanks, which he trusts the yearly rainfall to 

 fill up for him. Should, therefore, the supply fail, scarcity, 

 if not actual famine, is almost certain to result. These jheels 

 are very numerous, and in many instances are fine expanses 

 of water, which in the cold weather teem with wild-fowl. They 

 are particularly numerous about Mohanlalganj, Sehsindi, 

 Rahimabad, and Itaunja in the Lucknow district ; about 

 Ajgaen, in the Unao district ; and in the tahsils of Daryabad, 

 Bam Sanehi Ghat, Dewa, and Nawabgunj in the Barabanki 

 district. These jheels are usually situated in the middle of 

 some usar plain surrounded by dhak, grass, or corouuda- 

 jungle, though of late years, owing to the destruction of the 

 brushwood, they are of a more open nature than they 

 formerly were. 



Th« dry year of 1877 caused a remarkable change to take 

 place in these jheels, and many have ever since been more 

 or less metamorphosed in character, while their area has in 

 too many instances been contracted. Much of the aquatic 

 flora, moreover, peculiar to these jheels disappeared during 

 the three deficient rainfalls of 1876-78, and has in many 

 instances failed to re-establish itself. 



