278 Capt. Franklin' s Memoir on Bundelkhund. 



mart. Cdlpi is also famous for its sugar-candy and paper ; and Jhdnst may 

 be particularized for its carpet manufactory. A coarse kind of sacking is 

 also made in great abundance along the banks of the Betwd river, and at 

 Chhattrapur, which supplies wrappers for the bales of merchandise passing 

 to and from the Dekhan. 



SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, MODE OF HUSBANDRY. 



The soil of Bundelkhund exhibits every variety, from the rich black 

 ioamy soil to sterile kanlar, or Calc-tuflT. The valleys and low lands are 

 generally of the former kind; and if properly irrigated, it is as productive as 

 any in Hindustan. It produces the sugar-cane, cotton, indigo, the flfl/ plant, 

 wheat, barley, holcus sorghum, holcus spicatus, and every species of the 

 pulse and lentil tribe. In the more sterile parts are grown several species 

 of grain of the millet kind, panic and paspalum : but even these inferior 

 kinds are not attainable by the lower orders in times of scarcity, and the fruit 

 of the mahud tree (Bassia lalifolia), on such occasions, may be ranged amongst 

 the necessaries of life. Thousands of human beings are supported by the 

 produce of this tree ; and in extraordinary times of dearth and scarcity, the 

 pounded bark of the katbal tree is often mixed with the fruit of the mahild ; 

 but it is a melancholy reflexion, that those poor wretches, who aie reduced 

 to the necessity of using the bark of the katbal tree, are observed soon after- 

 wards to fall victims to its effects. 



The mode of husbandry varies in no respect from other parts of the 

 country. They plough with oxen, and tread out their corn with the same 

 animal ; and if there is anything remarkable, it is that the simple Chinese 

 wheel, set in motion by oxen, and admirably adapted to j'aise water which is 

 near the surface, is employed in some parts to irrigate the lands. 



The waste lands of Bundelkhund afford matter for observation, and 

 thousands of acres, particularly in the native states, which now lay waste, 

 and covered with jungle, might by ordinary means and management be 

 brought into cultivation. The metliod is simply to root up the jungle and 

 burn it on the spot as manure ; but there is either a want of capital, or a 

 want of confidence between the governing and the governed, which retards 

 this desirable improvement ; and these vast wastes continue to remain, to 

 the disgrace and prejudice of their owners. 



I 



