' 



B K U 



Bernr alands on a high level, the approach to which is 

 bv a chain of ghaut* or mountain passes, which give to the 

 rlo* character of a valley. The Rfogra- 



.hical detail* of thit country are hitherto but imperfectly 

 n >wn One part of the ghaut* here mentioned was ex- 

 ' by European officers in 1816, that service having 

 irtakeu in consequence of the passes which they 

 serving for the predatory incursions of bodies 

 ! 1 that the general character of 



the entire surrounding range is similar to the part thus 

 surveyed, which comprehended an extent of nearly sixty 

 rail**! The part examined is represented as being a 

 neepsion of high grounds, with here and there a small 

 peak visible above the rest; the deep breaks and ravines, 

 which lead in some places to a gentle, and in others to a 

 abrupt descent into the valley of Berar, being only 

 perceived when nearly approached. Some of tbe.-e t-hauts 

 are impassable for carriages, laden camels, or bullocks ; 

 for horses, and some are mere hill-paths. The surface 

 of the hills in this section of the chain is covered with loose 

 i Km- jungle, and but little cultivation is seen ; 

 .-r is there any timber large enough for building. 1 In 

 IMS a great proportion of the villages near the hills that 

 were surveyea were found to be deserted, the tract of 

 country being desolate and apparently unappropriated. In 

 the early part of the present century, before the ces- 

 sions made under the treaty of Ueogaum, the whole of 

 ISerur was so thinly inhabited, as to contain only 2,500,000 

 in a territory of 70,000 square miles. A very largo pro- 

 portion of the country is even now in the hands of people 

 who are called ' wild Zamindars,' and whose connexion 

 with the government consists only in their paying small 

 quit-n 



Tno principal rivers of the Berar are the Tuptec, tho 



Wuida, the Wynegunga, and the Mahanuddy. Tho Tuptee 



n the Nyardy hills, near the fortified town of Baitool, 



in 21 55' N.lat., a'nd 78' 4' K. Ion;,'., 56 miles K.N.E. from 



Ellichpore. It Hows thence in a westerly direction, and 



ig through the provinces of Candeish and Gujeiat, fulls 



into the sea about twenty miles south of Surat. The Wurda 



in the pergunnah of Mooltye, and flowing south-south- 



THIS the boundary between Berar and the dominions 



Nizaro. It joins the Wynegunga. at Scouny, a short 



distance below Chanda. The Wynegunga has its source 



in the district of Scouny Chapparah, 1850 feet above the 



level of the sea. It passes through the town of Chapparah, 



in 22' -14' N. lat., and 79" 58' E. long., and (lowing south 



through t|ie towns of Bundara and Ambora, traverses 



the western division of Berar, and falls into the Godavcry 



l.'hinoor. The Mahanuddy rises in the high lands 



about thirty miles to the eastward of Kakair. It (lows 



1 1 the north by Conkair and Dhumdcrce through the 



district of Choteesghur, and enters Sumbhulpore a few 



miles east of Sri Narrain. The. Mahanuddy is navigable 



en July and January from the eastern districts ol 



the province to Cuttack. With this exception, Berar is 



without any navigable stream. The Wurda and Wyne- 



i are rendered unavailable in this respect by the 



rapids and numerous rocks which they present. The Wyne- 



gunga is sometimes used for transporting timber in the 



rainy season. 



The province \ subdivided into nine districts, viz. : Buy- 



ry, Gawelghur, Kullum, Mahore, Maihker, Nagpore, 



illah, Waussim, and Wynegun-j.-i. 



tiilbarry U of small nuatcd south of the 



Ajuntee Ghaut, U-twcen the twentieth and twenty-first 



jwfcree of north latitude. But little is known of this district 



'f Ajunlee is the only place of any note which it 



mv This town, which is fortified, is in '.'U :i !' N. lat. 



'.'16' E. long., and stands on table-land near to an 



nt pM through the Berar mountains : the place is 



".abtlcd. Gawclghur ig of considerable extent, am 



twenty-first degree of N. lat. To the 



the surface of the country rises into hills of con- 



iidorablc elevation: the other part.-, <il the district, which 



art lew hilly, are intersected by numerous small strcam- 



which render the F <.il p.- :^\mT, the capita' 



of the district, i u fortified t ,ui. in ~;\ -_' v | :it ., all ,i -- 



L.njf ., built on | 1 i n u ra , 1( ; ( . O r ni ,,,i,i- 



taint which divide i 



i we- Kn->w MTV little 



i-ctwoen the nineteenth and twenty first d'(. r ri 

 N.lat., nnd in bounded on t'ie east t.j'thu i 



n p. p. 



The district of Mnhore has not been <1evrihcd by any mn- 

 lern authority. I that name, which is sitiiat. 



19'94'N. Ut, and ,ii Fntl to. 



'-. situated iip.ni ,i uiM-.inta'in. ;ii;'l near it 

 s n Hindu temple, called .Indci.-iia, ded-rated I,. I)n 

 Sfaihker is a small district above tin 1 Olni a tlio 



:wenticth and twenty-first degrees of N. l.i! n c.f 



Maihker stands among the hills, in 'JO' 6' N. hit., and 7i>' 

 E. long. The district of Nagpore, with its capital, will 

 separately noticed. [See NAGPORK.] Ncrnallah i 

 uatc'd above the chain of mountains which extend from 

 Ajuntee to the river Wurda. This district is thin' 

 and indifferently cultivated: it is watered by tin 1'uin i, 

 and a great number of small tributaries which (low from the 

 mountains. The town of Nernallah is mentioned by Alml 

 Fa/1 as ' a larpc fort, containing many buildini'-, and 

 situated on the top of a mountain.' \Yaus-im is situated 

 above the Ghauts. The principal town, Waussim, is m 

 20 10' N. lat., and 77 22' E. Ion-;., and eighty-three p 

 E.N.E. from Julna, the capital af Julnap.'ie di.-lrict, in 

 Aurungabad. 



The Wynegunga district, so named from the river by 

 which it is intersect e<l, has never yet been surveyed, and its 

 area is unknown. This district occupies a part of the wrst- 

 ern division of the province ; that p >rtiun which lies on the 

 west side of the Wyncgunga river is for the most part hilly, 

 and is occupied by the ' wild Xaniindars' already mentioned 

 this part of the district is very imperfectly cultivated, owing 

 to the extortions practised \ipon the ryots. On the east 

 side of the river, where the authority of the rajah is more 

 directly exercised, and the cultivators have the fruit of their 

 labour better secured to them, the w hole country is brought 

 under culture. The numerous ruins of towns, forts, and 

 tanks in this district show that it was mice much more 

 peopled than at present. While under the direct manage- 

 ment of the English, the number of inhabited villages in 

 this district was ascertained to be 2111, and the total 

 population 690,770 persons. 



The more settled or civilized parts of the province of 

 Berar arc connected with the government by the system 

 known in India as the village settlement. Under tin 

 tern, each village (comprehending under t'nut description 

 the farms within a given district) contains a head man called 

 the potail, with whom the government arranges the amount 

 of rent to be paid in each year by the ryots or small farmers. 

 In Berar, the office of potail is usually considered to be 

 hereditary, but the government claims the power of dis- 

 missal. The sums demanded by the government of the 

 rajah vary from year to year according to the necessities of 

 the state, and jire exacted from the potails. by whom they 

 are collected from the ryots in proportions determined by a 

 sort of rent-roll, in which the supposed value uf every field 

 in the district is set forth. The aggregate paynu nts made. 

 by the cultivators are to a greater amount than is demanded 

 by the government, the difference constituting the profits of 

 the potail. While the province was under the management 

 of the British, the assessments were made with greater re 

 gularity, and varied only when bad seasons rendered an 

 abatement necessary. 



In petty ca^es, both of a criminal and civil nature, the 

 potail acts as judge, assisted sometimes in the latter descrip- 

 tion of c.ases by a body of arbitrators, an institution known 

 through the greater part of Hindustan as the Punektf/ttt 



arbitrators, as the name implies, are usually Ihc in 

 number, of whom two are seleein] by each party in the 

 cause, and the fifth is nominated by the local authority. 

 The more serious criminal offences arc tried before ilia 

 rajah in person, or in places distant from the seal of Ins 

 Ciivernment by a snubahdar, who is usually a military oflicer. 

 Civil suits, in' which the sums in dispute an- considerable, 

 are tried before the same authorities, the reason for which 

 i> Mated to lie, not so nni'-h the wish to distribute eu'ii- 

 U ' the desire nf (leering both parties.' \\\ 

 these cases a sum equal to the fourth part of the amount 

 in depute goes t'> the rajah as a fine on the loser, and 

 another fourth part is taken from the gainer as payment 

 for the trouble of deriding the cause. 



The duel product inns of the province arc wheat, rice, 

 Indian corn, poas, vetches, flax for the oil contained in its 



-irjar. l-tcl-leaf. and tobacco. The wild indigo plant 

 is generally met with, hvt is not cultivated. 



Domestic slavery exists, but not to any great extent. In 



it warciiy it is not uncommon for parents to sell their 



