inary Department is required to devote all his time to their 

 supervision. If stationed at Hissar he would have the great 

 advantage of the proper methods of breeding which the Govern- 

 ment Cattle Farm affords and of the advice which the Superin- 

 tendent wiil be able to give him. 



The difficulties of fodder supply do not seem to be so acute 

 in the Dhanni tract. But here too more assistance from the Civil 

 Veterinary Department is required. The subject of the expan- 

 sion of the Civil Veterinary Department will be developed later. 



XIV. THE CATTLE TRADE. 



(1) Traders. 



From the description already given of the demand for cattle 

 and the sources from which this demand is met, it has been 

 seen that the trade follows certain definite courses. From 

 Hariana in the south, from the Dhanni tract in the north, and 

 from Sindh in the west there is a constant influx of cattle into the 

 centre of the Punjab. Another current of trade, chiefly in young 

 stock, sets from the southern districts towards the United Provinces, 

 while another, less pleasing to contemplate, conveys a constant 

 stream of old and worn out cattle northward along the Grand 

 Trunk Road towards Rawalpindi and Peshawar. 



A horde of traders, all known under the generic name of 

 Boparis, are busy throughout the year catering for the needs 

 of the farmer in the fully cultivated districts. The best cattle 

 of the Hariana Nagaur tract are marked down and bought from 

 the breeders, partly in the villages, and partly at the autumn and 

 spring fairs, for which this part of the country is famous. Other 

 bands of traders are engaged in similar work in the Dhanni tract 

 and Sindh, while the Pathan traders from the Chach are to be 

 found at every large fair, relieving the zamindar of his superfluous 

 and worn out stock and transporting them tp wards the frontier. 



The term * Bopari ' includes a number of castes each engaged 

 in a well defined class of business. 



The moat important of these are the Aroras of Shahpur andMian- 

 wali. They are very well organized and financed by their own com- 

 munity, and their transactions run into many thousands of rupees. 

 They deal only in the best type of stock, which they procure for 

 their old clients in the central Punjab, and their connections in the 

 Lyallpur and Jhelum colonies. These Aroras arrive at the great 

 fairs in the breeding districts in the north and south of the Punjab 

 with a drove of young stock 3 or 4 years of age, selected from the 

 surrounding districts and stake out an enclosure which, they gradual- 

 ly fill with purcbaslfc in the fair for which, of course, they pay in cash. 

 They move about in bands of 10 or 20, and exercise great precaution 



