i6o AGRICULTURAL CAPITAL 



for irrigation from a reservoir in wliich the water is at 

 rest is much less than from a canal in which the water 

 is always moving. 



The construction of canals by the State was first 

 begun under the Mohammedan kings of Delhi. A 

 canal from the Jamna was built as far back as 135 1 

 by the pious Firoz Shah Tughlak, which to this day 

 supplies irrigation along 200 miles of its ancient 

 course, and now brings water to Delhi. The great 

 Akbar also constructed important works, and gave 

 orders * that on both sides of the canal trees of every 

 description, both for shade and blossom, shall be 

 planted, so as to make it like the canal under the tree 

 of Paradise, 'and that the sweet flavour of the rare 

 fruits may reach the mouth of everyone, and from 

 these luxuries a voice may go forth to travellers call- 

 ing them to rest in the cities, where their every want 

 will be supplied.' Government orders at the present 

 day are issued in a more prosaic style, but the actually 

 accomplished facts are not unworthy of Abul Fazl's 

 lyric rapture, and he would be dull indeed whose 

 imagination was not kindled by the majestic volume 

 of water flowing down the Upper and Lower Ganges 

 canals. To the Englishman's mind the word 'canal' 

 usually suggests a narrow ditch, protected by bare 

 banks, thinly covered with grass. The Ganges canals, 

 however, resemble great rivers, adorned with fine 

 timber all along the banks. 



In the United Provinces the State irrigation works 

 under the control of the Irrigation Department com- 

 prise five large and eleven smaller canals, and twelve 

 small storage works. The canals are all of the peren- 

 nial type — that is, their supplies are all taken in by 

 means of permanent, or in some cases of temporary, 

 dams constructed across the rivers from which they 

 are drawn. Of the five large canals, the Upper and 

 Lower Ganges, Agra, and Eastern Jamna are classed 

 as productive ; and one, the Betwa Canal, as protec- 



