THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 249 



to be called, would thus be able to 

 support themselves ; but the experiment 

 was not a success. The little community 

 consisted of persons bred up in idleness 

 and trained to be helpless, and they 

 continued helpless and dependent, their 

 agriculture did not prosper, and they 

 were never able to pay the trifling 

 assessment which in the hope of stimu- 

 lating their industry had been imposed 

 upon their fields. 



The special agency by the time its 

 functions terminated had acquired much 

 useful information, and had become 

 intimately acquainted with the country 

 inhabited by the Khonds, extending 

 from the Mahanuddi on its northern 

 border to the hills of the independent 

 Sourahs behind Mahendra, and from 



