INTRODUCTORY. 19 



own observation during many years of acquaintance with the 

 region described, I shall not refuse to avail myself of well- 

 authenticated material collected by others. 



The highland region is comprehended within eleven of the 

 nineteen districts into which the province has been subdivided 

 for administrative purposes. A portion of most of these dis- 

 tricts lies also in the adjacent plains, either to the north or 

 south of the hills, a judicious arrangement which combines in 

 one jurisdiction the hill and the plain people who have deal- 

 ings together. The total area of these districts is, in round 

 numbers, 44,000 square miles, of which about 11,000 are 

 under cultivation, and the remainder waste. Where such 

 extensive mountains are included, it will not be surprising to 

 find that of this large unreclaimed area, about 20,000 square 

 miles are estimated to be wholly incapable of tillage, the 

 remaining 13,000 being probably more or less fit for improve- 

 ment. These figures are obtained by the returns of the 

 department employed in what is called the " settlement of the 

 land revenue." * 



Few readers will require to be told that in India the great 

 mass of the land has always paid a tax to the Government 

 (which is really of the nature of a rent-charge which had never 

 been alienated by the original proprietor of all land the 

 State) ; and in these provinces most of the hill-chiefs even 

 were found, on the country coming into our hands, to be liable 

 to the land tax, which in their case, however, was usually a 

 very light one. During the times of anarchy which preceded 

 our rule, the proper amount of this tax had become very un- 

 certain, the assessment in fact having very much resolved 

 itself into a struggle between the rulers and the ruled, " that 



* The writer served for three years as settlement officer of one of these dis- 

 tricts, and can vouch for the general accuracy of the statistics. 



c 2 



