226 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



their faith besides the name of the Prophet, and the practice of 

 its most elementary rites. In Mahomedan times the chiefs 

 of these Bheels were subsidized and constituted wardens of 

 the hill passes in this range, over which ran the main high- 

 ways between the valley of the T&pti and Ber&r ; and they still 

 continue to receive from our Government this subsidy, which 

 is nothing but a compensation for the blackmail levied by 

 their turbulent ancestors from the adjoining plains. A few un- 

 converted Bheels still remain in this country, who are chiefly 

 the hereditary village watchmen of the Hindu villages border- 

 ing on the hills. They are usually a good deal Hinduized in 

 manners, but retain much of the keen natural qualities that 

 render the wilder members of the race such excellent hunters. 

 Bheels of the wildest character are also found in the moun- 

 tainous region west of Asirgarh, depending for subsistence 

 much on their bows and arrows, and still ready for any under- 

 taking of lawlessness and peril. It is scarcely, however, within 

 the province of this work to devote space to this tribe, 

 which is but scantily represented in the highland region of 

 which it treats. 



The road to Gharri lay up a fine level, though narrow, 

 valley in the Hatti hills, containing the sites of several old 

 villages marked by ancient trees and Mahomedan tombs. As 

 we overlooked, from the height of Gharri, its long level reach, 

 and the narrow gorge formed by a transverse chain of little 

 hills at its mouth, with the level black-soil plain of the Tapti 

 valley stretching away into the distant haze beyond, the 

 thought suggested itself at the same time to both of us, 

 how remarkably suited the spot was for an irrigation 

 reservoir. Without the land thirsting for water, being 

 underlaid by a sandy subsoil so deep that no well can 

 tap the stratum of moisture below it, and crowded with a 



