INDIA. 



81 



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fall*. The gathering of the crop must be performed 

 at different times. That part of it which carries the 

 grain in the ears must be reaped at one season, and that 

 which carrie* it in the pod at another. It frequently 

 happen*, that several kinds are sown together in the 

 same field, each riperting at a different period ; and if 

 one of these be cotton, which i* often the case, it must 

 be gathered every day after the plant arrives at full 

 growth. Hence, the produce beini; uncertain, and the 

 labour great, the revenue exacted by government from 

 pungah land We* uniformly paid in money. Tin's 

 irf" land appears to have been brought into culti- 

 vation after the nungah land, as rt generally lies at a 

 considerable distance from the village. 



Utah mail pungah, i a specie* of nungah cultiva- 

 tion, carried on either in the stubble of paddy or nun- 

 gah land, or when, from an accidental deficiency of 

 water, land which is usually cultivated with rice be- 

 comes unfit for that grain ; in these caws, the cultiva- 

 tor, availing hisB*eif of the moisture remaining in the 

 ground, or of the water that may be drawn by picota/it 

 to the field, sows the best kinds of dry gram. /,;>.- 

 pyer, or loficnl land*, are lands managed according to 

 the garden culture, in which the more valuable arti- 

 cle*, such as sugar cane, tobacco, chitliet, &c. are grown. 

 These land* are generally secured against a failure of 

 water by artificial mean*. 



The nungah lands are rendered fit for wet-grain cul- 

 tivation, by the overflowing of the rivers by canals 

 and water courses cut from the river* and stream 

 die purpose el* irrigating them or by water drawn 

 from tanks and we 



tngesand its branches are thegrrat source* 



to that vast tract of country which He* near 



their banks, in Hindostan I'roper. In consequence of 



l.'ie r-.M- !urh I ill in !' liiuir.t.ill;. hrni r it -)T ;:_. 



tiegins to overflow iu bank* in the low 

 try in the month of April. Its 

 but a* soon as the rainy lesaot 



country, and becomes general, it rise* with great rapi 

 dity. - By the Utter end of July, all the lower part* 

 of Bengal are overflowed contiguous to the Ganges 

 and Brahmapootra, and lonn an inundation of more 

 than l< miles in width." B> the middle of Ai 

 the river has increased upwards of 14 feet at Dada, 

 and 39 feet at Jellinghy, in common years. As soon 

 a* the rainy season ceases in the mountain*, which i* 

 about the middle or end of August, the Ganges be. 

 to decrease in Bengal, slowly at fi - rise, 



till the rm< ceaee also in this province. It i* easy to 

 perceive, Utat this periodical inrr>om of the Ganges 

 net not only have formed the rich alluvial soil of this 

 part of Hindostan. and must every year deposit on it 

 materuU which will serve to keep up its fertility, but 

 must also prepare the ground for nose crops which re- 

 quire on it cultivation, and even for those which would 

 not thrive and repay the huebendiesii in climate so 

 not, and at other issnna so very dry. if the** inunda- 

 tion* did not take place. Accordingly the rise of the 

 (..nv - ' wtrh-,| with ffrnt -.tfrtii|.. n .v ! at)\>,-M U 

 all the inhabitants of the country through whi. 

 flow*, since scarcity or famine are the consequences of 

 a failure or a great deficiency of its inundation. If, 

 on the other hand, its inundation is unusually great, 

 the com may be swept away and destroy. I ; but this 

 evil is generally light and partial, compared with the 

 calamity win. h rtrvilts from a deficient inundation. 

 The Ganges, without the assistance of art, waters un- 

 vol. Ul. r*fc ; 



tse is at first gradual ; 



n .* rr.i' Mr' I t f . 1. 1\ 



mense tracts of land, and renders them fit for the wet cul- Statistics. 

 tivation. In former times, as we have itlready noticed, "'Y-""' 

 canals were made for the purpose of Conveying the 

 waters of the Indus to irrigate the lands, ns well as 

 for the purpose of internal communication ; and a ca- 

 nal was made from the Jumnah to Delhi, which was 

 probably used, though not principally constructed, lor 

 the benefit of agriculture. But neither in those times, 

 nor at present, has all that advantage been taken of 

 either of these rivers, particularly of the Ganges, which 

 agriculture might derive from them. 



The Punjab, or that extensive tract of country which 

 is watered by the eastern branches of the Indus, i- nut 

 entirely inundated and enriched by this river : The 

 lower part only, towards Mulpan, which is very flat, 

 deriving this benefit to its agriculture from the period- 

 ical rain* which fall between the months of May and 

 October. The lower part of the province of Sinde is 

 alio inundated by the Indus. 1 \. rv where also this 

 river and its brandies do not, unassisted by art, great- 

 ly or extensively benefit agriculture. 



2. Though artificial inundation fromMhe Ganges i b? cuuli 

 not carried to such extent, nor conducted with so inuci nU 

 skill as it might be, it is not entirely neglect rd. In thi w er 

 Kolulcuml terrjtnry etipeciilly, the water-, of this river, Col " 1 * t 8 

 or rather of the Kmugunjii. the Goggra, and other 

 smaller stream*, whii-h flow into it, MM intersect this 

 district, are distributed over its surface by means of ca- 

 nals. But a* the soil in almost every part of the coun- 

 try through which the Gunge* flows is narur.dly rich 

 and loamy, the inhabitants are not placed under such 

 an absolute necessity of having recourse to irrigation, 

 a* those who live on the sandy and parched soil of the 

 lower part* of the province of Sinde. Accordingly, in 

 this province, considerable attention is paid to irrigation 

 by mean* of canals and water-courses. A regular sys- 

 fked tax levied by government 



for the construction and repair of these water-coarse*. 

 Every biggah of land, (one- third of an acre,) pays a re- 

 venue of 1* to Sj rupee* for the water with M htch it i* 

 supplied by a canal or wheel. One whet I i- rip, Me of 

 watrring 16 btggahs. It is in the south of Indi.i. how. 

 ever, that the practice of rendering land fit for the wet- 

 cultivation, by mean* of canals and water-courses, is 

 carried on to "the greatest extent, and with the most in- 

 ilustry. skill, and luocm. In the province of Coimbe. 

 nor, there i* a canal from the river Rhawani, construct- 

 ed on the be*t principle*, a* well as executed with con- 

 siderable judgment, which waters a narrow space of 

 ground, 15 Malabar noun journey in length, and has 

 raised the rent, and increased the produce of the land 

 adjacent very much. In the vicinity of Keringapatam 

 there are many excellent canal*, which are drawn from 

 the river Cavery along the winding* of the hills ; the 

 between these canal* i* watered by 

 Mr of the Cavery i* forced into the 

 by mean* of dams thrown across it, 

 which are formed of large blocks of granite. The whole 

 must have been executed at great expence, and i* a 

 work of very greet labour and strength. The river, 

 whence these canal* are drawn, is made nearer the sea, 

 to answer still more important and beneficial purpose* 

 to agriculture ; for it is in consequence of the water- 

 course* sent off from it through the Tanjore. that this 

 province is entitled to the second rank, among all the 

 provinces of Hindostan, for agriculture. It ha" already 

 been stated, in our account of that river, that, opposite 

 to Trichinopoly in the Camatic, the Cavery divides into 

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