( 4A ) 



The Barma river practically divides the district into two equal 

 portions ; the western part is drained by the Parwaha aud is much 

 less broken than that to the east. Bast of the Barma the watershed 

 lies close to that river and there is generally a steeper gradi- nt which 

 is reflected in the more easterly trend of the streams. Though 

 they provide a ready means of escape for the rainfall, which is often 

 heavy in the tract, all these channels are destructive and tend to 

 spread. By denuding the surface soil in hilly tracts and by carry- 

 ing off the organic matter and other soil-constituents in the level 

 plains, they are constantly and steadily impoverishing the soil, 

 except where the land is protected by embankments. 



Extract from the Final Report on the Revision of the Settlement 

 of the Hamirpur district by W. RAW, ESQ., O.S., Settlement 

 Officer (page I). 



The Hamirpur district falls roughly into two parts, the north- 

 ern portion is flat plain, consisting mainly of black soils except 

 where the land has suffered from the erosion by the numerous 

 streams by which it is traversed. Towards the south the surface 

 rises, the soils, as usual under such circumstances, becoming 

 lighter in character. 



The northern portion of the pargana is described by the Settle- 

 ment Officer as consisting of a series of doabs. At a distance' 

 from the streams, the soil is a good mar; as the streams are 

 approached the soil deteriorates through poorer mar, kabar, and 

 parwa until it becomes worthless rankar in the ravines. Some 

 portions of this area have suffered severely from the scouring of 

 rivers and small streams. In the Jalalpur pargana, in which there 

 are unusually larger areas of broken land, only 40 per cent, of the 

 total is normally under cultivation. Most of the numerous rivers 

 by which this part is intersected are surrounded by belts of ravines 

 of varying extent, but within the ravines there are often patches 

 of alluvial soil of considerable value. 



The area of ravines is very great and though much worthless 

 land has been, and may be, in the future converted into fertile 

 fields, there undoubtedly remains a large area, which if not abso- 

 lutely uuculturable, would certainly never repay the cost of cul- 

 tivation. The worst type of ravine, such as is found along the 

 Jumna and. in the trans-Ken portions of Pailani, it is probably 

 impossible to reclaim. All that can be done is to prevent their 

 extension by embankments at their heads. The less serious 

 ravines which are found along the smaller rivers, such as the 

 Bagain and its tributaries, are capable of much more extensive 

 improvement, aud industrious communities have, by embanking 



