( 19A ) 



river is a small stream of little importance. On either side of it 

 there is a narrow strip of ravine land, the total area of which 

 amounts to about 10,000 acres. 



Along each bank of the Jumna and Chambal rivers there is a 

 very narrow bit of low alluvium, in which the cultivation is of a 

 very high order. The upland, scoured by innumerable ravines, rises 

 sharply from these belts to a height which ranges from 15 to 150 

 feet above the river. These ravines extend inland for distance 

 which varies from a few furlongs to a few miles, leaving an ever- 

 narrowing strip of unbroken and cultivated land between the 

 Chambal and Jumna and again between the Jumna and Sengar 

 rivers. 



As will be seen from the maps attached, the ravines of the 

 Jumna and Chambal rivers form a practically compact mass, the 

 extreme length of which is seventy mrles and the width of which 

 is about thirteen miles in the centre. The actual area of the ravines 

 in this tract is about 120,000 acres. 



The population of this tract consists for the most part ef Tha- 

 kurs, a well-bred but impoverished race, heavily burdened with 

 debt, who depend for their livelihood on cattle-breeding and the 

 glii industry, and to some extent on foreign service. In their 

 villages even the supply of drinking water is inadequate, while irri- 

 gation for their fields is impossible. In years of drought they 

 derive nothing from their cultivation, and in places the very 

 absence of water for drinking forces them to migrate. Depending 

 as they do on their cattle the question of fodder is at all times of 

 vital importance to these people. It is impossible to state defi- 

 nitely how many cattle are now being grazed on the 120,000 aorea, 

 but the Collector estimates the figures at not less than 200,000. 

 Inspection of many parts of the ravine tract compelled me to 

 wonder where grass for such a number of animals could be found 

 on the ravines in their present condition. Close examination of 

 the apparently bare slopes and ravine banks reveals the fact that 

 there are plenty of grass roots in the ground and that the ravines 

 are therefore capable of producing, under proper management, an 

 excellent crop of fodder ; but this crop is so regularly grazed down 

 from year's end to year's end by an excessive number of cattle that 

 it gets no chance of developing itself or increasing in quantity. 

 The Collector informs me that the cattle are deteriorating, and 

 that the want of good fodder renders it impossible for the Thakurs 

 to breed bullocks fit for agricultural purposes or to expand the 

 ghi industry. Further, he states that a cycle of bad years results 

 in the disappearance of a great number of the animals. This is 

 not to be wondered at, in that nob only is. there barely sufficient 



