492 THE BIRDS OF THE LUCKNOW CIVIL DIVISION. 



entire length of its south-western frontier is washed by the 

 waters of the sacred Ganges ; its north-eastern by the waters 

 of the Gogra, beyond which lie the districts of Gonda and 

 Baraitch ; on the north and north-west it is bounded, respec- 

 tively, by the districts of Sitapur and Hardoi ; while its 

 eastern limits impinge upon the districts of Fyzabad and 

 Sultanpur. 



The Division comprises three districts — Lucknow, Unao and 

 Barabanki, and covers an area of 4,480 square miles, with, 

 according to the le preliminary statement" of the census taken 

 in February last, a population of 2,618,020, or 584 to the 

 square mile. The cultivated area, stated to be 2,520 square 

 miles, or 56*25 per cent, of the whole, has therefore to support 

 a population of 1,038 inhabitants to the square mile — an 

 astonishing number to clothe and feed. As a matter of fact, 

 however, the rural population, mostly Hindus, is not quite so 

 great ; the Urban, principally Mussalman, swells the number, 

 Lucknow itself contributing about 300,000 inhabitants to the 

 general average. Nevertheless, the Division is densely popu- 

 lated, and, as a consequence, its fauna is limited, and the 

 distribution of this latter more or less artifically restricted. 



The cultivated area being 2,520 square miles, the unculti- 

 vated amounts to 1,960, of which a large percentage is due to 

 usar plains and dhak jungle, while village sites, groves, jhils, 

 marshes, &c, occupy the remainder. 



There is not much diversity in the soil. The natives them- 

 selves generally divide it into four kinds — goind, domat, 

 matyar and bhur. Of the area under cultivation 20 per cent, 

 may be put down as goind (highly manured land), 55 as domat 

 (mixed sand and clay), 20 as matiyar (heavy clay), and 15 as 

 bhur (sand). These figures, though estimates, are fairly accu- 

 rate ; but taking the Division as a whole, it may be consi- 

 dered a vast alluvial plain, uninteresting in a geological point 

 of view, unless in the entire absence of indigenous stones 

 there is anything very remarkable. Nodules of kunker, an 

 impure concretionary carbonate of lime, abound, occurring 

 often in layers or blocks at no great depth, and especially in 

 the vicinity of jhils and nullahs often seen on the surface. 

 In sinking the wells of the Ganges bridge at Cawnpore, 

 kunker was, however, met with at a depth of over 60 feet. 



The soil is fertile and productive, forming, as it is does, part 

 of the ei Garden of India." The main products are wheat, 

 barley, jowar, Indian corn, gram, sugarcane, tobacco, opium, 

 pulses and oil-seeds. Bice may also be specified, as it is 

 grown here and there in suitable localities, and the cultivation 

 of the singhara plant, or water nut, has of late years wonder- 

 fully increased. 



