CULTIVATION. 27 



Wild animals. — Palamow has not a good reputation as a place for 

 sport, but I have reason for believing that in certain limited areas wild 

 animals are by no means scarce. Tigers- and leopards were chiefly to 

 be heard of in the vicinity of the Koel, where it crosses the Hutar field 

 and thence westward to the Kunhur. 



Mr. Forbes speaks of the chetah, or hunting leopard, having been at 

 onetime abundant, but the leopards seen by me, whether alive or dead, 

 were all the so-called panther {Felis pardus). Bears are rare, as also are 

 wolves. I saw but one pair of the latter near Latiahar. The sambhur 

 and spotted deer are not common in the parts visited by me, but nilgai 

 are abundant in certain tracts, as also are barking deer and the four-horned 

 antelope. The gazelle is frequently seen in the west, and occurs close to 

 Daltonganj. A pair were seen near Latiahar, longitude 84=^ 35' E., which 

 is, I believe, the most eastern locality where this animal has as yet 

 been observed. Gaur, or bison so-called, are found on the ranges and pats 

 to the south. Occasionally they appear in the valleys as at Barkhol. 



Section 4. — Cultivation. 



The scarcity of tanks and lunds, and the unwillingness or inability of 

 the people to provide irrigation for themselves — which extends, according 

 to Mr. Forbes, to a disinclination even to repair temporary ruptures in 

 bunds which have in some cases been made by the hired labour of a parti- 

 cular tribe called' Nunias — account for the inferiority and uncertain yield 

 of the crops and the generally impoverished state of the country. 



Of the grain crops which are raised, no doubt a large proportion is 

 exported, the people being too poor to use them themselves, even when 

 they have not been wholly hypothecated, as they commonly are, to the 

 mahajans on account of advances. The jungle products are the great 



Jungle products. stand-by, and furnish a means of subsistence to 



many thousands for several months of each year. 



The reservation of large tracts of forest has, however, curtailed the 



areas accessible to the people, and thus in bad seasons the relief to 



be obtained from these jungle products is less than it was formerly. 



( :27 ) 



