476 Mr. W. Jesse on the 
the Goomtij which flows in a well-defined winding channel 
almost equidistant between them_, and is navigable for fairly 
large country boats. The only other stream of any preten- 
sions is the Sail. There are a few so-called rivers, but none 
of them are more than monsoon-filled nullahs, which are dry 
during the hot weather. During the rains^ however, some of 
them assume considerable proportions. ^'^The Kalyani, for 
instance, in the rain of 187:^, was 269 feet broad, where it is 
crossed by the railway in the Barabanki district, and 33 feet 
deep, with a velocity oE 5*74 miles per hour, and a discharge 
of 51,540 cubic feet per second.''^ But during the dry weather, 
with the exception of the four first named, all the so-called 
rivers are but sun-baked ravines with here and there a 
stagnant pool. 
The cost of irrigating by the waters of these rivers, except 
the Goomti, is, or is supposed to be, prohibitive, and, in the 
case of the Ganges, sanctity prevents its being put to all the 
uses it might. The cultivator gets the bulk of his water from 
wells, j heels, and tanks, which he trusts the yearly rainfall to 
fill up for him. Should, therefore, the supply fail, scarcity, 
if not actual famine, is almost certain to result. These j heels 
are very numerous, and in many instances are fine expanses 
of water, which in the cold weather teem with wild-fowl. They 
are particularly numerous about Mohanlalganj, Sehsindi, 
Rahimabad, and Itaunja in the Lucknow district ; about 
Ajgaen, in the Unao district ; and in the tahsils of Daryabad, 
Bam Sanehi Ghat, Dewa, and Nawabgunj in the Barabanki 
district. These jheels are usually situated in the middle of 
some usar plain surrounded by dhak, grass, or corounda- 
jungle, though of late years, owing to the destruction of the 
brushwood, they are of a more open nature than they 
formerly were. 
The dry year of 1877 caused a remarkable change to take 
place in these jheels, and many have ever since been more 
or less metamorphosed in character, while their area has in 
too many instances been contracted. Much of the aquatic 
flora, moreover, peculiar to these jheels disappeared during 
the three deficient rainfalls of 1876-78, and has in many 
instances failed to re-establish itself. 
