1834.] between Hoshungabad and Makrai. 65 



the road. (I have ever observed that when the soil is of a black loam, 

 there I have remarked the widest extent of praus, as well as a greater 

 cultivation of the cotton shrub.) Two villages only were seen near the 

 road. 



Rhitgaon is a small town, less in point of size than Bkadoogaon, 

 situated on the west bank of the Ajnuul nuddee : this stream flows in a 

 gentle current over a sandy bed ; no rocks or stones being perceptible. 

 In the centre of the place is a small dilapidated mud gurhee, or fort. 



The country from Rhitgong to Mugurduh is a black loam soil, with 

 a great deal of praus jungle and byr bushes on each side of the road — 

 yet, withal, there was a pretty fair cultivation, considering the paucity 

 of villages and the scanty population. 



Since we left Seonee, we have been travelling over a bye-road, and 

 one but very little passed, and seldom if ever used by way-farers and 

 travellers. The great thoroughfare to Aseergurh, Boorhanpoor, fyc. 

 branches off from Seonee through Hurda. 



Mugurduh is a small village, distant about 69 miles from Hoshungabad, 

 and stands on the confines of the Company's ceded districts. It is 

 situated on the northern bank of the Machuk nuddee, a small stream, 

 taking its rise at no very great distance in the mountainous regions 

 to the eastward, and discharging itself after a short course into the 

 Nerbudda. 



This village is situated in a low ground, and there is a slight de- 

 scent to it the last half mile. It is a small poor place, the inhabitants 

 being either all cultivators or herdsmen — and chiefly of the same cast 

 as their late patel (or headman) Ram Singh, who was a Rajpoot, and 

 who, some years back, emigrated from Hindustan to settle there. The 

 only trade of the place consists in the exportation of grain and ghee, 

 and unwrought lumps of iron, as obtained from the neighbouring hills, 

 after a coarse and rude process of smelting. The soil around is very 

 rich, and the crops of wheat, (little of which is grown, however, here- 

 abouts,) gram, jowar, boota, and bajra are, in consequence, both fine 

 and abundant. Sugar-cane with rhur dal, and a small patch here and 

 there for the cotton shrub, meet the eye occasionally ; the finest and 

 best looking crops are the jowar, whose stalks have reached eleven feet 

 and a half in height, although the general height is from six to eight 

 feet ; while their pods are well filled with grain. Between the village 

 and the nuddee, there is a very fine burghut tree, which has thrown 

 out several thick branches, which descending perpendicular to the earth, 

 have entered it and taken root. These ramifications, giving support to 

 the parent stem, contribute to a great increase of shade. The place is 

 extremely unhealthy just after the rains ; for it is literally embosomed 



