1638.] of the protected Sikh States, 757 



The population of these two tracts is mostly Hindu, but among the 

 zemindars and lower castes there is a considerable sprinkling of Mu- 

 salmans, Rajputs, both Hindu and Musalman, but principally the latter, 

 and Jats are the commonest classes among the zemindars ; but Rors, a 

 caste I believe peculiar to this part of India, are not uncommon among 

 the cultivators. Musalman mdlis are the best. The Sikh persuasion 

 is not common among the Jat zemindars, but confined to the invading 

 chiefs from the other side of the Sutlej, but it is not unusual for 

 sweepers and chamars to adopt that faith under the name of Rangrethas 

 and Ramdasias. About one-third of the kahars are Musalmans, which 

 proportion becomes larger as we advance westward towards Lodihana 

 and the Panjdb. A Musalman tribe Gagra replace the sweeper caste 

 in the charge of leeches. 



III. The Phalahi tract. This extending westward from my second 

 division, is bounded on the north by the Sutlej low land or Bhet ; to the 

 south by Bhatiana, while towards the west I am not acquainted with its 

 limits or the nature of the countries that succeed it (if different) towards 

 Firozpur. It may be divided into two great subdivisions, the Phalahi 

 proper and the Jhand. 



In the first of these water is found tolerably near the surface (30 to 

 80 feet), so that wells for irrigation are abundant; in drawing water the 

 lao or bag pulley and inclined plane is in almost exclusive use, the Per- 

 sian wheel or harat being very seldom seen, and the depth of the water 

 from the surface entirely precluding the use of the dhenki which is 

 not rare in the preceding tracts. 



The phalahi) Acacia modesta — Wall., from which I have distin- 

 guished this tract, is a small tree about the same size as the babul but 

 very different in appearance, being very scraggy and armed all over with 

 sharp hooked prickles. It is deciduous and when the leaves first ap- 

 pear in March remarkably beautiful, the delicate foliage being of the 

 most brilliant light green and set off by the bunches of long cylindric 

 spikes of white flowers diffusing a delightful perfume through the air ; 

 but its beauty is very transitory, the flowers soon fade and the leaves 

 assume a dreary glaucous hue and fall early in winter, leaving the tree 

 covered with the compressed yellowish pods. The wood is very hard 

 and heavy, of a dark brown color, and is much used for a variety of eco- 

 nomical purposes. It grows abundantly in all waste places. In this 

 tract the Chamror, Ehretia Icevis, again appears, being abundant at the 

 foot of the Sewaliks but very rare in the babul tract : it also is much 

 valued for the hardness of its wood. 



Sugar-cane is only cultivated in the most northern part of this tract, 



