1844.] the Kumaon and Rohilcund Turaee. 903 



the plains of Hindoostan, including Rohilcund, were the scene of con- 

 stant disturbances and change. The Terrai became filled with emi- 

 grants from the lower country, who had fled from the extra-taxation, and 

 the multiplied masters, which the wars of that period had created. This 

 was the first great recent emigration into the Terrai. The next exten- 

 sive influx of lowlanders occurred immediately after the accession of the 

 Nawab Vuzeer, as above related, to the sovereignty of Rohilcund, and 

 continued till the tyranny of the new reign had somewhat over-past, and 

 till (after the second Rohilla war with Fyzoollah Khan, who himself 

 brought large numbers of people to the jungle, where his entrenchments 

 were formed,) the lower districts became again fit for the habitation of 

 peaceful and industrious people. Thus, at first, tolerable good govern- 

 ment at one place, and intolerably bad government at another, contri- 

 buted to the occupancy of the waste lands of the Kumaon Bhabur, by 

 natives of other districts ; and a few years subsequently, the Ghoor- 

 kallee invasion of Kumaon, and the civil wars which preceded that 

 event, drove down numerous mountaineers to the same quarter, and 

 made Casheepoor, Rooderpoor, Kilpoory, and other frontier towns and 

 villages the emigrant settlements of numerous individuals, whose poli- 

 tical importance or wealth rendered them peculiarly obnoxious to the 

 evil of a revolution, and whose stay on the hills had become incompatible 

 with their safety. We may, I think, date at this period the planting 

 of the numerous mangoe groves* in the Terrai, which at this day so 

 frequently surprise the sportsman, in spots where wild beasts occupy 

 the place of human inhabitants, and swamps lie over the site of 

 villages.f 



The death of Seebdeo by violence in a military emeute at Cashee- 

 poor, occurred as above recorded in 1686 Saka, or 1764 a.d., and 

 from that time I much doubt whether the dependency to the hill state 

 of Kumaon of the whole Terrai (except a slip of forest at the very base 

 of the hills,) did not cease and determine. While that minister sur- 



* There are other groves of older date no doubt, as there are ancient wells, 

 and chubootras, remains of aqueducts and the like ; but the existing groves for the 

 most part do not appear older than 60 or 80 years. 



t Some Puthan families were great benefactors of the Turai for a short time, and 

 the large gools and gardens which bear the name of Jungee Khan and others, attest 

 their former influence, especially in Bazpoor and the western Pergunnahs. 



