548 Notes upon a Tour through the Rdjmahal Hills. [No. 7. 



the land that was being cleared of forest and that had been cleared so 

 extensive, that Government appointed Mr. James Pontet of the unco- 

 venanted Civil Service, Superintendent of the whole of the hills, under 

 the Title of " Superintendent of the Damin-e-Koh," with power to 

 guard the interest of Government by making favorable land settlements 

 with the Sonthals and to collect the rent. 



Mr. Pontet took charge of his duties in 1838, the yearly ground 

 rent then being two thousand rupees, and the number of Sonthal 

 villages amounting to about forty, with a population of about three 

 thousand souls ; but now in 1851 A. D. only thirteen years after tak- 

 ing charge, Mr. Pontet has, by judicious management, raised the rent 

 to Company's Rupees 43,918-13-5^, and the number of Sonthals who 

 have been induced to immigrate into the valleys and into the Damin-e- 

 Koh amounts to 82,795 souls, contained in 1,473 villages; 1164 of 

 which pay rent, and 309 of which are free ; the latter not having been 

 under occupation the three years of grace considerately allowed to 

 each new village to enable it to clear the forest and break up the land 

 previous to its being brought on the rent-roll. 



The boundary of the Damin-e-Koh as denned by Mr. Ward, encloses 

 an irregular- shaped figure, as it generally follows the shape of the 

 hills ; the greatest length from the north to south is seventy miles ; 

 the greatest width, which is near the centre of the hills, is thirty miles ; 

 whilst to the north and south it is only sixteen miles in width ; the 

 area contained within its limits is 1366.01 square miles, of which about 

 500 square miles are level ground situated within and without the hills. 



Of the level ground 254 square miles are cleared of forest; 157 

 square miles of which are under cultivation by the Sonthals, and 97 

 square miles are lying fallow. 



On the summits and sides of the hills about 28 square miles are 

 under cultivation by the hill-men, and the same area is lying fallow ; 

 this allowance gives 20 acres of cultivation and 20 acres of fallow to 

 each village which is the approximately ascertained area. 



" The hills" as Dr. Buchanan observes " are no where of sufficient 

 height to reduce the temperature of the air in any considerable degree, 

 and the reflection of the sun's rays from their rocks, and the shelter 

 from the winds that their forests afford, renders the part among the 

 hills hotter than the plains, so that the mountaineers when in the open 



