126 REVENUE SURVEYS. 



atitude, together -with, a skeleton traverse survey of the forests, 

 to serve as a basis for the construction of working plans by forest 

 officers. The chief place of importance falling within the season's 

 work was Belgaurn, with its cantonment and fort. During the 

 ensuing years the work was carried on by two separate sections, but 

 in 1887-88 the Bombay Government represented that the skeleton 

 boundary maps gave very meagre results compared with their cost, 

 so after a conference at Poona between the Secretary to the Govern- 

 ment of India, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, 

 the Surveyor-General, and officers of the Forest and Survey Depart- 

 ments, the procedure was altered, and one entire party for forest 

 topography was formed out of the forest sections of Nos. 10 and 17 

 parties, while the second party was to be employed exclusively on 

 general topography.* 



Assam and Siklcim. — In Assam a small party under Mr. W. H. 

 Patterson had been deputed in 1877 to ascertain the areas of plots of 

 land held by the lalchirajdarsf preparatory to adjusting their claims 

 and allotting what they were actually entitled to. The work consisting 

 of three stages, viz., (1) the professional survey of interior details, (2) 

 the adjustment of areas and boundary, and (3) the final demarcation 

 and boundary survey, was carried on until 1878-79, but in that year 

 the operations, so far as the Indian Survey Department was concerned, 

 were brought to a close, as it was considered that the mere calculation 

 of the areas could be effectually done by ordinary amins under the 

 Settlement Commissioner. 



On completion of Lieut. Harman's work in 1877-78 in Northern 

 Assam, that officer's part}' was transferred to the Darjeeling district 

 for the purpose of completing certain miscellaneous surveys required 

 by the Bengal Government, the most prominent of which were a 

 large scale survey of Darjeeling station and a survey of the route 

 leading into Tibet from Rhenok to the Jelep-la pass. In October 

 1879 Lieutenant Harinan started for Northern Sikkim and Mr. Eobert 

 for "Western Sikkim to undertake a geographical survey of that 

 Statef, while the remaining surveyors, European and Native, were 

 left to complete the field work in the Darjeeling district. The result, 

 however, was unfortunate in various respects, for Lieutenant Harman 

 was badly frostbitten in his feet, and the surveyors at Darjeeling 

 were called upon to perform a variety of pressing duties in the 



* See page 90. 



t Holders of land rent free. 



% See footnote on following page. 



