72 COL. T. HOLBEIN BENDLEY, C.I.E., ON THE 



in the centre of the country, and was one of the principal 

 residences and capitals of the Moghul Emperors. 



As the physical conditions of a country, including the geology 

 and meteorology, undoubtedly exercise a very important 

 influence upon the inhabitants, whether it be on their history 

 or their character, an influence which I believe to have been 

 especially marked in the present case, a somewhat careful study 

 of these points must be made. 



Geologists inform us that the Aravalli mountains differ from 

 the other great ranges of India in being entirely composed of 

 disturbed rocks, with the axes of disturbance corresponding 

 with the direction of the chain, the formations in them belonging 

 to the Archaean rocks, and being of great antiquity and quite 

 unfossiliferous. North-west of the mountains alluvial formations, 

 also unfossiliferous, extend across part of Marwar ; Yindhyan 

 rocks, a similar series, being found on the south-east border of 

 the province. Valuable points related to the geology are the 

 kinds of building materials associated with the strata ; the nature 

 of the soils ; and the influence of these factors on the climate, 

 the communications, the animal and vegetable products, and 

 the development, health and happiness of the people, as well as 

 the effect they have had upon their relations with the outside 

 world. In the eastern and central parts of Rajputana the soil is 

 light, assimilating to that of the United Provinces, and it yields 

 good crops of cereals. The rich loams of Haraoti and parts of 

 Meywar supply large quantities of wheat, sugar-cane, cotton 

 and opium ; this district, under Zalim Singh, the famous regent 

 of Kotah, having been a hundred years ago the granary of the 

 centre of India. On the sand of the north and north-west one 

 annual harvest, instead of two as elsewhere, is reaped and is 

 chiefly made up of millets. There is, therefore, a great difference 

 of foods depending upon the nature of the soil to a large extent ; 

 thus, for example, where the staple is millet the food is coarse, 

 and this fact, added to the scarcity of good fodder, which is due 

 to the irregular rainfall, makes life very hard in the desert v 

 tracts for both man and beast. 



Yet this very difficulty has its compensations, because it 

 compels the inhabitants who are strong and hardy to seek 

 their fortunes abroad, thus following the law of movement so 

 forcibly enunciated by Buckle. 



These remarks are not only true of the Eajput warrior, but 

 of the mercantile classes, who under the names of Marwaris, 

 Baniyas, Seths, or bankers, reside for a time in the rich towns 

 and villages of the whole of North India, and even far beyond, 



