1839] 



On the Siatistics of Duhhun* 



m 



than 2032 populated villages belong to the British *; of this number 1968 

 sent in population returns. The most populous town in Khandesh 

 was Nandoorbar, and it had only 6429 inhabitants; and only one other 

 town (Chopra) had a population of 6000. The towns and villages aver- 

 age only 178 inhabitants, and each house averages 3-96 inmates. The 

 total of the inhabitants is 478,457. 



From the village lands in Khandesh being kept universally in Bee- 

 gahs, the amount of land under cultivation is readily determined. It 

 would appear that 15,958 acres were watered by perennial streamlets. 

 Lands so watered are called pahtstui, and are the most valuable of all, 

 as the supply of water is mostly permanent, and the chief labour re- 

 quired is to open the channels and let it flow over the lands; 46,064 

 acres were watered from wells, and lands so watered are called 

 Mohfstul rf 600,553 acres were under field cultivation, and are not 

 watered, — these lands are called Zerhaep.t, The per centage of cultivat- 

 ed and waste lands in this collectorate is as follows 



Watered by perennial streams\ 



Watered from wells y 15*32 per cent. 



Field cultivation ) 



Waste land 84-68 do. 



100... 



Rivers. — The River Tapty runs through the whole length of the col- 

 lectorate, and, unlike the rivers of the other collectorates, disembogues 

 into the Gulf of Cambay, below Surat ; the water-shed of the country 

 being in fact from the east to the west, instead of from the west to the 

 east ; there are some exceptions in rivers which rise in the Western 

 Ghats, or the Chandore range, and run to the east for some distance, then 

 sweep round in a segment of a circle and join the Tapty ; such are the 

 Guirna, Roharee, the Moosum, &c. Timber is floated down the Tapty 

 in the monsoon. 



Boodh Cave Temples. — Near to the Adjunta Pass, through the Chan- 

 dore range, from Ahmednuggur into Khandesh, or a multitude of those 

 astonishing remains of Boodhist art, consisting of excavations in the mu- 

 ral faces of the trap rocks, the interior walls of which excavations are 



* In the Collectov's revenue return for 1827-8 the number of villages is stated to be 

 2697i, so that 3351 of the deserted villages had become inhabited, independently 

 of 330 uninhabited villages whose lands were included in the return. 



+ Paht means a water-channel, and Moht means a well-bucket ; implying in the first 

 instance that lands are watered from streamlets, and in the second instance from wellB. 



