1839] 



and Statistical of the Ceded Districts. 



123 



Fences. — The waste lands are never, and the cultivated seldom? 

 divided by fences, except during the time the grain is on the ground,, 

 and then they are merely slight enclosures formed by a few thorns. 

 The betel and other gardens and orchards are permanently fenced, gene- 

 rally with diwunah gunna, milk-hedge, aloe, prickly-pear, or hinna, the 

 latter is rare and usually seen in gardens. Loose stone walls, resem- 

 bling those in Wales, or the hilly parts of England, are met with in rocky 

 situations, such as Chill umcoor, Chitwauripully, &c. 



Domestic animals. — Most of the animals useful to man and common 

 to Peninsular India, are found in the Ceded Districts. The horse is 

 rarely bred : those used by the natives being generally brought from 

 the banks of the Bhima in the Southern Mahratta Country. Tattoos, or 

 ponies, of a hardy description are bred in abundance. The ass is small- 

 er than that of Europe, though large for India. The bull and cow are 

 of the common Indian species. They are of a hardy description, 

 capable of much fatigue, though not so large as those of Guzerat or 

 Nellore. The buffalo is of the long-horned variety ; and, from the 

 animal's partiality for water, much better adapted to the purposes of wet 

 Cultivation than the bullock. The sheep is remarkable for the excel- 

 lence of its wool ; from which cumVes of the best description are manu- 

 factured (principally in the Harponhully taluk), both for local consump- 

 tion and exportation. The number of black cattle in the Ceded Districts, 

 is estimated at 1,353,930, of sheep 961,520. 



Wild animals. — -The principal ferce natures that come under notice, are 

 monkeys, principally of the genus Semnopithecus, the common and great 

 bat, the flying fox, and other members of the cheiropterous family. The 

 great black, orlabiated bear, the jackal, mongoose , royal tiger, the cheta, 

 or hunting leopard, the leopard, the tiger-cat, the hysena, the wolf, fox, 

 hare, wild boar, porcupine, and the common, spotted, and goat-ante- 

 lope. I have seen elk in the forests of the Nulla Mulla, they occur also 

 among the Sondur hills, the sciuri or squirrel tribe, are numerous. 

 Among birds are the Indian eagle, vulture, varieties of the hawk and 

 falcon tribe, paroquets, doves, king-fishers, wood-peckers, the common 

 sparrow, swallow and the crow, pea and jungle fowl, partridge, rock- 

 pigeon (the pterocles exustus of Temminck), quail, bustard, floriken, 

 plover, snipe, stork, heron. Among palmipedes, we have a variety of 

 gulls, terns, the common wild duck and goose, the black backed goose 

 (anser melanotos ), tea\ and pelicans. Among chelonians, are the fresh 

 water and geometrically shelled tortoise, and of saurians, we have the alli- 

 gator, iguana, chameleon, and a great variety of lizards. Among ophidians 

 ranks first in deadliness the cobra di capello and venemous whip-snake. 



