OUDH. 481 line of communication. Their course is determined by the prevailing slope of the country, which falls away graclually from the Himálayan border towards the Ganges and the sea. The general direction of the incline is thus from the north-west, where the greatest elevation attained in the jungle-clad Khairigarh plateau of Kheri District) amounts to 600 feet, while the extreme south-eastern frontier is only 230 feet above sea level. Four great rivers traverse or skirt the plain of Oudh in converging courses -- the GANGES, the Gušti, the GOGR.1, and the RAPTI. Numerous smaller channels sean the whole face of the country, carrying off the surplus drainage in the rains, but drying up in the hot season. Mountain torrents, fed by the rains and the melting snow, bring down large quantities of detritus, which they spread during floods over the surrounding plain. The deposits thus accumulated con vist at times of pure sand, at others of rich elay silt; but in any case their accumulation causes a gradual rise in elevation, and has been accompanied in many parts by the formation of unhealthy swamps at the foot of the hills. All the larger rivers, except the Gúmti, as well as most of the smaller streams, have beds hardly sunk below the general level; and in times of floods, caused by the rains or melting snow, they burst through their confining banks and carve for themselves new channels at various points. The Gúmti rises in Pilibhit District of the North-Western Provinces, passes the cities of Lucknow, Sultánpur, and Jaunpur, and flows into the Ganges near Sayyidpur in Ghazipur District beyond Oudh territory. Its tributaries are the Kathná, the Sarayan, the Sai, and the Nand. Oudh possesses another valuable source of water-supply in its numerous shallow ponds or jhils, many of which mark the former beds of the shifting rivers. These jhils are of value, not only as preservatives against inundation, but also as reservoirs for irrigation and for the supplying of water to cattle. Only two amongst them, however, those of Behti in Partábgarh District (10 square miles), and Sándi in Hardoi (14 square miles), deserve the name of lakes. A country so uniform in its physical features can hardly possess any natural sub-divisions; and, accordingly, the various administrative Districts of Oudh do not materially differ from one another in their general aspect. The north-eastern angle, comprising Gonda and Bahraich Districts, is traversed by the river Rápti, and slopes southward to the deeper channel of the Gogra. Along the southern bank of the latter stream stretches the thickly inhabited District of Faizábád, and the three together compose the Division of the same nam north-western Division of Sítápur comprises the three Districts of Kheri, Sítápur, and Hardoi, extending from the Khairigarh jungles on the north, across the valleys of the Sarda and the Gúmti, to the banks of the Ganges opposite Kanauj. The central Division of Lucknow spreads VOL. X. 2 H
