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DHA
384
red bricks, was a conspicuous object. It is now almost submerged in the new soil, above which it only rises a few feet.
Formerly the Chauka and Kauriala joined at a spot two miles north of See Erskine's Memoirs of Babar. Then the Chauka sought a Fyzabad. nearer path of junction, and the waters met at Bahramghat, but these channels have now in a great measure disappeared. The Kauriala formerly flowed under Unchgaon, but other details will be found in the account of that river. There is no forest in the pargana dense grass and jhau cover the waste lands. The inhabitants suffer much from fever, and specially from goitre, particularly ia the southern portions occasionally half the males in a village are laboring under this plague. Cultivation is verybackward in the southern half of the pargana no sugarcane is sown owing to a tradition that a faqir cursed whoever would plant it. There are great water advantages here the Chauka borders the pargana for 45 miles, the Kauriala for 19, the Dahawar for about 30. All these rivers, especially the last, could be used for irrigation.
In 1865 the Chauka abandoned its old course, precipitated its waters Dahawar, and the great mass of its current, therefore, along with the latter stream, joins the Kauriala, at Mallapur. The pargana has a very considerable slope from north-west to south-east. The drainage is fair there are no lakes, except a few old river channels, in the bends of which, where the greatest scour took place, water lodged and has remained ever since. South of Ramia Bihar there is a very large and picturesque sheet of water of this description. into the
principally loam and clay, rather sandy towards the Chauka. are varied and rather picturesque ; but as the sub-soil is nearly everywhere sandy, large trees, except in favoured spots, will not grow. Whole groves die off in a single year, because the roots have penetrated Formerly there were a great number of nil-gae, gond, and to the sand.
The soil The slopes
is
hog-deer in the grass wastes south of the town of Dhaurahra along the banks of the Chauka.
The population is principally Hindu there are only 3,087 Musalmans, and 67,708 Hindus—in all 70,795. Of the above, 58,882 are agriculturists, or 70 per cent., and 21,913 are non-agriculturists. Of the Hindus, Ahirs are the most numerous caste, being 8,260, or 11-6 per cent, of the
entire population. Chamilrs
Kurmis Mur^oB Brahmans Pa«is
The other
castes appear in the following order
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Koris
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Itahara Gararias
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Lonias Chhattris
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,.,
7,392 6,287 4,456 4,674 3,547 2,952 2,778 1,933 1,869 1,405
or 94 per cent.
„ 84 „
6
„ 64
- , 44
„ 4 „ 4 „ 3 „ 3 „ 2
It appears, then, that the good cultivators are in unusually large proportions. The P£sis claim descent from the Rdjpdsi kings of Dhaurahra. The Kurmis are generally called Khair^tis, and were settled largely by Shujd-uddaula ; but tiiey are alleged to be the original zamind^s of the pargana
