476 ORISSA TRIBUTARY STATES. newly cleared patches of land, which depends entirely on the local rainfall. The forest is cut down and burnt upon the spot; and the soil, thus enriched with salts, yields abundant crops of early rice, oilseeds, and cotton. At the end of four or five years, such clearings are abandoned for new ones, and the land relapses into jungle. After years of rest, when a fresh growth of forest has sprung up, the trees and shrubs are again cut down and burnt, the whole process of clearing and cultivating for another period of five years being repeated de novo. Trade and Communications.—The population is generally scanty, and having abundance of waste lands to cultivate, is disinclined to emigration. Trade and commerce, owing to the miserable condition of communications, are of no importance. There are said to be coalfields in Tálcher and Angúl, and it is possible, if the Cuttack and Benares Railway be constructed, that they may be found of value. At present they cannot be worked. Although the Mahanadi, Bráhmaní, and Baitaraní rivers either pass through or take their rise in the Tributary States, they are only navigable for native boats from June to December, and the navigation is much impeded by large rocks. There are no land routes deserving the naine, except some local roads in Dhenkanal, Keunjhar, and Morbhanj. The two existing lines from Cuttack to Sambalpur, one through Angúl and the other through Sonpur, are submerged in parts during the rainy season, and are neither pridged nor metalled. Forests.— The Tributary States of Orissa are among the best timberproducing tracts in India ; but the native chiefs, by whom the greater portion is owned, have taken little care of their forests. They have established no reserves, and the forests are recklessly wasted without any corresponding gain to agriculture or to the general prosperity of the country. As the territory is opened up and the timber becomes more valuable, the Chiefs will perhaps be induced to preserve the forests. The Kandh-mál forests are considered to be valuable. Reserved forests in Angúl estate have not yet been accurately surveyed, but the total area is reported approximately at 170,880 acres. Administration.—The Chiefs rule their territories nuch according to their own ideas of what is right. The British system is to leave cach State under its hereditary Rájá, and allow him jurisdiction in civil disputes, and in all crimes not of a heinous character. The Chiefs are amenable to the British Commissioner of the Province, in his character as Superintendent of the Tributary States; this officer has jurisdiction in all serious offences, and may imprison criminals for a term not exceeding seven years. Sentences for a longer period, although passed by the Commissioner, must be reported to the Bengal Governinent for
