BALLIA. and 20 years afterwards is
to
be on the north bank.
again distinguished according as
action of the Ganges or the
remarkable for
river being
19
is
it
Gogra
—the
its fertility
The
alluvial tract
created by, and subject to, the alluvial deposit of the
former
and productiveness, while
that of
Gogra is sandy and unfertile, and peculiarly unstable. Besides the Ganges and Gogra, the only river in the District is the Lesser Sarju, an affluent of the Gogra, which branches off in Azamgarh District, and joins the Ganges a little way above the town of Ballia. It forms approximately the boundary between this District and Ghdzipur. Ballia is well wooded, abounding in groves of mango trees. There is no jungle, and no waste lands except in the upland tract, the barren patches liable to efflorescence of reh, and in the lowland some stretches of grass jungle along the Gogra. There are some nilgai in the District, The grass jungle gives cover to wild but no deer or other large game. hogs. The density of the population, and the comparative absence of jungle, have long ago driven out all the larger carnivora, and there In other respects, is now no animal fiercer than the jackal and fox. the
the fauna of Ballia
is
similar to that of all other Districts of the North-
Western Provinces. History
.
—The
present District of Ballia corresponds to no ancient
territory of separate historical interest
and
its
is therefore comand Azamgarh. It
history
prised in that of the parent Districts of Ghdzipur
should be noted, however, that pargand Doaba formerly belonged to
Shahabdd
District in Bengal,
Provinces
in 1818.
Archaology
—There
.
either ancient or
is
modern.
Waina, huge mounds
and was
transferred to the North-Western
a singular absence of any buildings of note Here and there, notably at Pakka Kot and
exist,
which
in the case of
Pakka Kot are
partly
faced with brick, and are the remains of old fortifications attributed by
to
its
colonization
—
—
and Cherus the possessors of the country prior by the Rajput tribes from the north-west.
tradition to the Bhars
Ballia supports a population of 924,763 persons, Population. according to the Census of 1881, or an average of 808 to the square It is the most densely populated District of the Province, mile. is due entirely to the Only 69,321 Muhammadans
except Benares, where the greater average density inclusion of the large city of that name.
are returned, or 7^ per cent., which is a considerably smaller proportion than for the rest of the Province, and shows the slight extent to
Muhammadan conquest The Muhammadan community holds The Hindu population amounts which the
affected the general
population.
a very small portion of the
soil.
855,410, of whom Rajputs number 131,126, and form the great land-holding class. Even where the proprietary right has passed from them during the English rule
by auction
to
sale or private transfer, they retain their
hold on the
soil
