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which ate exchanged against rice and the silver needed to meet the drain of the land revenue. The villages are connected by rough cart tracks, and the rivers crossed at short intervals by fords, sometimes supplemented by a bridge of fagots. Of these, the most important is the Chandradip Ghat over the Kuwana, by which a fairly passable road runs from the Biskohar bazar in the Basti district, and joins the Utraula and Nawabganj road at Machhligaon, in pargana Manikapur. registration station is kept up at the ghat itself, and shows a pretty even exchange, rising in some years to nearly a lac of rupees on both sides of the account, between the rice of the northern tarai and the salt and cotton, manufactured and raw, of Central India or Manchester. There are no places of pilgrimage, or any peculiar local superstition, As might be expected, Samai Bhawani and Banspati Mai, the terrible she-demons of the woods, have an unusual amount of respect paid to them, and the solitary traveller deprecates their wrath by casting another stick on each of the small piles of wood which mark the forest path. seeds,
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The total population by the census amounted to 20,544, giving an average of 263 to the square mile. Of these, the settlement returns show that 19,054 live in the cultivated centre, -which is, therefore, peopled at the rate of 402 to the square mile while the thirty square miles of forest allotments have only 1,500 inhabitants, or an average of fifty souls a piece. There are 5,135 houses, with an average of four souls each, and while the census shows 236 hamlets and five detached houses, the settlement papers return no less than 488 detached hamlets. The latter are more likely to be correct, as, when the census was taken, the Revenue Survey had not been completed,'and the returns consequently show many errors.
Muhammadans number 4,901, which gives the unusually high proportion Many of these are the retainers of nearly a fourth of the whole population. and the descendants of the old Pathan chiefs, and many more converted Chhattris and Kurmis, who followed the fashion or sought the favour of the ruling house. Of the Hindus, the most numerous castes are Ahirs and Ohamars these are followed by Kurmis and Muraos, and if the settlement returns are right, the pargana nlay be congratulated on having only 162 houses of Brahmans. Among the more singular tribes may be mentioned the Bhars and the Kewats. The former are the descendants of a people who appear for once on the stage of history as masters of an extensive kingdom in Oudh and the duab, between the two great Muhammadan In appearance they invasions, and then completely fall out of sight. resemble low-caste Hindus, Koris, and Chamars, and I have not noticed any Mongolian traits in their physiognomy. They have, however, one striking peculiarity in common with the Tharus their hatred of the cultivated plain. When land has attained a certainpitch of cultivation, they always leave It for some less hospitable spot, and their lives are spent in wandering from jungle to jungle. They commence the struggle with nature, and after the first and most difficult victory over disease and wild beasts, leave it to the Kurmis and Ahirs to gather the fruits of their They are very timid, very honest, and keen sportsmen, xiesultory energy. untiring in pursuit, and excellent shots with their long guns. They show the influence of orthodox Hinduism in sparing the nil-gae, but are fond of
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