FYZ
428
great feature of Fyzabad as compared with western Oudh is the vast number of artificial tanks and masonry wells '"'^" "^^^°^ ^^"^^ ^^^^ constructed. The area under water tiva"Su ofTte Tes*" in the old district, which includes the new one and a part now in Sultanpur, is recorded at 9 per cent, of the whole this, however, includes the Fyzabad half of the rivers Gograand Gumti. There are no large swamps or lakes such as occur in Partabgarh and Hardoi, nor any of the ancient and now deserted river channels filled with water from the rains which are common in Kheri and Bahraich. This is probably due to the artificial tanks which have been constructed upon the lines of They are now generally in a sad (drainage to intercept superfluous water. state of disrepair many of them have either silted up or the level of the country has changed, so that they are not so much tanks dug beneath the The total surface as simply square embankments raised upon the surface. absence of excavation in some would lead to the belief that they are mounds intended to protect habitations from floods. These mounds themselves, however, are in perfect order generally, except that small gaps are left through which the water escapes and, as before stated, the level inside very little labour, and is little below that of the surrounding country. that too applied at a time when there is leisure from all other agricultural operations, would restore hundreds of these tanks to their former usefulIt is not impossible that wells pay best as far as concerns the mere ness. storage of water, but where a tank also perforins the part of a drainage well has one great advantage, basin it would appear the most profitable. it can be used to water the sugarcane in March, April, and May, when •tanks are sure to be dry.
The
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The rivers have very gentle slopes, and during the dry weather they are almost dry, except the Gogra. Its channel is 308 feet above the sea when it enters the district, and 240 when it leaves it, after a course of above 100 miles this represents a fall of about 9 inches per mile. The level of the country, similarly, at the north-west comer is 340 feet above the sea, and at the south-east it sinks to 270. The rivers all flow south-east they are now useless for irrigation, but they might easily be embanked or dammed, as their slopes are moderate and their banks compact. Their names are the Madha and the Bisoi, which, when united, form the Tons, and the Majhoi, which forms the present boundary between Fyzabad and Sultanpur, afterwards joining the Tons.
I found one or two tanks being made, but the motive was religious, and the maker in no case an agriculturist. The cost of excavation was curiOne biswa'square, Government measure, was taken, and ously calculated. -a contract was taken for excavating this to the depth of 10 mutthis or This measure turned out to be 30 iijiches, and to be the ha,nds' breadth. ordinary ilahi gaz of Akbar of 40* fingers. The contract was that each lower excavation should be paid for at a rate of one-quarter above the upper one. The first layer of 30 inches would be removed and heaped up round the edge at Es. 5, the second at Rs. 6-4, the third at Rs. 7-13, the fourth at Rs. 9-12, the fifth, which was to complete the work, at Rs. 11-11. Each biswa then would cost Rs. 40-8, and the tank, which was about 15 biswas square and 30 feet deep, would cost Rs. 706, and would water not more than 2.3 acres at the most, while it would be useless in May.
- Prinsep's Useful Tables, page 124.
