OUDII 483 its fruit, and its timber. The jhils supply the villages with wild rice, the roots and seeds of the lotus, and the water-nut known as singhura. The area of reserved forest in Oudh in 1881 was 1079 square miles; a protected from fire, 173,754 acres; number of trecs felled by the forest officers, 87,388 ; value of timber and other produce soldi, 427,597. The revenue of the Oudh Forest Department in 1881 was £28,198, and the expenditure £21,703 ; surplus profit, £6495. The fauna of the Province comprises most of the animals and birds common to the Gangetic plain ; but many species once of frequent occurrence have now disappeared from this thickly populated tract. Wild elephants wandered till a very recent period in the forests which skirt the north of Gonda, and afforded sport to the Rájás of Tulsipur ; now, this animal is practically unknown, except when a stray specimen loses his way at the foot of the hills. Herds of wild buffalocs, which formerly roamed in the woodlands of Kheri, have long since been extirpated. Tigers once swarmed along the banks of the Rápti; but the rewards offered by Government have now lessened their numbers, and they have grown scarce even in the submontane region, being only found in any numbers among the wilds of Khairigarh. Leopards, however, still haunt the cane-brakes and thickets along the banks of streains as far south as the Gogra, and occasionally make prey of calves or pigs. Vilgrii are found all over the Province, and in the north commit depredations among the crops. Antelope frequent the usar plains of the Ganges and the Gúmti in great numbers. Innumerable flocks of teal and wild duck stud the jhíls during the cold weather; and snipe haunt their reedy banks, though not so plentifully as among the rice-fields of Bengal. Jungle fowl breed in the forests of the Tarai, and peacock are found in every District. Wolves and snakes, the chief enemies to human life, are assiduously destroyed in large numbers; but their ravages still occasion much loss of life. The domestic animals include horses, cattle, buffaloes, donkey's, pigs, sheep, goats, and fowls. Immense herds of dwarfish cattle graze along the submontane belt, and are driven into the higher plateaux for the summer months. Herds of wild cattle, descended from the domesticated stock of villages depopulated under the native dynasty, yet wander among the jungles at the edge of the cultivated land. History. — The legendary annals of Oudh date back to the very earliest period of Indian poetry. The sacred city of AJODHYA, from which the Province derives its name, lies close to the modern town of FAIZABAD, and forms one of the holiest places of the Hindu religion. Founded upon the chariot-wheel of the creative god, it ranked as the capital of the Solar dynasty, a line of princes who descended from the sun and culminated after sixty generations in the incarnate deity, Ráma. Whatever faith may be reposed in the legends embodied in the Rímáyana,
