536 PALANPUR AGENCY, THE. Presidency; bounded on the north by Udaipur (Márwar) and Sirohi States; on the east by the Mali Kántha Agency; on the south by Baroda State and the Kathiáwár Agency; and on the west by the Rann of Cutch. For the most part the country is a sandy treeless plain, with, in some places, waving sandhills, and between them valleys of black clay. To the north and north-east, bordering on Sirohi, the country is extremely wild and picturesque, covered with rocks and forest-clad hill ranges, outliers from the Abu and Jásor Hills. Some of these hills are of considerable height; chief among them is Jásor, about 3500 feet above the sea, a hill of gneiss with outbursts of granite, situated about 18 miles north of Palanpur town. Jásor Hill is well suited for a sanitarium, except that its water-supply is scanty: The chief rivers are the Banás and the Saraswati. The Banás, rising in Dhebar lake, among the hills of Udaipur, flows west past the town and cantonment of Dísa (Deesa), and falls into the Rann of Cutch by two mouths. Except when in flood, the Banás may almost everywhere be forded. Its chief tributaries are the Sipu and the Balárám. The Banás is not utilized for irrigation, though by building dams much of the water might be stored. The Saraswati, a small but sacred stream, rising in the Mahi Kántha Hills, crosses the eastern corner of the Agency. Close to the hills, the water is near the surface, but gradually sinks into the sandy western plains. Towards the Rann, water is especially scarce and brackish, and in this part a year of scanty rainfall causes great hardship. From March to June the heat is great, the thermometer in the shade rising to 120° F.; the hot winds are so fierce as to keep even the people of the country from travelling during the day. From September to November it is unhealthy; both Europeans and natives suffer from fevers of a bad type. Palanpur Agency includes a group of thirteen States, namely, PALANPUR, RADHANPUR, THARAD, W'ao, SUIGAON, DEODAR, BHABAR, ARA, KANKREJ, WARAI, SAXTALPUR, MORWARA, and CHADCHAT. The States are nominally divided into two divisions; the northern division includes the seren first-named States under the charge of the Senior Political Agent; the southern includes the six last - named States, under the Junior Political Agent. Of these States, four (Palanpur, Rádhanpur, Warái, and Terwára) are under Muhammadan rulers; two (Bhabar and Kankrej) under Koli Thikurs of partly Rajput origin ; and the remaining seven under Rajputs. Two of the whole number, Pálanpur, with an area of 3150 square miles, and a population (1881) of 234,402, and Radhanpur, with an area of 1150 square miles, and a population (1881) of 98, 129, rank as firstclass States. The remaining eleven are petty States. The disposal of important political cases, all appeals, the work of the Sessions Court, and general supervision of the whole devolves on the Political Superintendent.
