The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir Part 16

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 103.]

[Sidenote: Area, 2357 sq. m.

Cultd area, 1369 sq. m.

Pop. 784,011.

Land Rev.

Ra. 887,220 = 59,148.]

~Gujrat~ lies in the Jech Doab. The two northern _tahsils_, Gujrat and Kharian, have many of the features of a submontane tract. In the former the Pabbi, a small range of low bare hills, runs parallel to the Jhelam, and the outliers of the Himalaya in Kashmir are not far from the northern border of the district. The uplands of these two _tahsils_ slope pretty rapidly from N.E. to S.W., and contain much light soil.

They are traversed by sandy torrents, dry in winter, but sometimes very destructive in the rains. Phalia on the other hand is a typical plain's _tahsil_. It has on the Chenab a wide riverain, which also separates the uplands of the Gujrat _tahsil_ from that river. The Jhelam valley is much narrower. Above the present Chenab alluvial tract there is in Phalia a well tract known as the Hithar whose soil consists of older river deposits, and at a higher level a Bar, which will now receive irrigation from the Upper Jhelam Ca.n.a.l and become a rich agricultural tract. 26 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated from wells. Jats and Gujars are the great agricultural tribes, the former predominating. The climate is mild and the rainfall sufficient. The chief crops are wheat and _bajra_.

[Sidenote: Area, 2813 sq. m.

Cultd area, 1162 sq. m.

Pop. 511,575; 88 p.c. M.

Land Rev.

Ra. 752,758 = 50,183.]

The ~Jhelam district~ lies to the north of the river of the same name.

The district is divided into three _tahsils_, Jhelam, Chakwal, Pind Dadan Khan. The river frontage is long, extending for about 80 miles, and the river valley is about eight miles wide. The district contains part of the Salt Range, from the eastern end of which the Nili and Tilla spurs strike northwards, enclosing very broken ravine country called the Khuddar. The Pabbi tract, embracing the Chakwal _tahsil_ and the north of the Jhelam _tahsil_, is much less broken, though it too is scored by deep ravines and traversed by torrents, mostly flowing north-west into the Sohan river. Two large torrents, the Kaha and the Bunhar, drain into the Jhelam. There are some fertile valleys enclosed in the bare hills of the Salt Range. The average rainfall is about 20 inches and the climate is good. It is hot in summer, but the cold weather is long, and sometimes for short periods severe. There is little irrigation and the harvests are by no means secure. The chief crops are wheat and _bajra_.

The country breeds fine horses, fine cattle, and fine men. Numerically Jats, Rajputs, and Awans are the princ.i.p.al tribes, but the Janjuas and Gakkhars, though fewer in number, are an interesting element in the population, having great traditions behind them. Awans, Janjuas, and Gakkhars supply valuable recruits to the army. Most of the villages are far from any railway.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 104.]

[Sidenote: Area, 2010 sq. m.

Cultd area, 937 sq. m.

Pop. 547,827; 83 p.c. M.

Land Rev.

Rs. 674,650 = 44,977.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 105.]

~Rawalpindi~ is the smallest district in the division. Along the whole eastern border the Jhelam, which runs in a deep gorge, divides it from Kashmir. There are four _tahsils_, Murree, Kahuta, Rawalpindi, and Gujar Khan. The first is a small wedge of mountainous country between Kashmir and Hazara. The hills are continued southwards at a lower level in the Kahuta _tahsil_ parallel with the Jhelam. The greater part of the district consists of a high plateau of good light loam, in parts much eaten into by ravines. Where, as often happens, it is not flat the fields have to be carefully banked up. The plateau is drained by the Sohan and the Kans.h.i.+. The latter starting in the south of Kahuta runs through the south-east of the Gujar Khan _tahsil_, and for some miles forms the boundary of the Rawalpindi and Jhelam districts. The district is very fully cultivated except in the hills. In the plains the rainfall is sufficient and the soil very cool and clean, except in the extreme west, where it is sometimes gritty, and, while requiring more, gets less, rain. The chief crops are wheat, the _Kharif_ pulses and _bajra_.

The climate is good. The cold weather is long, and, except in January and February, when the winds from the snows are very trying, it is pleasant. In the plains the chief tribes are Rajputs and Awans. Gakkhars are of some importance in Kahuta. In the Murree the leading tribes are the Dhunds and the Sattis, the latter a fine race, keen on military service.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 106. Shop in Murree Bazar.]

~Rawalpindi~ is the largest cantonment in Northern India. From it the favourite hill station of Murree is easily reached, and soon after leaving Murree the traveller crosses the Jhelam by the Kohala bridge and enters the territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir.

[Sidenote: Area, 4025 sq. m.

Cultd area, 1678 sq. m.

Pop. 519,273; 91 p.c. M.

Land Rev.

Rs. 672,851 =44,857.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 107.]

~Attock district.~--Though Attock is twice the size of Rawalpindi it has a smaller population. Nature has decreed that it should be spa.r.s.ely peopled. The district stretches from the Salt Range on the south to the Hazara border on the north. It contains itself the fine Kalachitta range in the north, the small and barren Khairi Murat range in the centre, and a line of bare hills running parallel with the Indus in the west. That river forms the western boundary for 120 miles, dividing Attock from Peshawar and Kohat. It receives in the Attock district two tributaries, the Haro and the Soan. There are four _tahsils_, Attock, Fatehjang, Pindigheb, and Talagang. The northern _tahsil_ of Attock is most favoured by nature. It contains the Chach plain, part of which has a rich soil and valuable well irrigation, also on the Hazara border a small group of estates watered by cuts from the Haro. The south of the _tahsil_ is partly sandy and partly has a dry gritty or stony soil. Here the crops are very insecure. The rest of the district is a plateau. The northern part consists of the _tahsils_ of Fatehjang and Pindigheb drained by the Soan and its tributary the Sil. The southern is occupied by _tahsil_ Talagang, a rough plateau with deep ravines and torrents draining northwards into the Soan. In the valleys of the Sil and Soan some good crops are raised. The soil of the plateau is very shallow, and the rainfall being scanty the harvest is often dried up. The chief crops are wheat and _bajra_. Awans form the bulk of the agricultural population.

[Sidenote: Area, 5395 sq. m.

Cultd area, 1020 sq. m.

Pop. 341,377; 88 p.c. M.

Land Rev.

Rs. 359,836 = 23,989.]

~Mianwali~ is one of the largest districts, but has the smallest population of any except Simla. The Indus has a course of about 180 miles in Mianwali. In the north it forms the boundary between the Mianwali _tahsil_ and the small Isakhel _tahsil_ on the right bank. In the south it divides the huge Bhakkar _tahsil_, which is bigger than an average district, from the Dera Ismail Khan district of the N.W.F.

Province. It is joined from the west by the Kurram, which has a short course in the south of the Isakhel _tahsil_. The Salt Range extends into the district, throwing off from its western extremity a spur which runs north to the Indus opposite Kalabagh. Four tracts may be distinguished, two large and two small. North and east of the Salt Range is the Khuddar or ravine country, a little bit of the Aw.a.n.kari or Awan's land, which occupies a large s.p.a.ce in Attock. West of the Indus in the north the wild and desolate Bhangi-Khel glen with its very scanty and scattered cultivation runs north to the Kohat Hills. The rest of the district consists of the wide and flat valley of the Indus and the Thal or Uplands. In the north the latter includes an area of strong thirsty loam, but south of the railway it is a huge expanse of sand rising frequently into hillocks and ridges with some fertile bottoms of better soil. Except in the north the Thal people used to make their living almost entirely as shepherds and camel owners. There were scattered little plots of better soil where wells were sunk, and the laborious and careful cultivation was and is Dutch in its neatness. Some millets were grown in the autumn and the sandhills yielded melons. The people have now learned that it is worth while to gamble with a spring crop of gram, and this has led to an enormous extension of the cultivated area. But even now in Mianwali this is a comparatively small fraction of the total area. There is a small amount of irrigation from wells and in the neighbourhood of Isakhel from ca.n.a.l cuts from the Kurram. Owing to the extreme scantiness of the rainfall the riverain depends almost entirely on the Indus floods, to a.s.sist the spread of which a number of embankments are maintained. Everywhere in Mianwali the areas both of crops sown and of crops that ripen fluctuate enormously, and much of the revenue has accordingly been put on a fluctuating basis. The chief crops are wheat, _bajra_, and gram. Jats[12] are in a great majority Cis-Indus, but Pathans are important in Isakhel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 108.]

[Sidenote: Area, 4791 sq. m.

Cultd area, 1933 sq. m.

Pop. 648,989.

Land Rev.

Rs. 16,96,272 = 113,085.]

~Shahpur~ is also a very large district with the three _tahsils_ of Bhera, Shahpur, and SarG.o.dha in the Jech Doab, and on the west of the Jhelam the huge Khushab _tahsil_, which in size exceeds the other three put together. The princ.i.p.al tribes are Jats Cis-Jhelam, Awans in the Salt Range, and Jats and Tiwanas in Khushab. The Tiwana Maliks have large estates on both sides of the river and much local influence. East of the Jhelam the colonization of the Bar after the opening of the Lower Jhelam Ca.n.a.l has led to a great increase of population and a vast extension of the cultivated area, 71 p.c. of which is irrigated. The part of the district in the Jech Doab consists of the river valleys of the Chenab and Jhelam, the Utar, and the Bar. The Chenab riverain is poor, the Jhelam very fertile with good well irrigation. In the north of the district the Utar, a tract of older alluvium, lies between the present valley of the Jhelam and the Bar. It has. .h.i.therto been largely irrigated by public and private inundation ca.n.a.ls, but this form of irrigation may be superseded by the excavation of a new distributary from the Lower Jhelam Ca.n.a.l. Till the opening of that ca.n.a.l the Bar was a vast grazing area with a little cultivation on scattered wells and in natural hollows. North of the Kirana Hill the soil is excellent and the country is now a sheet of cultivation. In the south of the Bar much of the land is too poor to be worth tillage. The Khushab _tahsil_ consists of the Jhelam riverain, the Salt Range with some fertile valleys hidden amid barren hills, the Mohar below the hills with a thirsty soil dependent on extremely precarious torrent floods, and the Thal, similar to that described on page 260. The rainfall of the district is scanty averaging eleven or twelve inches. The chief crops are wheat, _bajra_ and _jowar_, _chari_ and cotton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 109.]

[Sidenote: Area, 28,652 sq. m.

Cultd area, 9160 sq. m.

Pop. 3,772,728; 78 p.c. M.

Land Rev.

Rs. 81,48,103 = 542,872.]

The ~Multan~ division consists of the six districts of the S.W. Panjab, Montgomery, Lyallpur, Jhang, Multan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan.

Muhammadans are in an overwhelming majority. Wheat and cotton are the chief crops.

[Sidenote: Area, 4649 sq. m.

Cultd area, 1080 sq. m.

Pop. 535,299; 75 p.c. M.

Land Rev.

Rs. 434,563 = 28,971.]

The ~Montgomery~ district takes its name from Sir Robert Montgomery (page 192). It lies in the Bari Doab between the Sutlej and the Ravi. It consists of the two Ravi _tahsils_ of Gugera and Montgomery, and the two Sutlej _tahsils_ of Dipalpur and Pakpattan. The trans-Ravi area of the Montgomery district was transferred to Lyallpur in April, 1913. It is included in the figures for area and population given in the margin.

The backbone of the district is a high and dry tract known as the Ganji or Bald Bar. The advent of the Lower Bari Doab Ca.n.a.l will entirely change the character of this desert. Its south-eastern boundary is a high bank marking the course of the old bed of the Bias. Below this is the wide Sutlej valley. The part beyond the influence of river floods depends largely on the Khanwah and Sohag Para inundation Ca.n.a.ls. The Ravi valley to the north-west of the Bar is naturally fertile and has good well irrigation. But it has suffered much by the failure of the Ravi floods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 110.]

The peasantry belongs largely to various tribes described vaguely as Jats. The most important are Kathias, Wattus, and Kharrals. The last gave trouble in 1857 and were severely punished. The Dipalpur Kambohs are much more hard-working than these semi-pastoral Jats. There is already a small ca.n.a.l colony on the Sohag Para Ca.n.a.ls and arrangements for the colonization of the Ganji Bar are now in progress.

[Sidenote: Area, 3156 sq. m.

Cultd area, 2224 sq. m.

Pop. 857,711; 61 p.c. M.

18 p.c. H.

17 p.c. S.

4 p.c. Ch.[13]

Land Rev.