FROM the frontier of Goojerat, in a N.N.E. direction, runs a mountain ridge known by the name of the Arabala or Aravulli hills. It cuts the Rajpoot country into two parts, separating the state of Marwar or Johdpoor on the west, from that of Mewar or Oodipoor on the east, and extends northwards to the neighbourhood of Delhi. It rises to a height of 3500 feet above the level of the sea, with a breadth of twenty-five to thirty miles, and forms a natural physical barrier between the table-land of Malwa on the one hand, which is 1600 feet above the sea, and the low country of the Thur on the other, which stretches far below to the banks of the distant Indus.

The central or most hilly part of this ridge forms the territory of Mairwara, extending in length about a hundred miles, and bounded towards the north by the British district of Ajmeer. The Mairs, its inhabitants, are descended chiefly from fugitives or exiles, who from time to time have found refuge in these jungly hills. They profess themselves, for the most part, to be Hindoos, though they disregard many of the forms, ceremonies, and superstitions of the Brahminical faith. Their food is chiefly Indiancorn and barley; but though their soil is naturally fertile, they preferred, in bygone times, to live by the plunder of their neighbours on the plains. For centuries they had been notorious for their depredations-and, indeed, robbery was the main pursuit of the whole race. They were brave, passionate, and revengeful; but faithful, kind, generous, and easily subdued by mildness and patience. They infested the roads and thoroughfares which bordered their country; and when the city of Ajmeer fell into British hands, though twenty-five miles north of

their boundary, it was not safe for an unarmed man to be outside the walls after sunset. Hence the payment of black-mail, under the name of dalhumlee, (grain and blanket,) was very general. Villages and chiefs compounded by fixed annual payments, by a proportion of the produce, or by the actual assignment of lands and villages to the irresistible Mairs.

"In consequence of the continual annoyance from these predatory practices of the Mairs, repeated attempts to subjugate them were made by the large states of Rajpootana, but without success. Their only result was to increase the audacity of the Mairs, by confirming their confidence in the impregnability of their mountain home." But after Ajmeer had been occupied by the British in 1818, it became obvious that neither peace nor protection could be secured to the people until the Mairs were subdued. A small force of British sepoys, therefore, was sent among the hills in 1820. "Their operations were conducted with rapidit and success; fort after fort was captured, and in three months the whole of Mairwara was brought into subjection, and has remained so ever since." From this period commences our romance.

On the subjection of the country, certain districts, claimed respectively by the chiefs of Mewar on the east, and of Marwar on the west, were ceded to these native powers. But when thus divided among three governments, no unity of rule or management could be exercised. The restless people, newly subdued, and driven from their old habits, finding a refuge in the one district from the punishment due to crimes committed in the other, filled the country with violence and oppression. An arrangement was

therefore finally made in 1824, by which the border districts of Marwar and Mewar were submitted to the single jurisdiction of a British officer.

"Within six months after this con

centration of authority, the predatory

bands which had been masters of the

country were broken up and suppressed, the passes were again opened, and traffic revived without molestation. Single constables took the place of armed troops for all purposes of police and revenue, and thus a regular government was for the first time established throughout Mairwara." For thirteen years afterwards, Colonel Hall, by whom this pacification was effected, devoted himself to the social amelioration of the people, the abolition of demoralising and pernicious customs, the repression of crime, the introduction of settled habits, honest labour, and the love of peace and justice. He established a species of trial by juries elected by the parties themselves; and such has been the beneficial result of his exertions, that since 1824 the punishment of death has never been inflicted for crime, and only three persons have been condemned to the fearful, and to them mysterious, punishment of transportation beyond sea. In 1835, ill-health drove Colonel Hall to another climate, and he was succeeded by Captain, afterwards Colonel, Dixon, of the Artillery. With him began a new era in the history of Mairwara.

"It soon became manifest to the new

superintendent, that water was the great desideratum in Mairwara, and that the

first step to the establishment of permanent prosperity must be the provision

of a stable supply. From the hilly character of the country, what rain fell, unless means were used for its retention, speedily flowed off, leaving the soil very imperfectly saturated with moisture. The rains, too, are extremely precarious; and bad seasons in this respect are the rule, good the exception. The whole amount in favourable seasons rarely exceeds 22 inches, and it often ranged from 8 to 12. In 1832, no single shower fell, and Mairwara experienced all the miseries of famine. Grain was to be had in small quantities, but there was a total absence of forage. The cattle perished, and the people fled to Malwa. Of those who remained, many were driven to seek a livelihood by plunder, for their cattle had

been swept away, and they had no longer the means of tilling the soil. Thus the country was partially denuded of inhabitants; improvements received a severe check; and the popular morality was sadly deteriorated. For several years the district did not recover the position which it held before the famine. In

ordinary seasons, a break of twenty-five or thirty days without a shower often caused, in a degree, the same results. Some villages again were destitute of water, even for domestic purposes, during the hot months; and the inhabitants were thus compelled to seek a residence in some more favoured locality till the recurrence of the rains, when they would return to resume their rural labours. At other places the people had to fetch their supply of water from a distance of two miles. Drought prevailing so frequently, the Mairs were constantly in doubt whether they should not remove to other countries favoured with more auspicious seasons, to earn their bread as labourers. Thus the minds of the people were constantly unsettled; and it would have been

futile to look for settled amendment in their morals and habits, until effectual

arrangements should have been made for preventing their constant migration, and for abolishing the inducements to plunder abroad, by providing them with the means of gaining their livelihood through honest industry at home."-SMITH, i. p. 406.

Small and uncertain as the natural supply of water was, there was reason to believe that, were arrangements made for collecting, retaining, and applying the whole amount to agricultural purposes, a sufficiency would be obtained for all the ordinary wants of all the cultivators even in droughty seasons. The objects therefore with Colonel Dixon were, first, to secure a sufficient supply of water for the permanent cultivation of the land already in tillage; and, second, by reclaimi tracts of country then abandoned to jungle, to convert every individual inhabitant into a cultivator, so that no excuse should remain for robbing and cattle-lifting. The additional supply of water required for these purposes was very much greater than might at first sight appear. The common autumn crop was reaped in October and housed by November; and as the rains did not begin to fall again till June or July, there were seven long months of interval, during which rural labour was almost entirely at a stand.

To keep the people out of mischief, therefore, it was desirable that a store of water should be laid up to refresh the land in spring, so that ultimately the whole land might be made to produce both its autumn and its spring crop, (Khureef and Rubbee,) which would give full occupation to the cultivators throughout the whole year. The physical character of the country suggested the means by which this was to be effected.

The famine of 1832 had impoverished and disheartened the people. They did not care to expend their labour upon a country in which the means of sustenance and the returns for labour, as they had found by experience, were so very precarious. When, therefore, as a first step towards improvement, Colonel Dixon recommended the sinking of wells, their answer was that the country was rocky, and that it was useless to dig wells, as they would yield no water. But among the good things already done by Colonel Hall had been the establishment of a local battalion of troops, of which five-eighths consisted of natives of Mairwara. In this battalion the natives were taught habits of obedience and order, and learned to confide in the judgment and knowledge of their British superiors. On leaving the service, these men generally became leaders in their several villages, and greatly aided to carry out the views of the superintendent. When the villagers refused to dig wells as Colonel Dixon had recommended, he began by employing his own battalion to dig wells in the neighbourhood of their several cantonments. When these were completed, and found to fill with water, he presented them to the adjoining villages, and employed his men to dig more. Influenced by the example of the soldiers, and by their success, the villagers themselves began to take heart, and to ask for tools. These were readily supplied, as well as occasional small grants of money; and in this way, after a short time, about fifty wells were dug in various parts of the country. Thus the first point was gained a certain small additional supply of water was obtained-and heart and hope were again visible among the people.

VOL. LXXIII.-NO. CCCCXLVIII.

The valleys contained no permanent rivulets. The rains which fell on the mountains ran quickly off, leaving arid and stony water-courses during the greater part of the year. The next step was to dam up the largest of these natural water-courses in places of such natural features as would admit of the collection of accumulating lakes of water above, and of the employment of the water to irrigate by sluices a considerable extent of arable land below the dam. The selection of such sites was favoured by the physical character of the country. Cross valleys, here narrowing and there widening out - here sloping rapidly, then for a while retaining an almost perfect level-cut through, or far into the sides of the mountainchain. Down the bottoms of these valleys the waters made their way, and along their courses the population was chiefly scattered. the narrows, walls and embankments were built, abutting at either extremity against the sides of the valley. The flats above formed the bed of the tank, which was filled with water when the rains fell; the slopes or flats below were irrigated by the gradual flow of the water which was thus retained. The custom was to plant Indian corn below; when the rains began, to irrigate this with the water of the tank; and when the crop was reaped, and the tank had been drained, to sow a second crop of barley on the site of the tank itself. Enriched and refreshed by the water from the hills, the bed of the tank gave a sure and luxuriant return of grain.

Across

But the soil of these valleys was light; the subsoil often of stones and gravel; and though resting upon rock, it was unable to retain, without large and constant leakage, the water which was arrested by the dams. Invisible streams trickled through, and caused a loss of water at many points which it was desirable to recover and turn to use. It will be understood that the same valley might, in its course, admit of the construction of several tanks at various elevations, between which tanks considerable spaces of unirrigated land might intervene. To turn the leakage from each of these to account

"Numerous weirs similar in construction, but of smaller size, have been carried across the natural water-course below the large tank embankments. In constructing these, care is taken to continue both ends of the weir some distance within the banks of the hollow, to prevent the flanks being turned by the stream. By a series of such works, a continuous canal, as it were, is maintained from tank to tank along the hollows, serving to supply numerous wells beside its banks. In this manner, by a series of tanks connected by successive weirs, a sheet of cultivation of varying breadth, has been carried, in one instance, for an unbroken distance of twenty-six miles. A few years ago, this was a jungle-waste, with the exception of a few patches of well-cultivation. A similar course is pursued with each separate valley. A strong weir is constructed at the head of the valley to maintain a body of water, and to break the force of the torrent. In its rear, at convenient intervals, dykes are thrown across the breadth of the hollow; and when any subsidiary water-course joins the valley, its supply is stopped by a second weir. In this manner, by means of a few substantial weirs intermixed with stone fences built across its breadth, the valley is converted into a series of terraces of rich cultivation, ascending to the summit of the hills." - SMITH, і. 419.

These large works were, of course, undertaken and executed at the cost of Government, who looked for a return to the increased land-rent consequent upon increased crops and a more extended cultivation. But the means at the disposal of Colonel Dixon were very limited; and he was obliged to proceed gradually, improving those places first which he expected to yield the speediest and largest revenue. But the success of the tanks, as that of the wells had previously done, awoke the spirit of the people, and an eagerness to benefit by the new mode of improvement. Every village became impatient to have its tank, and

application after application was refused or delayed, till the funds would admit. At length

"As the improvements progressed, the eagerness of the peasantry to partake of these benefits became intense. Such villages as had not been taken by the hand were envious of the good fortune of those who were having tanks constructed on their lands. Among others who had not yet shared in the process of improve

This

ment were the villagers of Sooreean. They had importuned aid in constructing a tank; but engagements were already so extensive that their claim was necessarily deferred till next season. was unpleasant news for the villagers, but they had been prepared for the contingency. A few months afterwards, they requested a visit from the superintendant, without assigning a reason. His camp was accordingly pitched at Sooreean, and, to the surprise of all, it proved that the people had of their own accord, and from their own means, constructed a serviceable and substantial embankment. Disappointed of our aid, they had mustered sufficient funds for the purpose by the sale of cattle and by the betrothal of their daughters. Such devotion at the shrine of improvement merited a mark of special approbation. They received a donation of £40-equal to half the outlay-and were highly satisfied, whilst their example was held up to their countrymen as worthy of imitation." -SMITH, i. 413.

But there were other works, involving less expense, which the people willingly undertook, as soon as the benefits became apparent, or the establishment of the larger tanks made it profitable. From the tanks they raised the water by wheel-and-bucket-a common method in India-to irrigate the sloping land at higher levels, and which the mode of irrigation by means of sluices could never have benefited. Beyond and below the tanks, also, at distances to which direct irrigation from their waters could not reach, they sank wells to collect the leakage waters which flowed partly from the tanks, and partly from the irrigated lands. Thus, in the same way as was done by the subsidiary weirs, they collected the leakage and once-used water, which sank through the soil, and converted it again to a similar useful purpose. Then, at higher levels, and in confined places, where large tanks could not be constructed, they built many small embankments, and established small tanks, called narees, at a cost of from £2 to £20 each, by which little patches of land among the hills were here and there watered and clothed, either with verdant fodder for the cattle, or with crops of never-failing corn. And, lastly, parapet-walls, carried across the slopes, kept up the soil, which the yearly torrents had