these traverse the Buldána and part of the Básim district, almost parallel to the course of the Painganga, which flows between them. But the southern branch, after passing a small village called Mhad, takes a south-easterly direction, and running four miles to the south of Chikli and Fatekhelda, proceeds to Lonár. Thence, assuming an easterly course, it travels out of Berár at a point five miles south of Risod. Its further course may be tracked through the Narsi and Aunda parganas in the Nizám's territories to Manáta. From hence it extends to the south of the Painganga beyond Máhúr. The northern branch passing north of Mhad and Gilda proceeds to Buldana, and thence by a southerly course south of Amrápúr, Jánephal, via Sirpúr, to a point three miles north of Básim. Here it separates into two main divisions, one of which, passing through the south-east of Básim, extends to beyond Umarkher of the Búsim district. The other main division after its separation takes a northerly course for about fourteen miles, after which it inclines to the north-east, and crossing the old Nágpúr dák line near Kini passes on via Kárinja to Yewatmál. A further description of these two main lines and the branches thrown out has been given at length in the Gazetteer for the Wún district. It may be as well to mention that from the main backbone near Sirpúr, not far from the source of the Múrna river, a rib is taken northward, which terminates near Bársi Tákli. Another rib, running somewhat parallel to the one last mentioned, also projects from the spinal ridge near Jámkhed and ends at Pátúr. Near Selu small spurs of the Kárinja and Yewatmál ridge shoot out to Kúrankher and to a point six miles north of Pinjar. Mountains, and Geological Formation. DISTRICT SELECTIONS. Elichpu'r (Melgha't). The Gáwilgarh mountains of the Melghat belong to the sevenfold Sátpura chain. Immediately east of the Baitúl district they divide into two distinct ranges of hills-the one running on to the west coast between, and nearly parallel to, the Tapti and Narbada; whilst the other, passing in a south-westerly direction through Baitúl, Melghát, and the southern portion of Nimár, terminates at the junction of the Tapti with its principal tributary the Púrna, of which rivers up to this point it forms the watershed. In Melghat the crest of the Sátpura attains an average elevation of 3,400 feet above the sea. The highest summit, Bairát, is 3,987 feet. The main height of the lower hills bordering upon the Tapti is about 1,650 feet. The chief passes are Mallara on the east, Dúlghát on the west, and Bingára on the extreme west. There are several smaller intermediate tracks, which are used almost solely by the Gonds in bringing their wood down for sale in the markets at the foot of the hills adjoining the Berár plains. None of the passes are practicable for wheeled vehicles. District Selections. Mountains, and Geological Formation. District Selections. An extensive plain, tures. Amra'oti. some eight hundred feet above* the sea, consisting principally of black loam, overlying basalt, with a gentle slope from north to south, and watered by numerous streams. The soil, which is extremely fertile, has been for the most part brought under cultivation. The general flatness of the district is broken by a small chain of hills running in a north-westerly direction between Amráoti and Chándor, with a general average of from four to five hundred feet about the lowlands. So small is this chain that it has as yet received no name, though each separate hillock has received one from the natives. They are very bleak and bare, and are thickly covered with large stones and detached pieces of rock. Akola. In aspect the district is almost a dead level; it may be judged to in a channel from fifty to nine feet deep. The surface-soil is to a very great extent a rich black alluvial vegetable mould. Where this surface-soil does not exist we have moorum and trap, with a shallow upper crust of inferior light soil; sometimes the underlying moorum is covered at various depths by a not unproductive. reddish-coloured earth. The black soil is found under two conditions, under either of which its mode of cultivation, producing-power, and produce are completely altered and controlled. These conditions are 1st-Where the soil is very deep, and the underlying strata, yellow clay and lime, are impregnated with saline matter; and 2nd-Where the soil is at a moderate depth overlying yellow clay or moorum. Under the first condition the "rabi," or cold-weather or dry crops, are very successfully sown. Providentially the water stratum lies very low; but this circumstance carries with it these two disadvantages -drinking-water is very scarce, and gardening cannot be attempted, as wells have to be dug. Under the second condition the cold-weather or rabi sowings are not attempted except by irrigation; but as the water is not far from the surface it can be used not only for the rabi fields, but for a long list of fruits, flowers, and vegetables. Where the land along the main streams has been much cut up by the drainage, here the loam deposit is of a lighter colour, or the original *The Amrácti Court-House stands 3,331 feet above the sea, but this is high ground. mould has a washed-out look, and is sometimes intermixed with the underlying light-coloured saline earth mixed with gravel and lime nodules; it has a paler face, and is less fertile. The loam deposits are called "malli," and are much prized. The northern boundary of the district is a hill-range curving gradually southward as it trends west; and, since the Púrna river inclines northwards, the distance between the two is gradually lessened. In this portion of the district (north of the Púrna) three conditions of soil exist, lying in as many parallel narrow strips between the hills and the river; they are each broader on the east, and narrower as they obliquely approach the west. The first strip, at the foot of the hills to the full extent across, and nearly uniformly wide at both terminations, but very irregular intermediately, consists of the undulated inferior light soil usually found in such localities and described above. The strip is from three to six miles broad; here and there patches of black soil are to be met with; water is found at uncertain and great depths, or in the beds of watercourses. The running-water is not wholesome. As soon as the rain ceases it brings down with it from the roots of the bichnág plant an oily substance most ruinous to health. This soil soon becomes impoverished, and is laborious to cultivate, from the deep-rooted indigenous plants, shrubs, and vigorous grass which constantly show up. This strip, however, is exceedingly picturesque, with its background of hill-range, and it yields fuel and grass freely. Next to this strip, and in the same position, lies the second; it is from five to eleven miles broad, of black soil under the condition designated second in this paper. The soil is of moderate depth, and overlies yellow clay; water is found very near the surface, pure, sweet, and plentiful. The entire strip may be compared to a continuous garden, there being but few breaks. Here the scenery is park-like, open, and level, and very pleasant. The remainder of the soil down to the Púrna river answers to the first condition. The strip is seventeen miles broad on the east, gradually narrowing to four miles on the west. Its ordinary aspect is naked and unsightly; the few trees, some of them of magnificent growth, are hardly a relief to the eye on the vast bare plain; yet when it is covered with the growing or ripe crops, the various shades of green of the different plants sown in different fields, the broad patches of bright-yellow and orange kardi flowers, and the delicate blue flax, all rippling and waving with the passing breezes, form a very pleasant prospect.* Mountains, and Geological Formation. District Selections. * This is much altered now; the rabi plains, where kharíf would not at one time grow, are this year nearly entirely taken up with jawári and cotton. The high jawári crops restrict the view. Mountains, District Patches of light-coloured hillocks, scattered and lying between Dahihanda and Reil, a short distance* north of the Sháhnúr river, mark the locality of the salt wells. They recur to a slight extent on the south of the Púrna river, in an almost parallel line in the same longitude 77° 5' to 77° 15'. Strange as it may appear, rabi sowings do not succeed in the west or narrow end of this strip up to 76° 65′ east longitude; there must be a difference unapparent to a superficial inspection, but owing probably to a deficient power of retaining moisture. On the south of the Púrna, if we except the strip down to the railway line, which is exactly similar to that on the immediate north of the river, there is not the same uniformity as on the north. Those who laid out that line have unintentionally given to the map of this district a curiously accurate demarcation of the rabi tract to the south of the Púrna, which is unmixed with garden cultivation or inferior soil. On the south of the line, beginning west, the inferior undulating land from the hill-range runs in long spurs well up the flanks of the valley, taking in Khamgaon and other villages in that vicinity. Between these spurs fine garden-land intervenes as narrow vales on the sides of rivulets. From this point well away east to beyond the Múrna, and quite up to the Káta Púrna river, the black soil (some parts producing rabí) runs in a wide irregular sweep well into the hills. The scenery here is the choicest in the district, because not so flat and uniform as the north. In some parts it is almost picturesque. The rest of the district to the east of this tract is comparatively poor, yet it has much grass and wood land, and a certain striking variety of landscape. The low ridges sweeping round in bold curves close in continually upon the Káta Púrna river, which works its way through them perseveringly until it at last escapes out into the open plain near Kúrankher. Speaking of this tract Major Elphinstone says-"but in the south "and east the soil is very variable, changing rapidly from a rich (west) "to a shallow and stony soil (east) as it approaches the Sátmál range, "which runs down far into the valley, cutting it up into shreds." Mr. Beynon says, "From Kúrankher south towards Pinjar and Máhán "the soil is extremely poor and shallow, and covered for the most part "with large loose stones, which in places lie so thickly together that it "is necessary to remove them before the land can be brought under "cultivation. There is a slight improvement as the hills are approached, "after which the shallow soils predominate."+ By following the upstream course of the Káta Púrna right into the hills, where it runs in a sort of canyon or deep ravine, clothed by trees, you may discover bits of wild scenery that are hardly matched in Berár. There are a couple of high conical-shaped hills, one in the south of of the Bálápúr, and the other in the south of the Akola taluk; they stand out quite Hills. *N. Lat. 29° 54' and 20° 47'. † Revenue Survey Reports on Akola taluk. apart from any other eminences, and appear to rise straight up from the plain, so that they serve as familiar landmarks to the country side. But the Narnála fortress is very much the highest point in the district. It stands on a mountain which has been placed like an advanced outwork a little in front of the main wall of the Gáwilgarh range, and is divided from that range by a deep valley with scarped sides. The fort, which is described in the Gazetteer for the Melghát, marks an elevation of 3,161 feet. Bulda'na. The geological formation is trap. On the higher and more exposed localities along the edge of the ghats the Geological formation, hills, &c. rock stands out bare, devoid of any superstratum of soil; on others again the disintegrated trap is dotted over with stunted scrub and scanty herbage, affording, though during the rains alone, slight pasturage for cattle. Descending the ravines the pasture becomes richer, and various forest-trees are met with, and grow, some of them, in considerable luxuriance. Away from the larger ravines, on the northern boundaries of the gháts, the valleys and undulating slopes contain the finest loam. In one or two localities ironstone of considerable specific gravity has been found. On the most southerly plateau of the district is situated the farfamed Lake of Lonár. This presents the Lake of Lonár. appearance of an enormous crater of an extinct volcano, and is one of the most prominent, curious, and interesting physical features of the district. The country around Lonár resembles much in character the rest of that portion of the district which consists of undulating highlands, separated from each other by little valleys and watercourses, and which extends towards the gháts leading into the Nizám's dominions. The formation is of tabular or nodular basalt. Approaching Lonár a series of low hills or eminences present themselves to view, and offer an ascent of perhaps from sixty to eighty feet. These surround and slope gently toward an enormous basin, with an oval-almost round--circumference at top of about five miles, and a depth of 510 feet as calculated by the aneroid. The sides of this great bowl rise abruptly at an angle of from 75° to 80°, and at their bases the circumference of the lake itself is about three miles. These slopes are covered with jungle interspersed with teak, and at their feet is a belt of large trees about a mile broad, and running all round the basin. This belt is formed of concentric rings of different descriptions of trees. Those of the description which grow on the precipitous sides of the basin form the outer ring. Inside this comes a ring of date-palms, to which succeeds a ring of tamarind trees nearly a mile broad. Last, and nearest to the waters of the lake itself, is a ring of bábúl trees, bounded on the inside by a belt of bare muddy space; this leads to the water, is several hundred yards broad, devoid of all vegetation, and covered with a whitish slimy soil. When, in the rains, the drainage into the lake from its sloping sides fills it, the water covers this muddy space, but is so impregnated with soda that it kills all vegetable life. The water of the lake contains various salts or sodas, and when, in the dry weather, evaporation reduces Mountains, and Geological Formation. District Selections, |