rally is one of the neatest in the district. At some little distance is a very fine tank. A large quantity of cotton-cloths are manufactured here for export, and rice is extensively grown. The population is principally Maráthá; and there are government schools for boys and girls.

NAWEGA'ON HILLS-In the Bhandára district, encircle the large tank or lake of that name, and, though scantily clothed with vegetation, are infested with wild animals. They are about two hundred feet above the level of the plain.

NAWEGA'ON-This fine artificial lake, in the Bhandára district, is seventeen miles in circumference, and has an average depth of forty feet, increasing in places to ninety feet. It is surrounded by hills showing eight distinct peaks, which are known in the neighbourhood as the "seven sisters and their little brother." Numerous streams pour their waters into this rocky basin, which is closed by two weirs or embankments, 330 and 540 yards in length respectively. The work was constructed about a century and half ago by Chimná Patel, the great-great-grandfather of the present proprietor of the village of Nawegáon, and now irrigates some five hundred acres of rice and sugarcane land.

NERI-A town in the Chándá district, situated on a tributary of the Andhárí, five miles east-south-east of Chimúr, and containing 917 houses. The population is Maráthá, with a sprinkling of Telingas, principally of the Panchál caste. Rice is largely grown in the neighbourhood, and brass and copper utensils and cotton-cloths are manufactured for export. There is a considerable trade in these goods, and also in grain, groceries, and salt. The place is divided into the old town and the new town, with an extensive stretch of rice cultivation between.. The antiquities are two old forts, now in ruins, and an ancient temple of no smallsize and beauty, the pillars and carving of which resemble those met with in the cave-temples of Ajanthá. Of more modern construction are some graceful Panchál tombs, in which husband and wife sleep side by side. There are schools here both for boys and girls.

Nimár is the westernmost district of the Central Provinces. On the east it marches with the Hoshangábád district, the Chhotá Tawá, and its tributary the Gangápát to the north and the Gulí to the south, marking its boundary

* This article is by Captain Forsyth, Settlement Officer and Deputy Commissioner of Nimár.

almost from point to point; on the north it touches the territories of the Ponwár of Dhár and of the Mahárájá Holkar; and on the west it is bounded throughout by the dominions of Holkar. On the south it meets the Khándesh collectorate of the Bombay presidency and the border of West Berár.

The modern district has an area of about 3,340 square miles. It includes but a small portion of the ancient Hindú subdivision of General description. Pránt Nimár, which occupied the whole of that portion of the Narbadá valley lying between the Vindhyan hills on the north and the Sátpurá range on the south, and extending east and west about 225 miles, from a point near the junction of the Narbadá and Ganjál rivers, in east longitude 77° 10′, to the Haranpál (deer's-leap) in longitude 74°, being thus about 9,000 square miles in area. On the other hand that part of the modern district which lies south of the Sátpurás in the Taptí valley was no part of old Pránt Nimár, but belonged to the Hindú division of Talner, subsequently called by the Mohammadans Khándesh.

The northern section of the district in the Narbadá valley is much broken up by low irregular hills, and does not anywhere present the open and level surface remarkable in the districts higher up the valley, which gives them their great natural fertility. It is drained by the small rivers called the Suktá, Abná, Waná, Bhám, Báldí, and Phiprár, which unite in a considerable stream-the Chhotá Tawá-before joining the Narbadá, and by the Ajnál, Káverí, and Bákúr, which fall directly into that river. The best parts of this tract are the basin of the Abná and Suktá surrounding the town of Khandwá, and the tract along the Narbadá in the extreme north-west corner of the district, which forms the commencement of the fourth natural basin in the valley of that river-the kernel of old Pránt Nimár. The principal towns in this northern section are Khandwá, which is also the civil station; Pandháná, a large grain mart, containing 500 houses and a population of 2,400; Bhámgarh, Mundi, Beriá, and Kánápúr, the chief towns of the parganas of the same names. This section of the district is tolerably well cultivated, except in the north-east corner, where there is a large tract quite waste along the Chhotá Tawá and Narbadá rivers. But it is so broken up with unculturable elevated ridges that it does not present at all a rich appearance to the casual traveller. Its average elevation above the sea is about 1,000 feet.

The southern section of the district, in the Taptí valley, is naturally much more open and fertile. The western part of it is completely cultivated, but higher up the valley the land, though of exceeding richness, is still completely desolate. In this valley is situated the large city of Burhanpúr and the considerable towns of Bahadurpúr, Loní, and Shahpúr. The average elevation, above the sea, of the Taptí valley is about 850 feet.

The central range which divides these valleys is very irregular and broken. On its highest point stands the fortress of A'sírgarh, about 800 feet above the general level of the country and 2,200 feet above the sea, and commanding a pass through the range which has for centuries been the chief highway between Upper India and the Deccan. This range has an average width of about fifteen miles, and is almost entirely unculturable. It is the only part of the great hilly backbone of the Central Provinces, generally called in maps the Sátpurá range, which is really known by that name to the common people.

The southern boundary of the district is formed by the watershed of another branch of the same great range. This is a continuation of the Gáwalgarh hills,

and is known in Nimár by the name of the Hattís. The watershed is close to its southern edge, the descent to the plains of Berár being usually steep, while that towards the Tapti valley is long and gradual, including some plateaus of considerable extent, and in places of excellent soil. The general elevation of this range is 2,000 feet, and the highest point (in the extreme south-east corner of the district) 3,000 feet above the sea.

Altogether about half the area of the district is thus composed of land incapable of any sort of cultivation. Only 310,366 acres, or less than one-seventh of the whole area, are now under the plough, leaving about 758,000 acres of culturable waste to be taken up. 340,318 acres of this are private property, and about 418,000 acres are State property available for sale or lease.

The following description of the geology of Nimár has been given by Mr. W.
Blanford in his paper on the "Geology of the
Taptí and Narbadá valleys.” *

Geology.

Rocks.

"SECTION 4.-Narbadá valley south of that river, from the smaller Tawá on the east to the Jharkhal on the west, including the Barwání hills. "The whole of this country, with the sole exception of one small strip in the immediate neighbourhood of the river between the Tawá and Barwáí, consists of trap. The excepted tract is composed of Vindhyans, being a portion of the area occupied by those beds in the Dhár forest. Close to the Tawá, and just south of the village of Bíjalpúr, there is a small Granite and infra-trappean patch of granite or granitoid gneiss. To the south limestone near Bíjalpúr. of it, intervening between it and the trap, is impure nodular gritty limestone, which may possibly be inter-trappean, but which appears to resemble the upper limestone of the Bágh beds more closely than any other formation. It contains small fragments of quartz and felspar, besides minute portions of fossil wood. No distinct organisms could be made out; some markings resembling fragments of shells were seen, but their nature could not be determined.

"This bed is also seen at Nágpúr on the Tawá, where it is in parts decidedly conglomeritic, containing quartzite pebNear Nágpúr. bles in considerable quantities. In a nálá on the west side of the river, just above Nágpúr, a soft white sandstone with ferruginous conglomerate beneath it, about one foot in thickness, and apparently lower in position than the limestone, is seen resting upon metamorphic rocks. This much strengthens the probability of the whole belonging to the Bigh beds. North of the little patch of metamorphics, and just south of the village of Bíjalpúr, Vindhyans come in, and at the village trap occurs. No intervening beds are seen.

"To the north of Bíjalpúr, Vindhyans re-emerge almost immediately from beneath the traps and rise into hills which continue steadily to the westward. The beds are undulating, and resemble precisely those already described on the north bank of the river.

Vindhyans north of
Bíjalpúr.

"Just west of Punásá
Bágh beds near Punásá.

near the village of Bhorlá a considerable expanse of ground is covered with sedimentary rocks, apparently of the same age as the Bágh beds,

* Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. vi. part 3, pp. 103-106.

and intervening between the trap and the Vindhyans. At the tank close to Bhorlá porcelanic clay is seen, probably hardened by trap, which is in place close by. Just west of Bhorlá massive nodular grey limestone in horizontal beds crops out on the north side of the road to Táklí. This appears to be higher in position than the clay, and may possibly, in parts at least, be intertrappean, more especially as blocks of typical intertrappean beds with the usual fossils (cyprides and plant remains) occur near Táklí. The Bhorlá limestone contains irregular cherty lumps and fragments of fossil shells in abundance.* To the north of the tank the ground is covered by black soil. About one-half or three-quarters of a mile north of Bhorlá the Vindhyans crop out. Just south of them, and resting upon them, are sandstones and conglomerates precisely similar to those underlying the traps in Dhár forest, and to the beds of A'lampúr north-west of Betúl. There can therefore be little question about the occurrence in this spot of beds of cretaceous age."

"Some of the conglomeritic sandstones north of Bhorlá have very much the appearance of the Vindhyans-an apCretaceous beds formed from pearance due to their being composed principally, detritus of the Vindhyans. if not entirely, of detritus derived from those beds. On closer examination the difference is easily seen the Vindhyans are dense, homogeneous, and compact, scarcely a trace of structure being discoverable, while the separate grains of which the cretaceous beds are formed may be distinguished in general with the naked eye. The jungle covering the two rocks also is very distinct. Here, as elsewhere, that on the Vindhyans is characterised by the absence of underwood, the thinness of the grass, and the prevalence of the sálai (boswellia_thurifera), which in places is almost the only tree, while the jungle on the cretaceous beds is varied in kind, and both grass and underwood are thick and luxuriant.

"Vindhyans continue nearly as far west as to opposite Barwáí, and end close to the spot where they cease on the north Vindhyans north-west of bank of the river. A few patches of overlying trap occur upon them. They present no features of interest.

Punásá.

Remainder of section.

"With the exception of the small tract just briefly described, the whole of the country comprised in this section consists of trap. Near the river, accumulations of cotton soil, sometimes of considerable thickness, are of frequent occurrence between Barwáí and Barwání. West of the latter town all the country is very hilly, and the river runs through a deep rocky gorge.

Throughout by far the greater portion of this tract the traps appear to be horizontal. The exceptions are to the east Dip of traps in Nimár and Satpura hills. in Nimár, where they have a low south dip, so small in the neighbourhood of Khandwá as to be scarcely perceptible, and in the Sátpurá hills west of A'sírgarh. Beneath that fortress itself the beds are horizontal, but in the low hills immediately to the west there is a strong southern dip, in places amounting to as much as 10° or 15°. This is an exception, but low dips of 2° or 3° prevail largely throughout the range, both on the Khandesh and on the Nimár side.

*"Mr. Wynne obtained marine fossils from Bhorlá, but it is not quite certain from what portion of the limestone; it was before the beds of this part of the country were well known. It is clear that both intertrappean and cretaceous beds occur at this spot."

"Beds of volcanic ash are of frequent occurrence, and occasional strata of red bole are met with. With these Volcanic rocks met with. exceptions the whole of the broad undulating plain of Nimár consists of various forms of basalt, usually more or less amygdaloidal. On the railway from Burhánpúr to the Narbadá plain there are no sections of any importance, and very few are seen on the sides of the low hills which occur here and there throughout the country, the surface of the trap being generally much decomposed and concealed."

The formation of the Taptí valley section of the district is also thus described by Mr. Blanford * :

"The sandstones end out twenty miles above Melghát, and no beds from beneath the traps emerge thenceforRocks in Tapti from Melghát ward throughout the whole course of the to Burhanpúr. Tapti. The bed of the river from Melghát to Burhanpúr presents no peculiar geological interest. Basaltic columns occur in two or three places near Melghát, and they appear to be as common here as they are in the lowest beds of trap beneath the Málwá plateau. These Taptí beds must also be amongst the oldest of the lava flows. Some of the best basaltic columns are seen about two miles above Melghat, and again lower down near the small village of Hardá. Passing down the river, alluvium begins to be found in considerable quantities near Sindwál, and to form a large proportion of the river's bank. It gradually increases in amount, and covers more of the adjoining country. Still there is no continuous alluvial plain along the river till near Burhanpúr. The alluvium presents the usual characters.

Hills north of Taptí.
Gáwalgarh range.

"The hills north of the Taptí between Melghát and Burhanpúr are of no great height. They consist entirely of trap. The great Gawalgarh range between the Púrná and the Tapti is entirely composed of basaltic rocks. The beds along the southern border dip to the north; the features of the scarp will be noticed in the next section. Near the Taptí the dips, when any are seen, are to the southward. Only the verge of these hills was examined, but in the streams running from them none but trap pebbles could be found.

"Below Burhanpúr very little rock is seen in the Taptí. North of the town there is thick alluvium, but a little to the Country near Burhanpúr. west trap comes in. On the north, on the road to A'sírgarh, trap is met with. About five miles from Burhanpúr, near to this spot, a little east of the road, and about a mile north-east of the village of Chúlkhán, there is a singular patch of limestone. Limestone and sandstone It is compact, but shows no signs of crystallisation, and it appears to contain no fossils. It is quite isolated, all around being trap, and about fifty feet in length. At one end of it there is a white sandy rock, resembling decomposed gneiss in appearance, and standing on end as if it were part of a vertical bed; it, however, contains rounded grains, and is probably sandstone. Some red clay is associated with it. This mass of sedimentary rocks is evidently a portion

near Chúlkhán,

* Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. vi. part 3, p. 113 ff.