connected by thick curtain-walls, and enclosing a space of six acres. This space is for the most part covered with old Maráthá buildings of two stories. Since the accession of the British Government, a magazine, a large building now used for medical stores, and a barrack for the European guard, besides other small buildings for the magazine stores, &c., have been constructed. There is only one place of exit and entrance-on the east side. The bulk of the treasure has always been kept in the fort, but orders have lately been received for the construction of a suitable building close to the Deputy Commissioner's court-house for its reception. A large castellated jail was built by the Public Works Department in A.D. 1846, at a cost of Rs. 50,000, about half a mile east of the lake. It is capable of containing 500 prisoners. Its situation is, however, too low. The present Deputy Commissioner's court-a large building situated on a high hill overlooking the city and lake-was built about the year 1820 as a Residency for the Governor-General's Agent. In A.D. 1862 and 1863 a Sessions Court-house was built to the north of the Deputy Commissioner's court-house, at a cost of Rs. 5,000. In 1820, soon after the cession of Ságar to the British, a large and handsome building was erected for a Mint, about a mile east of the lake, by Captain Presgrave, Assay-master. This mint used formerly to employ 400 men, but coining was only continued for about ten or twelve years, when the business was transferred to Calcutta. The building is now used as the office of the Customs department. The present city "kotwáli," or station-house, is a fine building, situated under the western walls of the fort, close to the banks of the lake, and overlooking one of the principal thoroughfares of the city. It was built in 1856. Up to the year 1862, to the north-east of the lake, and dividing the main portion of the city from the quarter called Gopál Ganj, there existed a large unhealthy swamp quite unculturable, and covered during the rains with low jungle vegetation. In 1862-63 this was thoroughly drained and converted into a large garden, with numerous drives, and a piece of ornamental water surrounding a small island, at a cost of Rs. 30,000.* To it there was then added a small garden which formerly existed to the north-east of the swamp, and the whole now forms a large public garden of upwards of sixty acres, which supplies regularly nearly the whole of the residents in the civil station and cantonments with flowers and vegetables; it is supported partly by its own proceeds, and partly by yearly grants from the Ságar octroi. Education. The High School at Ságar was established about 1828 by Captain James Paton, of the Bengal Artillery, and was supported from his private funds. He was greatly assisted by Ráo Krishna Ráo, the son of a Maráthá gentleman and official. Lord William Bentinck was so pleased with Ráo Krishna Ráo, that he invited him to Calcutta, gave him a gold medal, and procured for him a Jágir for two generations, valued at from Rs. 600 to Rs. 1,000 per annum. He also gave him the title of "Ráo." Ráo Krishna Ráo is still alive, and is an Honorary Magistrate. The languages originally taught were Persian, Hindi, and Maráth, but the present curriculum comprises Urdú, Hindú, English, and Sanscrit. The school is now located in a commodious building erected at a cost of Rs. 11,000. It is affiliated to the Calcutta University, of which some of its scholars are already members, though still in statu pupillari. The educational staff *This improvement was principally effected by Mr. J. S. Campbell, the then Commissioner of the Sagar Division. comprises seven English masters on salaries varying from Rs. 30 to Rs. 400 per mensem, and four Vernacular masters. There is also a librarian. The number of pupils on the rolls in March 1869 was 283, and the average daily attendance was 221, all of whom learn English. Ságar has also a Vernacular middle class school-attended by more than a hundred scholars-several indigenous schools, and a female school. The civil station commences with the mint, about a mile east of the lake, and extends northwards for about a mile, till joined Civil and military stations. by the military cantonments, which again extend in a north-easterly direction for two miles and a half or more. The undulating nature of the ground (the houses being built all over it, and some on the tops and sides of surrounding hills) gives the station a varied and pleasing aspect, particularly in the rainy season, when the ground loses its parched and arid appearance. The church is erected almost in the centre of the military cantonments. It is in the Gothic style, but has few pretensions to elegance. There are some barracks for Europeans erected on an eminence close to the city, but the greater number of barracks, in which the European regiment and artillery are located, are situated on a hill with a level plateau to the top, to the extreme north of the military station. These barracks are, however, only temporary, and the magnificent new two-storied buildings are approaching completion. Before the Mutiny the cantonments were exclusively garrisoned by Native troops, with a detail of European artillery. Ever since, however, a European regiment and two batteries of European artillery, with a Native cavalry and infantry regiment, have been stationed there. There is a large magazine and depôt of medical stores in the fort. SA'IGHATA-A small village in the Chándá district, six miles west of Brahmapurí, possessing a fine irrigation-reservoir. SA'INKHERA-A small town, with a population of 2,325 souls, situated on the Dúdhí in the extreme north-western corner of the Narsinghpur district. Some cloth, tasar silk, and brass and copper vessels are manufactured here. SA'KOLI'-The eastern revenue subdivision or tahsil in the Bhandára district, composed of three parganas, viz. Sángarhí, Kámthá, and Pratapgarh, and having an area of 2,174 square miles, of which 522 are cultivated, 750 culturable, and 902 waste. The population amounts to 262,610 souls, inhabiting 886 towns and villages, and giving an average rate of 121 to the square mile. The land revenue for the year 1869-70 is Rs. 1,22,610. SAKRI-A stream in the Biláspúr district, which, having its rise in the Chilpí hills, flows east through the Kawardá chiefship and the Mungeli pargana, and is eventually absorbed in the Hámp. SAKTI ́—A small feudatoryship, situated at the extreme eastern limit of the Biláspúr district, containing 97 villages, and covering an area of 115 square miles. It was originally one of the Garhját states attached to the Sambalpúr district, and consists of a curved strip of level country, partly open, partly covered with forest, skirting the base of a prominent range known locally as the Gunji hills. The cultivated area is 26,318 acres, and the culturable 42,000 acres. The population is 11,784, giving an average of 102 souls to the square mile. The chief is a Gond. SAKTI -The head-quarters of the Sakti chiefship in the Biláspúr district. It is situated seventy miles east of Biláspúr, and is a small hamlet of no import ance. SALAI-A large agricultural village in the Huzúr tahsil of the Wardhá district, about nineteen miles north-east of Wardhá. It is said to derive its name from the number of sál trees that had to be cut down to clear a site for the village. A well is still pointed out as having been dug by the founder about 150 years ago. SAʼLETEKRI ́-A chiefship in the Bálághát district, the principal village of which is some fifty miles south-east of Búrhá. Nothing certain is known of the early history of this tenure, but it is believed to have been one of the grants made for guarding the passes of the hill country, and has been in the family of the present holders for many generations. The estate now covers an area of about 284 square miles, composed chiefly of hilly country, with but a small proportion of cultivation, and has in all seventy-one villages. Bamboos of the largest and best description are found here in great abundance. The present zamíndár, Amír Singh, is a fine specimen of a highland chief. SA'LE TEKRI-A continuation of the Maikal range in the Bhandara and Bálághát districts. The most easterly district of the Chhattisgarh division of the Central Provinces. It lies between 19° 10′ and 22° 35′ of General description. north latitude, and 82° 40′ and 85° 5′ of east longitude. Its extreme length from north to south is about 250 miles, and its extreme breadth from east to west 165 miles. The khálsa, or Government portion of the district, is computed to comprise 2,500 square miles. It is surrounded by a circle of chiefships, sixteen in number, called the khalsa zamíndárís, and these again are encircled by eight larger states, hitherto known as the Garbját states. To the extreme south, beyond the Pátná Garhját state, is the large feudatory state of Kárond or Káláhandí. The total area of the khálsa zamíndárí lands is estimated at 700 square miles, and the Garhjáts, including Kárond or Káláhandí, are about 20,000 square miles, so that at a rough computation the total area of Sambalpur, with all its native states and zamíndárís, may be some 23,000 square miles. Of the total area about two-fifths are under cultivation, and the remainder is forest, jungle, and waste. The eight Garhját states above referred to are: Pátná. Bámrá. Sonpúr. Ráígarh with Bargarh. Rairákhol, Borásámbar. The chiefs of the first six have been recognised by the British Government as feudatories, but the last two row come under the head of ordinary chiefships. The Rájá of Kárond is also a feudatory. The following is a list of the Sambalpúr zamíndárs in the Uttartír or Northern subdivison : These places will all be found more fully described elsewhere. The khálsa portion of the Sambalpúr district is divided into two subdivisions, namely, Sambalpúr and Bargarh-the former lying to the north and east, and the latter to the south and west of the Mahánadí. They are popularly known as the Uttartír and the Dakhantir. The greater part of this Physical features and geologi cal formation. country is an undulating plain, with rugged ranges of hills rising in every direction. The principal of these ranges is the Bará Pahár in the Dakkantir, which is in fact a succession of ranges, covering an area of some 350 square miles. It was the stronghold of Surendra Sá and his followers during the rebellion. The khalsa is well cultivated, rice being the staple crop; and in the Dakhantir especially, with the exception of the Bará Pahár jungle tract, the jungle and forest have been completely cleared, nothing being left but mango, mhowa, and other fruit-trees, and here and there a small patch of sál jungle. This part of the country, especially when seen from a slight elevation, is very picturesque, and has the appearance of a vast park. Every village nearly has its one or two tanks; but though some of them are large and deep, none are faced with stone or otherwise solidly constructed. Mr. Medlicott's + remarks on the geological formation may be here quoted: "The soil, not being alluvial, varies a good deal with the nature of the underlying rock and this being, as a rule, highly silicious and indurated, so is the soil light and sandy. A very large proportion of the district is occupied by crystalline metamorphic rocks. A small portion of the north-west corner of the district is composed of the sandstone, limestone, and shale, which cover such a large area in the Ráípúr and Biláspúr districts. In the north there are outlying patches of various extent of different groups of the Indian carboniferous series, principally composed of soft sandstone." Iron-ore is found in nearly all the zamíndárís and Garhját states. It is most plentiful and of the best description in Rairákhol. There are two or three descriptions of building stone; one sandstone is particularly good, being easy to cut, while Mineral products. *Of the Geological Survey. + These remarks are taken from a note drawn up for the Deputy Commissioner. it hardens on exposure. Limestone is abundant. In the river Mahánadí, near Padmapúr, there are large masses of limestone rock, almost as pure in appearance as marble. Gold dust is procured in the Mahánadí and in its affluent, the Eb, but the process of collecting it is scarcely remunerative. Diamonds used to be found also in the Mahánadí near an island called Hírakhudá or the Diamond Isle, also at the spot where the Eb joins the above river. During the period of native rule some fifteen or twenty villages were granted rent-free to a class called Jhirás, in consideration of their undertaking the search for diamonds. When the country lapsed in 1850 these villages were resumed; and though an attempt was made to lease out the right to seek for diamonds, the farm only fetched some Rs. 200 per annum for a short time, and even at that low rent it does not appear that the farmer made anything out of it, for he eventually gave it up. Under the native government it was the practice to give the Jhirás a village rent-free if they produced a good-sized diamond, land being of little or no value then. The smaller diamonds they used to secrete and sell. As far as can be learnt, the best stones ever found here were thin and flat, with flaws in them, but they were admirably suited for setting in native jewellery. Timber. There is little or no timber of value to be found in the khálsa portion of the district. In the zamindárís there are tracts of sál (shorea robusta), sáj (terminalia tomentosa), dháurá (conocarpus latifolia), bíjesál (pterocarpus marsupium), and ebony (diospyros melanoxylon), and in the Garhját states of Phuljhar and Rairákhol there are vast forests of sál. Rivers. The principal rivers are the Mahánadí, which rises in the Ráípúr district in a hilly range between Dhamtari and Bastar, and entering the Sambalpúr district to the eastward of Seorínaráin in the Biláspúr district, flows due east for some twenty-fivo miles, when it takes a south-easterly direction for some forty miles, passing Chandrapur and Padmapúr, until it reaches the town of Sambalpur. From Sambalpúr its course is due south for some forty-five miles, as far as Sonpur, where it suddenly changes to due east, following that direction until it empties itself into the sea beyond Cuttack. Its bed as far as Chandrapúr is tolerably free from obstructions, but from Chandrapúr to a little beyond Bod it is more or less full of them; its current is more or less hindered by boulders, jháú jungle, and even trees. The other rivers deserving mention are the Eb, the Kelú, and the Jhirá-all tributaries of the Mahánadí. Hills. The principal hill ranges in the khálsa are those of the Bará Pahár, in the northern portion of the Dakhantir-a succession of ranges covering an area of some 350 square miles. They are all covered with dense jungle,. but scattered here and there in the valleys are small villages, with patches of cultivation. The highest point is Debrigarh-2,267 feet above the plain. The main portion of this network of hills is situated in a bend of the Mahánadí, by which it is almost surrounded on three sides; but to the south-west an outlying range projects some thirty miles to a place called "Singhorá Ghát," where the road from Ráípúr to Sambalpúr winds through it. From this point the hills continue in a southerly direction through Phuljhar, and then turning off abruptly to the westward, form a natural boundary for some distance between the two zamíndárís of Phuljhar and Borásámbar. This Singhorá |