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montane region merges into a waterless, almost rain-less, and therefore sterile plain, unculturable save
by irrigation. The southern half of the district and a small portion of the west-central portion are
supplied with water for irrigation purposes by a canal, which branches from the river Chenáb at
Khanki in the Wazirabad Tahsil, but wells are the mainstay of the agriculture of the district. The
average rainfall from 1873 to 1892 was about 22 inches. The district enjoys a healthy reputation,
notwithstanding the fact that the variation of temperature is very great, viz. from a maximum shade
temperature of 108° F. in the hot to 29° F. in the cold season.
Very large numbers of bovines and equines as well as sheep and goats are to be found in this dis-
trict. Camels are also fairly numerous.
Wazirabad Tahsil.—During October and November 1892 the village of Kuka Kolu lost 5 horses
and 10 asses. In the year following, during the months of October and November, in the village of
Janki-Chatta in the same tahsil, 3 horses and 5 asses succumbed to Surra; vernacular names "Phenta,"
" Sokra " ; neither of these were low-lying.
In 1894 one village of this tahsil suffered from this malady, losing 5 horses and 4 asses.
During 1895, 25 per cent. of the horses and 25 per cent asses died from Surra in five villages of this
tahsil. In the same year a low-lying village of the tahsil lost several horses and mules, equivalent to
45 per cent. of the animals possessed.
In 1896 Surra broke out in twenty villages, losing 14 per cent. horses, 18 per cent. asses and 4
per cent mules owned by the villagers.
Gujranwála Tahsil.—Reports
have been received concerning the outbreak of Surra in equines
during 1894, from nine low-lying villages, and the loss comprised 23 horses and 21 asses.
During 1896 in nineteen villages 63 asses, or 13 per cent. of the animals owned, succumbed to
the disease.
Kha'nga'h Tahsil.—One low-lying village, Manga, lost 2 asses only in October and November 1895.
Disease called ' Pheta'.
During the year 1896 nine low-lying villages suffered loss from Surra. One animal died in March,
but all the others succumbed during August, September and October.
Sialkot District.
The general aspect of the district is a plain sloping down from the uplands at the base of the
Himalayas to the level country to the south. Bounded on the north-east by the Chenáb and on
the south-east by the Ravi, the district is fringed on either side by a line of fresh alluvial soil
above which rise the low banks that form the limits of the river beds. At an average distance of
15 miles from the Ravi, another stream, the Degh, which rises in the Jammú hills, traverses this dis-
trict and passes on into the district of Lahore. This, too, has upon either bank a fringe of low alluvial
soil. With the exceptions thus noted, the district is practically a level plain throughout. The district
may be divided into six divisions according to the nature of the country : (i) The alluvial lowlands of
the Chenáb ; (ii) the valley of the Degh ; (iii) the alluvial lowlands of the Ravi ; (iv) the triangular
dorsal plateau west of the Degh ; (v) the remainder of the central plateau of the district, between the
Degh and the Chenáb ; (vi) the dorsal tract between the Ravi and the Degh. The district as a whole
is somewhat above the average of the Province in the matter of natural fertility. Three-fourths of its
area have been brought under the plough, and except in the large kallar plain to the south there is little
room for extension of cultivation. The district is watered on two sides of the great rivers of the
Province, the Ravi and the Chenáb, which draw their supplies from the snows of the central ranges of
the Himalayas. Some of the smaller streams, notably the Bik and the Degh, while destructive in the
higher tracts, which slope rapidly to the south, are of the utmost value as fertilizing agents in the
southern parts of the district. Numerous marshy depressions known as Chhambs occur in many parts,
the whole number covering an area of 8,106 acres.
This district embraces an area of 1,968 miles and has a population of 1,119,847 souls. It is divided
into five tahsils, Siálkot, Pasrúr, Zafarwál, Ráya and Daska, the northern, west-central, eastern,
southern and western portions of the district respectively.
The rainfall of the different tahsils varies from about 24 inches in Raya to 36 in Sialkot.
The district is decidedly healthy on the whole, but the disease is very prevalent in water-logged
tracts such as Bagwat and the lower parts of the Degh valley. Malarial fever is the great scourge of
the people, and flourishes most in September and October when the people are weakened by the hot
weather and cannot stand the great difference between the day and night temperatures. Fever is direct-
ly responsible for 68 per cent of the total deaths, but indirectly its fatal effects are more widespread.
Many deaths returned as due to pneumonia, dysentery, and other diseases would certainly not have
occurred had the patients not been previously debilitated by fever.
Horses and ponies are less numerous than in most districts of the Province. Sheep and goats are
kept by the village menials. Donkeys are largely used as pack animals, and are usually kept by the
village potters. Camels are not kept to any extent by the people.