4
67 feet ; down the centre of the district from the town of Rohtak to Gwálesan the depth is 67 feet also;
at a distance of 7 to 9 miles from the western border, the water is 80 feet below the surface, and along
the western boundary of the Rohtak Tahsil 115 feet."—(Gazetteer). Irrigation from tanks is never prac-
tised ; the people have religious prejudices against this.
Equines.—Till quite recently, no village headmen used to possess horses ; most of the ponies belong
to traders, &c. Asses belong entirely to the potters ; camels are owned by a class called ' Rhábaris.'
Reh.—Saline efflorescence, called shor, is unfortunately not unknown, although it has not developed
along the canals in Rohtak so badly as in Delhi and Karnal ; it occurs chiefly in Mahmúdpúr and a few
other villages above Mahmúdpúr in the north-east of the Gohána Tahsil, round Kharkhándah, and
above the town of Rohtak. The evil in nearly all of these cases is caused by obstructions to the natu-
ral drainage lines.
Health.—Stone in the bladder is common, as well as guinea-worm, along the irrigated tracts.
Intermittent fever and ague are common, with their sequelæ, enlargement of spleen, dropsy, and anæmia.
Pneumonia is fatally prevalent throughout the autumn and winter, owing chiefly to the extreme range
of temperature during the twenty-four hours.
Jhajjar Tahsil.—At the end of 1894, Surra appeared in the village of Aurangpur, Nangala and
Dadri in the Jhajjar Tahsil of this district ; fifteen ponies died in the three villages in November. The
country around is known as the Dábar, on account of the inundation and swamps. Ponies are very
few there.
In this district the disease is well known to the natives as " Tebersa," " Purana " or " Nikalgaya "
affecting camels.
Veterinary-Captain Pease remarks :—
" This disease appears occasionally, but it is naturally not very widespread owing to the very few number of horses
which are to be found in the district. It is found in the villages where the land is liable to inundation such as the
' Dabar,' also amongst the camels where the tank water evaporates and gets foul and thick.-"
'' The duration of the disease in camels may be gathered from its name 'Tebersa' which signifies three years
disease, and the people say that if the animal lives for that time recovery is certain."
Karnal District.
This district consists of a tract of plain country lying on the right bank of the Jumna, including a
portion of the valley of that river and stretching away westwards across the Sarusti and Ghagar into
the eastern plains of the Punjab It embraces an area of 2,579 square miles, and has a population
of 645,219 souls. It is divided into three tahsils —Panipat, Karnal and Kaithal—the southern, central
and north-eastern, and western and north-western portions of the district respectively.
The district is everywhere flat, and lies about 780 feet above the sea, the height probably nowhere
differing from this figure by more than some 30 feet. There is a very gradual fall from the north-east
to the south-west.
The distance of the water table from the surface is much affected by the Western Jumna Canal
and the river ; in their vicinity it is seldom greater than 15 feet, and often not more than 2 or 3 feet.
The soil varies from stiff loam to pure sand ; the stiffest " dakar " being found in the hollows and drain-
age lines, whilst the sandy soil "bhuda" is found chiefly in patches, lying in the beds of old river
channels.
Physical character of the Surra Zone.—The Khadir, Bangar, Nardak and Naili are terms applied
to different areas in the Karnal District according to certain physical characters.
The Khadir is a low-lying riverain tract, with light soil, and water close to the surface ; often
flooded by the Jumna, which bounds it on the east, rendering it practically impassable for miles.
The Bangar.—This tract lies to the west of the Khadir, and is elevated some few feet above it. by a
plainly marked bank or drop. It is watered almost throughout its area by the Western Jumna Canal
and is for the most part a sheet of cultivation interspersed with great swamps and large barren plains
covered with saline efflorescence. The cultivated land is subjected to excessive irrigation by the natives
with the result that the whole country is water-logged, and after heavy rain flooded for miles. At the
termination of the rains vegetation undergoes putrefaction, and malarial fever and splenic disease become
very prevalent, about 65 per cent of the deaths being due to malaria alone.
The Nardak is a high arid tract of tableland, lying to the west of the Bangar, with water at great
depths, and having little irrigation. It is conspicuously a grazing country, the land being covered with
Jal, Jand and Kair, and affording excellent pasturage in years of good rainfall.
The Naili.—This is the name given to the unhealthy country north of the Kaithal Tahsil, inundated
by the floods of the Sarusti, Umla, and Ghagar rivers. Some of the land is cropped when dry enough,
but it for the most part remains swampy and is covered thickly with sedgy grasses.
The average rainfall from 1866 to 1889 in the different tahsils was—Karnal 30'', Panipat 24.5" and
Kaithal 18.7".
With the exception of the Nardak the whole district is exceedingly unhealthy, especially during
the rains, Black quarter (charbon symptomatique du bœuf) and " Ghotwa " or throat disease being
very prevalent among cattle, causing considerable loss annually.