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169. North of Sehora is the pergunnah of Bilheree, with an area of
700 square miles, and comprising 340 villages. It is traversed along its eastern
border by the Mizapore road; and its northern portion is crossed by the high-
road that connects Saugor and Dumoh with the main road and the railway.
The geological formation of the south-eastern portion is metamorphic, overlaid
by laterite, but the greater portion of the pergunnah is Vindhyan sandstone. The
tract of country is described in the Settlement Report as "a network of hills and
low jungle, with alternate vales, glades, and plateaus, sometimes of the wildest,
and sometimes of the most picturesque imagery; and sometimes, when alluvial
deposits occur, despite the vicinity of frowning hills overhanging the valley,
luxuriant with waving rubbee crops and poppy fields to the very edge of the
hill side." The soil is everywhere light and sandy; the main drainage channel
of the eastern portion is the river Kutna, which, rising in the hills of Koombhi,
crosses the main road at Sleemanabad, and then flowing northwards in a semi-
circular course, again crosses the road at Moorwarra. It has a narrow channel
confined between steep banks, and a bottom in some parts sandy, in others rocky;
it is a rapid flowing stream, with a good current at all seasons of the year. There
are many smaller streams that join the Kutna in its course, but the majority of
these become dry in the hot weather. There are many villages on the banks of
the Kutna depending on it solely for water, but the majority of the villages
derive their supply from, wells, of which there are generally two or three or
more in each village; they are sunk in rock or latérite, and vary in depth from
30 to 40 feet; these are always protected by a wide chabootra, formed of the
large slabs of stones which are everywhere abundant. Cholera scarcely visited
this tract of country at all ; the towns of Sleemanabad and Moorwarra, on the
main road, suffered to some extent; and Bilheree, 8 miles to west of the road,
rather severely; but besides these, reports of deaths from cholera were received
from 10 or 12 villages only. None of these however were on the main road; four
were in a cluster by themselves, 10 miles to the west of Sleemanabad.
170. Sleemanabad is on the main road, 40 miles from Jnbbtilpore; the-
population is 1,400. The water-supply is drawn chiefly from wells, of which
there are a great number; but a great proportion of the poorer classes drink
water from the river; the depth of the wells varies from 18 to 20 feet, and none
had more than 1½ foot of water in January. The people that use the river water
draw it from either side of the bridge; below the bridge the stream is deep and
rapid, above it is more still; the banks are everywhere foul. The first case of
cholera occurred on the 3rd of June, the second on the 7th; both these persons
were residents of the place; a third case did not occur till the 13th, but between
that date and the 4th July 18 deaths were registered. All that died were persons
of the poorer classes, living in one part of the town, and drawing water from
the river.
Hindoor,—a village about half a mile from Sleemanabad, with a population of
223, chiefly inhabited by Koles. There is a well in the village, but the water is
used only by the few of the better caste that live there; the Koles all use the river
water above the bridge; of these, 8 died in the early part of June.
In the former epidemic, Sleemanabad, and the tract of country in which it lies,
have been but little affected. Once, when the bridge over the Kutna was under
construction, cholera broke out severely among the work people employed but
even then the towns-people suffered only to a small extent.
171. To Bilheree from Sleemanabad the distance is 12 miles; for the first
four or five miles the road, or rather track, runs through jungle, then into an open
plain stretching towards the Khymore range of hills, with latérite mounds or
sandstone rock cropping up here and there. In this plain the villages are numer-
TOUS ; the soil is everywhere light and sandy ; and owing to the scanty rain-fal-