POONA DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
19
The district is included in the great trappean area of the Deccan. The surrounding
country is an open plain, level or gently undulating in places. The soil is brown loam,
sandy, calcareous, containing kunkur, thin and poor, resting on trap or amygdaloid rock,
which at times appears on the surface, and renders such portions more or less unfit for
cultivation. The soil of the low ground, however, especially along the " Moosum" is deeper,
more argillaceous, and better in quality. The minerals are quartz, agate, jasper, colespar,
feldspar, zeolites, &c. The vegetable products in irrigated land are wheat, grain, pease, pepper,
sugarcane, Indian corn, tamatoes, cucumbers, plantains, guavas, and rice in small quantity. In
unirrigated land bajree, Lilly, ooreed, moong, mut, jowaree, tobacco, turmeric, tooree and cotton,
the cultivation of which has been largely increasing since 1864, and according to Mr. Wilkin
-son's recent report the area of cotton cultivation amounts this year in Khandeish to upwards
of 616,000 acres, showing an increase of 75.258 acres over last year. In the talooka of Malli
-gaum, Nandgaum in the Nassick Collectorate, 8,038 acres have been used for cotton, or
3,172 in excess of last year. The more common trees are the neem, peepul, babool, banian
and mango. The fruits met with in the cold season are pomegranates, guavas, custard
apples, plantains ; and in the hot season melons and mangoes. In the bazaar, oranges and
limes are to be had occasionally from Aurungabad, and potatoes, which are grown at Nassick,
are usually obtainable throughout the year. In order to encourage the neighbouring villages
to bring in their supplies of grain and country produce, a market is held weekly near the
lines, and a pendal has been erected there with corrugated iron roof for the accommodation
of the sellers of country vegetables and fruits.
The diet of the men here seems to be better than that which was common at Poona in
1864. It is stated that single men use 1½ lbs. of wheat or bajree flour, and 8 ozs. of rice
and dhall, and 1 lb. of milk in the evening with their flour cakes ; and when dhall and rice are
not used, lbs. 2 of flour with lbs. of mutton twice or thrice a week according to their means.
The following scale is submitted as an approximation merely, but will perhaps be sufficient
to show the ordinary description of food used by the different classes in the Regiment :—
Mahrattas,
Madrassees.
Sikhs, Purdasees,
Chutries, Brah-
m i n s .
Purwaries.
Jews, Mussulmans.
Native
Christians.
Flour wheaten or
bajree.
1½ lbs.
1½ lb.
½ lb.
1½ lbs.
1½ lbs.
Rice ...................
1
„
8 ozs.
1 ,,
8 ozs.
8 ozs.
Dhall ...................
4 ozs.
4 ,,
4 ozs.
4 „
4 ,,
Ghee ...................
2
„ 2 „
2 ,,
2 ,,
2 „
Salt ...................
1
„ 1 ,,
1 ,,
1 ,,
1 „
Mussulla ...................
1 ,,
1 „
1 ,,
1 ,,
1 „
Kokum or tama-
r i nd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 „
1 ,,
1 ,,
1 ,,
1 ,,
Vegetables ...................
½ lb.
½ lb.
½ l b .
½ lb.
½ l b
Milk ................... 1 lb. occa-
sionally.
2 lbs. when
no dhall.
1 lb. occa-
sionally.
Tea, coffee, and
milk occasion-
ally.
Tea, coffee,
milk.
Mutton ................... 1 lb. occa-
sionally.
1 lb. occa-
sionally.
1 lb. occa-
sionally.
1 lb. occasion-
ally.
1 lb.
Fish or Fowl ................... Occasionally. Sikhs, fowl
and fish ;
Purdasees,
fish.
Occasionally. Occasionally.
Occasionally.