1 2
2 irrigation channels are run into them and taken along the further bank reaching |
3 the surface again with very little lossof elevation. As a result practically
4 the whole cf the valley, including many tracts which from the south appear
5 to be high hills, is copiously irrigated ; the general rich nature of the soil, re-
6 inforced by the humus brougl# down by the water and aided by much artificial
7 manuring, leads to a regular system of double cropping and the whole valley
8 is covered with rice and wheat in their due seasons.
9 Aiter crossing the Kangra valley these two tahsils extend into a broken
10 country of low sandstone and conglomerate hills; in their passage across the
11 valley the life-giving waters from the mountains collect into a few main streams
12 which break through these low hills indeep gorges, their depth is so great
13 and the surface of the country so broken that they cannot now be used as sources
14 of irrigation except in such few small plots of land as lie below their cliffs;
15 the low hill country then is practically entirely unirrigated, much of it is
16 waste either forest, or downs, or bare rock, whilst cultivation is confined to
17 small plateaux and valleys and to the lesser slopes wherever the depth
18 of soil is sufficient to support a crop. Kangra 'lahsil ends amidst this
19 low hill country, Palampur extends to the Beas on the south but the hills
20 stretch right down to that river which here flows in a confined bed and there
21 is no difference in the character of the country right down to the boundary.
22 From the north of Kangra Tahsil the Dhaula Dhar runs into Chamba
23 State territory the boundary of which here leaves the ridge and running across
24 a wild series of flanking hills again turns towards the north-west along the
25 crest of a subordinate ridge—the Hathi Dhar—with an average height of rather
26 under 5.000 feet. Nurpur lies south of this ridge and to the west of Kangra
27 Tahsil ; the greater part of it resembles the low hill country of Kangra and
28 Palampur, but the minor hills are moreregular in form and include a_ series of
29 small level valleys between ridges, whilst in places these valleys spread out
30 into tracts which by comparison with the surrounding country are called plains.
31 The Beas river flows withir the south-west boundary of Nurpur and has a
32 wide alluvial valley through which it flows by several channels which change
33 their positions during the flood scason, forming a tract of country comparable
34 with the riverainu areas of the Punjab plains ; the elevation of the river bed at
35 the point where it leaves the tahsil is just over 9v0 feet, the lowest point
36 in any of the three tahsils.
37 he above description can convey little idea of the variations met with
38 in atract of 1,380 square miles-varying, between heights of 20,000 and 900
39 feet above sea level, but more detailed descriptions of each assessment circle
40 will be found in the three preliminary reports.
41 8. Through the tract the “ chil ’’ pine is the commonest forest tree,
42 Vegetation, animal life and nataral deodar, fir, oak (both holly oak and brown oak)
43 products, | are found on the slopes of the Dhaula Dhar
44 whilst innumerable deciduous trees, of which
45 perhaps “ Ohi ” is the commonest, are found in the valleys and low hills, The
46 countryside is beautified hy large numbers of flowering trees and shrubs and.
47 there are many varieties of wild fruit trees such as the peach, cherry and
48 medlar ; common and unpalatable varieties of mangoes are grown in pro-
49 fusion, and there would appear to be an opening for the cultivation of mangoes
50 of good varieties if not ot other fruits ; up to the present however there has
51 been no enterprise in this direction.
52 Leopard, hill cat, and monkey pig are common throughout the tract ;.
53 black bear frequent the slopes of the Dhaula Dhar ; small deer are occasionally
54 found in the scattered forests of the low hills ; the Beas riverain is subject to
55 the depredations of large herds of Nilgai and the wild descendants of domestic
56 cattle. .The wastes which give cover to these enemies of the farmer also afford
57 erazing for large flocks of goats and sheep, and the wandering buffalo herds-
58 man finds ample sustinence for his herds in the larger forests. ‘The local
59 breed of plough cattle is of the poorest, of small hill stock ; it has deteriorated
60 through generations of improper feeding and overwork.
61 Various forest produce is of marketable value and a thriving trade
62 exists in soap nuts, the product of a common tree of the district. No minerals
63 of workable value have ever been discovered ; roofing slates of fair quality are
64 extracted from quarries on the slopes of the Dhaula Dhar and have given birth