Gazetteer Lahore 1893

· 1893 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1Lahore District. ]

2CHAP, I.—THE DISTRICT. 3

3as they enter the district together at Harike on the Lahore

4and Amritsar border; from there the bank takes a westerly

5direction and the river flows south-west; the two therefure

6gradually diverge further and further apart until, as they both

7leave the district at the Montgomery border, they are separated

8by a distance of 25 miles. Under the high bank the old

9channel of the Beds can be very distinctly traced, and on the

10edge of the channel is stil] standing, though in somewhat

11ruined condition, a large Dera or sacred abode of a Sikh Guru

12who is said to have dried up the Beds river at that point by a

13curse, because it was undermining his building. Along the

14edge of the high bank at various intervals are village settle-

15ments, inclading those of Kastir and Chinidn, the two most

16important places in the district outside the Labore city. The

17proximity of the houses to the bank in these settlements shows

18how reluctantly the people used to move back to the nearest

19unoccupied land as the river encroached. In the Hithér tract be-

20tween the high bank and the river, village settlements are numer-

21ous and the population is fairly dense. Cultivation is

22carried on partly by aid of irrigation wells and partly

23by inundation from canals which only flow however for

24such part of the year as the river remains in flood. The soil

25is for the most part a soft alluvial loam yielding readily to

26tillage but almost too sandy to be genuinely fertile. There is

27much sandy waste in which nothing grows but the sirkana or

28river jungle reed which is fairly abandant and comes in use-

29ful as cattle fodder and for various other purposes. Every here

30and there tortuous nallahs or lowlying depressions of land mark

31the course of the river and its branches in former days, The

32district stands eleventh in order of area and second in order of

33population among the 31 districts of the Punjab, compyrising

343} per cent. of the total area, and slightly more than 5 per

35cent. of the total population of British territory of the Province.

36According to the census figures of 1891 its actual population is

371,075,379 souls, of which only 21 per cent. is urban, the rest

38being more or less agricultural. The chief town is of course

39Lahore which is also the capital of the Province ; it is situate on

40the left bank of the Ravi about a mile from its present course :

41its municipal population as last ascertained in 1891 was 159,597

42souls. Lahore is the centre of a system of railways convergin

43from all parts, from Peshawar, Mooltan, Ferozepore, an

44Umballa. It stands on the Peshawar and Delhi metalled road,

45and another similar road approaches it from Ferozepore passing

46through Kasir. Unmetalled roads approach it from Shahpur

47through Gujranwala on the west, from Mooltan through Mont-

48gomery on the south-west, from Ludhidna through Harike on

49the south-east, and from Sidlkot through Shahdera on the north.

50The only towns of any importance beside Lahore are Kasér

51with population of 20,290 and Chanidn with 10,359. There are

521,522 inhabited villages, only 227 of which have a population in

53excess of one thousand, and only 55 have over two thousand,

54Chapter I, A.

55Descriptive.

56Area and descrip-

57tion.

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