They owe the greater security which they there
enjoy, compared with other small towns in Oude, chiefly to the
respect in which they are known to be held by the British Government
and its officers, and to the influence of their friends and relatives
who hold office about the Court of Lucknow.
_January_ 21, 1849.--Sakin, ten miles north-west. The country well
studded with fine trees, and pretty well cultivated, but the soil is
light from a superabundance of sand; and the crops are chiefly
autumn, except in the immediate vicinity of villages, and cut in
December. The surface on which they stood this season appears to be
waste, except where the stalks of the jowar and bajara, are left
standing for sale and use, as fodder for cattle. These stalks are
called kurbee, and form good fodder for elephants, bullocks, &c.,
during the cold, hot, and rainy season. They are said to keep better
when left on the ground, after the heads have been gathered, than
when stacked. The sandy soil, in the vicinity of villages, produces
fine spring crops of all kinds, wheat, gram, sugarcane, arahur,
tobacco, &c., being well manured by drainage from the villages, and
by the dung stored and spread over it; and that more distant would
produce the same, if manured and irrigated in the same way.
The head men or proprietors of some villages along the road
mentioned, "that the fine state in which we saw them was owing to
their being strong, and able to resist the Government authorities
when disposed, as they generally were, to oppress or rack-rent them;
that the landholders owed their strength to their union, for all were
bound to turn out and afford aid to their neighbour on hearing the
concerted signal of distress; that this league, '_offensive and
defensive_,' extended all over the Baugur district, into which we
entered about midway between this and our last stage; and that we
should see how much better it was peopled and cultivated in
consequence than the district of Mahomdee, to which we were going;
that the strong only could keep anything under the Oude Government;
and as they could not be strong without union, all landholders were
solemnly pledged to aid each other, _to the death_, when oppressed or
attacked by the local officers.
Pages:
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508