Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s3.t1.111

v2.c28.s3.t1.111

The districts south of the Luni, as Pali, Sojat, and Godwar, fertilized by the numerous petty streams flowing from the Aravalli, produce abundantly every species of grain with the exception of *bajra*, which thrives best in a sandy soil; and in Nagor and Merta considerable quantities of the richer grains are raised by irrigation from wells. The extensive western divisions of Jalor, Sanchor, and Bhinmal, containing [165] five hundred and ten towns and villages, which are Khalisa, or ‘fiscal land,’ possess an excellent soil, with the advantage of the rills from Abu, and the great southern barrier; but the demoralized government of Raja Man never obtains from them one-third of their intrinsic capability, while the encroachment of the Sahariyas, and other robbers from the Sindi desert, encroach upon them often with impunity. Wheat, barley, rice, *juar* (millet), *mung* (pulse), *til* (sesamum), are the chief products of the richer lands; while amidst the sandy tracts they are confined to *bajra*, *mung*, and *til*. With good government, Marwar possesses abundance of means to collect stores against the visitations which afflict these northern regions: but prejudice steps in to aid the ravages of famine, and although water is near the surface in all the southern districts, the number of wells bears no proportion to those in Mewar. The great district of Nagor, of five hundred and sixty towns and villages, the appanage of the heirs-apparent of Maru, in spite of physical difficulties, is, or has been made, an exception; and the immense sheet of sandstone, on which a humid soil is embedded, has been pierced throughout by the energies of ancient days, and contains greater aids to agriculture than many more fertile tracts in the country.