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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 9, p. 72.

7 2 Jll2=SH Z3 UNDELA7HAND British Districts of Mirzapur and Benares. Himmat Bahadur then abandoned the Marathas and came over to the British, who granted him a large tract along the Jumna between Allahabad and Kalpi. British troops co-operated with Himmat Bahadur and drove Shamsher Bahadur across the Betwa, and in 1803 took Kalpi. Shamsher Bahadur became titular Nawab of Banda with a pension of four lakhs, and by the end of 1804 the country was fairly quiet. The fort of Kalinjar was captured in 1812. Subsequent additions to British territories took place by lapse, and Jhansi city was finally acquired from Sindhia in exchange for Gwalior fort and Morar in 1886. The population of British Bundelkhand fell from 2,693,000 in i89r to 2,456,ooo in igoi, a decrease of nearly 9 per cent. Excessive rain- fall and cloudy weather in the early years of the rain- Population. decade brought on rust, which damaged the spring crops and caused great loss to the people. The failure of the rains in 1895 and 1896 resulted in severe famine, and a virulent cholera epidemic broke out. The density is only 212 persons per square mile, being less than one-half the density in the United Provinces generally. Of the total population, 2,297,000, or more than 93 per cent., are Hindus, and only r43,000, or less than 6 per cent., are Muhamma- dans, who form 14 per cent. of the population in the United Provinces as a whole. British Bundelkhand extends to the jungles of Central India, and its inhabitants have a strong infusion of Dravidian blood. The principal jungle tribes are the Kols, Khangars, and Saharias, who have become nominally Hinduized. The change is, however, more noticeable in regard to social customs, such as marriage rules, than in religious beliefs, which continue strongly animistic. A few estates are still owned by Marathas, but the effects of their rule have almost disappeared. In Banda and Allahabad the Bagheli and Awadhi dialects of Eastern Hindi are spoken, while in Hamirpur, Jhansi, and Jalaun the vernacular is the Bundeli dialect of Western Hindi. While in the United Provinces, as a whole, the autumn crops cover an area only about 16 per cent. greater than the spring crops, in Bundelkhand they are nearly double. About one- Agriculture. third of the autumn crop is jownr and one-seventh cotton, and from 50 to 8o per cent. of the spring crop is gram. These proportions vary according to the seasons, and after good rain the rabi area is largely increased. Irrigation from wells is difficult owing to the low spring-level, and the storage tanks made by closing valleys do not command large areas. There is only one canal, drawn from the Betwa, a protective work which chiefly serves Jalaun. In 1903-4, only about 4 per cent. of the cultivated area was irrigated, compared with one-third for the United Provinces as a whole. Bundelkhand is thus peculiarly