Ills TOR Y
403
neighbourhood of the hills. Leopards are not uncommon. Wolves,
foxes, and jackals are common in all, parts. The sacred monkey is
found in great numbers about Hodal, and there are also a few in
Rewari and Gurgaon. Wild hog frequent the low hills near Bhaundi
and Sohna and the lowlands of the Jumna. Both antelope and `ravine
deer' (Indian gazelle) are fairly plentiful, the former in the hilly and
sandy parts, the latter in the lowlands. The nilgai is also found in the
southern parts of the Rewari lahsi4 Hog deer are occasionally met
with in the lowlands of the Jumna.
Both heat and cold are less extreme than in the Punjab proper,
though near the hill ranges and in the Firozpur-Jhirka valley the radia-
tion from the rocks makes the heat intense. Fever is the chief cause of
mortality, but the District is the least unhealthy of the Division, Simla
excepted. The flooded tracts near Nûh are particularly malarious, and
fever has come with the Agra Canal into the high plain.
The average rainfall varies from 22 inches at Rewari to 26 at Gur-
gaon. Of the total at the latter place, z3z inches fall in the summer
months and z2 in the winter. The uncertain nature of the mon-
soon is the most marked feature of the returns, the precipitation
having varied from 48 inches at Nûh in 1885-6 to o• i inch at Hattin
in x899-19oo.
Gurgaon, with the rest of the territory known as MEWAT, formed
in early times part of an extensive kingdom ruled over by Rajputs of
the Jaduvansi or Jadon tribe. The Jadon power was
broken by. Muhammad of Ghor in 1196 ; but for two History.
centuries they sturdily resisted the Muhammadan domination, and the
history of the District is a record of incursions of the people of Mewat
into Delhi territory and of punitive expeditions undertaken against
them. Under Firoz Shah III the Jadons were converted to Islam;
and Bahadur Khan or Bahadur Nahar took a prominent part in the
intestine struggles that followed the invasion of Timar, founding the
family of the Khanzadas, members of which ruled Mewat in partial
independence of the Delhi empire. Babar annexed Mewat, and from
this time the power of the Khanzadas rapidly declined. During the
decay of the Mughal empire the District was torn between contending
powers. In the north were the Nawabs of Farrukhnagar, a principality
founded in 1732 ; in the centre an independent power had risen at
Ghasera ; Rewari was held by an Ahir family, with forts at Gokulgarh
and Guraora ; while from the south the great Jdt ruler, Sûraj Mal of
Bharatpur, was extending his dominions. He captured Ghasera and
Farrukhnagar ; but after his death in 1763' Farrukhnagar returned to its
former rulers, and a great part of the tract was recovered for the empire
by Najaf Kuli Khan. Under the Marathas the greater part of the Dis-
tract was held by Generals de Boigne, Perron, and Bourquin. Begam
Ddz
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