178 JIRI
hilly country, and there is very little cultivated land in the vicinity.
The only traffic brought down by the river consists of forest produce
and tea from a garden situated at Jirighat, about 5 miles above its
confluence with he Barak.
Jobat.--A guaranteed chiefahip in Central India, under the Bho-
pawar Agency, lying between 22° 21′ and 22° 30′ N. and 74° 28′ and
74° 50′ E, with an area of about too square miles. It is bounded on
the north by the Jhabua State; on the south and west by Ali-R3.jpur
and on the asst by Gsvalior. Jobat lies entirely in the hilly tract of the
Vindhyas, and is intersected by a succession of short ranges and narrow
valleys covered with thick jungle. The geological. formations met with
re of unusual interest. In the immediate neighbourhood of the town
of Jobah and covering a considerable see, round it, is an outcrop of
a peculiar jaspidenas, ferruginous rack, while the greater part of the
State is occupied by gne and schistose rocks. Along he northern
border the Lametas ameosrepresented by the Nimar sandstone and
Bagh limestones, overlaid by trap. The annual rainfall averages about
3- inches.
There is m certainty as to the founder of this State; but the
best-svpportedaccount relates that the territory passed to Kesar Deo,
great-grandsonof Anand De,, the founderofAll-Rajpur, in the fifteenth
century. On the establishment of British supremacy, Rana S,bal Sing
in possession, and w succeeded by Rang Ranjit Singh, who
died in -874Renjit Singh in '864 agreed to cede all land winch
might at any time be required for railways through his State. He
ss followed by Sarap Singh, he died in 1897, and was succeeded
by the present chief, Indmjit Singh, he is still a r and is
being educated at the Daly College at Indore. The title of Rana
is home by the rulers of Job. .
Population has been: (1881) 9,387, (1891)15,-47, and Nor) 9,443,
giving a density of 67 persons per square mile. The decrease of.
37 per cent. during the last decade is due mainly to the famine of
r8gq-rgoo. Animists (chiefly Bhils and Bhilalas) number 8,131, or
86 per cent. of the total.
The general fertility of the soil is low, and the Bhils, whe form the
greater part of the population, are indifferent agriculturists. The total
e s thus distributed: cultivated, 3. square miles, of which only
6ea an be irrigated; cultivable but not undercnltivation, 3o squa
mile's waste and forest land, 78 square miles. Of the cropped area,
tlrd occupies s7 square miles, -1 53 per cent.; maize; ro square miles;
andjora4r, 7 square miles.
The forest area, which c almost the whole of the u cultivable
portion of the State, has s 19,, been in charge of the Agency
Forest oficer.. Asbestos has been found in some quantity, but the
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