MAIKALA
29
or 36 per cent: of the cropped area; gram, 12 square miles; and wheat,
8 square miles.
Formerly a considerable iron-smelting industry existed, but this has
now almost entirely disappeared. Want of good internal communica-
tions has made the development of trade difficult, though a certain
amount of timber is exported.
The chief has full powers in all matters of general administration
and in civil judicial cases. In criminal cases he has power to inflict
sentences of imprisonment not exceeding two years. The total revenue
from all sources is about Rs. 75,000, of which Rs. 55,000 is derived
from land revenue. The principal item of expenditure is Rs. 32,000
on general administration, including the chief's establishment. The
British rupee has been current since 1849. A small force of foot and
horse, amounting to i5o men with 7 serviceable guns, is maintained.
At the Census of rgoi, only i per cent. of the population were able to
read and write. The State contains eleven schools and one hospital.
Vaccination has made little progress, owing to the strong prejudice
shown by the inhabitants.
Maihar Town.-Capital of the State of the same name in Central
India, situated in 24° r6' N. and 80° 46' E., on the East Indian Rail-
way, at the foot of the Bandair range, i,g8o feet above the level of the
sea. Population (rgoi), 6,802. It is a well-built place, many of the
houses being constructed of the local sandstone. Outside the present
site is a fort built in the sixteenth century by Rājā Bir Singh Deo
of Rewah, mainly from remains of Hindu temples, which is used as
a residence by the chief. A large number of ruined shrines are
scattered round the town, and traces of old foundations exist which
must have belonged to a large place. There are two lakes, one to
the north-west and the other to the south-west of the town. Maihar
contains a British post-office, a school, and a dispensary.
Maikala (or Mekala).-Range of hills in the Central Provinces and
Central India, lying between 2I° rr' and 22° 4o N. and 80 46'
and 8r° 46' E. It is the connecting link between the great hill systems
of the VINDHYAs and SrYrPURA5, forming respectively the northern and
southern walls of the Narbadā valley. Starting in the Khairagarh, State
of the Central Provinces, the range runs in a general south-easterly
direction for the first 46 miles in British territory, and then, entering
the Sohāgpur pargana of Rewah State, terminates 84 miles farther at
AMARKANTAK, one of the most sacred places in India, where the source
of the Narbadā river is situated. Unlike the two great ranges which it
connects, the Maikala forms a broad plateau of 880 square miles in
extent, mostly forest country inhabited by Gonds. The elevation of
the range does not ordinarily exceed 2,000 feet, but the Lapha hill,
a detached peak belonging to it, rises to 3,500 feet. The range
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