SIROHI STATE 29
into two nearly equal portions. The western half is comparatively
open and level, and more populous and better cultivated than the
other. Both portions, being situated at the foot of this central range
of hills, are intersected by numerous watercourses, which become
torrents of greater or less volume in the rainy season, but are dry
during the remainder of the year. The ARAVALLI HILLS form a wall
on the east, but, with the exception of the Belkar peak (3,599 feet
above the sea), only the lower skirts and outlying spurs of this range
are included within Sirohi limits. The only river of any importance is
the Western Bands, which, rising in the hills not far from the town of
Sirohi, flows first in a south-easterly and next in a south-westerly direction
till it enters Palanpur territory a little beyond the village of Mawal ; it is
eventually lost in the sand at the head of the Rann of Cutch. Within
Sirohi limits this river is not perennial, and usually ceases to flow about
the middle of the cold season, leaving pools of water here and there.
In addition, several streams contain water for many months, such as
the Jawai and the Sukri, which flow west into the LCmi, and the Sukli,
a tributary of the Western Bands.
The whole of Sirohi is occupied by schists or gneisses belonging to
the Aravalli system, traversed by dikes of granite. Mount Abu is
formed of a highly felspathic massive gneiss with a few schistose beds.
Traces of gold were found in some ferruginous bands of quartzose
schist near the Rohera railway station in 1897 ; and the remains of old
workings, which do not appear to have been more than prospecting
trenches, are to be seen in the neighbourhood.
The fauna is very varied. The last lion was shot on the western
slopes of Abu in 1872, but tigers and black bears are still found on the
Abu-Sirohi range and in the Nandwana hills in the west, though they
appear to be becoming scarcer every year. In the same localities sdmbar
(Cervus unicolor) are fairly numerous, while jungle and spur-fowl
abound. Chatal (Cervus axis) are met with in the south-east, and
antelope and the Indian gazelle throughout the plains, besides the
usual small game.
The climate is on the whole dry and healthy, and there is a general
freedom from epidemic diseases, in both the hills and plains. The
heat in the plains is never so intense as in the north of Rajputana, but,
on the other hand, the cold season is of much shorter duration and less
bracing. The climate of Abu is very agreeable and healthy for the
greater portion of the year. The southern and eastern districts usually
receive a fair amount of rain, but over the rest of the State the fall is
frequently scant. This is chiefly due to the influence of the Abu and
Aravalli Hills on the clouds driven inland by the south-west monsoon ;
thus at Abu the annual rainfall averages between 57 and 58 inches (of
which nearly 5 are received in June, 21 in July, over r8 in August,
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