HIS TOR Y 409
a few chital (Cervus axis) in Nimbahera and the Central India
districts.
The climate of Tonk and Aligarh is, on the whole, dry and healthy,
though malarial fevers prevail during and after the rains. Hot winds
blow almost continuously in April and May, but the nights are com
paratively cool. The remaining districts, situated in or close to Malwa,
enjoy a good climate. The annual rainfall in the Rajputana portion of
the State averages between 25 and 26 inches, of which four-fifths are
received in July and August. In the rest of the territory the fall varies
from 3o inches in Chhabra to 38 in Sironj. At Tonk city the heaviest
fall of rain in any one year exceeded 57 inches in 1887, and the
lightest was about 1o inches in 1899.
The ruling family are Pathans or Afghans of the Buner tribe. In
the reign of Muhammad Shah, one Taleh Khan left his home in the
Buner country and took service in Rohilkhand with
Ali Muhammad Khan, a Rohilla of distinction. His History.
son, Haiyat Khan, became possessed of some landed property in
Moradabad, and to him in 1768 was born Amir Khan, the founder
of this State. Beginning life as a petty mercenary leader, he rose
in 1798 to be the commander of a large army in the service of Jaswant
Rao Holkar, and was employed in the campaigns against Sindhia,
the Peshwa, and the British, and in assisting to levy the contributions
exacted from Rajputana and Malwa. It was one of the terms of
the union between Amir Khan and Holkar that they should share
equally in all future plunder and conquest, and accordingly in 1798
Amir Khan received the district of Sironj. To this Tonk and Pirawa
were added in 18o6, Nimbahera in 18o9, and Chhabra in 1816. On
the entrance of the British into Malwa, Amir Khan made overtures
to be admitted to protection; but the conditions he proposed were too
extravagant to be acceded to. He received, however, the offer of
a guarantee of all the lands he held under grants from Holkar, on
condition of his abandoning the predatory system, disbanding his army
of fifty-two battalions of disciplined infantry and a numerous body
of Pathan cavalry, and surrendering his artillery, with the exception:
of forty guns, to the British at a valuation. His request to be con-
firmed in lands obtained from different Rajput States under every
circumstance of violence and extortion was positively rejected. To
these terms Amir Khan agreed, and they were embodied in a treaty
in November, 1817. To the territories thus guaranteed (the five
districts above mentioned) the fort and pargana of Rampura, now
called ALIGARH, were added by the British Government as a free
grant, and a loan of 3 lakhs; afterwards converted into a gift, was made
to him. Nawab Amir Khan died in 1834 and was succeeded by his,
son, Wazir Muhammad Khan, who, during the Mutiny, repulsed with
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