Lehal Library

— CHAP. I THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 3 periodically deluged with rain, which is almost unknown beyond the snow, and is but little felt in Multan The central Punjab is mostly a or along the Indus. bushy jungle or a pastoral waste- its rivers alone have rescued it from the desert, but its dryness keeps it free from savage beasts, and its herds of cattle are of staple ^l^^^ o^ value to the country; while the plains which imme- the central diately bound the hills, or are influenced by the Indus Punjab, and its tributaries, are not surpassed in fertility by any in India. The many populous towns of these tracts are filled with busy weavers of cotton and silk and wool, ^h^ Perand with skilful workers in leather and wood and iron, ^^^^q^^ Water is found near the surface, and the Persian wheel irrigation, in general use for purposes of irrigation. Sugar is produced in abundance, and the markets of Sind and sugar of Kabul are in part supplied with that valuable article by the upper the traders of Amritsar, the commercial emporium of piai"s. Northern India.^ The artisans of Kashmir, the varied productions of that famous valley, its harvests of The saffron a^d,the saffron, and its important manufacture of shawls, are well known and need only be alluded to.- The plains l^^^^^^ of Attock and Peshawar no longer shelter the rhinoceros Rice and which Babar delighted to hunt, but are covered with wheat ^^ ^^^^^^ of rich crops of rice, of wheat, and of barley. The moun- peshT-war is depends principally upon its grain, and that cultivation has received a great stimulus from the canal system. As regards the second paragraph of the note the statement about the consumption of foreign cotton, &c., reads strangely to a modern generation. Ed.] In 1844 the customs and excise duties of the Punjab amounted to £240,000 or £250,000 or to one-thirteenth of the whole revenue of Ranjit Singh, estimated at £3,250,000. ['Under the present system of decentralization in finance, the Imperial Government delegates to the Punjab Government the control of expenditure on the ordinary administrative services, together with the whole or a certain proportion of certain heads of revenue sufficient to meet those charges. Of the various heads of revenue, post-office, telegraphs, railways, opium, and salt are entirely Imperial. Land revenue, stamps, excise, income tax, and major irrigation works are divided between the Imperial and Provincial Governments in the proportion of one-half to each. Minor irrigation works and some minor heads are divided in varying proportions, while the revenue from forests, registration, courts of law, jails, police, and education are wholly provincial, as well as the income of district boards and municipalities. The Budget for 1914-15 shows a total revenue (including opening balance) of Rs. 6,44,50,000 and a total expenditure ol Rs. 5,00,29,000, leaving a closing balance of Rs. 1,44,21,000.'— Indian Year Book, 1915.] 2 Mr. Moorcroft (Travels, ii. 194) estimates the annual value of the Kashmir manufacture of shawls at £300,000, but this seems a small estimate if the raw material be worth £75,000 alone (Travels, ii. 165, &c.), that is, 1,000 horse loads of 300 pounds, each pound being worth 5s. 1