grazing area with a little cultivation on scattered wells and in
natural hollows. North of the Kirana Hill the soil is excellent and the
country is now a sheet of cultivation. In the south of the Bar much of
the land is too poor to be worth tillage. The Khushab _tahsil_ consists
of the Jhelam riverain, the Salt Range with some fertile valleys hidden
amid barren hills, the Mohar below the hills with a thirsty soil
dependent on extremely precarious torrent floods, and the Thal, similar
to that described on page 260. The rainfall of the district is scanty
averaging eleven or twelve inches. The chief crops are wheat, _bajra_
and _jowar_, _chari_ and cotton.

[Illustration: Fig. 109.]

[Sidenote: Area,
28,652 sq. m.
Cultd area,
9160 sq. m.
Pop. 3,772,728;
78 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 81,48,103
= L542,872.]

The ~Multan~ division consists of the six districts of the S.W. Panjab,
Montgomery, Lyallpur, Jhang, Multan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan.
Muhammadans are in an overwhelming majority. Wheat and cotton are the
chief crops.

[Sidenote: Area, 4649 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1080 sq. m.
Pop. 535,299;
75 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 434,563
= L28,971.]

The ~Montgomery~ district takes its name from Sir Robert Montgomery
(page 192). It lies in the Bari Doab between the Sutlej and the Ravi. It
consists of the two Ravi _tahsils_ of Gugera and Montgomery, and the two
Sutlej _tahsils_ of Dipalpur and Pakpattan. The trans-Ravi area of the
Montgomery district was transferred to Lyallpur in April, 1913. It is
included in the figures for area and population given in the margin.

The backbone of the district is a high and dry tract known as the Ganji
or Bald Bar. The advent of the Lower Bari Doab Canal will entirely
change the character of this desert. Its south-eastern boundary is a
high bank marking the course of the old bed of the Bias. Below this is
the wide Sutlej valley. The part beyond the influence of river floods
depends largely on the Khanwah and Sohag Para inundation Canals. The
Ravi valley to the north-west of the Bar is naturally fertile and has
good well irrigation. But it has suffered much by the failure of the
Ravi floods.

[Illustration: Fig. 110.]

The peasantry belongs largely to various tribes described vaguely as
Jats. The most important are Kathias, Wattus, and Kharrals. The last
gave trouble in 1857 and were severely punished. The Dipalpur Kambohs
are much more hard-working than these semi-pastoral Jats