About a quarter of the area is protected by irrigation from wells, the Agra Canal, and embankments or "_bands_," which catch and hold up the hill drainages. Owing to the depth and saltness of many of the wells the cultivation dependent on them is far from secure, and the "_band_" irrigation is most precarious. The large dry area is subject to extensive and complete crop failures. The average rainfall over a series of years is 24 inches, but its irregularities from year to year are extreme. The district is a poor one, and for its resources bears the heaviest assessment in the Panjab. It requires the most careful revenue management. There are brine wells at Sultanpur, but the demand for the salt extracted is now very small. [Illustration: Fig. 87.] [Sidenote: Area, 3153 sq. m. Cultd area, 1744 sq. m. Pop. 799,787; 70 p.c. H. Land Rev. Rs. 12,92,620 =L86,175.] ~Karnal~ is midway in size between Rohtak and Hissar. One-third of the cultivation is now protected by irrigation, two-fifths of the irrigation being from wells and three-fifths from the Western Jamna Canal. There are four _tahsils_, Thanesar, Karnal, Kaithal, and Panipat. The peasantry consists mostly of hardworking Hindu Jats, but there are also many Hindu and Muhammadan Rajput villages. The chief towns are Panipat, Karnal, and Kaithal. [Illustration: _Fig. 88._] The district falls broadly into two divisions, the boundary between them being the southern limit of the floods of the Sarusti in years of heavy rainfall. The marked features of the northern division is the effect which the floods of torrents of intermittent flow, the Sarusti, Markanda, Umla, and Ghagar have on agriculture. Some tracts are included like the Andarwar and the outlying villages of the Powadh[10] in Kaithal which are fortunately unaffected by inundation, and have good well irrigation. The country between the Umla and Markanda in Thanesar gets rich silt deposits and is generally fertile. The Kaithal Naili is the tract affected by the overflow of the Sarusti, Umla, and Ghagar. It is a wretched fever-stricken region where a short lived race of weakly people reap precarious harvests. The southern division is on the whole a much better country. It includes the whole of Karnal and Panipat, the south of Kaithal, and a small tract in the extreme east of the Thanesar _tahsil_. North of Karnal the Jamna valley or Khadir is unhealthy and has in many parts a poor soil. South of Karnal it is much better in every respect. Above the Khadir is the Bangar, a plain of good loam. North of Karnal its cultivation is protected by wells and the people are in fair circumstances. South of that town it is watered by the Western Jamna Canal. Another slight rise brings one to the Nardak of the Karnal and Kaithal _tahsils_. Till the excavation of the Sirsa branch of the Western Jamna Canal and of the Nardak Distributary much of the Nardak was covered with _dhak_ jangal, and the cultivation was of the most