duration, and a considerable time has also to be expended on the preparation of charcoal and ore, the profits are very small. The fact is that although the actual price which the iron fetches in the market is high, the profits made by the native merchants (Mahâjan) and the immense disproportion between the time and labour expended and the outturn, both combine to leave the unfortunate Agariya in a miserable state of poverty.” Some further enquiries recently made in Mirzapur prove the hopelessness of competition between native and imported iron. The native iron is specially valued for tools, etc., but with the diminution of jungle its manufacture will probably soon disappear. Agariya: Agari.—There is another set of people known under this name who are found in the Central Ganges-Jumna Duâb who have no connection with the Agariyas of Mirzâpur. They claim to be Chauhân Râjputs, and say that they emigrated to Bulandshahr about two centuries ago from Sambhal in the Morâdâbâd district. They are, as a rule, settled, but in the hot weather they migrate to Rohtak, in the Panjab, where they settle in rude huts near villages and pursue their trade of making salt (khâri nimak) and saltpetre. They follow the customs of Râjputs in their marriage ceremonies, except that they levy a bride price from the relations of the bridegroom. They profess not to permit widow marriage, but they recognise the levirate. A wife may be put away for adultery or other misconduct with the sanction of the tribal council, and then she can re-marry by the karâo form. Some of them now live by agriculture. Gûjars, they say, will eat and smoke with them. 2. A caste known as Agari are miners and smelters in the hills: there they are regarded as a branch of the Doms. 3. Of the Agaris of the Panjab Mr. Ibbetson writes:—“The Agari is the salt-maker of Râjputâna and the east and south-east of the Panjab, and takes his name from the Agar or shallow pan in which he evaporates the saline water of the lakes or wells at which he works. The city of Agra derives its name from the same word. The Agaris would appear to be a true caste, and in Gurgâon are said to claim descent from the Râjputs of Chithor. There is a proverb,—“The Ak, the Jawása, the Agari and the cartman: when the lightning flashes these four give up the ghost:” because, I suppose, the rain which is likely to follow would dissolve their salt. The Agaris are all Hindus and are found in the Sultânpur tract on the common borders of the Delhi, Gurgâon and Rohtak districts, where the well water is exceedingly brackish, and where they manufacture salt by evaporation. Their social position is fairly good, being above that of the Lohârs, but, of course, below that of Jâts.” [110] 4. Another name for them in these provinces is Gola Thâkur, or illegitimate Râjput. At the last Census they were included in the Luniyas.