Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 26 - AUS-CHI.pdf/136

 BANDER

108

L I NGAH —BANFFSH I R E

Kishm, Hormuz (Ormus), and Larak to the Arab tribe of the Beni Ma’ini in return for payment of a yearly rent or tribute. About forty years later Sultan bin Ahmad, the ruler of Maskat, having been appealed to for aid by the Arab inhabitants of the place against Persian misrule, occupied the town and obtained a firman from the Persian Government confirming him in his possession, on the condition of his paying a yearly rent of a few thousand tomans. The islands were considered to be the property of Maskat. In 1852 the Persians expelled the Maskat authorities from Bander Abbasi and its district, but retired when Maskat agreed to pay an increased rent. By a treaty concluded between Persia and Maskat in 1856 it was stipulated that Bander Abbasi, town and district and the islands, were to be considered Persian territory, and leased to Maskat at an annual rent of 14,000 tomans. The treaty was to have been in force for twenty years, but in 1866 the Persian Government took advantage of the assassination of Sayyid Thuwaini, the sultan of Maskat, to install as governor of Bander Abbasi and district a nominee of its own, who agreed to pay a rent of 20,000 tomans per annum. Further difficulties arising between Persia and Maskat, and the ruler of the latter, then in possession of a powerful fleet, threatening to blockade Bander Abbasi, the Persian Government solicited the good offices of the British Government, and the lease was renewed for another eight years upon payment of 30,000 tomans per annum. This was in 1868. In the same year, however, the sultan of Maskat was expelled by a successful revolt, and the Persian Government, in virtue of a clause in the lease allowing them to cancel the contx-act if r a conqueror obtained possession of Maskat, installed their ow n governor at Bander Abbasi, and have retained possession of the place ever since (Curzon, Persia, ii. 424). Bander Abbasi has a lively trade, exporting much .of the produce of Yezd and Kerman and Eastern Persia, and supplying imports to those districts and Khorassan. Bander Abbasi has a British post office, and the mail steamers of the British India Steam Navigation Company call at the port weekly. The following table shows the value of the exports and imports from and to Bander Abbasi in thousands of pounds sterling, and the shipping entered and cleared at the port in thousands of tons, according to British consular reports :— Shipping. Imports. Exports. British. Total. Year. Entered. Cle Total. British Total. British. Entered. Cleared. 1887 1890 1895 1896 1897 1898

278 348 325 180 231 187

136 201 237 125 121 112

323 409 478 364 382 449

307 393 435 341 348 422

103 61 72 No returns available 104 107 89 94 79 86 87

103 72

62 87 83 79

for many generations a hereditary patrimony of the sheikh of an Arab tribe, in this case the Jovasmi tribe, and it was only in 1898 that the Arabs were expelled from the place by a Persian force. Bander Lingah is the chief port for the Persian province of Laristan, and has a thriving trade with Bahrein and the Arab coast. It has a British post office, and the British India Company’s steamers call there weekly. Banff, a royal and parliamentary burgh (Elgin group) and the county town of Banffshire, on Moray Firth, 50 miles N.N.W. of Aberdeen by rail. In 1888, 425 vessels of 37,377 tons entered; in 1898, 449 vessels of 43,772 tons. Coal and timber are the principal imports. (For statistics of the fishery district of which Banff is the centre see the following article.) Population of municipal burgh (1891), 3876; (1901),3730; of parliamentary burgh, which includes Macduff (1891), 7578 ; (1901), /148. Banffshire, a maritime county of N.E. Scotland, bounded on the N. by the Moray Firth, on the E. and S. by Aberdeenshire, and on the W. by Elgin and Inverness shires. Area and Population.—In 1891 the Aberdeen portion of the parish of Cabrach was placed in Banff; the Banffshire portions of Cairnie and King Edward were separated from the Aberdeen portions and transferred to other Banff paiishes ; Gartly, Glass, New Machar, Old Deer, and St Fergus were wholly transferred to Aberdeen. Of parishes divided between Band and Elgin, Boharm, Inveravon, and Keith were placed wholly in the tormer, and Bellie and Rothes in the latter. According to the latest official estimate the area of the county is 405,432 acres, or about 633J square miles. The population was in 1881, 62,736 ; in 1891, 64,190, or, on the above area, 61,684, of whom 29,547 were males and 32,137 females. On the old area, taking land only (410,112 acres or 640’8 square miles), the number of persons to the squai'e mile in 1891 was 100, and the number of acres to the person 6'4, the coixnty ranking fourteenth in Scotland in respect of density of population. In the registration county the population increased between 1881 and 1891 by 2’8 per cent. In 1901 the population was 61,487. Between 1881 and 1891 the excess of births over deaths was 9593, and the increase of the resident population 1713. The following table gives particulars of births, deaths, and marriages in 1880, 1890, and 1899 Year. Deaths. Marriages. J Births. 'n^gittaa't °f 16-0 1873 337 1880 1000 14-86 1837 318 1890 1055 13-4 1797 361 1899 1006 The birth-rate, death-rate, and marriage-rate are all below the rates for Scotland. The following table gives the birth-rate, deathrate, and marriage-rate per thousand of the population for a senes of years :— 1880. 1881-90. 1890. 1891-98. 1899. 31 -37 32-16 30-06 29-10 28-43 Birth-rate. 16-75 16-30 17-26 15-37 15-91 Death-rate. 5-64 5-73 5-20 5‘73 5-71 Marriage-rate

Bander Lingah, a town of Persia, on the Persiaix Gulf, and about 300 miles by sea from Bushire, in 26° 33' N. lat. and 54° 54' E. long. It forms part of the administrative division of the “ Persian Gulf ports,” whose governor resides at Bushire, and has a population of about 10,000. The following table shows the value of the exports and imports from and to Bander Lingah, in thouThe number of Gaelic-speaking persons in the county in 1891 was sands of pounds sterling, and the shipping, in thousands 638, of whom 3 spoke Gaelic only, and there were 5 foreigners. Valuation in 1889-90, £242,149 ; in 1899-1900, £261,67/. of tons, according to British consular reports. Nearly oneAdministration. —The county returns a member to parliament. half of the exports and imports is in pearls, which pass Royal burghs are Banff (3730) and Cullen (4059), which belong te Bander Lingah in transit from the fisheries on the Arab the Elgin group of parliamentary burghs, the parliamentary burgh coast to Bombay :— of Banff having a population of 7578 in 1891 The chief police burghs are Buckie (6541), Keith (4753), and Macduff (3418). Shipping. There are 22 civil parishes, most of which belong to the Buena Imports. Exports. Combination, and the number of paupers and deFndants m British. Total. Year. September 1899 was 1587. Banffshire forms a sheriffdom with Aberdeen and Kincardine shires, and there is a resident shell Total. British. Total. British Entered. Cleared. Entered. Cleared substitute at Banff, who sits also at Keith, Buckie and Dufftown. 92 Education. —Twenty-five school boards manage 73 schools, w 99 1887 523 308 526 273 175 .157 203 had an average attendance of 10,378 in 1898-99, and 14 volunta y 187 1890 592 362 665 381 schools (6 Roman Catholic and 4 Episcopal) with an average atten No returns available. 1895 511 263 587 226 ance of 1157. Twenty-five schools earned grants in 1898 for giving 129 107 i 97 ] 74 1896 498 274 425 156 higher education, and the county council out of the resume 115 92 |1 93 j 73 1897 548 270 582 288 grant subsidizes classes in agriculture, navigation, veterinary science, 125 76 102 ! 58 1898 571 287 641 347 and cookery and laundry work. Qft.Qmisofi 125 : 68 ! 99 | 48 1899 552 269 612 344 Agriculture. —The percentage of cultivated area was 36 9 in 1 • Like many other Persian Gulf ports, Bander Lingah was Barley grows well in most parts of the county, and the deman