Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/795

 INDIA

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INDIA

and some lower ranges divide it from Afghanistan and Baluchistan. Attached to the Bombay Presidency is a certain portion of Baluchistan bordering on the Afghan frontier. Within its general boundaries there are several small portions of territory belonging to Portugal and France, having their centres of govern- ment at Goa and Pondicherry respectively. In point of contour, Bengal, Sind, Rajputana, and the Punjab are flat, being formed by the alluvium of the Ganges and Indus respectively. The rest of the peninsula is roughly speaking a plateau rising abruptly at the western edge and gradually sloping down to the east coast. As a consequence the watershed Une is gener- ally at the summit of the western Ghats, 30 to 100 miles from the west coast. From this point a few

The climate is on the whole dry and rainless for two- thirds of the year, during which time crops are possible only by means of irrigation. The rainy season (called the monsoon) occupies the remaining four months but differs on the two sides of the coimtry. On the west^ ern coast it lasts from June to September, while on the east coast it occurs from October to December — in each case the rain being borne on to the land by the sea breeze. The rainfall on the western coast strip is about 70 inches, while on the Ghat line it sometimes rises to 300, but falls in the interior to 30, 20 and even less than 10 inches. In the northern parts and on the east coast the rainfall is less, while in the desert districts of Sind, Rajputana, etc. it is very scanty. About the Himalayas the conditions approach more

iiLN.\KKS FROM THE RiVER GANGES

[Holy City of the Hindus]

small rivers run their short course to the Arabian Sea, but the greater ones rise in the heart of the Ghats and run across the whole peninsula, increasing in volume as they progress, and empty their waters into the Gulf of Bengal (Mahanadi, Godaveri, Kistna, Kaveri, etc.). In the more northerly parts, however, the plateau recedes inland, and here two rivers of consid- erable size (Tapti and Nerbudda) run into the Arabian Sea. The average level of the Deccan plateau is under 2000 feet; but it contains many ranges and isolated mountains rising over 4000 feet, chiefly along the west- ern edge, and there are still higher parts in the Mysore and neighboiu-ing districts, where the highest point is 8840 feet above sea level. The coast is for the most part flat and straight, with a considerable number of small indentations suitable for small craft; but there are very few large harbours: Karachi (mostly artifi- cial), Bombay, and Marmagoa are the only ones which are practicable on the west side, while on the east there is not a single one, Madras harbour being purely artifi- cial, and Calcutta over 100 miles up the River Hooghly.

nearly to those of Europe. One-half of the latitude of India falls within the tropics. Ice and snow are en- tirely unknown except in the high altitudes, and hail is rare and phenomenal. The temperature, which varies much locally, falls in the aggregate rarely lower than 50° and rises in parts as high as 120° in the shade. In the tropical portions there are two hot seasons, the one before and the other after the rains (May and October). With due precautions against exposure to the sun, avoidance of chills, a carefully adjusted diet and judiciously regulated exercise, Europeans find the countrj- on the whole healthy though enervating; but any weakness in the constitution is more likely to re- veal itself there than at home, especially among men who go out after the prime of life. The people as a whole are of a mild and inoffensive character, and obsequious to the Einopean; and except for a chance of robbery among the remote hill tribes, the traveller is everywhere as safe as he would be in any part of Europe. India is covered over with a network of railways.