Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/617

Rh A L L - A L L 579 of the state of Rewah and those of this district are hope lessly intermingled. Roughly speaking, however, the boun daries may be described as follows : On the north by the district of Jaunpur and by the Ganges; on the west by the districts of Fathipur and Banda; on the south by the inde pendent state of Rewah;. and on the east by the districts of Mirzapur and Jaunpur. The settlement of the district is at present undergoing revision; and as the measurements are still incomplete, it is impossible to state the exact area. For practical purposes, it may be estimated at 2802 square miles, or 1,793,906 acres, of which 1,065,990 acres are cultivated, and 727,916 acres are uncultivated; of this latter, however, there are about 250,000 acres capable of being brought under tillage, although not actually culti vated. The census of 1872 returned the population of the district at 1,394,245 souls, of whom 1,211,778 are Hindus, 181,574 Mussulmans, and 893 Christians. There is, how ever, a manifest error in these figures, as the European and Eurasian population of Allahabad city alone cannot be set at a lower figure than 3500. The census returns are in consequence undergoing revision. Of the Hindu popula tion, 173,916 are returned as Brahmans. The Jamna and the Ganges meet at Allahabad city, and enclose within their angle a fertile tract, well irrigated by means of tanks and wells. The East Indian Railway and the Grand Trunk road afford the principal means of land communication. The former enters the district from the east, crosses the Jamna at Allahabad city, and travels westward, leaving the district near Khaga station. The Grand Trunk road enters Allahabad from the north-east, meets the railway at Allahabad city, and thence runs almost parallel with it till it leaves the district. Only three towns are returned as con taining a population of over 5000 souls viz., Allahabad, population 144,464 ; Manaima, population 6146 ; and Chizwa, population 5791. Rice is the principal crop, the area under it being returned at 139,000 acres, and the average produce at 5g cwt. per acre. A little more than half of the total rice crop is retained for local con sumption, and the remainder exported. The average price of com mon rice in February 1873 was 6s. 9d. per cwt. Pulses are also grown in large quantities, the area under the various sorts being about the same as rice, and the yield also about the same. Joar and bajra cover as large an area as either rice or pulses, but the yield is neither so large nor of snch value. About half the crop is said to be annually exported. Wheat is cultivated to the extent of about 150,000 cwt. per annum, of which about one-half is exported ; the average yield is said to be about 64 cwt. per acre, and the average price from 6s. 2d. to 6s. 9d. per cwt. Mustard, tobacco, opium, linseed, and indigo are also cultivated largely, with cotton and sugar-cane in small quantities. Indigo stands first among the manufactures of the district, and large factories exist at Alam- chand, Sarai Salem, Gadiipur, Kansaridh, Thardai, and Dum-duma. These are generally under the supervision of European managers, and the produce is forwarded direct to the Calcutta market. Next to indigo, the most important industry is stone-cutting. The stone is chiefly quarried from a low range of hills neai Shiorajpur, whence it is carried in country carts to the Jamna river ; and after crossing it in flat-bottomed boats, it is finally landed at Balwa Ghat. Here the stone-masons take it in hand. The gross income of the Balwa Ghat stone traders is estimated at 2000 per annum. A brisk trade is also carried on in hides, the principal mart being the village of Karwa, in Arail fiscal division, where it is estimated that the sale of skins amounts to upwards of 10,000 per annum for the Mirzapur and Calcutta hide markets. Paper is manufactured in the fiscal division of Karra, and a considerable quantity exported to Oudh. Several villages in the fiscal divisions of Karra and Chail are noted for the manufacture of brass and copper vessels ; and iron vessels are largely manufactured in Khairagarh, Karra, and Phulpur. The East India Railway Company have a large castor-oil manufac tory at the village of Manauri. The total net revenue of the district in 1871 - 72 is returned at244, 537, and the total net civil expenditure at 51,770. The district passed into the hands of the English in 1801, by a treaty between the Vazir of Oudh and the East India Company. ALLAHABAD CITY, the capital of the North- Western Provinces, is also the administrative headquarters of the Allahabad division and of the district of the same name. It is situated at the confluence of the Ganges and Jamna rivers, in 25 26 N. lat, and 81 55 E. long. Its most conspicuous feature is the fort, which rises directly from the banks of the confluent rivers, and com pletely commands the navigation of both streams. Within the fort are the remains of a splendid palace, erected by the Enperor Akbar, and once a favourite residence of his. A great portion of it has been destroyed, and its hall is converted into an arsenal. Outside the fort, the places most of importance are the Sarai and garden of Khasni, the son of the Emperor Jahangir, and the Juma Masjid, or great mosque. When the town first came into the hands of the English this mosque was used as a residence by the military officer commanding the station, and after wards as an assembly-room. Ultimately it was returned to its former owners, but the Mahometans considered it desecrated, and it has never since been used as a place of worship. Allahdbad is one of the most noted resorts of Hindu pilgrimage. It owes its sanctity to its being the reputed confluence of three sacred streams the Ganges, the Jamna, and the Saraswati. This last stream, however, is not visible. It leaves the Himalayas to the west of the Jamna, passes close to Thaneswar in the Panjab, and loses itself in the sands of Sirhind, 400 miles north-west of Allahdbdd. The Hindus, however, assert that the stream joins the other two rivers under ground, and in a subter raneous temple below the fort a little moisture trickling from the rocky walls is pointed out as the waters of the Saraswatl An annual fair is held at Allahabad, at the confluence of the streams, on the occasion of the great bathing festival, at the full moon of the Hindu month of Magh. Allahdbad was taken by the British, in the year 1765, from the Vazir of Oudh, and assigned as a residence for Shah Alam, the titular Emperor of Dehli. Upon that prince throwing himself into the hands of the Marhattas, the place was resumed by us in 1771, and again trans ferred to the Nawab of Oudh, by whom it was finally ceded, together with the district, to the British in 1801, in commutation of the subsidy which the Vazir had agreed to pay for British protection. The population and trade of Allahabad city have rapidly increased of late years. According to the census of 1853, the city and suburbs contained 72,098 inhabitants. Before 1872 the popula tion had exactly doubled, the census returns for that year exhibiting a total population of 144,464. The municipal income and expenditure of Allahabad city in 1871-72 were as follows: Income Octroi duties, 13,676, 14s.; tax on professions, 220, 10s.; carriage tax, 1264, 4s. ; proceeds of the Hindu fair and ground rents, 5364 : total municipal income, 20,525, 8s.; incidence of taxation, 2s. lid. per head of the population. Expenditure Establishment, in cluding cost of collection, police, conservancy, and lighting, 9906, 4s. ; streetwatering,1002, 12s. ; new works, 7677, 16s.; repairs, 1088, 2s.; vaccination, 20; dispensary, 330; charities, 250; Alfred Park, 800; other items, 223, 2s. : total, 21,297, 16s. Allahabad forms the junc tion of the great railway system which unites Bengal with Central India and Bombay, and it is rapidly developing into a great centre of inland and export trade. ALLAMAND, JEAN NICOLAS SEBASTIAN, natural philo sopher, born at Lausanne in 1713, was educated for the church, and held for a short time a clerical appointment at Leyden. Here he enjoyed the patronage and friendship of the celebrated S Gravesende, who made him his literary executor. In 1747 he was appointed professor of philosophy and natural history at Franeker, and two years later he was transferred to a similar chair at Leyden, which he occupied until his death in 1787. Allamand s chief service to science consisted in translating and editing the scientific works of others, but he also made some original discoveries of importance, especially in connection with electricity. He was the first to explain fully the pheno mena of the Leyden jar, and he made a near approach to the discovery of negative electricity. He greatly enriched