Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/482

Rh 458 M A N M A N MANBHtlM, a district in the lieutenant-governorship of Bengal, India, lying between 22 37 and 24 3 N. lat., and 85 51 and 87 16 E. long., is bounded on the N. by Hazaribagh and Birbhum, on the E. by Bard wan and Bankura, on the S. by Singbhum and Midnapur, and on the W. by Lohardaga and Hazarib&gh. It has an area of 4147 square miles. The headquarters station is at Purulia. Manbhum district forms the first step of a gradual descent from the table-land of Chutia Nagpur to the delta of lower Bengal. In the northern and eastern portions the country is open, and consists of a series of rolling clowns, clotted here and there with isolated conical hills. The soil is for the most part composed of hard, dry, ferruginous gravel, but many of the lower levels are filled with good alluvial soil, which yields a fine rice crop. In the western and southern tracts the country is more broken, and the scenery much more picturesque. The principal hills are Dalma (3407 feet), the crowning peak of a range of the same name ; Gangabari or Gajboro (2220 feet), the highest peak of the Baghmiindi range, about 20 miles south-west of Purulia; and Panchkot or Panchet (1GOO feet), on the summit of which stands the old palace of the rajas of Panchet. The hills are all covered with dense jungle. The chief river is the Kasai, which flows through the district from north-west to south-east into Midnapur, and on which a considerable floating trade in sal timber is carried on, The useful timber found in Man- bhuni is very limited in quantity, and with the present rate of decrease the supply cannot last many years. Tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, and jackals are not uncommon ; various kinds of deer abound ; and bison are occasionally met in the south of the district. Elephants come every year from the south-east into the hilly country between Mcinbbum and Singbhum. The census of 1872 returned the population at 820,521. The aboriginal tribes numbered about 100,000, Hindus nearly 700,000, and Mohammedans about 30,000. In 1881 the population was 1,042,117. A large proportion of the aborigines are now semi- Hinduized. The most numerous aboriginal tribe are the Santals ; but the Bhi imij Kols are the characteristic aboriginal race. In Manbhum they inhabit the country lying on both sides of the Subarnarekha. They are pure Mundas, but their compatriots to the east have dropped the title of Munda and the use of their distinctive language, have adopted Hindu customs, and are fast becoming Hindus in religion. The Bhumij Kols of the Jungle Mahals were once the terror of the surrounding districts ; they are now a more peaceful tribe, but have lost to a great extent the simplicity and truthfulness of character for which their cognates are generally distinguished. Among high-caste Hindus about 50,000 are Brahmans and 16,000 Rajputs. The Kevmus, who are agriculturists, form the most numerous caste in the district. The Christian population numbers about 600, most of whom are engaged in agriculture. Manbhum is a thoroughly rural district, and contains only two towns with upwards of 5000 in habitants, namely Purulia and Raghunathpur,. and three others with over 2000, namely Jhalida, Kasipur, and Manbazar. Three principal crops of rice are grown, one sown broadcast early in May on table-lands and the tops of ridges, an autumn crop, and a winter crop, the last forming the &quot;chief harvest of the district. Other crops are wheat, barley, Indian corn, pulses, oilseeds, lin seeds, jute, hemp, sugar-cane, indigo, pan, and tobacco. Owing to the completeness of the natural drainage floods are unknown, but the country is liable to droughts caused by deficient rainfall. The principal articles of export are oilseeds, pulses, ghi, lac, indigo, tasar silk (manufactured near Raghunathpur), timber, resin, coal, and (in good seasons) rice. The chief imports are salt, piece goods, brass utensils, and unwrought iron. Cotton hand-loom weaving is carried on all over the district, Coal is found at Iharia, a few miles from Parasnath. The total revenue of Manbhum district in 1881 amounted to 25,760, of which 7562 was obtained from land, and 6424 from excise. The schools in 1877 numbered 392, with 9616 pupils. The climate of the district is fairly healthy. The average rainfall for the ten years ending 1880-81 was 55 95 inches. MANCHA, LA. This name, when employed in its widest sense, denotes that bare and monotonous elevated plateau of central Spain which stretches between the mountains of Toledo and the western spurs of the hills of Cuenca, being bounded on the S. by the Sierra Morena and on the N&quot;. by the Alcarria, which skirts the upper course of the Tagus. It thus comprises portions of the modern provinces of Toledo, Albacete, and Cuenca, and almost the whole of Ciudad Real. Down to the 16th century the eastern portion was known as La Mancha de Montearagon or de Aragon, and the western simply as La Mancha ; afterward,? the north-eastern and south-western sections respectively were distinguished by the epithets &quot; Alta &quot; and &quot;Baja&quot; (upper and lower). La Mancha was created a province in 1691 ; its officially recognized boundaries have since that time varied considerably, and in common parlance it is often now identified with the modern province of Ciudad Real. Ciudad Real, which is bounded on the N&quot;. by Toledo and Cuenca, on the E. by Albacete, on the S. by Jaen and Cordova, and on the W. by Badajoz, ranks next to. Badajoz and Caceres in point of extent, containing an area of 7840 square miles. The population in 1877 was 260,641. From the scarcity of water and the absence of trees and fences, as also from the circumstance of the rural population being concentrated only at certain points, it as a whole presents to the traveller the arid and cheerless aspect of a desert. The principal river is the Guadiana, which rises in the so-called Ojos (&quot; Eyes &quot;) del Guadiana in the north-east, and is joined by the Azuer and the Jabalon on the left, and by the united waters of the Zancara and Giguela on the right. No advantage, unfortunately, is taken of these or any of the other streams in the province for irrigation, the inhabitants depending entirely on the meagre and precarious rainfall. A peculiarity of the province is the facility with which water can be reached by digging ; but neither has this resource been turned to much account. The mineral wealth of the province (lead, copper, iron, antimony, coal) is great, the cinnabar mines of Almaden, in particular, which were known to the ancients, being the chief European source for the supply of quick silver. Saltpetre is obtained in several places, especially in the north (Herencia and Alcazar de San Juan), and there are quarries of fine stone at Santa Cruz and elsewhere. The crops, when not interfered with by drought and locusts, the two scourges of La Mancha, are very large ; they include wheat, barley, rye, chick pease, wine (that of Valdepeilas being especially famous), vinegar, and brandy, some oil, saffron, esparto, flax, and silk. The mules reared in the province are considered the best in or out of Spain. There are manufactures of woollen fabrics, lace, earthenware, cutlery, saltpetre, gunpowder, and soap. The lace of Almagro is much appreciated throughout the peninsula. The province is traversed by the Madrid and Cordova Railway, which enters near Alcazar de San Juan and passes through Manzanares and Valdepenas, entering Jaen at the Venta de Cardenas in the Sierra Morena. The Madrid and Badajoz line passes through Ciudad Real, the capital of the province, which is connected by rail with Manzanares. There are ten judicial partidos, those of Alcazar de San Juan, Almaden, Almagro, Almod6var del Campo, Ciudad Real, Daimiel, Infantes, Manzanares, Piedrabuena, and Valdepenas. The only towns having a population above 10,000 in 1877 were Almod6var del Campo, Ciudad Real, and Valdepenas, MANCHE, a department in the north-west of France, washed by the English Channel (Fr., La Jfanche), from which it derives its name, and made up of the Cotentin, the Avranchin, and part of the Bocage, three districts of the former province of Normandy, lies between 48 28 40&quot; and 49 47 30&quot; N. lat, and between 43 and 1 54. 30&quot; W. long., bounded W.,N., and N.E. by the Channel, E. by the department of Calvados, S.E. byOrne, S. by Mayenue and Ille-et-Vilaine. The capital, St L6, is 159 miles west of Paris. The extreme length from north-west to south-east