Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/761

Rh A S H A 735 of the district large game abounds, including the tiger, bear, leopard, and several varieties of deer ; and among other animals met with are the wild boar, hyaena, jackal, and fox. The nylghau is seen on the Kaimur Hills. The climate is very sultry, and the rains heavy. The East Indian Railway traverses the north of the district for 60 miles, and the aggregate length of roads is about 1000 miles. The census of 1881 disclosed a population of 1,964,909 (males 950,250, females 1,014,659); Hindus numbered 1,817,881, Moham- medans 146,732, and Christians 274. Four towns contain a population exceeding 10,000, viz., Arrah 42,998, Dumraon 17,429, Baxar 16,498, and Jagdispur 12,568. The administrative headquarters of the district are at Arrah. The chief staple of Shahabad is rice, which produces three crops during the year ; wheat, barley, maize, cereals, and various other plants are also grown. The principal manufactures of the district are sugar, paper, saltpetre, blankets, coarse cotton cloth, and brass utensils. Its trade is chiefly carried on by means of permanent markets in the town and at fairs. The principal exports are rice, wheat, barley, pulses, grain, oats, linseed, carraway seed, paper, and spices ; imports consist of cleaned rice, betel-nut, tobacco, sugar, molasses, salt, pepper, cotton, iron, brass, zinc, copper, lead, tin, and betel- leaf. The revenue of Shahabad district in 1883-84 amounted to 253,542, of which the land yielded 171,263. The southern part of the district was ceded to the British by Shah Alum, emperor of Delhi in 1765, and the northern part by Azuf-ud- Dowlah, vizier of Oudh, ten years later. SHAH JAHAN, Mogul emperor from 1627 to 1658. See INDIA, vol. ^ii. p. 795. SHAHJAHANPUR, the- easternmost district of the Rohilkhand division in the lieutenant-governorship of the North- Western Provinces of British India, lying between 27 36' and 28 29' N. lat. and between 79 23' and 80 26' E. long. It has an area of 1746 square miles, and is bounded on the N. and N.W. by Pilibhit, on the E. by Hardoi and Kheri, on the S. by the Ganges, separating it from Farukhabad, and on the W. by Budaun and Bar- eilly. The district consists of a long and narrow tract running up from the Ganges towards the Himalayas, and is for the most part level and without any hills or considerable undulations. The principal rivers are the Gumti, Khanaut, Garai, and Rdmganga. The last-named is the main waterway of the district, and is navigable as far as Kola Ghat near Jalalabad, whence grain is shipped for the Ganges ports. To the north-east beyond Gumti the country resembles the tarai in the preponder- ance of waste and forest over cultivated land, in the sparse- ness of population, and in general unhealthiness. Between the Gumti and the Khanaut the country varies from a rather wild and unhealthy northern region to a densely inhabited tract in the south, with a productive soil well cultivated with sugar-cane and other remunerative crops. The section between the Deoha and Garai comprises much marshy land ; but south of the Garai, and between it and the Ramganga, the soil is mostly of a sandy nature. From Rdmganga to the Ganges in the south is a continuous low country of marshy patches alternating with a hard clayey soil requiring much irrigation in parts. Shah- jahanpur contains a number of jhils or lakes, which afford irrigation for the spring crops in their neighbourhood. The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway traverses the district a distance of 39 miles. The climate of the district is very similar to that of most parts of Oudh and Rohil- khand, but moister than that of the Doab. Except in May and June, the country has a fresh and green appearance. Its average annual rainfall is about 38 inches. In 1881 the population of Shahjahanpur numbered 856,946 (males 460,064, females 396,882), of whom 735,244 were Hindus and 120,214 were Mohammedans. The district contains only two towns with a population exceeding 10,000, viz., SHAHJAHANPUR (q.v.) and Tilhar (15,351). Of the total area of 1746 square miles 1090 were under cultivation in 1883-84, and 464 were returned as cultivable. The chief agricultural products are wheat and gram in spring, and in the autumn sugar-cane, rice, joar, and bajra, and several kinds of pulses. Exports are chiefly sugar, grain of all kinds, pulses, indigo, cotton, and timber, and the imports are mainly European goods, metals, and salt. The gross revenue raised in the district in 1883-84 amounted to 186,162, of which the land contributed 118,638. The only manufactures of any importance under European supervision are those of sugar and rum and of indigo. Shahjahanpur was ceded to the English by treaty in 1801. During the mutiny of 1857 it became the scene of open rebellion. The Europeans were attacked when in church ; three were shot down, but the remainder, aided by a hundred faithful sepoys, escaped. The force under Lord Clyde put a stop to the anarchy in April 1858, and shortly afterwards peace and authority were restored. SHAHJAHANPUR, municipal town and administra- tive headquarters of the above district, lies in 27 53' 41" N. lat. and 79 57' 30" E. long., on the left bank of the Deoha. It is a large place, with some stately old mosques and a castle now in ruins. The city was founded in 1647 during the reign of Shah Jahan, whose name it bears, by Nawab Bahadur Khan, a Pathdn. It has a considerable export trade in cereals, pulses, and sugar. In 1881 the population was 74,830 (36,840 males, and 37,990 females). SHAHPUR, the southernmost district of the Rawal Pindi division in the lieutenant-governorship of the Punjab, India, between 31 32' and 32 42' N. lat. and between 71 37' and 73 24' E. long., with an area of 4691 square miles. The district is bounded on the N. by the Jhelum district, on the E. by Gujrat and the Chenab, on the S. by' Jhang, and on the W. and N.W. by Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu. On both sides of the Jhelum stretch wide upland plains, utterly barren or covered only with brushwood ; a considerable portion of this area, how- ever, is composed of good soil, only requiring irrigation to make it productive. The most important physical sub- divisions of the district are the Salt range in the north, the valleys of the Chenab and Jhelum, and the plains between those rivers and between the Jhelum and the Salt range. The characteristics of these two plains are widely different : the desert portion of the southern plain is termed the bar; the corresponding tract north of the Jhelum is known as the thai. That part of Shahpur to the north of the Jhelum is by far the most interesting, containing as it does such varieties of scenery and climate, such contrasts of soil, vegetation, and natural capabilities. Communications are carried on by well-made roads, by the Jhelum, which is navigable for country craft through- out its course within the district, and by 52 miles of the Salt branch of the Punjab Northern State Railway. The climate of the plains is hot and dry, but in the Salt range it is much cooler; the average annual rainfall is about 15 inches. Tigers, leopards, and wolves are found in the Salt range, while small game and antelope abound among the thick jungle of the bar. The census of 1881 disclosed a population of 421,508 (males 221,676, females 199,832) ; of these 59,026 were Hindus and 357,742 were Mohammedans. The 1 only town in the district with more than 10,000 inhabitants is Bhera, with 15,165; but the administrative headquarters of the district are at the small town of Shahpur on the Jhelum river, the population of which in 1881 was 5424. Of the total area only 871 square miles were under cultivation in 1883-84, and 3053 square miles were returned as cultivable. Wheat is the chief staple, and covers nearly a half of the cultivated area ; bajra and cotton are the next most extensively grown crops ; among other crops are sugar-cane and opium. The commercial importance of the district depends almost entirely upon its connexion with the Salt range, salt being found throughout these hills. The revenue derived- from this product, however, in the Jhelum district. The chief exports are grain, rice, cotton, wool, ghi, and saltpetre ; the imports sugar, English piece-goods, and metals. Its manufactures consist of silk and cotton scarfs, toys, and felt and blankets. The gross revenue in 1883-84 amounted to 55,290, of which the land contributed 39,020. Shahpur passed into the hands of the English along with the rest of the Punjab on the suppression of the Miiltan rebellion in