Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/388

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, the principal town of the district of the same name, situated on the route from Calcutta to Benares, and a station on the East Indian Railway, lies in 23 y 14 15&quot; N. lat., and 87 53 57&quot; E. long. Jacquemont formerly described Bardwan town &quot; as consisting of an assemblage of crowded suburbs, of wretched huts, with walls of mud, and covered with thatch, having no temples of striking aspect, and few handsome houses.&quot; At the present time Bardwan is a well-built, busy town, with commodious streets, dotted with large tanks, and surrounded by luxu riant gardens. The Maharaja s palaces are handsome buildings, furnished in the English style, with elegant mirrors and nick-nacks from Paris, and some tolerable oil paintings. Bardwan forms the headquarters of the civil authorities of the division and district, consisting of the commissioner, the judge, magistrate, and collector, and their European and native assistants. In 1814 the town contained a population estimated at 53,927 souls; and in 1872, 32,321. Details of population in 1872 : Hindus, 22,013; Mahometans, 9927; Christians, 223; persons of unspecified religion, 158; total, 32,321. Municipal income in 1871, 5150; expenditure, 5450; rate of taxation, 3s. 4 3/8d. per head. In 1635 Bardwan. was besieged by a rebel chief of the Great Mughul. The city soon fell into the hands of the besiegers, the Raja was slain in battle outside the walls, and the ladies of his family committed suicide, to avoid falling into the hands of the conquerors. The present Maharaja is a well-educated, liberal-minded man. He maintains a great public school in the town at his own cost, and is ever forward with help in time of distress or famine, as in 1866 and 1874.  BARÈGES, a small town situated between two mountain chains in the department of Hautes Pyrenees in France, about 25 miles from Bagneres de Bigorre. It is celebrated for its warm sulphurous springs, first brought into notice by the visit of Madame du Maintenon in 1676, the tem perature of which varies from 88 to 111 Fahr. The benefit of the waters is granted to the army at the expense of the Government, which erected a bath-house in 186i. During the winter the town is so exposed to avalanches that only a few of the residents remain. The town gives its name to a silk-fabric (barege) which is principally manufactured in Bagneres de Bigorre.  BARELÍ, or, a district of British India in the Rohilkhand division, under the jurisdiction of the Lt. -Gover nor of the North- Western Provinces, situated between 28 2 and 29 2 N. lat., and 79 2 30&quot; and 80 13 15&quot; E. long. It is bounded on the N. by Kumaon district and the inde pendent state of Nepal ; on the E. by a portion of the dis trict of Shahjahanpur, and the district of Lakhimpur in Oudh ; on the S. by the districts of Budaon and Shahja hanpur ; and on the W. by the native state of Rampur and Budaon. Bareli is a level country, watered by many streams, the general slope being towards the south. The soil is fertile and highly cultivated, groves of noble trees abound, and the villages have a neat, prosperous look. A tract of forest jungle, called the Tardi, stretches along the extreme north of the district, and teems with large game, such as tigers, bears, deer, wild pigs, &c.

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The census of 1872 takes the area at 2982 square miles, and returns the population at 1,507,139 souls, inhabiting 3548 villages or townships, and 296,441 houses; density of population per square mile, 505 ; villages or townships per square mile, 1*2 ; persons per village or township, 425 ; houses per square mile, 99 ; persons per house, 5. Of the total population, 1,197,583, or 79 - 5 per cent., are Hindus; 308,682, or 20 5 per cent., Mahometans; and 536 Christians, or others of unspecified religion. The Mahometans are chiefly the descendants of Yusafzai Afghans, called the Eohilla Pathans, who settled in the country about the year 1720. The Rohillaswere formerly the ruling race of the tract of country called Rohilkhaud. and are men of a taller stature, a fairer complexion, and a more arrogant air than the general inhabitants of the dis trict. Bishop Heber has described them as follows: &quot; The country is burdened with a crowd of lazy, profligate, self-called sawars (cavaliers), who, though many of them are not worth a rupee, conceive it derogatory to their gen tility and Pathan blood to apply themselves to any honest industry, and obtain for the most part a precarious liveli hood by sponging on tfve industrious tradesmen and far- 