Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/649

Rh badd territory, on the S.W. by the possessions of Holkdr and Sindhid, and on the N.Y. by Sindhid s districts and Omatwdrd. Length of the state from E. to W., 157 miles; breadth from 1ST. to S., 76 miles; estimated area, 6764 square miles. The surface of the country is uneven, being traversed by the Vindhya ranges, a peak of which near Raysen is upwards of 2500 feet above sea-level. The general inclination of the country is towards the north, in which direction most of the streams of the state flow, while others, passing through the Vindhyan range?,, flow to the Narbadd. The population of the state is estimated at 663,656, comprising Hindus, Mahomet ans, and the Gonds, an aboriginal tribe. Principal crops : wheat, Indian corn, oil-seeds, pulses, opium. Chief routes : (1), from Sagar through the town of Bhopdl to the British cantonment of Mhow ; (2), from Bhilsa to Hoshangdbdd and thence to Mhow ; (3), from Hoshangabad to Nimach ; (4), from Jabalpur through Hoshangabad to Mhow. Prin cipal towns : Bhopal the capital, Isldrnnagar, Ashtd, Sihor, and Rdisen. In 1871-72 the annual income of the state was estimated at 240,000. Bhopal state was founded in 1723 by Dost Muhammad Khan, an Afghan adventurer. In 1818 a treaty of dependence was concluded between tie chief and the British Government. Since then Bhopal has been steadily loyal to the British Government, and daring the mutiny it rendered good services. The present riler is a lady, and both she and her mother, who preceded hjr as head of the state, have displayed the highest ca- pacity for administration. Both have been appointed Knights of the Star of India, and their territory is the bast governed native state in India.  BHUTÁN, an independent kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas, between 26 and 28 N. lat, and 89 and 93 E. long. It is bounded on the 1ST. by Thibet ; on the E. by a tract inhabited by various uncivilized independ ent mountain tribes ; on the S. by the British province of Assam, and the district of Jalpdiguri ; and on the W. by the independent native state of Sikim. The whole of Bhutan presents a succession of lofty and rugged moun tains abounding in picturesque and sublime scenery. &quot; The prospect,&quot; says Captain Turner, &quot;between abrupt and lofty prominences is inconceivably grand ; hills clothed to their very summits with trees, dark and deep glens, and the high tops of mountains lost in the clouds, con stitute altogether a scene of extraordinary magnificence and sublimity.&quot; As might be expected from its physical structure, this alpine region sends out numerous rivers in a southerly direction, which, forcing their passage through narrow defiles, and precipitated in cataracts over the precipices, eventually pour themselves into the Brah maputra. One torrent is mentioned by Turner as falling over so great a height that it is nearly dissipated in mid-air, and looks from below like a jet of steam from boiling water. Of the rivers traversing Bhutdn, the most considerable ia the Mands, flowing in its progress to the Brahmaputra under the walls of Tasgdon, below which it is unfordable. At the foot of Tdsgdon Hill it is crossed by a suspension bridge. The other principal rivers are the Mdchu, Tchin- chu, Torsha, Mdnchi, and Dharld. Previous to the British annexation of the Dwars from Bhutdn, the area of the kingdom was reckoned at 20,000 sq. miles. The population of the country now remaining to Bhutdn was estimated in 1864 at 20,000 souls. Later information, however, points to a larger figure. The people are industrious, and devote themselves to agricul ture, but from the geological structure of the country, and from the insecurity of property, regular husbandry is limited to comparatively few spots. The people are oppressed and poor. &quot; Nothing that a Bhutid possesses is his own,&quot; wrote the British envoy in 1864 : &quot; he is at all times liable to lose it if it attracts the cupidity of any one more powerful than himself. The lower classes, whether villagers or public servants, are little better than the slaves of higher officials. In regard to them no rights of property are observed, and they have at once to surrender anything that is demanded of them. There never was, I fancy, a country in which the doctrine of might is right formed more completely the whole and sole law and cus tom of the land than it does in Bhutan. No official receives a salary ; he has certain districts made over to him, and he may get what he can out of them ; a certain portion of his gains he is compelled to send to the Darbdr; and the more he extorts and the more he sends to his superior, the longer his tenure of office is likely to be.&quot; Captain Pemberton thus describes their moral condition &quot; I sometimes saw a few persons in whom the demoralizing influences of such a state of society had yet left a trace of the image in which they were originally created, and where the feelings of nature still exercised their accustomed in fluence, but the exceptions were rare, and although I have travelled and resided amongst various savage tribes on our frontiers, I have never yet known a people so wholly degraded as the Bhutids.&quot; Physically the Bhutids are a fine race, although dirty in their habits and persons. Their food consists of meat, chiefly pork, turnips, rice, barley-meal, and tea made from the brick-tea of China. Their favourite drink is chong, distilled from rice or barley and millet, and Jfarwd, beer made from fermented millet. A loose woollen coat reaching to the knees, and bound round the waist by a thick fold of cotton cloth, forms the dress of the men ; the women s dress is a long cloak with loose sleeves. The houses of the Bhutids are of three and four stories ; all the floors are neatly boarded with deal ; and on two sides of the house is a verandah ornamented with carved work generally painted. The Bhutids are neat joiners, and their doors, windows, and panelling are perfect in their way. No iron-work is used ; the doors open on ingenious wooden hinges. The appearance of the houses is precisely that of Swiss chalets, picturesque and com fortable the only drawback being a want of chimneys, which the Bhutids do not know how to construct. The people nominally profess the Buddhist religion, but in reality their religious exercises are confined to the pro pitiation of evil spirits, and the mechanical recital of a few sacred sentences. Around the cottages in the moun tains the land is cleared for cultivation, and produces thriving crops of barley, wheat, buckwheat, millet, mus tard, chillies, &c. Turnips of excellent quality are extensively grown ; they are free from fibre and remark ably sweet. The wheat and barley have a full round grain, and the climate is well adapted to the production of both European and Asiatic vegetables. Potatoes have been introduced. The Bhutids lay out their fields in a series of terraces cut out of the sides of the hills ; each terrace is rivetted and supported by stone embankments, sometimes twenty feet high. Every field is carefully fenced with pine branches, or protected by a stone wall. A complete system of irrigation permeates the whole culti vated part of a village, the water being often brought from a long distance by stone aqueducts. Bhutids do not care to extend their cultivation, as an increased revenue is exacted in proportion to the land cultivated, but devote their whole energies to make the land yield twice what it is estimated to produce. The forests of Bhutdn abound in mauy varieties of stately. trees. Among them are the beech, ash, birch, maple, cypress, and yew. Firs and pines cover the mountain heights ; and below these, but still at an elevation of eight or nine thousand feet, is a zone of vegetation, consisting principally of oaks and rhododendrons. The cinnamon tree is also found. Some 