Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/31

Rh     OMBAY, a Presidency and Governorship of British India, consisting partly of British districts, and partly of native states under the protection of Her Majesty s Indian Government. This territory extends from 28 32 to 13 3 65 N. lat., and from 66 43 to 76 20 E. long.; and is bounded on the N. by Beluchistdn, the Punjab, and the native states of Rajputand ; on the E. by the native state of Indor, the Central Provinces, West Berar, and the Nizam s dominions ; on the S. by Madras and Mysor ; and on the W. by the Arabian Sea. Area, including Sindli, 188,195 square miles, viz., 124,943 British, and 63,252 under Native rule. Population, 25.624,696 souls, viz., British districts, 16,352,623; Native states, 9,272,073. Bombay Presidency comprises three British divisions or commissionerships, the northern, the southern, and the Sindh divisions, with the following 24 districts : Bombay, Ahmadabad, Kaird, Panch Mahals, Broach, Surat, Tdnnd, Koldbd, Khdndesh, Nasik, Ahmadnagar, Belgdm, Kanara, Dhdrwdr, Kdladgi, Puna, Eatndgiri, Sdtdrd, Sholdpur, Upper Sindh Frontier, Karachi, Haidardbdd, Shikdrpur, and Thar Pdrkar. The Native states are under the super vision of British political officers, and are divided into 16 agencies, viz., Baroda, Kachh, Kdthidwdr, Kaird, Surat, Sholdpur, Sdtdrd, Kolhdpur, South Marhatta Country, Rewdkdnta, Mdhikdnta, Pdhlanpur, Sdwantwdri, Tanna, Kolaba, and Dhdrwdr. The Presidency also includes the Portuguese possessions of Daman, Diu, and Goa.

.—The Bombay Presidency consists of a long strip of land along the Indian Ocean from the south of the Panjdb to the north of Mysor, from 25 to 14 3 N. lat. The coast is rock-bound and difficult of access ; and though it contains several bays forming fair-weather ports for vessels engaged in the coasting trade, Bombay, Karachi in Sindh, and Kdrwdr alone have harbours sufficiently land locked to protect shipping during the prevalence of the south-west monsoon. The coast-line is regular and little broken, save by the Gulfs of Kambay and Kachh, between which lies the peninsula of Kdthidwdr.

Mountains.—Speaking generally, a range of hills, known as the Western Ghats (ghauts), runs down the coast, at places rising in splendid bluffs and precipices from the water s edge, at others retreating inland, and leaving a flat fertile strip of 5 to 50 miles between their base and the sea. In the north of the Presidency on the right bank of the Indus, the Hdld mountains, a continuation of the great Sulaimdn range, separate British India from the dominions of the Khan of Kheldt. Leaving Sindh, and passing by the ridges of low sand hills, the leading feature of the desert east of the Indus, and the isolated hills of Kachh and Kdthidwdr, which form geologically the western extre mity of the Aravali range, the first extensive mountain range is that separating Gujarat from the states of Central India. The rugged and mountainous country south of the Tapti forms the northern extremity of the, Sdhyddri or Western Ghats. This great range of hills, sometimes over hanging the ocean, and generally running parallel to it at a distance nowhere exceeding 50 miles, with an average elevation of about 1800 feet, contains individual peaks rising to more than double that height. They stretch southwards for upwards of 500 miles, with a breadth of 10 to 20 miles. The western declivity is abrupt, the land at the base of the hills being but .slightly raised above the level of the sea. As is usually the case with the trap formation, they descend to the plains in terraces with abrupt fronts. The landward slope is in many places very gentle, the crest of the range being sometimes but slightly raised above the level of the plateau of the Dakhin. Their best-known elevation is Mahdbaleshwar, 4800 feet high, a fine plateau, 37 miles from Puna, covered with rich vegetation, and used by the Bombay Government as its summer retreat and sanitarium. In the neighbourhood of the Sdhyddri hills, particularly towards the northern extremity of the range, the country is rugged and broken, containing isolated peaks, masses of rock, and spurs, which, running eastward, form watersheds for the great rivers of the Dakhin. The Sdtpurd hills separate the valley of the Tapti from the valley of the Narbadd, and the district of Khandesh from the territories of Indor. The Sdtmdld or Ajantd hills, which are rather the northern slope of the plateau than a distinct range of hills, separate Khandesh from the Nizdm s dominions.

Plains.—The more level parts of Bombay consist of five well-demarcated tracts Sindh, Gujarat, the Konkan, the Dakhin or Deccan, and the Karuatic. Sindh, or the lower valley of the Indus, is very flat, with but scanty vegetation, and depending for productiveness entirely on irrigation. Gujar.lt, except on its northern parts, consists of rich, highly cultivated alluvial plains, watered by the Tdpti and Narbadd, but not much subject to inundation. The Kon kan lies between the Western Ghats and the sea. It is a rugged and difficult country, intersected by creeks, and abounding in isolated peaks and detached ranges of hills. The plains of the Dakhin and Khdndesh are watered by large rivers, but as the rainfall is uncertain, they are gene rally, during the greater part of the year, bleak and devoid of vegetation. The Karnatic plain, or the country south of the River Krishnd, consists of extensive tracts of black or cotton soil in a high state of cultivation.

Rivers.—The chief river of Western India is the Indus, which enters the Presidency from the north of Sindb. and flowing south in a tortuous course, falls into the Arabian Sea by several mouths, such as the Ghizri creek, Khudi creek, Pitidni creek, Sisd creek, Hajdmri creek, Vatho creek, Mall creek, Wdri creek, Bhitidrd creek, Sir creek, and Khori creek. In the dry season the bed varies at different places from 480 to 1600 yards. The flood season begins in March and continues till September, the average depth of the river rising from 9 to 24 feet, and the velocity of the current increasing from 3 to 7 miles an hour. Next to the Indus comes the Narbadd. Eising in the Central Provinces, and traversing the dominions of Holkar, the Narbadd enters the Presidency at the north-western extre mity of the Khdndesh district, flows eastward, and after a course of 700 miles from its source, falls into the Gulf of Kambay, forming near its mouth the alluvial plain of Broach, one of the richest districts of Bombay. For about 100 miles from the sea the Narbadd is at all seasons navi gable by small boats, and during the rains by vessels of from 30 to 50 tons burden. The Tdpti enters the Presi dency a few miles south of the town of Burhanpur, a station on the Great Indian Peninsula Eaihvay, flows eastward through the district of Khdndesh, the native state of Rewakdnta, and the district of Surat, and falls into the Gulf of Kambay, a few miles west of the town of Surat. The Tdpti drains about 250 miles of country, and is, in a commercial point of view, the most useful of the Gujardt rivers. Besides these there are many minor streams. The Bands and the Saraswati take their rise in the Aravali hills, and flowing eastward through the native state of Pdhlanpur, fall into the Rann of Kachh. The Sabarmati and the Mdhi rise in the Mdhikdnta hills, and flowing southwards, drain the districts of Northern Gujardt, and fall into tha 