Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/35

Rh transfer, powers for its defence and for the administration of justice were also conferred; a European regiment was enrolled; and the fortifications erected proved sufficient to deter the Dutch from their intended attack in 1673. In 1687 Bombay was placed at the head of all the Company s possessions in India ; but in 1753 the Government of Bom bay became subordinate to that of Calcutta. The first English settlement in the Bombay Presidency was in 1618, when the East India Company established a factory at Surat, protected by a charter obtained from the Emperor Jahangir. After the termination of the second Marhatta war in 1803, the East India Company obtained the districts of Surat, Broach, Kaird, &c.; and on the overthrow of the Peshwd in 1813, they annexed Piind, Ahmadnagar, Ndsik, Sholapur, Belgam, Kdladgi, Dhdrwdr, itc. Sindh was con quered in 1843, and became a part of the British empire. The native states under the supervision of the Government of Bombay are divided, historically and geographically, into two main groups. The northern or Gujarat group includes the territories of the Gaikwdr, with the smaller states which form the administrative divisions of Kachh, Pdhlanpur, Rewa Kdnta, and Mdhi Kdnta. These terri tories, with the exception of Kachh (Cutch), have an histori cal connection, as being the allies or tributaries of the Gaik- wdr in 1805, when final engagements were concluded be tween that prince and the British Government. The southern or Marhattd group includes Kolhdpur, Akalkot, Sawantwdri, and the Sdtdrd and southern Marhattd Jdgfrs, and has an historical bond of union in the friendship they showed to the British in their final struggle with the power of the Peshwd in 1818. The remaining territories may con veniently be divided into a small cluster of independent zaminddris, situated in the wild and hilly tracts at the northern extremity of the Sahyadri range, and certain principalities which, from their history or geographical position, are to some extent isolated from the rest of the Presidency.

.—The Government of Bombay is ad ministered by a Governor in Council, the latter consisting of the Governor as president, two ordinary civil members, and, as a rule, the commander-in-chief of the Bombay army. These are the executive members of Government. For making laws there is a legislative council, consisting of the Governor and his Executive Council, with certain other persons, not fewer than four or more than eight in number, nominated by the Governor to be members of council for legislative purposes only, and intended to represent the non-official European and Native communities. Each of the members of the Executive Council lias in his charge one or two departments of the Government; and each department has a secretary, an under-secretary, and an assistant secretary, with a numerous staff of clerks. The political administration of the native states is under the superintendence of British agents placed at the principal native courts ; their position varies in different states according to the relations in which the principalities stand with the paramount power. The administration of justice throughout the regulation districts of the Presidency is conducted by a High Court at Bombay, consisting of a Chief Justice and seven Puisne judges, along with district and assistant judges throughout the districts of the Presi dency. The revenue administration of the regulation dis tricts is carried on by two revenue commissioners, seven teen collectors, twenty assistant collectors, and a varying number of supernumerary assistants.

The Island of Bombay, with an area slightly in excess of 22 square miles, is situated in 18 53 54&quot; N. lat., and 72 52 E. long. It consists of a plain about 11 miles long by 3 broad, flanked by two parallel lines of low hills. A neck of land stretching towards the south-west forms the harbour on its eastern side, sheltering it from the force of the open sea, and enclosing an expanse of water from 5 to 7 miles wide. At the south-west of the island, Back Bay, a shallow basin rather more than 2 miles in breadth, runs inland for about 3 miles between the extreme points of the two ranges of hills. On a slightly raised strip of land between the head of Back Bay and the harbour is situated the fort, the nucleus of the city of Bombay. From this point the land slopes westward towards the central plain, a low lying tract, which before the construction of the embankment known aa the Hornby Velard, used at high tide to be submerged by the sea. To the north and east, although causeways and railway embankments have now shut out the sea, a large area of salt-marsh land still remains subject to inundation. In the foregoing article on the Bombay Presidency it is explained that Bombay Island passed to the English Crown as part of the dower of the Infanta Catherina, on her marriage with Charles II., and that although the new acquisition was at first despised, it rose in 1687 to the chief importance in the East India Company s possessions. In the next century it declined before the growth of Calcutta, and .sank into a subordinate settlement. The present cen tury has again witnessed a revolution in its fortunes. Its splendid harbour and comparative nearness to the Suez Canal, with the system of railways which now connect Bombay with the other Presidencies, have marked out for it a career scarcely second, if at all second in commercial importance, to that of Calcutta itself. The sudden demand for Indian cotton, which resulted from the American war, gave an unprecedented rapidity to its development. The cotton of Gujardt, Dhdrwdr, and other parts of Bombay, is much superior to the Bengal fibre. Several years of brilliant prosperity culminated in 1866-67 in a financial crisis, that left the commerce of Bombay in a shattered state. Depending as it does chiefly on the one article of cotton, along with some export of grain and the Government opium, the trade of Bombay rests on a narrower basis than that of Calcutta, which in years of misfortune has a large variety of staples to fall back upon, such as tea, indigo, jute, rice, hides, oil-seeds, &c. Moreover, Bombay has only the costly railway communication with the interior parts of India, while Calcutta commands the confluence of two of the greatest river systems in the world, the Brahmaputra and the Ganges. Nevertheless, Bombay is pressing close upon Calcutta as the commercial capital of India. Its imports are about as great, and its exports not very far short. In 1871-72 its total trade was 50,384,929 against a total of 54,136,829 in Calcutta. In that year the Bombay imports were 22 millions sterling ; the exports, 23 In natural scenery and in the sanitary advantages of its position Bombay ranks first among the cities of India. The Bombay Island, or, as it ought to be more correctly called, the Bombay Peninsula, is now connected with the- mainland by the railway causeways. It stands out from a coast ennobled by lofty mountains, and its harbour is studded by rocky islands and precipices, whose peaks rise to a great height. The approach from the sea discloses one of the finest panoramas in the world, the only European analogy being the Bay of Naples. The town itself consists of well-built and unusually handsome native bdzdrs, and of spacious streets devoted to European commerce. In the native bdzdr the houses rise three or four stories in height, with elaborately carved pillars and front work. Some of the European hotels and commercial 