Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/506

 494 CHITTAGONG CHITTENDEN rushing upon the enemy perished almost to a man. It was afterward recovered by the Raj- poots, was captured by Aurtmgzebe about 1676, and reverted to the Rajpoots on the dis- memberment of the empire of Delhi, toward the close of the 18th century. CHITTAGONG, or Chittagaon. I. A district of British India, lying beyond the Ganges, but included in the province of Bengal, bounded N. by independent Tiperah, E. by Bunnah and Aracan, S. by Aracan, and W. by the bay of Ben- gal, between lat. 20 45' and 23 25' N., Ion. 91 32' and 93 E. ; length from N. to S., 185 m. ; greatest breadth, 80m. ; area, exclusive of wood- ed hill tracts on the E. frontier, about 3,000 sq. m. ; pop. about 1,000,000. It has several riv- ers, the chief of which is the Chittagong, which is formed by the junction of the Kurrumfoolee and the Chingree, and flows into the bay of Bengal. A large part of the surface is occu- pied by portions of the great mountain range extending from Assam S. to Cape Negrais, and several of the summits in this district have an elevation of from 3,000 to 8,000 ft. above the sea. The climate is similar to that of Bengal, except that the rainy season is longer. The agricultural products, most of which are ob- tained with little labor, are rice, sugar, hemp, oats, tobacco, mustard, betel nut, indigo, gin- ger, and cott'ee. The exports are timber, salt, coarse cloth, and elephants, of which many are annually caught here for the government. The inhabitants are aborigines resembling the Bur- mese, Bengalese, and Hughs; the Mohamme- dans outnumber the Hindoos in the proportion of 3 to 2. The mountains are the retreat of several wild tribes whom no government has ever reduced to subjection. During the wars between the Moguls and Afghans, Chittagong was held by Aracan, from which it was con- quered by Aurungzebe toward the close of the 17th century. It was ceded to the East India company by the nawaub of Bengal in 1760, and has been included in the government of Aracan since the company acquired the latter from Burmah in 1826. II. The capital of the above described district (sometimes called Islamabad), an unhealthy, declining place, on the river of the same name, 212 m. E. of Calcutta, and 160 m. N". of Akyab. It was once important for trade and ship building, but rice, which it once largely exported, is now got more cheaply in the ports of Aracan, and its ship building business has been transferred to Maulmain in Tenasserim. CHITTELDROOG, or Cbitradnrg (anc. Sitala Durga, " the spotted castle "), a town of Brit- ish India, in the province of Mysore, capital of a district of the same name, 280 m. W. N. W. of Madras, 125 N. of Seringapatam, and 70 m. S. of Bellary ; lat. 14 14' N., Ion. 76 27' E. It is situated in a fertile plain, noted for the excellence and variety of its fruits. The town is neither large nor populous, but was formerly one of the strongest places in India. Its for- tress, crowning a high rock at the back of the town, is one of the finest specimens of rock for- tification in S. Hindostan. Walls of solid ma- sonry encircle it several times with many in- tricate windings, and completely guard every accessible point. The ascent is performed part- ly by the aid of notches cut in the rock. Hyder Ali besieged the town in 1776, at which time it was held by a warlike and fanatic tribe called the Beders. During the siege they erected upon the highest part of the citadel a temple to the goddess of destruction, upon whose propitiation they thought their safety to depend, and every week, after solemn rites performed before her image, they rushed forth with desperate frenzy to procure human heads to lay at her shrine. These sallies were seldom unsuccessful, and when the place was finally taken 2,000 heads were found piled before the temple. Hyder ob- tained possession of the town by treachery in 1779. In the neighborhood of Chitteldroog are some curious caverns, supposed to have been used as dwellings by devotees of Siva. CHITTENDEN, a N. W. county of Vermont, bounded W. by Lake Champlain ; area, 517 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 36,480. It is drained by Lamoille and Onion rivers, which afford valu- able water power. Near the lake the surface is generally level, but toward the east it be- comes rough and in some places mountainous. Nearly all the land is fertile, suitable for gra- zing, or capable of producing corn, potatoes, &c. The Vermont Central and the Rutland and Burlington railroads traverse the county. The chief productions in 1870 were 44,426 bushels of wheat, 163,597 of Indian corn, 286,615 of oats, 333,858 of potatoes, 82,629 tons of hay, 1,374,387 Ibs. of cheese, 1,761,543 of butter, 87,256 of wool, and 426,726 of maple sugar. There were 4,977 horses, 21,941 milch cows, 8,919 other cattle, 17,041 sheep, and 4,809 swine. There were 2 manufactories of boxes, 7 of cheese, 7 of furniture, 1 of boats, 4 of sashes, doors, and blinds, 3 of woollen goods, 6 flour mills, 6 planing mills, 23 saw mills, 10 manufactories of carriages and wagons, 1 of cotton goods, 3 of iron castings, 2 of machinery, 3 of patent medicines, 5 tanneries, and 4 cur- rying establishments. Capital, Burlington. CUITTENDEN. I. Thomas, the first governor of Vermont, born in East Guilford, Conn., Jan. 6, 1730, died at Williston, Chittenden co., Vt., Aug. 25, 1797. He represented Salisbury, Conn., in the legislature of that state for sev- eral years, and was also a colonel of militia and a justice of the peace. In May, 1774, he re- moved with his family to Vermont, and during the revolutionary war was repeatedly obliged to change his residence. He was a member of the convention at Dorset, in September, 1776, for the purpose of taking into consideration the expediency of declaring Vermont an inde- pendent state. He was one of the commit- tee that drafted the Vermont declaration of independence, and was also one of the com- mittee appointed to petition congress to ac- knowledge the independence of the state. He