Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/417



NOS.IRI TOIVV-NOIVGONG DISTRICT. 405 The famous hill forts of Songarh and Saler lie in this region, the former being the cradle of the royal house of Baroda. Land revenue (1881), £190,494. Chief towns of the Division-Nosári, Gandevi, and Bilimora. Nosári (Narasin).- Town in Baroda State, Bombay Presidency. Known to Ptolemy, the Greek geographer (A.D. 150), as Nasaripa. Nosári is situated in an outlying tract surrounded by the British District of Surat, on the left or south bank of the river Purna, about 12 miles from the sea, and distant by rail 18 miles south from Surat city, 99 from Baroda, and 149 miles north from Bombay. Lat. 22° 7' N., long. 73° 40' E. Population (1881) 14,920. Hindus number 8406; Muhammadans, 2315; Pársís, 4062; Jains, 134; and Christians, 3. The PURNA, which is navigable up to this point, is known to mariners as the Navasári river. It admits vessels of 100 tons; but though the is broad, the deep channel winds between sandbanks, and cannot be safely entered without a pilot. In 1874, the total exports by sea were valued at £9788; the imports at £2531: grand total, £12,319. In 1880-81, the figures were — imports, £2969; exports, £4852 : total, £7821. In 1874, the traffic at the railway station of Nosári, on the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India line, consisted of 153,071 passengers and 6445 tons of goods. In 1879, the number of passengers was 98,107; tons of goods carried, 9569. Nosári is a thriving town, its prosperity mainly depending upon its large Pársi colony. Many of the Pársis are cotton-weavers; but there are also a considerable number of workers in copper, brass, iron, and wood. Nosári town has given its name to a gate and market-place in Surat city. Dispensary, public library, and jail. There is also a Government distillery. Here the Gáekwár, Malhar Ráo, married for the fourth time. Before celebrating the nuptials, His Highness was in due form married to a silk-cotton tree, which was then as formally destroyed. The object of this vegetable marriage was to avert misfortune. The prince had been married twice, and no son and heir had been born ; but it was hoped by destroying his third wife, the tree, his fourth venture would prove fortunate. On the Nosári creek are reared the Towers of Silence, for the reception of the Pársí dead. About the town are scattered the residences of many Pársí merchants who have retired from business in Bombay and the Presidency provincial towns. The Pársís have a fire temple in the town, Nosári Sub-division had (1881) a total of 47,507 inhabitants, and a land revenue of £29,143. Area of Sub-division, 119 square miles. Nowgong (Náogéon).--District in the Chief Commissionership of Assam, lying between 25° 45' and 26° 40' n. lat., and between 92° and 93° 54' E. long. Nowgong forms one of the central Districts of the Brahmaputra valley; bounded on the north by the Brahmaputra reya