Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/214

 BASTAR.

204

season completely closed by a sand-bar but steamers ply between Bassein and Henzada all the year round, entering the Bassein river by

the Thambayadaing, which leaves the Irawadi

some 1 2 miles above Henzada, and joins the Bassein near Chaukywa. Flowing south-west, the Daga leaves it 3 miles from the main stream of the Irawadi, to rejoin it

again a few miles farther on.

and other

After their reunion, the

Panmawadi

large tidal creeks connect the Bassein by innumerable smaller

channels with the other mouths of the Irawadi, and after a tortuous course of 200 miles, it falls into the Bay of Bengal at Pagoda Point.

The banks

muddy, and covered is hilly, and the

of the river are for the most part low,

with jungle



some

in

portions of

its

course the country

studded with rocks and islands. Haing-gyi, or Negrais Island, mouth. Two channels, one on each side of it, lead into the river the western forms a good harbour, the eastern is rendered dangerous by a reef of rocks projecting from Purian nearly to Diamond Island, river

is

lies at its

facing the mouth of the river ; 75 miles up the river the head-quarters of the District of the same name.

Bastar.

— Feudatory State attached to Chanda

is

Bassein Town,

District, Central Pro-

between 17° 46' and 20° 37' n. lat., and 80° 18' and 82° 21' E. long. Bounded on the north by Raipur District; on the south by the Sironcha Sub-division of Chdnda District ; on the east by the Bendra Nawagarh estate in Raipur, and the Jaipur State ; and on the

vinces, lying

west partly by the

Ahi'ri estate,

and

partly

by Sironcha Sub-division.

The

Population (1881) 196,248 souls; area, 13,062 square miles.

Raja resides at Jagdalpur, which is also the principal town. The extreme length of Bastar is about 170 miles, its breadth about 120 miles. In the centre and north-west, the country is very mountainous ; on the east e.tends a table-land nearly 2000 feet while above sea level, yielding rich crops wherever it is cultivated These ranges all ranges of sandstone hills diversify the south.

As each

run north-west and south-east. declivity, another begins

in a parallel direction,

till

springs rise in these hills their

range,

surface,

known

and

glitter



great boulders of vitrified sandstone strew in

Another from a particular

the sun with a pinkish hue.

as the Bela Dila

elevation near Dantiwara

ends, generally in a steep

and runs 5 to 15 miles to the south, Few in like manner a third line succeeds.

from

(‘

Bullock’s

Hump

’),

resembling a bullock’s hump, crosses the it runs due south-

centre of the dependency, increasing in height as

ward,

till

it

culminates in two lofty peaks, called Nandiraj and Pitur feet above sea level, and forming a portion soil through the greater part of Bastar

Rani, between 3000 and 4000 of the Eastern Ghats. The

consists of a light clay with an admixture of sand, well adapted to the

good supply of water. Tal or Talper, the only important

raising of rice, but requiring a

the Sabarf, and

tlie

The

Indravati,

rivers, all fall into