Page:The Three Presidencies of India.djvu/19

 THE THEEE PEESIDENCIES OE INDIA.

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH OP THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA.

THE various countries which now form the three Presidencies of India, together with those native states which are independent of, though in close alliance with, the East India Company, have been at various times known under several denominations. They have been comprehensively and indiscriminately spoken of as Hindostan, the East Indies, and the Indian Peninsula ; they are now more cor- rectly termed British India, which term, of course, excludes such inde- pendent states as have been alluded to.

Extending from Cape Comorin on the south to the Himalayan range on the north, and from the delta of the Berrampootra on the east to the Indus on the west, British India, exclusive of the recently annexed province of Pegu, may be said to include within its limits 1,200,000 square miles of ten-itory. Of these, the Presidency of Bengal contains 306,012 square miles ; Madras, 141,920 ; Bombay, 64,908 ; and Scinde and the Punjab about 160,000 square miles; the remainder being the extent of the allied states.

The coast-line of British India amounts to about 3200 miles. Of these 1800 miles are washed by the Indian Ocean, and 1400 miles by the Bay of Bengal.

The extreme length of India from north to south may be taken as 1800 miles ; its greatest width, along the parallel of 25° N. latitude, is about 1500 miles.

Intersected by vast ranges of lofty mountains, the Indian pen- insula presents a remarkably varied surface of table-land, delta, and