POONA, or PUNA, the capital of it district of British India, of the same name, in the presidency of Bombay, is situated on the small river Moota, near its confluence with the Moola, in a treeless plain about 74 m. s.e. of Bombay. Its present pop. is esti mated (1872) at 90,436; but in its palmy days, when it Iwo the capital of the Mali ratta power, it contained more than twice that number. A large proportiou of the pop Illation consists of Brahmans. The city is divided into seven quarters, named after the days of the week, and the principal building is a palatial structure, formerly the resi dence of the peishwah. Its climate is salubrious and pleasant, and it is the headquarters of the Bombay army. The cantonment for the infantry and horse-artillery is from one to two m. w. of the city. The cantonment for the cavalry is at the village of Kirkee, about two m. to the north-east of the city. In 1821, soon after Poona came into the possession of the British, a college was established for the study of Sanskrit literature, in the hope that the disaffected Brahmans (who had been all-powerful under the peishwah) might be thus conciliated. As the modes of instruction originally adopted were entirely native, and far from efficient, the college has gradually been transformed. At present it possesses a staff of European professors with native assistants, and is a highly respectable seminary for the study of English, Marathi, and Sanskrit. Only Brahmans were admissible into the college as first established; now it is open to the public gener ally. Poona is very much resorted to, particularly in the rainy season (from June till October), on account of its pleasant and salubrious climate. The fall of rain averages from 22 to 25 inches annually; whereas at Bombay it is about four times as great. The range of the Ghauts (properly called the Sahyadree range) which rises up as a precipitous bar rier 2,000 ft. high, with peaks considerably higher, receives the full burst of the mon soon ; so that Khandalla on the top of the Ghauts is drenched with almost perpetual rain for four mouths. Then the clouds pass on, relieved of their watery burden, and the rainfall eastward of the Ghauts is much less. From the Ghauts, the whole country gradually slopes toward the bay of Bengal. Poona is about 1800 ft. above the sea level. One of the most interesting objects in the neighborhood of Poona is a large band, or embankment, solidly built of hewn stone over the Mootamoola river for the purpose of providing a supply of water for the cantonment, and especially the bazaar or native town connected with it. It was built by the late sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, whose charities
were very great. Two forts celebrated in Maratha history are close to Poona—Singhur, about 12 m. to the south-east, and Poorundur, about 18 in. to the south. These are favorite sanatoria during the hot season (from the end of February to June). At Poorunder there is a sanatorium of considerable size for sick soldiers. Poona was formerly a great mart for jewelry and precious stones, but the trade in these things has quite ceased. The native manufactures have also been supplanted by the introduction of European piece-goods, and the only business that prospers is that of dealers in grain and other agricultural produce. The railway has rendered Poona almost a suburb of Bombay. The works by which the railway climbs up the great mountain-barrier of the Ghauts from the lowlands of the Konkan to the high table-land of the Deccan are among the boldest that have as yet been undertaken. The line up the Ghauts was opened in April, 1863.
Of late years great alterations Italie taken place around Poona. The native city has not greatly altered, except that the streets have been widened and cleaned; but the cantonment has changed rapidly. The great fire of 1879 has left its mark on Poona. Among the most striking of the many new buildings recently reared is the govern ment college—a Gothic building, recently finished, which was erected mainly at the expense of sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. While speaking of education in Poona, it is but fair to the Scottish mission to say that it commenced English education iu Poona S00.11 after the mission was established (in 1831), and has all along carried it on. The schools. of the mission, both male and female, both for English and the vernacular (Marathi), are largely attended, even by the highest castes. The female pupils are upward of 301:1 in number; and one school consists of Mussulman girls. The Mussulmans in Iudia generally are far behind both Hindus and Parsecs in their desire to educate the females; in fact, a Mussulman female school is as yet exceedingly rare.