BENA'RES, or BANA'RAS, the district mentioned in the preceding article. It is under the lieutenant-governorship of the n w. provinces, being bounded on the w. and n. by Jounpur; on the e. by Ghazeepore and Shaliabad; and on the s. and w. by 31irzapare. It extends in n. lat. between 7' and 95' 32', and in e. long. between 82° 45' and 83' 38'; and thus measuring about 30 in. by about 55, it embraces an area of 996 sq. miles. In 1872, the census gave a pop. of 794.039. or almost 800 to a ,sq.m.: the number of inhabited houses was 116,507. The district is traversed by the Ganges in a u.e. direction for about 45 miles. Besides other rivers, such as the Iilarainnasa, the Goomtee, and the Burna, and several inferior streams. lakes and tanks are numerous, but small, the largest not exceeding a mile in circuit. The annual min-fall. though averaging less titan in the lower parts of the Ganges, is still considerable, always exceeding 30 in., and amounting in 1823 to 89. Considering that the tract is barely beyond the tropics, and but little elevated above the sea, the range of the thermometer is unusually great, being between 45 in Jan. and 111° in May. The mean temperature is stated at 77', pretty nearly the middle point between the two extremes. The soil, though here and there
sterile, is in general characterized by great fertility. more particularly to the left of the Ganges. In the growth of opium, indigo, and sugar—more of the last—the district surpasses nearly every other portion of I3ritish India. In fact., the state of agri culture is such as may be expected from the density of the population. The rich fields, the thriving villages, and the luxuriant groves renthr the aspect of the country very delightful; and perhaps the best proof of the presence of industry and civilization is the fact that elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, lions, and tigers, which were hunted in 1529, have entirely disappeared. After a Hindu domination, according to popular faith. of 2100 years, the district sank under the Mussulman yoke in 1193; and, in the first half of the 16th c., it was annexed by Baber to the Mogul empire. On the dismemberment of that dominion, it fell to the share of the Nawab of Oude, whose grandson, in 1775, ceded it to the East India company, about ten years after that body had acquired the sovereignty of Bengal.