GUZERAT, a British district in the Punjab, India, 2,029 sq.m.; pop. '68, 616,347. It comprises a narrow wedge of sub-Himalayan plain country, possessing few natural advantages. From the basin of the Chem% on the s., the general level rises rapidly towards the interior, which, owing to the distance of water beneath the surface, assumes a dreary and desert aspect. A range of low hills, known as the Pabbi, traverses the northern angle of Glizerilt. They are composed of a friable tertiary sandstone and con glomerate totally destitute of vegetation, and presenting to the view a mere barren chaos of naked rock, deeply scored with precipitous ravines. Immediately below the Pabbi stretches a high plateau, terminating abruptly in precipitous bluff some 200 ft. in heialt. At the foot of this plateau is a plain, which forms the actual valley of Chenab, and participates in the irrigation from the river bed. The district, as a whole, is well wooded, and great attention has been paid to arboriculture. Numerous relics of antiquity stud the surface of Guzerdt district. Mounds of ancient construction yield numbers of early coins, and bricks are found whose size and type prove them to belong to the prehistoric period of Hindu architecture. A mound now occupied by the village of Aloga or Mong has been identified as the site of Nicma, the city built by Alexander the great on the field of his victory over Porus. The Delhi empire established its authority iu this district under Bahloh Lodi, 1450-88. A century later it was visited by Akbar, who founded Guzerdt as the seat of government. the decay of the Mug. hal power, the Ghakkars of Rawal Pindi overran this portion of the Punjab, and estab lished themselves in Guzerat about 1741. Meanwhile the Sikh power had been asserting itself in the eastern Punjab, and in 1765 the Ghakkar chief was defeated by Sardar Gtijar Shill, chief of the Bhangi confederacy. On his death his son succeeded him, but after a few months' warfare, in 1798 he submitted himself as vassal to the malnirdjii Ranjit Sinh. In 1864 Guzerat first came under the supervision of British officials. Two
years later the district became the theater for the important engagements which decided the events of second Sikh war. After several bloody battles in which the British were unsuccessful, the Sikh power was irretrievably broken at the engagement which took place at Guzertit on Feb. 22, 1849. The Punjab lay at the feet of the conquerors, and passed by annexation under British rule.
GlrZERAT, or GUJERAT, a geographical division of India, stretches in n. lat. from 20° to 24° 45', and in e. long. from 69° to 74° 20', containing about 42.000 sq.m. and about 3,000,000 inhabitants. Its most important section. perhaps, is the peninsula of Kattywar, which projects into the Arabian sea between the gulf of Cutch on the n.w. and the gulf of Cambay on the sontb-east. Of the mainland, a considerable portion is shut out from the sea by the British districts of Broach and Surat, so that the peninsula comprises nearly the of the coast-line and most of the available harbors. With rea•rd. however, to internal communications, the mainland has the advantage of the peninsula, being traversed, to say nothing of streams of inferior magnitude, by the Nerbudda and the Tapti. To the s. of the last-mentioned river, Guzerat presents the northern extremity of the 'Western Ghauts. The products are rice, wheat, barley, sugar, tohocco, castor-oil, maize, opium, cotton, and fruits. Within the limits of Guzerat (also spelled Gujarat or G-Iderat) lie the Gnicowar's territory. and the numerous petty states of Eattvwar, Mahi Kanta, and The name Guzerat often includes also the British administrative division under the governor of Bombay, which comprises the districts of Surat, Broach, Kaira, Punch Mehals, and Ahmedabad.